Maternal Diet: What Not to Eat to Avoid Colic in Newborns
False myths, still present today, reported that it was necessary to not eat certain foods to avoid colic in the newborn during breastfeeding .
Is it true? Does maternal nutrition influence colic?
Find out by continuing to read this article!
Infant colic
Surely you have heard or happened to listen to the stories of a mother or father struggling with their baby's colic . The common feeling is that of frustration, tiredness and impotence .
In fact, hearing your baby cry desperately for several hours at a time is not easy at all.
Evening strolls down the halls with your little one tummy-deep is a scene you can instantly picture, right?
But what causes this pain in the little one?
Unfortunately, even today, parents are often told that colic is due to intestinal immaturity or a behavioral syndrome . So, they are told to be patient because it will pass with time.
That's not true ! An immaturity cannot create all this pain.
The real cause is an inflammatory state of the newborn's intestine . A recent scientific study from 2018 demonstrates this beyond any doubt (Tu Mai et al., ”Infantile Colic, New Insights into an Old Problem”, published in the journal Gastroenterology Clinics of North America).
How to treat them
If colic is the effect of inflammation of the gastric-intestinal system, it is necessary to understand all the factors that cause it and resolve them . Only in this way can colic be truly resolved.
Based on my experience as a pediatric osteopath, here are the causes and remedies for colic:
- Maternal nutrition : as we will see later, it can influence colic;
- Artificial feeding : you need to evaluate the type of milk , bottle, rhythm and flow. You can discover these 4 factors in my article “…”
- Thoracic and pelvic diaphragm : it is necessary to verify that there are no limitations due to uterine malposition or complicated birth;
- Gastric and intestinal smooth muscles : if there is tension, it can cause pain and slow down transit in the newborn;
- Many other parameters that you can find in the video course "Prevention and treatment of colic in newborns"
Does maternal diet influence colic?
Let's start from an observation to understand if the mother's diet can influence colic in newborns.
Have you ever eaten heavy and perhaps hard to digest foods? Have you noticed the resulting burning sensation in your stomach and perhaps even greater difficulty in evacuating?
This is because the gastric-intestinal system is a single tube and because those foods have most likely caused inflammation.
Maybe, but the baby feeds only on milk you think, right?
During pregnancy, the foods eaten by the mother transmit their flavor to the amniotic fluid that the baby swallows in the womb.
Later, during breastfeeding, foods transmit their flavours to the milk that is ingested by the baby.
So, are we still sure that it cannot influence colic and cause intestinal inflammation in the child?
I assure you that it does have an effect and that is why in the video course on colic treatment there is a 4-week menu (anti-colic) drawn up by my colleague, a nutritionist specialized in pregnancy and breastfeeding nutrition.
Nutrition during breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is recommended by the OMG exclusively for up to 6 months of the child's life and as the main food for up to one year.
Nutrition is fundamental, but it is even more so during breastfeeding as it helps the mother to face this important moment.
In fact, breastfeeding leads to a consumption of about 500 kcal per day . This does not mean that it will be necessary to eat more caloric food, but it will be necessary to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, but integrating something. It is very important to listen to your hunger and have healthy snacks.
Just think that 5 walnuts in the mid-morning and 5 in the mid-afternoon will already give you a healthy 300 kcal intake.
Also, remember that water is also essential because breastfeeding leads to a greater release of fluids.