Foods not to eat when breastfeeding - is caffeine bad for breast milk?

Foods to avoid when breastfeeding: Eating fish is good for your health. But don’t have more than two portions of oily fish a week. This includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which doesn’t count as oily fish), salmon, mackerel, sardines and trout.

The general advice for all adults is to avoid eating more than one portion of shark, swordfish or marlin a week, because of the levels of mercury in these fish. Avoid these fish altogether during pregnancy or if you are trying to get pregnant.

Small amounts of whatever you are eating and drinking can pass to your baby through your breast milk, so it’s a good idea to think about how much caffeine you are having. These may affect your baby in the same way they affect you.

If you think a food or foods that you are eating are affecting your baby, talk to your GP or health visitor, or contact the National Breastfeeding Helpline.

Drinks containing caffeine can also affect your baby and may keep them awake, so drink them only occasionally rather than every day while your baby is young.

Avoid Caffeine during breastfeeding  

Caffeine occurs naturally in lots of foods and drinks, including coffee, tea and chocolate. It’s also added to some soft drinks and energy drinks and to some cold and flu remedies. In the early days, it is important that you don’t have too much caffeine. Try decaffeinated tea and coffee, fruit juice or water and limit the number of energy drinks, which might be high in caffeine.