>...Since gas from beans is caused by a local reaction of a high fiber, hi carb
>food incompletely digesting and subsequently fermenting (oh joy) in the GI
>tract of the mother, I'm not sure how the gas then gets into her blood stream
>and into the breast milk to cause gas in the baby...   (Jan B.)

>...Pardon me, since I am not a dietician or medical professional, but I
>thought it was indigestible *sugars*...  (Rachael)

Nutritionists use "sugar," "carbohydrate," and "fiber" in overlapping
contexts.  But if it passes the small intestine without getting digested
and absorbed, makes it to the large intestine, is digested there by our
friends, the intestinal bacteria, who by the way are the ones who actually
make gas, then we can safely assume it did not get absorbed into the
bloodstream and from there into the milk.  Therefore Jan is right.

Of course we humble nutritionists are learning new things about digestion
every year (who'd have ever thought cow milk molecules could make it into
breastmilk without killing us off by anaphylaxis first?) but I am going to
stand by the time-honored concept that "indigestible sugars" (long chain
carbohydrates, really) are not going to be absorbed whole and go traveling
through the bloodstream.   Nor is the blood "carbonated" after a dinner of
beans.

I liked Jan's other thoughts on causes of baby fussiness.

Arly

[log in to unmask] (Arly Helm, MS, CLE, IBCLC)