If you had to modify your diet due to BFing

[anna7602]

Allergies or MSPI or anything else, please give me a pep talk. I'm paging tacom as well, and carrotsmakemefat.

I already have digestive issues that have forced me to modify my diet in the past. Now I have recurring thrush and need to cut out even more things. The amount of energy I've spent thinking about everything I put in my mouth in the last few days is exhausting.

And I feel like I just can't get enough calories. I was already hungry all the time as a BFing mother. Now I'm positively ravenous, and headachey, and in a bad mood.

I have to take DD to a birthday party in an hour, where I will be turning down cake and pretty much everything else there. I don't want to be the rude mom who brought her own snacks, but I might have to be.

[arch01]

Hugs.

The first few weeks were overwhelming for me. I made lists of what I could eat-and every time that list grew, it made me feel a bit better.

It sucks and is overwhelming. I avoided parties and eating out because it was so hard to find something I could eat. But-it gets easier.

[water*drop]

I had to do no dairy, no soy, and no beef. It was hard for a while (dairy and soy are hidden in everything), but it was pretty easy after a few months - annoying at times, but easy. Initially, beyond just figuring out what I could and couldn't eat, the hardest part was remembering to ALWAYS have food with me because I couldn't just stop and grab something if I was running late and got hungry.

Even though I'm not on a restricted diet now, I consider going back to it all the time. I felt SO MUCH BETTER then - less sluggish, less bloated, and just generally healthier. I really feel like crap when I eat dairy now, so I limit it, but it's hard for me to cut it completely when there's so much dairy in the house. When I was on the diet, we really didn't keep much dairy around. I really want to find the motivation to do it again because it makes such a huge difference in how I feel.

Don't feel bad about bringing your own snacks, either. I felt bad for a while, too, and then I got burned a couple of times by people with good intentions saying that they would have safe food available, only to find out that they didn't think to look at the ingredient list of the taco seasoning or something and then not having anything to eat except the almonds I kept in my purse. After that, I realized that it made people feel worse to realize that they had slipped up than for me to just say "thanks, but it's no trouble for me to bring my own food." Lots of people said that they were relieved when I said that.

[barefootcontessa]

yes, it sucks. I just tried to remind myself it was for my baby and that it would not be forever. In addition to dairy, I had to cut sugar because of thrush issues as well. maybe keep in mind if it gets to be too much your baby had a great start with BF and formula is pretty fine.

[longtimenopost]

We had mspi. DD was very sensitive and we dealt with projectile vomiting for any slip ups. It was a huge pain and I definitely dealt with some resentment even though my family and friends were great, and of course major guilt when I accidentally slipped up. BUT like pp said, I felt great! I lost all the baby weight plus 20 lbs. Two months after we were cleared I had gained the 20 lbs back . I think about going back on it!

[kaycee]

I took myself on a nice trip to Whole Foods and bought everything I was going to miss and then I realized I didn't have to just eat plain meat and veggies. I found alternatives to almost everything. My husband is a total foodie, but ate a Mspi diet with me at home because he couldn't even tell the difference.

These cookies are great if you add a couple of tablespoons of water.
dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/cookies/r/chocchipcookies.htm

I did it for a year and the only hard part was eating out. I always had snacks in my purse. Last year I even brought my own meal to thanksgiving and Christmas.

You can do it!

[kaycee]

Also I realized that buying fancy food was way cheaper than fancy formula and a whole lot more fun and that motivated me.

[jaybird]

Hugs! Especially when around parents no one will judge you for having to bring your own food. For a while I had cut out: dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and gluten. It was hard, but after a few weeks once I got a handle on what I could eat it became easier. You're doing such a great job trying to push through all the thrush. I know there are days when it just seems overwhelming, but taking it one day at a time helped me.

[anna7602]

I can eat dosas! I finally feel full for the first time in several days.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Dude! Don't feel bad for bringing your own snacks! No one will think you're rude.

What are you avoiding? I've found it's good to have a list of what I can eat. That way when I'm starving and staring at the fridge and only thinking of what I can't have, I can look at the list and find something.

[mandapanda18]

Hugs, hang in there! The first month (maybe more) was rough, I'm not going to lie. I had to avoid:
Dairy (cheese... sob)
Caffeine (thankfully, I was able to add it back more regularly at around 6.5/7 months)
Chocolate (not that I eat a ton, I don't care for chocolate, but loved it pregnant)
Tomato based items (able to add back around 5/6 months).

The dairy piece was the hardest to give up. I already drank soy milk (and could continue since he was not MSPI) over dairy because I am lactose intolerant. The hard part was cheese, sour cream, butter, a bite of ice cream, etc. I tried every fake cheese out there (they are all disgusting), found that coconut oil makes a great butter sub on toast, use soy butter in my lactation cookies, and bought alternative milks/ice cream (almond, coconut, soy) depending on the recipe. Now that I am done nursing, I haven't really looked back (other than Cheese!) and don't miss it.

If you are looking for a particular sub food/work around for a recipe ask, I may have found one that worked!

[meij]

I didn't have soy or dairy for six weeks to see if it helped with DS temperament and poop issues. I already avoided peanuts (DD is allergic so we don't have any in the house) and caffeine because DS was sensitive to it.

It was hard and I was crabby. I didn't have problems finding things to eat for meals, I had milk and soy free bread, so ate hamburgers or pulled pork, chicken, tacos, spaghetti. It wasn't hard to find stuff like BBQ sauce, taco shells, pasta that was ok to eat. It was the snacks and sweets that killed me because I am a huge snacker.

On the plus side I lost ten pounds with that diet!

[Deleted]

I had to eliminate dairy, eggs, soy, fish, shellfish, all nuts, peanuts, wheat/gluten, and chickpeas for the first 5.5 mos nursing the girls. I was basically left with poultry, beef, vegetables and fruit. It sucked and I was hungry and grumpy a lot! It didnt help that i was nursing twins and even mpre ravenous than i was when nursing j. I ate a lot of smoothies with coconut cream and vegan protein powder made from green peas.

But, bottom line, nursing is very important to me. Both because I wanted the girls to get breastmilk but also because I enjoy the bonding I have with them while nursing. So i sucked it up and focused on the fact that I knew it was temporary. Many, many, people would have given up and have told me so or said I was crazy being so restricted And exclusively nursing twins. But it was the right decison for me.

You can do this. You have made it through all of this thrush business and from what I know of you, nursing must be important to you too. So, I will tell you you can do it. Once your figure out what you can eat it becomes easier. I can help with recipes if you want.