Dawrat HayatWhy gas does not transfer
This deserves a clear explanation, because the belief is superficially logical: if hummus makes you bloated, why would it not bloat your baby? The answer lies in the route each thing takes. Breast milk is made from your blood, not from the contents of your stomach. What enters the blood is what is digested and absorbed: proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins, and some small compounds. Gas, by contrast, forms in the colon when bacteria ferment fibre your body could not digest — and that fibre, by its nature, was never absorbed, which is precisely why it reached the colon. The resulting gas stays in your gut and leaves from there; it has no route into your blood or your milk.
And there is a practical observation supporting this: infant colic and wind are very common in the early months regardless of the mother's diet, and occur at roughly the same rate in formula-fed babies. That is, a baby cries and cramps because they are an infant whose digestive system is still maturing, not because their mother ate ful.
What about spicy food and seasoning?
Here the story differs slightly but the conclusion is equally reassuring. Flavours do pass into milk — garlic, cumin, and spices change its taste a little, and this is documented. But that is not harm; it is considered an advantage: your baby gets used to the flavours of your kitchen before starting solids, and studies suggest infants exposed to varied flavours through milk accept new foods more readily later. Chilli specifically: its pungent compound does not transfer in a way that makes milk "hot", and there is no reason to remove chilli or pepper from your food.
The only reasonable exception is your own observation: if your baby refuses to feed or is clearly and repeatedly unsettled after one particular item, there is no harm in reducing it and watching. But make it one specific item, not an entire category.
Myth A breastfeeding mother must give up hummus, ful, legumes, cabbage, and spicy food, because these all bloat the baby's tummy and cause colic and crying.
Fact This is among the most widespread myths in our homes, and among the most harmful despite being said with love. Gas does not pass through milk, because it forms from unabsorbed fibre in your colon; and colic is common in infants regardless of the mother's diet, at roughly the same rate in formula-fed babies. Major health bodies do not recommend that breastfeeding mothers eliminate any foods preventively; the recommendation is a varied, sufficient diet. The harm here is concrete: the list grows with every piece of advice — no legumes, no cabbage, no spice, no citrus, no onion — until a mother finds herself eating rice and bread during a period when she needs nourishment more than ever. Legumes in particular are among the cheapest available sources of protein and iron, and cutting them is a real loss. Eat your usual food, and if you genuinely suspect one item, test that item alone rather than a whole category.
When watchfulness is genuinely justified
There is a real condition, though far less common than assumed: food allergy through milk, most often to cow's milk protein. This is quite different from "wind", and its signs are clearer and more severe: blood or mucus in the baby's stool, a persistent rash, repeated diarrhoea or vomiting, poor weight gain, or intense continuous crying day after day rather than a passing evening spell. If you see these, the step is not to cut out legumes but to see your paediatrician — because the culprit is usually not what you would expect, and eliminating foods without supervision harms your nutrition and rarely hits the target.
And if your baby cries in the evening, pulls up their legs, and seems uncomfortable without those signs, it is most likely ordinary infant colic: it starts around week two or three, peaks around month two, then subsides on its own. That is genuinely exhausting, but it is not your fault, and not your dinner's.