Thursday, November 19, 2009

Breastfeeding

I immensely enjoyed breastfeeding my daughter. Not only did it create a special bond bewteen us, it gave me peaceful and restful moments with her each time I nursed her. I was extremely well advised from the beginning on by my midwife in Germany: she told me what to eat to increase my milk production, what to avoid to decrease it or to avoid producing gases for baby, etc. And I was stunned to notice that mothers here in the US are not given all this information. I've therefore decided to share this information here, hoping to help other mothers out there.


Herbs and foods good while breastfeeding:
fennel\fenugreek
chamomille
oatmeal
malt
anis

Herbs and food you should avoid if you want to continue breastfeeding:
sage
mint/peppermint/spearmint
parsley
garlic
alcohol (although 1 glass of wine every now and then with your meal will NOT harm your baby)
orange and grapefruit
all nuts
quinine (found in tonic water for example)
all drinks with caffeine (1 coffee a day is ok)
NO medicine unless you got the green light from your doctor

This list does not pretend to be complete. Check with your doctor for any questions or doubts!

3 comments:

Head Starchy Eater said...

I love the litle dresses you have pictured.
I wouldnt argue with a professional like a midwife, but it is believed these days that the nursing mom avoiding nuts during pregnancy and lactation is driving kids to have allergic reactions. They have no contact with them and when they are introduced into the diet the kids react, often violently. I have a 5+ yr nursing "career" and youngest nursling is 20 mos old and I nursed my 2nd through her pregnancy. All three of my kids eat nuts of all kinds and have no allergy from them. Just thought I'd share that:-))

superman said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
V said...

Thanks Deb!