Very often, without even having time to sign out of the hospital, a young mother is already getting a lot of advice from relatives about what she needs and what can not be done and eat, in order to provide the baby with the proper quantity and quality of milk. Among the drugs that increase lactation and fat content of milk, often mention walnuts. Is it worth it to the nursing mother to listen to this opinion, or is it unfounded?
Useful properties of walnuts
Let's start with the fact that walnuts are really a very useful product, unique in its kind. They contain folic acid, vitamins B1, B2 and others, as well as vitamin C, with orange and black currant and hips leading ahead in its quantity. Also walnuts are a source of protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Do walnuts improve lactation?
Whether this product affects the activity of lactation, in fact, is unknown. But it definitely has the property of increasing the fat content and viscosity of milk.
On the one hand, it's good - if the milk is small, it will not be superfluous to increase its nutritional value due to fat content. On the other hand, more viscous milk can stagnate in the chest( especially if the baby does not suck well, because of newborn babies or for other reasons).Lactostasis is an unpleasant phenomenon in itself, moreover, fraught with mastitis( and he may require hospitalization and taking antibiotics).
Harm of walnuts for a nursing mother and child
As for the child, he has an excess of walnuts in his mom's diet, which can cause colic or allergies. In the rating of food allergens, nuts occupy an "honorable" third place along with seafood, chicken eggs, citrus fruits( bear in mind that the first place was taken by the protein of cow's milk, and the second - with gluten containing cereals).
In this case, walnuts are less likely to cause an allergy than hazelnuts or peanuts. But if you are against the background of eating them in the food noticed a baby rashes on the skin, reddening of the cheeks and inguinal folds, loosening of the stool, mucus in the stool - better for several months exclude this product from your menu.
Conclusions can be made the following: if both mom and baby are well tolerated walnuts, then include them in a diet of up to three cores per day will be very useful. But they should not get too involved.
It is better to buy uncleaned and thermally unprocessed nuts. Bon Appetit!