Can You Eat Honey While Breast Feeding
Healthy breastfeeding diet
The most important thing is to include a wide variety of fresh, healthy foods in your breastfeeding diet.
If you think something you're eating is affecting your baby through your breast milk, talk to your GP or health visitor, or call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212.
Food and drinks to avoid
If your baby is sensitive to certain foods or drinks, you may need to avoid them. This is because traces of what you eat and drink can pass through to your breast milk. If you have any concerns, talk to your health visitor or GP.
It's not just tea and coffee that contains caffeine, it's in chocolate and various energy drinks and soft drinks. It's wiser to cut caffeine out while breastfeeding as it's a stimulant which can make your baby restless. If you do drink caffeine, try not to have more than 300mg a day. To give you an idea of what that looks like:
- 1 mug of filter coffee = 140mg
- 1 mug of instant coffee = 100mg
- 1 (250ml) can of energy drink = 80mg (larger cans may contain up to 160mg caffeine)
- 1 mug of tea = 75mg
- 1 (50g) plain chocolate bar = up to 50mg
- 1 (354mls) cola drink = 40mg
Obviously, it's safer not to drink any alcohol while breastfeeding, but an occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby. One or two units of alcohol, once or twice a week, should be fine.
If possible, allow two to three hours in between drinking and breastfeeding (you should only do this after breastfeeding is well established). This allows time for the alcohol to leave your breast milk. An alternative option is to express before drinking any alcohol, then your baby can be bottle fed and you can skip a feed. But if you do miss a feed, make sure your breasts don't become uncomfortably full.
It's very important that you never share a bed, or sleep on the sofa with your baby if you've been drinking. This is linked to the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
What is a unit of alcohol?
- a small glass of wine (125ml)
- half a pint of beer
- single measure of a spirit (25ml)
It's good to include 2 portions of fish per week, but when you are breastfeeding:
- Limit swordfish, marlin or shark to one portion a week. This is because of the high levels of mercury found in them
- Don't eat more than 2 portions of oily fish a week (such as fresh tuna – tinned tuna is fine, salmon, trout, mackerel, herring, sardines, pilchards).
Peanuts and breastfeeding
Unless you're allergic to peanuts, there's no evidence to suggest you should avoid them (or any peanut based foods like peanut butter) while breastfeeding. If you're worried about it, or concerned about your baby developing a food allergy, speak to your doctor or health visitor.
Cows' milk and breastfeeding
Cows' milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most common childhood food allergies. While it's more common when first infant formula milk is introduced or when your baby starts eating solids, it can happen while breastfeeding.
Symptoms include:
- skin reactions: such as a red itchy rash
- swelling: lips, face and around the eyes
- tummy ache, vomiting, colic, diarrhoea or constipation
- runny or blocked nose
- eczema
Some babies are lactose intolerant (lactose is the natural sugar in milk). This means they can't digest it – but this not an allergy and may only be temporary. Symptoms include:
- diarrhoea
- vomiting
- tummy pain or rumbling
- wind
If you're worried that your baby is showing signs of an allergic reaction, or intolerance, speak to your doctor. They'll assess your baby and advise you on the best course of action.
Breastfeeding Friend from Start for Life
The Breastfeeding Friend, a digital tool from Start for Life, has lots of useful information and expert advice to share with you – and because it's a digital tool, you can access it 24 / 7.
thompsonabsontrythe42.blogspot.com
Source: https://www.nhs.uk/start4life/baby/feeding-your-baby/breastfeeding/healthy-diet/food-and-drinks-to-avoid/
0 Response to "Can You Eat Honey While Breast Feeding"
Post a Comment