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| Home > Breast Feeding > What affects the content of breastmilk?
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| | What affects the content of breastmilk?
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 Breast milk is produced by the mammary glands in your breasts. Breast milk is not dependent on the substances you eat. These glands draw on the resources available in the form of nutrients from your diet and from your body`s stores of nutrients. If your diet lacks either in calories or in nutrition, to fully sustain you and your nursing child, your mammary glands will draw from your body`s available nutrients to produce highly nutritious breast milk. In the process you may be left to rely on whatever is left over. So a deficient diet will probably not affect your breast feed-ing child, but it may deplete your body nutritionally. You may consult your doctor or nutritionist and fix up a diet which will take care of you and the needs of your baby. You may also need to take supplements, to replenish your stock.
All the foods and drinks you ingest may not reach your baby, the mammary glands and cells that produce milk may control the quality and quantity of the food and drinks that actually reach your baby. Moderate consumption of coffee, tea, caffeinated so-das, and an occasional glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage are fine when you are breast feeding. However, some babies are more sensitive than others, so you need to monitor your baby closely for the reactions he may produce. It is also reassuring to know that the drugs in-jected for epidural blocks and other types of regional anesthesia during childbirth do not pass into breast milk sufficiently to cause long-term harm, though they may induce sleep in your baby. You should inform your anesthesi-ologist or obstetrician in advance of your desire to breast feed your baby in cases when general anesthesia is used.
Most medications are safe to take during breast feeding, but there are a few-including some non prescription substances -that may be harmful to the baby. The medications to avoid during breast feeding may not tally with the medications that are dangerous for pregnant women to take, so be sure to get approval for all medications from your doctor and your baby`s pediatrician. Any thing in moderation is fine but excessive alcohol or any kind of recre-ational drug or medication that has not been approved by your pediatrician should not be indulged in, since you may pass it on to your baby and cause serious problems.
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