Nicole Richie appears on the cover of this week’s People with baby Harlow, and the little six week old is super cute and aware-looking.

In the excerpt of the article available on People’s website, Richie talks about breastfeeding and having to limit the type of foods she eats so that her baby isn’t colicky. In my experience and from what my friends report it’s true that what the mother eats affects the breastmilk, particularly in the first few weeks. This gradually goes away after a few months after which you can start adding foods back into your diet.

My son was very fussy until I cut out milk and bread. While some people say that it doesn’t matter what the mother eats and cite the spicy food and diets of different cultures, proteins from the mother’s diet do pass into the milk, especially in the first few weeks and months. I’m really glad that Richie mentioned this because it’s come up with several of my friends with their first babies and doesn’t get much attention.

“It’s almost like I don’t even remember what life was like before her. She gives life a whole new meaning and a whole new purpose.”

As for breastfeeding, “There’s just so much I can’t eat because she’s sensitive,” says the new mom, 26. “I eat really bland [food] – chicken noodle soup, vegetables, fish. I had to cut out milk, no tomatoes, no lettuce. You think you have to cut everything out when you’re pregnant, but you really have to cut everything out when you’re breastfeeding.”

And while Richie says, “I don’t know” how long she was in labor, “because I don’t know what time I actually went into labor, but I pushed for 10 minutes,” Madden, 28, said of his daughter: “She came out and she was crying. The doctor goes, ‘Well, it looks like you got a little girl!’ “

[From People.com]

The Journal of the American Medical Association says that pregnant and breastfeeding women should be careful not to eat peanuts because they can possibly cause peanut allergies in their children. From my anecdotal experience again, this is true. There were two women in my La Leche League meetings who had children with peanut allergies and said they frequently snacked on peanut butter sandwiches when their babies were little.

Congratulations to Joel and Nicole. Seeing that cute little one reminds me how quickly the time passes. Good for her for speaking candidly about breastfeeding and having to limit your diet. I know this made me lose weight quickly after my son was born as I subsisted on turkey, chicken and rice for a couple of months. I never quite got as thin as Nicole is now, though.