We all love the spicy and crunchy snack, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. However, will these tasty snacks negatively affect your baby while breastfeeding?
Overall, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are safe for breastfeeding women and their breastfed babies. While spicy food can impact the taste of your breastmilk, intense flavors can promote variety in the baby’s diet when they begin to eat solid foods.
This article will discuss more information regarding the safety of eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while you are breastfeeding and whether this can cause any discomfort to your breastfed baby.
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Is Eating Hot Cheetos Bad or Unsafe When Breastfeeding?
While many mothers worry about eating spicy foods, such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, while they are breastfeeding, it is entirely safe to do so.
If you are consuming foods with stronger flavors while you are breastfeeding, it does change the taste of your breastmilk (source: Journal of Human Lactation: Official Journal of International Lactation Consultant Association).
However, this is not a bad thing! Research shows that breastfed babies that are exposed to a variety of strong flavors in breastmilk can learn to like these flavors (source: Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism). This can contribute to the acceptance of a wider variety of flavors once the baby begins to eat solid foods.
In other words, the spice present in foods such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos can actually be beneficial to your baby in the long run because they can learn to like the strong flavor and be more accepting of more flavored foods in the future, even if they do not like them at first.
Unfortunately, a study found that many women unnecessarily restrict their diet while they are breastfeeding for a variety of different reasons, including the belief that certain foods can contribute to infant fussiness (source: Canadian Family Physician).
Research actually shows that there is very limited evidence for the effectiveness of modifying foods in your diet while breastfeeding to ease infant colic (source: The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews).
Therefore, continue to enjoy spicy foods in your diet, even while breastfeeding.
Do Hot Cheetos Affect My Breast Milk?
As mentioned above, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos will affect the flavor of your breast milk. However, any food you eat has the potential to influence the taste of your breast milk. Differing flavors of breast milk can be very beneficial to your baby as they age because it can help them accept a wider variety of tastes when they begin to eat solid foods.
Can Hot Cheetos Give My Baby Gas?
There is no evidence that Hot Cheetos or spicy foods, in particular, can give your baby gas or reflux. However, any food has the potential to cause gas in your baby, so it is essential to keep your eye out for any patterns that you notice (source: Texas Children’s Hospital).
For instance, if you notice that your baby has gas or reflux every time you eat something spicy, such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, then it may be worth trying to avoid spicy foods for a while and seeing what happens. A food that causes one baby gas may not affect another baby at all, so it is crucial to simply monitor for symptoms.
I hope you found this article helpful for discussing the safety and effects of eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while breastfeeding.
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