While there are foods you should not eat while pregnant, all bets are off while breastfeeding. When pregnant, food goes from your mouth, to your stomach, to your intestines, to your blood stream when it goes directly to your developing baby through the umbilical cord.

Undercooked/raw fish like sushi, hot dogs, lunch meats, and unpasteurized milk (certain cheeses) increases the risks of exposure to certain types of bacteria during pregnancy. Listeria, a bacteria that causes listeriosis, is a type of food poisoning that can pose a serious health risk for you and baby. You are at a higher risk of getting listeriosis when pregnant and passing that bacteria directly to baby via your blood. When breastfeeding, food goes from your mouth, to your stomach, to your intestines, to your blood stream, to your breast milk, to your baby’s stomach and finally to their blood stream. The process is much longer. Foods that may make you sick from food poisoning will make you feel sick, but won’t usually cause the same symptoms in baby because the process to their blood stream is so much longer. While your baby may have individual food sensitivities, there is no master list. You can eat the lunch meat, hot dogs, sushi, soft cheeses, cabbage, beans, and coffee to your hearts content.