Only Ever You
Throughout pregnancy, I tried to eat nutritious foods and cut down on sugary, MSG-loaded snacks. During those months, I rarely touched a danish pastry or a bag of MSG-loaded chips. But I have to admit that I looked forward to when I could eat what I wanted to eat again.
I thought when pregnancy was over, it should mean my baby wouldn’t get all his nutrients directly through me anymore, and so I should be able to slack off a little. This notion was especially supported when I attended a seminar at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Dr. Jane Morten, a renowned researcher and pediatrician, said that breastmilk is the same everywhere. It doesn’t matter if mothers are starving, living in Africa or not — the content in our milk is the same. This at first glance seems to make sense – cow’s milk is cow’s milk, right? So, human’s milk is human’s milk.
Boy, was I wrong! From the beginning, what I ate affected my production of milk. Later on, what I ate affected Jonathan’s gassiness and sleep. I couldn’t eat Chinese broth, Pad Thai, Pad Se-ew (Thai noodle), Green Tea, Chocolate Ice Cream, and a lot more. Some stuffs caused him to cry in gassy pain and others made him unable to fall asleep. Milk isn’t just about Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, Calcium, and Vitamins. While the composition of these nutrients may be the same for every mother, there are other chemicals released through the milk, much of which was derived from what we take in.
There are a lot more details in this popular and very good book, Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten.
It basically says, “the quality of your breast milk is only as good as what you eat.” Â After reading it, I kind of regret not continuing my prenatal vitamins, Fe, and fish oil after the birth of Jonathan. Well, I should have known most research is not as complete as it sounds. And I should’ve taken it with a grain of salt.
Now that Jonathan has turned one. it’s still difficult to cater to my taste buds. As someone who nibbles all day, I’ve found it increasingly hard to have a bite of my favorite unhealthy snacks without Jonathan noticing. And he doesn’t just discern passively. He actively requests to join in my guilty pleasure. (Yes, Jonathan constantly watches what I’m doing and eating – Monkey See, Monkey Do.) If I continue eating without sharing with him, that wouldn’t make so much sense to him. If I share ( which I did), then my precious one-year-old boy would eat a bunch of MSG and sugar. Since I’m trying to be a good mommy and I know what would happen if I continue this habit, long gone are the days I could lie down and enjoy Calbee, Pringles, and Cheetos in front of a TV.
