Foods to Avoid When Breastfeeding a Baby With Reflux

Source: Flickr, RefractedMoments

Trial. That is the best word that sums up a parent's experience when a newborn or infant shows signs of reflux, GERD, silent reflux and similar issues. 

From the trials and errors in remedying the situation, to serving as the judge, jury and defendant in your own case of the century. 

For the breastfeeding and pump-tastic moms, one of the first "tries" involves eliminating possible trigger foods from the diet.

According to La Leche League International these include, but aren't limited to the following:

"Since several studies have shown a strong link between GERD and cow’s milk allergy (Iacono et al 1996), diet management can be effective in this disease. Other common offenders are soy, eggs, and wheat. A two-week elimination of all dairy products from mother’s diet often produces noticeable improvement in a baby suffering from cow’s milk allergy. Too much caffeine consumed by the baby’s mother (which relaxes the LES) can cause a problem for some babies, as can exposure to cigarette smoke (Alaswad et al 1996)."

Other possible triggers mentioned online include peanuts, tree nuts, chocolate, and other common allergen culprits. Or as described in the KellyMom article Spitting Up & Reflux in the Breastfed Baby, "...is baby getting anything other than breastmilk – formula, solids (including cereal), vitamins (fluoride, iron, etc.), medications, herbal preparations? Is mom taking any medications, herbs, vitamins, iron, etc.?"

When improvement isn't seen, some moms turn to the unofficial Elimination Diet, outlined here by Ask Dr. Sears.

What did your doctor recommend as your best defense in this case? 

Or did changing your diet do nothing more but eliminate it as the source of the problem?