Yes, you can eat pizza while you are breastfeeding, but, as with every food, moderation and balance are key.
Dietary restrictions can sometimes be hard to follow when you’re pregnant, and many new moms think that these rules extend into their breastfeeding days. While both pregnant and breastfeeding moms need to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, a breastfeeding diet is much more flexible. In fact, there’s basically nothing that you can’t eat while breastfeeding. It all depends on how an individual food affects you and your baby.
In general, whatever you eat while breastfeeding should be healthy and nutritious, but cheat days every once in a while, won’t do you any harm. The list of specific foods that need to be avoided while pregnant can usually be consumed by lactating women.
That being said, you should be mindful to not drink alcohol, too much caffeine and continue to not smoke cigarettes while breastfeeding.
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So, Can I Eat Pizza While Breastfeeding?
Pizza is not what you’d typically consider healthy food. So, that begs the question: can I really eat pizza while breastfeeding? The correct answer is yes, you can. Breastfeeding mothers can eat pizza, and no, it will not lead to breastfeeding problems.
So, if you are a breastfeeding mother who loves pizza, go ahead and grab a slice of your favorite pizza. As long as you eat it in a moderation once in a while, it won’t affect your breastfeeding.
While the simple answer is that nursing mothers can eat pizza, you should still understand what factors and foods can influence the quality of your breast milk and the health of your baby.
Breast milk is highly nutritious, and breastfeeding has many advantages for you and your baby. Here are some good reasons why you should breastfeed your newborns.
- Breast milk is highly nutritious and is easy for your baby to digest. The enzymes present in it help your baby’s digestive system to become stronger.
- Breast milk will supplement your baby’s growth and development for the first six months. Exclusively breastfed babies tend to have a better health profile.
- Nutritious breast milk supports and strengthens your baby’s immunological function.
- As babies grow, the nutrition they require changes. Your breast milk composition changes to meet these needs. For instance, as your baby grows older, it requires more calories, so your breast milk has increased fat content at that stage.
- Nursing moms produce a lot of milk, so you can readily feed your baby whenever you need. You won’t have to worry about preparing baby formula, and besides, that stuff can be expensive.
- Breastfeeding helps you release stress and lose pregnancy weight. It is also a beautiful way to bond with your baby.
Frequently Asked Questions
New moms are often bombarded with information on what to do and what not to do while pregnant and breastfeeding. Filtering out useful pieces of information from the pile of knowledge dumped on you gets confusing and tiring.
You go to the internet in search of an answer to a question you have but end up with five more questions. So here are the answers to food related questions frequently asked by pregnant and breastfeeding moms.
What Is Breast milk Composition?
Breastmilk consists of water, carbohydrates, fats and proteins, in decreasing order of quantity. What the mother eats does not affect the quality of breastmilk produced. Protein- and carbohydrate-rich foods help with milk production, and moderate malnutrition will not affect this process.
Eating well, however, is essential to maintain your health, because your body favors the production of milk over supporting your body. Unless you have any medical condition that affects milk production or are extremely malnourished there is no reason for you not to produce sufficient milk to feed your baby.
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What Should I Eat While Pregnant and Breastfeeding?
Vegetables
It is recommended for pregnant women to eat fresh vegetables to ensure sufficient consumption of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The nutrients present in the mother’s blood are supplied to the baby, so eating vegetables is essential.
Leafy green vegetables rich in Vitamin A, C, iron and folic acid are a must. If you have an aversion to them, try consuming them in the form of smoothies.
You should also eat sweet potatoes which contain beta carotene. Beta carotene is a vital compound essential for healthy heart and muscle development in babies. A single sweet potato a day will do a lot of good for both you and your baby.
Nursing moms should also eat tons of vegetables to make sure they replenish their body with nutrients lost during pregnancy.
Protein Rich Food
Pregnant women need to eat additional healthy proteins that contain folic acid and fiber. Protein is essential for muscle development in your baby, so high protein foods such as fish, chicken, egg, and nuts need to be consumed. The same goes for breastfeeding women.
Pasteurized Dairy products
Pasteurized dairy products such as pasteurized cheese, milk, and curds are a great source of calcium necessary for your baby’s bone and muscle development. Dairy products also help with heart development.
You may choose to avoid cheeses as they are high in unhealthy fats and sodium, but all cheeses are generally fine for consumption while breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding women can eat however much dairy they want. However, if your baby has a sensitive stomach, too much dairy can affect the baby’s digestion process. Check your baby’s reaction and see whether your current diet is suitable.
Fruits
Eating low sugar fruits is highly recommended for pregnant women. You will get all the needed vitamins and minerals by eating fruits.
Nursing moms should also eat fruits for their nutrients. Vitamin A and E are the most fat-soluble vitamins present in breastmilk, so eating fruits will replenish these vitamins.
What Food Should I Avoid As A Breastfeeding Mother?
The contents of your breastmilk are highly regulated and most of the time what you eat shouldn’t affect the breastmilk you produce. Still, there are certain foods you should try to avoid because they may have some effect on your breastmilk.
- Raw and uncooked fish and choose low-mercury fish.
- Limit your alcohol consumption
- Similarly, caffeine can also be found in your breastmilk if you consume too much of it.
- Decrease your consumption of highly processed foods.
There might be other foods that you need to avoid based on your baby’s reaction to your feeding. If they get an upset stomach, indigestion, gas, or allergic reaction then eliminate that food from your diet until you stop breastfeeding.
Can I Eat Junk Food While Breastfeeding?
You can eat junk food when nursing but do so in limited quantities.
If you’re a mom who enjoys pizza and fried chicken, don’t stop yourself from eating them. Babies aren’t affected by the junk food you eat, but make sure everything is fresh and made in a clean environment.
Can I Eat Domino’s Pizza While Breastfeeding?
Whether it’s domino’s pizza or pepperoni pizza, you can eat all sorts of pizza while breastfeeding. You can eat Domino’s pizza while breastfeeding, before feeding, or after.
Pizza affects no aspect of your breastfeeding or breast milk supply so as a nursing mom you do not need to worry about domino’s pizza, or any other such food, affecting your baby. Even pregnant women can indulge in a slice of pizza covered in cheese, tomato sauce, and most toppings, except shellfish topping, which can harbor bacteria if not prepared properly.
Will Eating Pizza Make My Baby Gassy?
Usually, eating pizza while breastfeeding will not make your baby gassy. Pizza dough is generally made of flour, yeast, salt and water, so it is not likely to affect your baby’s digestion process.
Pizza doughs containing any other substance such as corn flour may have some effect. Nonetheless, if you do notice any changes in your baby’s eating and motion habits after eating it, you might want to avoid eating pizza. Especially if your child has CMPI, also known as Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance.
CMPI is caused when your baby is unable to digest cow’s milk due to the varied conformational structure of the proteins present in it. If you or your baby has CMPI, it is best to avoid dairy products. Since the nutrients you consume do carry on to your breast milk, chances are that if your baby has CMPI, they will experience a negative reaction to you consuming dairy products. This means that cheese pizzas are a big no!
It is generally well known that pregnant women consume cheeses made only from pasteurized milk. This is because pregnant women are more susceptible to listeriosis caused by listeria bacteria found in unpasteurized milk. Listeria can cause harm to your unborn baby.
Luckily, listeria is unlikely to pass through breastmilk, so breastfeeding mothers do not need to worry about cheese restrictions – unless CMPI or lactose intolerance is an issue for your or your baby.
Some safe cheeses include ricotta, cream cheese, gouda, mozzarella, etc.
Eating Tips For Nursing Mothers
As a nursing mother, it is likely that you will be hungry all the time since your body is using the food you consume to produce breastmilk.
There are many things you can do to make breastfeeding easier for you. This includes getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, avoiding caffeine, and eating high-quality foods frequently but in small portions.
Final Thoughts
It is normal for new mothers to be constantly worried about what they can and cannot eat. In general, eating pizza while breastfeeding is safe for your baby so revisit your favorite pizza pie every once in a while. At the same time, make sure to incorporate as much healthy food as you can into your diet to maintain you and your baby’s overall health and well-being.
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