Hey there -

It is sleepless AmyK again trying to troubleshoot my 17week old son's nightwaking and no napping... (see my other posts) Anyway, I was curious what foods some of you had to avoid while breastfeeding because their bothered your child? I had a salad last night - pretty much just lettucce and italian dressing - and we had a horrible night. I've cut sooo much out of my diet in the last week and our nights seem to be getting worse. I'd appreciate some feedback.

(BTW - he doesn't wake up upset 95% of the time - he just wakes up and cannot get back to sleep without my help - if that works at all)

Thanks!

By Sue3 on Thursday, January 1, 2004 - 10:16 am:

Hi Amy ,

When I read your post it reminded me of my dd.
I absolutely got no sleep when she was a baby.
She had colic also.( I was a walking zombie ).
Anyway I thought I would respond what worked
for me concerning breast feeding.
about the only food that I was eating while breast feeding her was , bananas , peanut butter sandwiches , apple sauce and potatoes.
It seemed like any thing else I ate would set her colic off and she would scream for hours.
Dairy and spicy foods were the worst.
So I am sorry you are going through this.
Just introduce new foods,a different one each couple of days and see how it goes.
Did you discuss this with your baby`s DR.?
What did he or she say?
I hope things get better for you , and it is great that you are breast feeding your baby.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, January 1, 2004 - 11:14 am:

Well, I had one very colicky baby who was breastfed, and I quickly found that caffeine, garlic and onions were definite *no-nos*. I basically had to eat a fairly bland diet when breastfeeding with Jeff. Anything that was *gassy* had to be avoided, which also included cabbage and potatoes, and for some reason, pork, or maybe it was the garlic used to season it, I don't know for sure.

Nothing seemed to bother Jen when I was breastfeeding her, the only problem I had was that I just wasn't making enough milk, and she pretty much weaned herself early on, around 4 months.

By Marcia on Thursday, January 1, 2004 - 12:34 pm:

I had to avoid all dairy products. She was fine with everything else.

By Amy~moderator on Thursday, January 1, 2004 - 03:36 pm:

cabbage, brocolli, cauliflower, spicy foods for me.

You will be able to tell over time what doesn't sit right with baby. HTH!

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, January 1, 2004 - 09:10 pm:

I had to cut out dairy, anything with caffiene, including chocolate, and all spicy, gassy foods. Italian dressing would have been too spicy for DD.
I also wanted to add that neither of my kids were able to fall asleep on their own at 4 mos.. I was still nursing them to sleep at that point. {{{HUGS}}} Things will get better with time, I promise! Hang in there.

By Chloe on Friday, January 2, 2004 - 04:23 pm:

Waking up and not getting back to sleep without help(nursing or rocking)? This is still the case for my almost 13 month old and I think it's pretty normal. What also has been great is the "knee jiggle". He lays belly down on my husband's lap with his head at his knees and he puts on some rhythmic music and bounces him down. He usually gets him down faster than I do and it gives me a break. Looks really funny but it works. I avoided all gassy veggies, beans, broc & cauli, zuccini, cabbage, also dairy of course and chocolate and caffeine, and I was told peanut butter was a no-no by a lactation consultant. Also if your craving chocolate almond butter on an apple slice will satisfy the craving. By the summer you will be eating hot fudge sundaes!

By Lauram on Friday, January 2, 2004 - 05:17 pm:

I also had an extremely colicky second child. I did avoid lots of things in my diet as mentioned above, but truthfully, it didn't do the trick. He screamed (literally) from 3PM to 11PM every night from one month to five months old. The sling really helped. He also nursed ALOT. It was the only thing that kept him quiet! He slept in our bed with us so whenever he woke I'd just nurse him again and it would usually calm him down in the middle of the night. If I had to lift him up and change him and then nurse him, I think he would not have been able to get back to sleep. It also helped with my sleep too because I found I could sleep while nursing if I did that sideways podition (can't remember what it's called). Anyhow, he's 22 months now and still a "live wire!" But at least he sleeps through the night now! This too shall pass!

By Beth on Friday, January 2, 2004 - 09:30 pm:

This may sound totally stupid because in all honesty I did not breastfeed. The reason being I could not produce enough milk. I are you sure that you are and ds is getting enough? I just had another friend who went through this also. She said for the first month her baby cried all the time because she could just not get satisfied. She said there were times to when she felt very full and when she started pumping found she was only actually getting a couple of ounces. Like I said I may not know what I am talking about but just a thought.

By Kaye on Saturday, January 3, 2004 - 12:56 am:

Beth when breast feeding only getting a couple of ounces is really normal. I bottle fed my first two and then breast fed my last. At 6 months my youngest still only drank 4 ounces at a time. It is just richer milk and they don't need as much. It is possible to starve your baby, but breast milk is really deceiving. You know they are getting enough in, not by measuring the input, but by checking the output.

By Lauram on Saturday, January 3, 2004 - 07:48 pm:

I did bf my second but had TONS of trouble with milk production- especially at the start. My first I gave up after the second time he was hospitalized for dehydration (at 8 days old). I was able to get my milk supply up for my second after about a month of VERY hard work at pumping and taking supplements and drinking MM tea. It was quite a nightmare, but I'm so glad I did it. After a month, I was able to feed, but still was not able to pump that much. I'd only get one or two ounces tops. I do know that there is NOT a correlation between how much you pump and how much you are feeding. As Kaye said, the only way to "measure" is by the output. As they get older though, you can also tell by their behavior. They just don't seem happy after they are finished with a feeding. As I said in the other post, that is why I started solids with my kids on the early side.

By Paulas on Sunday, January 4, 2004 - 02:46 am:

For me it was tomatoes or anything with tomato paste.

Hope things are getting better for you.