One fairly common belief about breastfeeding is that if mothers eat foods that make her gassy, such as broccoli or cabbage, the baby will be gassy. Is this true? No. Gas from a mother's intestinal tract cannot pass into her blood and deposit itself into the breast for her baby to drink. However, when food is digested, some of the proteins do enter the blood and may then pass into a mother's milk. Some babies may be sensitive to a particular protein and react with gas and fussiness. If a baby has an obvious reaction every time a mother eats a certain food, she can eliminate that food from her diet, but it is important to remem-ber that, for most fussy and gassy babies, the problem stems from some source other than mother's milk. Allergic reactions to substances in mother's milk may also appear as skin, respiratory, and intestinal problems. When a family has a known history of an allergy to a specific food, mothers are advised to avoid that food during breastfeeding.
With all that said, the average nursing mother should feel free to eat whatever she likes and be assured that the vast majority of babies do not have any problems with food proteins.