Images: Gallo Images/Getty Images46 | JULY & AUGUST 2019
FOR A BREASTFEEDING MOTHER,
the world can be presented as one long
purgatory of not just constant feeding
and sleepless nights, but a Spartan
diet that excludes anything vaguely
comforting that she might put into
her mouth.
No coffee! No alcohol! No cigarettes!
No nuts! No medicine! Don’t stress...
You’ll pass on the stress hormones
through your milk!
If it were the case that only those
who live a life of complete asceticism
are fit to breastfeed, then only nuns
would breastfeed. As it is, the world
is populated with functioning,
independent, healthy, clever people
who were exclusively breastfed for the
first six months of their lives, by fallible,
chocolate-nibbling mothers.
So, what is in that magical stuff inside
our breasts really? Do eggy smells and
cabbage flavours ooze themselves into
the mammaries’ production line from
your stomach? Did the whisky you had
before dinner last night seep into your
bloodstream, sneak into your milk and
give your baby a buzz?
It might comfort you to know that
every culture has a list of taboo foods for
breastfeeding mothers, and that these
taboo foods are sometimes encouraged
in other cultures. An article on the
website of La Leche League International
(LLLI), an international advocacy group,
explains, for instance, that in Italy,
mothers are often told not to eat garlic,
cauliflower, lentils and red peppers,
while in India most mothers eat all these
things and breastfeed very happily.
What you eat affects your breastmilk.
Be sure to put the best into your body
so your baby gets the right things out,
writes Karin Schimke
What’s in
breastmilk?
In parts of India it
is even believed that
eating garlic encourages
successful breastfeeding.
How does what goes into
a mother’s mouth affect her milk?
“Not as much as you would think,”
says Jacquie Nutt, an international board
certified lactation consultant in private
practice and former LLLI leader.WHAT’S IN BREASTMILK?
In the early days of breastfeeding, the
whey to casein ratio in a mother’s milk
is 90:10. Casein forms the curds – the
thicker parts – so mother’s milk, when
expressed, will often appear thin or
watery in the beginning.
Cow’s milk is almost the complete
opposite: the ratio of whey to casein
is 20:80.
So, don’t let anyone give you nonsense
about your milk being “thin”. Cow’s
milk is not the generic example of what
milk should look like. Nor a generic
example of how it should nourish.
Cow’s milk – which is produced
for cows’ offspring – is constituted
differently to human milk, which in
turn is made to suit human babies’
needs. Thus, the 90 percent watery-
looking stuff in the milk contains all the
baby needs: nutrient proteins, non-
protein nitrogen compounds, lipids,
oligosaccharides, vitamins, minerals,
hormones, enzymes, growth factors and
protective agents.
The thick bit – the 10 percent that
is curds – is where the solids needed
for growth and energy come from.However, the two parts work together
and cannot be separated out.
“Babies who are allowed to dictate
when they detach themselves from the
breast, on the principle of ‘finishing’ the
first breast first, drink to satiety and get
everything they need, both the thirst-
quenching liquid and the fatter hind
portion and all the bits in between,”
says Jacquie. In this way, breastfed
babies learn to trust and regulate their
own appetites.
But, while everything the baby needs
is in the milk, what about what might
be getting into the milk that the baby
doesn’t need or shouldn’t be getting?
The protein from cow’s milk, eggs,
or some other foods in your diet may
penetrate your gastro-intestinal
tract, especially if you have your own
dietary issues.
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding,
a comprehensive and informed book
on breastfeeding, says that these “stray
proteins” in your blood can find their
way into your milk, but if the baby
reacts to these foreign proteins, it’s an
indication of a pronounced sensitivity to
that food.
“Keep in mind that the mother’s milk
itself is fine; the stray protein riding
along is what’s causing the problem.
Switching the baby from human milk to