Dietary taboos for pregnant women during lactation

Any drinks or foods containing alcohol, raw/semi-raw animal foods that have not been fully heated and sterilized, foods that are known to cause allergic reactions in yourself or your baby, and high-caffeine drinks with a daily intake of more than 200mg.

Harmful, when it comes to alcohol, it is really the hardest hit area. There are no less than 10 mothers around me complaining to me, saying that the elderly in the family insist on drinking glutinous rice wine and confinement wine, saying that this is how the older generation came to be. There are two points of view here: there is indeed a saying in traditional maternal and child concepts that "rice wine can stimulate breast milk", but modern evidence-based medicine has made it clear that alcohol will enter breast milk without any hindrance. Even 1% alcohol content may cause burdens on the baby's nervous system and liver development. Especially babies under 3 months old, whose ability to metabolize alcohol is almost zero, and the risk is higher. Of course, it doesn't mean that the sky will fall if you accidentally take a sip of fruit wine. If you are really greedy and touch it a little, calculate the time and wait 4-6 hours before breastfeeding for every 1 serving of alcohol (about 10g of pure alcohol, equivalent to half a can of beer). After the body has finished metabolizing it, it will basically have no effect. There is no need to rush to express the milk and pour it out, and there is no need to be overly anxious.

In addition to alcohol, the second thing to focus on is uncooked animal food. I really have a ready-made case for this. Last month, my best friend was just out of confinement. She was craving for Japanese food and ordered a salmon sashimi and soft-boiled egg. She ate it without any problems. The next day, the baby had diarrhea four times and had sporadic small red rashes on her body. She went to the hospital to check her stool and found no infection. After asking about the diet, the doctor suspected that it was the Listeria monocytogenes in the raw food. There is also controversy here: many people say that sterile eggs and deep-frozen sashimi from regular channels are fine and will not contain pathogenic bacteria. This is indeed true, but the problem is that it is difficult for ordinary consumers to judge whether the sterilization and storage of ingredients are really up to standard. If you encounter unprocessed ones, you may not have symptoms if you have a strong immunity, but if the germs are transmitted to the baby through milk, problems can easily arise. Therefore, it is prudent to try to eat fully cooked food. If you are really hungry, it is okay to eat raw food from regular stores once in a while. Just observe the baby's condition for 24 hours after eating. There is no need to beat him to death.

When it comes to allergies, this really varies from person to person, and there is no unified standard at all. I've seen mothers whose babies' faces were covered in eczema after taking one bite of mango, and I've also seen mothers in coastal areas eat crabs all the time, but nothing happened to their babies. Don't listen to other people saying "you can't eat seafood, mangoes, beef and mutton during breastfeeding", that's not the case at all. The judgment standard is very simple: within 24 hours after you eat a certain food, if your baby has a sudden worsening of eczema, frequent diarrhea, difficulty crying, or rashes all over the body, and the symptoms are relieved after stopping eating, it means that your baby is intolerant to this food, and you should try to avoid it during breastfeeding. All other foods can be eaten normally as long as you are not allergic.

As for whether you can drink coffee and milk tea, which everyone is most concerned about, it also depends on the situation. The current consensus in the medical community is that a single daily caffeine intake of no more than 200 mg, which is about the amount of a medium cup of Americano, or 2 small cups of latte, or 3 cups of regular milk tea, will not have any impact on the baby. Of course, there are exceptions. Some babies are particularly sensitive to caffeine. Even if the mother drinks half a cup of milk tea, the baby will be hyperactive for five or six hours without sleeping. In this case, you either don’t touch it, or drink it after feeding. Wait 2-3 hours for the metabolism to be almost complete before feeding the next meal. Basically, there will be no problem. By the way, please also note that caffeine is also found in chocolate, functional drinks, and some cold medicines. Before eating, just read the ingredient list and calculate the total amount. Don’t dare to touch it without taking a sip.

Finally, to be honest, everyone has heard for so many years that "you can't eat leeks to restore milk, you can't eat ice, your baby will have diarrhea, and you can't eat spicy food, your baby will get angry." These are almost all misunderstandings. Let’s talk about the issue of restoring milk first. You need to rely on foods such as malt and leeks to restore milk. You have to eat two or three kilograms at one time to reach the effective dose. If you eat those two bites with a normal meal, it will have no effect at all. Speaking of ice, if ice cola or ice watermelon enters your stomach, the temperature will reach 37 degrees in a few minutes. How could it possibly make the milk cold? As long as your stomach can tolerate it, you won't have diarrhea after eating ice, so you can eat it. I ate popsicles every day in the summer when I was breastfeeding, and nothing happened to my baby. There are also spicy foods. As long as you don’t get angry or constipated after eating them, and your baby doesn’t have rashes or dry stools, you can eat them as needed. My colleague in Chongqing couldn’t live without chili peppers during lactation, and her baby was very strong when she was half a year old.

In fact, you really don’t need to be so tight during lactation. You can’t eat this or that. In the end, feeling depressed will affect your milk supply. There are three core principles: avoid high-risk foods, observe your baby's reaction after eating, and have balanced nutrition and being happy when you eat more than anything else. If you really encounter food that you are not sure about, try a small amount and observe it for a day or two. If there is no problem, the baby can eat it with confidence. Don't be bound by those old rules.