Fact or Myth: Must New Mothers Avoid Cold and Sour Foods?

Mostly a myth. A new mother can eat dahi, fruit, achaar, lemon and cool drinks without harming herself or giving her breastfed baby a cold; what really matters after delivery is enough food, enough water and clean, freshly cooked meals.

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Where the chilla food rules come from

The forty days after birth, the chilla, are treated with great care in South Asian homes. The new mother is kept warm, given gond ke laddu, panjiri, ajwain water and hot soups, and told firmly: no dahi, no chawal, no khatti cheezein, no thanda paani, no fruit from the fridge. Why? The fear is that “cold” foods will give her joint pains later in life, block her milk, or give the baby a cold, cough or colic through the milk.

This comes from the traditional hot and cold (garam and sard) way of classing foods in Unani and Ayurvedic thinking. It also comes from real history. Before clean water and fridges, stale or unwashed food really could make a weak new mother very ill. Keeping her on hot, freshly cooked food was a smart hygiene rule dressed as a temperature rule. Chinese “sitting the month” and many other cultures have near-identical customs, which shows how universal the care behind it is.

Keep the love. The warmth, rest and attention of the chilla are worth keeping; only some food bans have outlived their reason.

What the evidence actually shows, in plain words

Start with colds. Colds are caused by viruses, which pass from person to person through coughs, sneezes and hands. A bowl of dahi or a glass of cool water doesn’t carry a cold virus, and it can’t pass a cold to the baby through breast milk. In fact, when a mother does catch a cold, her milk carries antibodies that help protect the baby.

Now milk. Breast milk is made from the mother’s blood, not straight from her stomach; the milk stays at body temperature no matter what she drinks. Sour pickle? Not sour milk. An orange doesn’t turn milk “cold”. Neither does ice.

And the joints? Joint aches after childbirth are common, but they come from hormones that loosened the ligaments in pregnancy, lifting and feeding a baby in awkward positions, and poor sleep. Not yoghurt.

Myth: the baby gets a cold or colic from the mother’s food

Relax. Most breastfed babies are fine with whatever their mother eats, including dahi, lemon, rice and fruit. Colic and evening crying are very common in the first three months and happen in babies of mothers on every kind of diet. You didn’t cause it.

A small number of babies react to cow’s milk protein in the mother’s diet, with blood-streaked stools, eczema or constant distress. That’s a medical question for your baby’s doctor, who may ask you to cut dairy for a trial. Don’t cut whole food groups on guesswork, because every food you drop out of fear shrinks your own nutrition at the very time your body is healing from birth, making milk day and night and running on broken sleep. Eat.

What is actually true: the rules worth keeping

1. Eat freshly cooked food. Leftovers go in the fridge within 2 hours and are eaten within a day, reheated until steaming hot all the way through. This is the real wisdom inside the old rule.
2. Drink enough. Keep a glass of water (about 250 ml) beside you at each feed and drink to thirst; pale yellow urine means you’re getting enough. Cool water is fine; room-temperature is fine; warm is fine.
3. Include dahi and fruit. A katori of dahi gives calcium and protein. Seasonal fruit (orange, guava, banana, papaya) gives vitamin C and fibre, which also helps the constipation many mothers get after delivery.
4. Keep protein at every meal. Daal, eggs, chicken, fish, chana or paneer help the body recover from birth and blood loss.
5. Keep your iron and vitamins going exactly as your doctor prescribed; don’t stop or change them on your own.
6. Keep caffeine moderate, about two to three cups of chai a day, since a little passes into milk.
7. Enjoy traditional foods in sensible amounts. A laddu or a bowl of panjiri is fine, but they’re heavy in ghee and sugar. Our look at methi, panjiri and lactation myths covers what they can and can’t do for milk supply.

Your baby, by age: what reaches them

• Under 6 months: nothing but breast milk or formula. No water, ghutti, gripe water, herbal drops, and never honey under 1 year, sugar water or tastes of the mother’s food. Your food reaches the baby only through your milk, and that’s enough.
• 6 to 12 months: solid foods begin alongside milk. Plain yoghurt and fruit are among the good first foods; no salt, sugar, ghee or honey added before 1 year.
• Over 1 year: family food, including dahi and fruit, cut safely.

Safe sleep doesn’t change for a baby with a cold or a “chill”: flat on the back in a bare cot, never propped or given a pillow.

Find more family sayings checked in the Fact or Myth series, and baby care in Bachon Ki Sehat.

What new mothers ask about cold and sour food