When you are breastfeeding, or lactating, your body is producing milk that meets the specific needs of your growing and developing baby. While breastfeeding, you need to consume an additional 300 calories a day from healthy foods in order to supply both your body, and your baby's, with the nutrients you each need. There are also certain foods you should try to avoid or limit while breastfeeding.
Gaseous Foods
The American Pregnancy Association advises you to avoid or limit foods that tend to produce gas. Such foods include chocolate, Brussels sprouts, beans and cauliflower.
Caffeine
You should also limit your caffeine intake, present in coffee, tea, soda, herbal supplements and chocolate. Caffeine causes you to urinate larger amounts more frequently. This increase in urination causes you to lose fluids you need for your body and breast milk. According to the California Food Guide, newborns take 20 times longer to metabolize caffeine than adults, and some studies find babies to be irritable or inability to sleep after maternal consumption of caffeine.
Spicy Foods
According to the American Pregnancy Association, you should also try to avoid spicy foods. This includes foods containing chili peppers, curry, cayenne pepper and chipotle.
Alcohol
You should not consume alcoholic beverages if you are lactating. Alcohol can impair milk ejection and cause a reduction in your milk volume. Alcohol may also change the odor of your breast milk and decrease the amount of milk consumed by your baby by as much as 20 percent.
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