My wife and I recently had a baby girl. (I am certainly guilty of gross understatement when I say that she is easily the cutest baby in the entire history of the world.) My wife is breastfeeding Jessalyn, and we have received from more than one source – breastfeeding books, pediatricians, busybody mothers*, etc. – the information that if mommy eats gassy foods then baby will end up getting gas.
I have no problem believing this.
Wellll, actually, I do have a problem believing it.
Weeeellllll, actually, I can believe it but I’m having a devil of a time understanding it. Once mommy eats the broccoli or whatever, isn’t it broken down into more or less its constituent components, said components being transported via lovely method to baby’s tummy, thence to baby’s innards? Shouldn’t the gas-producing stuff already be digested before baby gets a liplock on it?
Someone more knowledgeable than I (i.e., most everyone here), please explain.
Thanks,
RR
*Just kidding about the “busybody” part. We are actually grateful for any helpful tips we receive.
I am completely guessing but… I think when we get gas it’s the byproduct of the bacteria that lives in our intestines. Which would make sense since the baby would be ingesting whatever compound that causes gas and digesting it in her own intestines.
God I love Google. In researching intestanal gas I found out that methane causes turds to float. Sheesh.
In any event most gas is caused by bacteria breaking down undigested food in the large intestine. Sugars such as lactose are a common culprit so there may not be a direct connection between fiber laden broccoli causing mama to toot and mom’s milk causing baby to toot. Keep mom on a healthy diet and get some Glade™.
I can’t say why it’s true, but I can definitely vouch for the fact that it IS true. Broccoli is my absolute favorite, and when I was breastfeeding my son the daycare providers would nail me for it every afternoon following the day I’d eaten any. He stunk! I finally just gave it up until I stopped nursing–it was that bad.
I am breastfeeding too but have not found anything in my diet that causes my baby problems. I have eaten cabbage, broccoli and all those other foods, but she is no more gassy than normal.
They’re using their digestive tracts for the first time, and it takes a while to mature. There’s no reason to avoid any food, unless you have observed that it disagrees with your baby, and it usually takes several instances of food/gas to determine it is really the food, like what belladonna describes.
Evidently some molecules of what we ingest wind up in our bloodstream fairly intact. That’s why you have to be careful what drugs you take when you’re breastfeeding.
I find kellymom to be a good breastfeeding resource in general. Most of the breastfeeding info is researched well and evidence-based (unlike the information on chiropractic and cranio-sacral therapy, unfortunately - oh well, no source can be perfect).
