Can you eat anything while breastfeeding? About cabbage, colic, and what's actually true
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Your baby is crying inconsolably and someone asks, “Did you eat cabbage today?”
Many parents receive lists during pregnancy or the postpartum period of foods they should avoid while breastfeeding. Cabbage. Onions. Beans. Spicy foods. Chocolate.
The idea behind this is often simple: what gives you gas also gives your baby colic.
But is that actually true?
Contents
How is breast milk made?
Breast milk isn't a direct transmission of your food. What you eat doesn't reach your baby directly.
Breast milk is made up of nutrients that first become available to the mammary glands through your blood. Your blood is the link between what you eat and what your baby drinks.
The process roughly goes like this:
Food is digested in your intestines → Nutrients are absorbed into your blood → The mammary glands use those building blocks to produce breast milk.
What doesn't enter your bloodstream can't appear in your breast milk.
That insight alone clears up a lot of confusion.
Why gas does not pass into milk
Gas forms in your colon due to bacterial fermentation of fibre. That gas leaves your body again through your bowel or through your breath. It is not taken up into breast milk as gas.
Breast milk is built from components in your blood. Gas is not one of them.
The idea that cabbage or beans cause cramps because they “give gas” is therefore biologically incorrect.
Yet it's often said. And that's not surprising.
Why does the idea persist that onions cause cramps?
The idea that onions, cabbage, or beans cause cramps doesn't just happen. It's a combination of logic, timing, and a need for stability.
First of all, it sounds plausible. Many adults experience bloating from this food. The idea that this is passed on to the baby through breast milk makes intuitive sense, even if it's biologically incorrect.
Timing also plays a major role. Many babies have a peak crying period around four weeks, with a spread of three to six weeks. This is precisely the period when parents actively try to recognise patterns.
Suppose you remove something from your diet in week four. If your baby calms down around week eight, it might seem like the adjustment has worked. However, crying often decreases naturally as the intestines and the nervous system mature.
We call that a coincidence of events, without a direct cause.
There's also a psychological layer. When your baby cries, you want to understand why. Feeding is concrete. You can point to it. You can adjust it. That gives a sense of control during a time that often feels uncertain.
And finally, this advice has been passed down for generations. Much advice is derived from experience and is repeated without considering the biological basis.
This way, a logical-sounding idea remains, even if it is not strongly supported scientifically.
So what does cause cramps?
For most babies, there is no strong, consistent evidence that cabbage, onions, or beans routinely cause colic.
Colic and excessive crying in the first few months are usually multifactorial.
This means that several factors play a role at the same time, such as:
Immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract
Neurological development
Stimulus processing
The transition from the womb to the outside world
Your baby's body is learning to regulate. That takes time.
There are studies that found a link between certain foods and more crying in some babies, but this does not prove a direct cause and certainly does not apply to all babies.
For most babies, this restlessness is a part of development. That doesn't make it any less intense, but it does make it more understandable.
Knowing what's happening in your baby's body often changes how you experience it.
Is it always a cramp?
In practice, many crying spells are quickly called "colic." That's understandable. When your baby cries and is difficult to comfort, you want to give it a name.
But not every crying fit is a cramp.
Sometimes something else is at play. Overstimulation. Fatigue. Hunger. A need for closeness. Temperature fluctuations. Or just the tension of a long day.
For new parents, that distinction isn't always easy. You're still learning how your baby communicates. How do they let you know they're tired? What does hunger sound like? When does it become overstimulation?
That learning process takes time.
That is precisely why it helps to look wider than feeding or colic when your baby is restless. What happened today? How many stimuli were there? When did your baby last sleep?
By placing the behavior in context, it often becomes clearer what is going on.
Which substances do end up in breast milk?
Breast milk is made up of components in your blood. Small molecules can sometimes cross the blood-milk barrier.
These substances can enter breast milk in low concentrations. This doesn't automatically mean they're harmful. The amount in breast milk is usually lower than in the mother's blood.
Sensitivity also varies from baby to baby. Young or premature babies process some substances more slowly.
Herbal tea is worth a second look. The Dutch Nutrition Centre advises against tea with fennel, aniseed or cinnamon while breastfeeding. That tea does not help against colic, and your baby can take in too many plant substances. Cinnamon as an ordinary flavouring in food is fine.
This is not about prohibiting, but about understanding.
When does nutrition really make a difference?
A small group of babies may have a food hypersensitivity, usually to proteins such as cow's milk protein.
Then you usually see more than just evening crying and cramps.
Possible signs may include:
Persistent inconsolable crying
Eczema
Mucus or blood in the stool
Feeding problems
Insufficient growth
Guidelines indicate that dietary restrictions in the mother are usually not necessary unless there are clear indications of hypersensitivity.
Adjusting your diet is therefore particularly useful when complaints recur consistently and multiple symptoms are present at the same time, in consultation with a healthcare professional.
Merely varying restlessness without other signals is usually not a reason for a strict diet.
Why a varied diet is important during breastfeeding
While breastfeeding, your body uses energy and nutrients daily to produce breast milk. This milk has a relatively stable composition, but your body needs to be able to draw on sufficient reserves to do so.
What a varied diet helps with
To keep sufficient energy available
Supporting your own recovery after childbirth
Prevent vitamin and mineral deficiencies
To support your hormonal balance
If you eliminate many foods without an obvious medical reason, this can unintentionally lead to deficiencies or reduced energy.
That is not helpful in the fourth trimester.
Guidelines therefore usually recommend a normal, varied diet during breastfeeding, unless there are clear indications of hypersensitivity in your baby.
Caring for your baby also starts with taking care of your own body.
Eating fish while breastfeeding
Fish gives you protein, iodine and omega 3 fatty acids. The Dutch Nutrition Centre advises about 100 grams of fish a week. Oily fish is preferred, such as herring, Atlantic salmon or buckling. Do not eat oily fish more than twice a week.
A few types are better left alone. Large predatory fish take up more mercury and other harmful substances. The Dutch Nutrition Centre names fresh tuna, swordfish, shark, pike, pike-perch and eel. Mercury builds up in the body and can affect your baby's nervous system.
Salmon, coley or cod from the freezer or from a tin are fine. If you eat no fish at all, ask your midwife or GP what you need.
Vitamin D for your baby and for you
Babies in the Netherlands get extra vitamin D every day. The advice is 10 micrograms a day, until your child is four. This applies with breastfeeding and with formula. Vitamin D is needed to build strong bones.
For you as a mother there is no separate Dutch supplement advice while breastfeeding. The KNOV gives that advice for pregnancy only: 10 micrograms a day. An advice for breastfeeding women is still expected from the Dutch Health Council. In England it is different. The NHS advises everyone, including breastfeeding women, to take 10 micrograms a day in autumn and winter. If you are outdoors little, or have darker skin, the Dutch advice also applies afterwards. When in doubt, ask your midwife or GP.
Vitamin K for your baby
Vitamin K helps the blood to clot. Every newborn gets a dose of it just after birth. If your baby is breastfed, daily drops follow after that.
The advice is 150 micrograms a day, from day eight until your baby is thirteen weeks old. You buy the drops yourself at a chemist or a pharmacy.
If your baby gets formula, vitamin K is already in the milk. Extra drops are then only needed below 500 millilitres a day. If you give both, talk to your midwife or your child health doctor.
Frequently asked questions
Will my baby get colic if I eat onions?
For most babies, there's no strong evidence for this. Gas from your intestines doesn't reach breast milk. Only in a small group of babies could nutrition potentially play a role.
Should I avoid cabbage or beans?
No, not by default. Further investigation may only be useful if there are clear and recurring complaints combined with other symptoms.
Can coffee make my baby restless?
Caffeine can sometimes cause this. Small amounts are usually not a problem, but high intakes can cause restlessness in some babies.
Is spicy food harmful during breastfeeding?
Usually not. It can subtly change the taste of breast milk, but that's normal.
When should I adjust my diet?
In case of consistent complaints combined with skin problems, abnormal stools or growth problems, consult a professional.
Is a special breastfeeding diet necessary?
No. A normal, varied diet is usually recommended unless there are medical reasons to restrict something.
Rest around nutrition in the fourth trimester
The postpartum period is full of advice. Much of it stems from love. The women around you want to protect you and protect your baby from discomfort.
Sometimes a real pattern is observed. A baby who seemed more restless after a certain feeding. A mother who eliminated something and experienced improvement. Such experiences aren't shared lightly.
But what happens at the same time is not always cause and effect.
And meanwhile, you're already carrying enough. During pregnancy, you've probably already avoided products, made more conscious choices, and adapted. That requires attention and sometimes even restraint.
After the birth, there may be space again.
Breastfeeding doesn't require a strict or perfect diet. It requires sufficient nourishment, healing, and trust in the body that already supports this process.
Unnecessarily cutting back can unknowingly create tension in your relationship with food. This is a time when you need energy and gentleness.
You don't have to look at your plate every time your baby cries. You don't have to limit yourself out of fear.
Food can be food again. Part of taking care of yourself.
And that's enough at this stage.
Love,
Bobby
Sources
Written by Bobby, maternity nurse at Bobby Kraamzorg. Last updated: September 2026.