When first talking about food sensitivities almost universally a mother will say she doesn’t have any allergies. Once we dialogue about some of the subtle signals the mother will usually identify one or two foods that she doesn’t tolerate well. For example, for one mother it was garlic and onions. Once she though about it, she realized she did not feel well after eating garlic and onion.

For another mother it may be milk, or wheat, or corn, or gluten, or peanuts, or rice or red food coloring. It could be potentially any food (or environmental substances.) While not commonly classified as true allergies, they may have an impact on how a person feels. When coming up with a potential list of foods to avoid while nursing the foods that go on my list are tailored to reflect the foods a mother doesn’t tolerate well. (See the following article for more about foods and breastfeeding and pregnancy.)

Here are some of the signs your body may send to alert you to it’s distress:
Lumps of phlegm in the throat, runny nose, the need to clear the throat often, clicking or tickle in the ears when swallowing (fluid in ears) heartburn, smelly stools (when the gut is working well there is not smell to BM) grumbling sounds in intestines (sign of poor digestion), diarrhea, constipation, wind burned look to cheeks, reddened/itchy chin or other area of the body, exima, a feeling of fatigue, especially if it comes about 20 minutes after a meal and you were not noticeably tired before the meal, passing smelly gas, burping up the food aftertaste, a feeling like a hangover after eating a food, a bad taste in your mouth (should not have a noticeable taste) a crack down the center of your tongue, bleeding gums, canker sores in your mouth.

Many mothers make assumptions about foods that limit their diet unnecessarily by trying to find a universal list of foods to avoid rather than keying in to foods more specific to them.

Think about the subtle signals you body may be sending! Are you eating foods that cause you to feel less well? When the foods are avoided the changes can be dramatic, but often they are subtle and easy to miss. Just as your baby’s early cues are subtle, once you tune in it is amazing what you can learn. If you want to learn more read the book
Is This Your Child? by Doris Rapp.

Is it Something I Ate? Beverly Morgan

Each culture has a list of foods to avoid and add to the diet of a breastfeeding woman. When I became involved in breastfeeding in the early 1970’s the list to avoid had shrunk considerably; drugs , smoking and alcohol, being on the short list. As there was no proof that other suspected foods were a problem for all mothers and babies it seemed prudent not to deprive all mothers of potentially healthy and enjoyable foods.

Over time, foods were added back to the list as women noticed, for example, that their children, were unsettled or colicky after they had caffeine or cows milk. However, many mothers make assumptions about foods that limit their diet unnecessarily by trying to find a universal list of foods to avoid rather than keying in to foods more specific to them.

We know that smells get through to the amniotic fluid, so some trace element of foods do get through. I have come to believe that infants predisposed to allergy react to trace elements in mothers diet of foods that the mother does not process well. The mother is the factory --so to speak. I suspect it is important to avoid the food all through the pregnancy. Not only the last trimester, especially for women who do not plan to breastfeed as their baby will need to process foods without the aid of mothers milk. By the last trimester I suspect the baby is already sensitized. And how much better to have a baby nor already sensitized at birth. We know that smells get through to the amniotic fluid, so some trace element of foods do get through. More than 1400 mothers throughout Australia participated in the Breastfests in 2001.

Science again seems to be leading where common wisdom has prevailed. When looking at peanuts and excess saturated oils it is suggestive that the fetus could be exposed before birth and that breastfeeding mothers of allergy prone infants should avoid peanuts and excess saturated oils (not all fats) while breastfeeding. According to The March of Dimes, "Although there is not yet an extensive amount of research on fetal sensitization, there have been suggestions that a fetus may be exposed to peanut allergens if a woman consumes peanut products while pregnant, so that an infant with predisposition to allergy may develop a peanut allergy."

Also recommended is that women with a personal history or a close relative with nut allergies should not eat peanut products while breastfeeding, because their children have a greater-than-average risk of developing peanut allergies.

http://www.modimes.org/HealthLibrary2/peanuts.htm

On another front, Dr. U Hopp and colleagues from the University of Turku, Finland recommend that women in atopic families should be counseled to moderate their dietary fat intake during breastfeeding and preferably during pregnancy. They report that while a human milk fed child’s risk of atophy was not significantly increased by maternal atopic disease, infant’s who’s mothers consume high levels of total and saturated fat appear to be more likely than other breastfed infants to develop atopic sensitization. (Atopic, according to Webster’s 1987 Medical Dictionary, is Type 1 allergy reactions, specifically one with strong familial tendencies, caused by allergens such as pollens, foods, dander and insect venom’s associated with the IgE antibody. ) Eu j. Clin Nutrition 2000;54:702-705

The motivation is so high while we are creating and sustaining life to spend the efforts needed to understand the feelings of unwell-ness in ourselves, when we recognize that it also helps our babies. Watching how a baby reacts to trace element in our milk is also a gentle way to identify foods that may bother the baby so as to avoid them when foods are introduced later. Mother and baby both benefit.

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