Hypoallergenic diet for mom

Allergy is an unpredictable and insidious disease. In newborns, it can appear due to a congenital disease, weak immunity, and also due to a negative reaction to a substance that came from the external environment. Given that the baby’s nutrition in the first months of life consists exclusively of breast milk, allergens enter the body with it. Therefore, lactating mothers are recommended a hypoallergenic diet. It will help to avoid allergic reactions and possible further complications in the baby.

An allergy in a baby can be manifested by skin rashes or diarrhea, and any substance from the mother’s food can act as an allergen. There are cases of severe allergic reactions, in which there is a threat to the life of the child – spasm of the respiratory tract, anaphylactic shock. A hypoallergenic diet can protect an infant. It is based on limiting the intake of aggressive substances (allergens) with breast milk into the baby’s body.

Basic rules of nutrition

The basic rules of nutrition when using a hypoallergenic diet:

• The diet is observed daily until at least three months of age of the child, and if there is no allergic reaction, then the mother’s diet can be gradually expanded;

• You can not use prohibited foods, even in minimal portions, in order to avoid provocation of allergies;

• Be sure to keep a food diary, record the mother’s diet and the baby’s reaction to it;

• A new food product is introduced once every two weeks, if there is no negative reaction to it, another new product can be added after two weeks.

A nursing mother should first of all create a menu for herself from products that belong to the low-allergenic group, and when choosing vegetables and fruits, give preference to those that grow in her place of residence.

Table of low-allergenic products:

If the baby does not have rashes or other manifestations of allergies, a nursing mother can add products of average allergic activity to her diet. These include organ meats, cornbreads and biscuits. Fruits of medium allergic activity include apricots, cranberries, currants (red and black), watermelons; to vegetables – all legumes, potatoes, peas, bell peppers (green). The lack of protein in the body can be replenished with biokefir or bioyogurt.

The group of highly allergenic foods from the diet of a nursing mother should be excluded.

List of banned products:

• Fish caviar, seafood, fatty fish;

• Cheeses (spicy), full-fat whole milk, natural yogurt, full-fat cottage cheese;

• Kashi – wheat, semolina;

• Sausages and smoked products, eggs;

• Pickled and canned foods;

• Pickles, mayonnaise, ketchup, spicy seasonings and spices;

• Vegetables and fruits of bright color, all citrus fruits;

• Finished products containing flavorings and dyes, carbonated drinks, cocoa, coffee, alcohol;

• Honey, nuts, chocolate, caramel, dates, dried apricots, figs.

Cooking is recommended for steaming, baking or boiling. Restricting the diet, it is necessary to avoid monotony in food and change food combinations in the menu of a nursing mother daily. Nutrition should be complete, then your child will receive the entire set of necessary substances. The calorie content of food should be increased due to permitted foods.

It is important to follow a hypoallergenic diet in the first months after the birth of the baby. In newborns, the formation of the immune system is still taking place, so allergens entering the body can manifest themselves much later. Allergy is insidious, and the absence of its obvious signs should not allow a nursing mother to switch to her usual diet, otherwise serious complications can be provoked. All women during lactation should follow a hypoallergenic diet.

Features of nutrition in different months

In the process of feeding a child, a woman’s body produces 500-800 ml of milk per day. This requires additional energy, therefore, the caloric content of your diet should be increased by 500 calories per day. Adequate nutrition is important for both the baby and the mother. The baby has a priority in this matter – the female body produces milk that the child needs, and if the mother does not eat fully, then she ruins her health.

In the first months of feeding, you need to drink up to three liters of water per day. In lactating women, part of the water in the body is used to produce milk. Just don’t overdo it – too much liquid will degrade the quality of the milk. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables. They help the body recover after childbirth. Fresh fruits must be grown in the territory of your residence, i.e. adapted, exotic plants are best excluded.

The nutrition of a woman in the first month of feeding should consist of lean meats, eaten stewed or boiled. Once a week, it is possible to add lean fish (hake, pike perch, cod) to the menu. Dairy products are allowed in small quantities and infrequently. One egg can be eaten twice a week. If you want bread, then only coarse grinding and from rye flour. Give preference to buckwheat, rice or oatmeal. Add oil (corn, olive, sunflower) to meals no more than 15 g per day and butter (up to 30 g per day).

Fresh and stewed vegetables are welcome, as well as berries and fruits, compotes from apples and pears. Marshmallows and marshmallows will help to diversify the food, but in small portions. The main thing to remember is that children are individual, and even those products that are listed as safe can cause allergies. Therefore, when introducing a new product into the mother’s diet, one should observe the reaction of the child and take timely measures.

A feeding period of two to six months allows you to push the boundaries of the diet, but proper nutrition always dominates the menu. It is allowed to reduce the volume of raw fruits and vegetables, add cereals.

From six to 12 months, fried foods can be added to the diet, but they should not be greasy. Gradually start eating exotic fruits, in the morning you can treat yourself to a piece of chocolate. Watch how your child reacts to these innovations. After a year of breastfeeding, the mother can return to her normal diet.

Diet in the first month

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of breastfeeding for a newborn. Therefore, the main task of the mother is the correct selection of food products that will make breast milk of high quality and useful. The health and peace of the child depends on what the mother eats. The menu of a nursing woman should include foods that can give her enough energy and provide adequate breastfeeding for the baby, especially in the first weeks of life.

One and a half weeks after the birth of the child, the mother is allowed to eat:

• Baked apples, pears;

• Porridges on the water (buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, barley, millet);

• Lean soups and meat;

• Compotes, tea, mineral water without gas, rosehip broth – up to three liters per day;

• Vegetable oils (olive, sunflower, corn) – 15 g per day;

• Butter – 30 g per day.

On the tenth day, enter into the diet:

• Ryazhenka, kefir, low-fat cottage cheese;

• Lean fish in boiled (baked) form;

• Eggs, bran bread, hard cheese (mild), pasta (in small quantities);

• Boiled, stewed or baked vegetables – pumpkin, beets, carrots, onions, zucchini, cabbage (broccoli, cauliflower);

• Crackers (without raisins), biscuit-type cookies, bagels.

Prohibited products:

• Cow’s milk (whole), sour cream;

• Fatty, strong meat broth;

• Raisins and other dried fruits;

• Coffee, cocoa;

• Exotic vegetables and fruits, especially raw;

• Fresh baked goods using premium flour;

• Alcoholic and carbonated drinks.

Questions on the preparation of the diet of a nursing mother should be addressed with a doctor. Keep a food diary to help you analyze problems that have arisen.

Mom’s diet for colic in a baby

A characteristic sign of colic in a baby is intense pain in the form of short-term attacks with frequent repetitions. The reasons are different, and only a doctor can determine them. If colic in a child begins immediately after eating, then we can say that the cause of the pain is in the intestines, that is, directly in the food that the baby ate. In infants, the main food is mother’s milk. Therefore, the mother must change her diet. There are two more points that affect the intensification of colic – this is overfeeding and overheating of the child.

In order for the baby to avoid the occurrence of colic, the mother should not eat yogurt, milk, ice cream, cheeses. It is generally worth abandoning products containing cow’s milk, as it contains a foreign protein that enters mother’s milk and provokes pain. The same provocateurs can be raw white cabbage, grapes and apple peel. Canned food, semi-finished products, mayonnaise, chocolate, sweet drinks with gas, smoked meats, potatoes and pasta in large volumes should be banned from consumption.

The menu of a nursing woman in the presence of colic in a child should consist of lean soups, cereals boiled in water, boiled vegetables and fish, bran bread or crackers. Gradually, you can add eggs, low-calorie kefir, baked apples. Recommended unrefined olive or sunflower oil, lean meat. Each time you need to add one new product to the menu, and then it will be clear which one causes colic.

Diet for nursing mothers according to Komarovsky

The well-known pediatrician Komarovsky recommends that women think about their diet during pregnancy. This will avoid allergies, diathesis and other unpleasant diseases in the unborn baby. The choice of food that is healthy for mom and baby is large enough, so there is no need to consume oranges, chocolate, strawberries and other foods that can cause allergies in a child. You should not accumulate problems because of your frivolity or laziness.

During the feeding period, the mother needs to understand that everything she eats somehow enters breast milk. Learn to do without foods that impair the taste or smell of milk (spicy, sour and salty foods, as well as garlic). Our favorite cabbages (white) and beans increase the formation of gases and even become the culprit of diarrhea in an infant. Too fatty milk makes it difficult to digest and makes it difficult for mom to express, so reduce the amount of animal fats in your menu and limit yourself to vegetable fats.

Be sure to watch how your child reacts to your food. If there is any doubt about the use of any product, eat it very little and watch the baby. The absence of a rash, indigestion, sleep disturbance indicates the suitability of the product for consumption, only increase its portions gradually. Do not drink excess liquid if the child is full and there is still milk left. Otherwise, after each feeding, a woman needs to drink up to 0,5 liters of fluid.

[Video] Dr. Komarovsky – 10 nutrition tips for a nursing mother: