Eat Spicy Food While Breastfeeding

I love spicy food. In fact, I don’t like to eat anything which is not spicy at all. Normally, if I eat non-spicy food, I will eat it with chili to make it spicy. Since it was difficult to find the type of chili that I liked here, when I went back to my home country I brought back a lot of chili and put them on the freezer so it would last longer.

When I was still breastfeeding my baby, I reduced my chili intake but did not stop it all together. I want my baby to love spicy food also, so she’d better get used to it!

Is it OK to eat spicy food while breastfeeding?

I think it is OK. If your baby is sensitive to the food that you eat (spicy or not), you'll know, because he'll be fussy after feedings, cry inconsolably, sleep very little and wake abruptly, and seem uncomfortable. You might even notice a skin reaction, wheezing, congestion, or green, mucusy stools, which could indicate another type of food allergy — for instance, to dairy, wheat, corn, or citrus in your diet and not necessarily to spicy food.