I am breastfeeding my 9 week old who has been diagnosed with both colic and reflux. I have seen a few paediatricians now and keep getting conflicting advice. One told me to stop dairy and i did so for a month. Baby started to feed better but a second paed. i saw on the weekend said it was because he had adjusted to my milk supply (which was too fast initially) and i could eat dairy no problem. He laughed when i told him i was off dairy like i was stupid. I've had a bowl of cereal each day for just two days and almost immediately he has gone crazy again feeding really badly. Just curious if anyone else is off dairy or went off dairy or any other food whilst breastfeeding.
does your diet affect your breastfed baby?
- Thread starter aussiegal
- Start date
dairy
I went off dairy and it had no effect on the reflux. I read some articles that say that the relation between dairy and reflux is an old wives tail. But I have friends say that dairy affects their babies so who knows. I went on and off so many foods to try to sort it out that though the results of that were sometimes all in my head or coincidences. Best cure was time really. Bubs just grew out of it between 3-4 months. Still spits up more than a normal baby though but none of that painful heartburn and vomiting. A friend of mine had great success with craniosacral therapy and there is a post about that somewhere on Geobaby. It sounds absolutely crazy if you read about what it is exactly, but I did contact someone that does it and she said that you can do it yourself at home once you're taught what to do. My friend swears it cured the reflux. Who knows.
I went off dairy and it had no effect on the reflux. I read some articles that say that the relation between dairy and reflux is an old wives tail. But I have friends say that dairy affects their babies so who knows. I went on and off so many foods to try to sort it out that though the results of that were sometimes all in my head or coincidences. Best cure was time really. Bubs just grew out of it between 3-4 months. Still spits up more than a normal baby though but none of that painful heartburn and vomiting. A friend of mine had great success with craniosacral therapy and there is a post about that somewhere on Geobaby. It sounds absolutely crazy if you read about what it is exactly, but I did contact someone that does it and she said that you can do it yourself at home once you're taught what to do. My friend swears it cured the reflux. Who knows.
It is definitely possible that your baby is reacting to sometime in your milk especially if you have allergies on either side of the family. Then it is beneficial to avoid the foods you or the baby's father are sensitive to, while your baby is quite young. It is also helpful to breastfeed frequently. If you have a problem with dairy, for instance, proteins from cow's milk present in your own milk can cause problems for your baby. But there's a good chance your baby will not be sensitive to these foods, later in life, if the baby is breastfed. This is because breastfeeding lessens the baby's chance of becoming sensitized to the allergen.
You have already seen an improvement by cutting out dairy would it be difficult for you to continue to stop dairy while your baby is so young? It may be that as the baby grows you can start to reintroduce the diary without any problems.
There is a very good article (written for LLL Leaders rather than mothers) called
Allergies and the Breastfeeding Family
http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAugSep97p75.html
There are other causes to babies being fussy. One is an oversupply in the mother. Sometimes with an oversupply you can see milk around the corners of the baby’s mouth as he feeds. Occasionally, mothers whose babies are receiving a high level of lactose are advised to reduce the amount of dairy products in their diets so that there will be less lactose in their milk. This is not necessary because the amount of lactose in a mother's milk has nothing to do with her diet; her body manufactures it especially for baby.
One solution to this is to only feed on one side at each feed. If you are already doing this you can continue feeding on one side for a set number of hours and then change to the other side. Usually I suggest staying on one side for three hours but if there is still a problem increasing to four hours. (Be careful that the non used side doesn’t get too full.)
More information about this can be found at
What is the difference between foremilk and hindmilk?
Is my baby's fussiness caused by the lactose in my milk?
http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/foremilk.html
Best wishes,
SARAH
You have already seen an improvement by cutting out dairy would it be difficult for you to continue to stop dairy while your baby is so young? It may be that as the baby grows you can start to reintroduce the diary without any problems.
There is a very good article (written for LLL Leaders rather than mothers) called
Allergies and the Breastfeeding Family
http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAugSep97p75.html
There are other causes to babies being fussy. One is an oversupply in the mother. Sometimes with an oversupply you can see milk around the corners of the baby’s mouth as he feeds. Occasionally, mothers whose babies are receiving a high level of lactose are advised to reduce the amount of dairy products in their diets so that there will be less lactose in their milk. This is not necessary because the amount of lactose in a mother's milk has nothing to do with her diet; her body manufactures it especially for baby.
One solution to this is to only feed on one side at each feed. If you are already doing this you can continue feeding on one side for a set number of hours and then change to the other side. Usually I suggest staying on one side for three hours but if there is still a problem increasing to four hours. (Be careful that the non used side doesn’t get too full.)
More information about this can be found at
What is the difference between foremilk and hindmilk?
Is my baby's fussiness caused by the lactose in my milk?
http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/foremilk.html
Best wishes,
SARAH
If your child is allergic to cow's milk (which a lot of children are, incl my son), then definitely it can be a cause of reflux AND colic.
Colic can be caused by the child's skull being "indented" during birth, putting pressure on some parts of the brain. This often happens with c-section births and births that engage any sort of anaesthetics. Craniosacral therapy (CST) can help in this case. There are CST courses available in HK but "professional" CST practitioners are recommended for babies. Read more on www.upledger.com. Note, I have taken level 2 CST and work on my 4 yo son on minor issues and leave the major ones to professional practitioners.
Rgds
e
Colic can be caused by the child's skull being "indented" during birth, putting pressure on some parts of the brain. This often happens with c-section births and births that engage any sort of anaesthetics. Craniosacral therapy (CST) can help in this case. There are CST courses available in HK but "professional" CST practitioners are recommended for babies. Read more on www.upledger.com. Note, I have taken level 2 CST and work on my 4 yo son on minor issues and leave the major ones to professional practitioners.
Rgds
e
It is not common, but for some babies there can be a problem mom taking cow's milk. I would stop again for a few weeks, and the try once more, if it is happening again, it is probably not a coincidence. Just make sure you are getting alternate sources of calcium for your own bone health.
My first daughter didn't react to anything.
My second daughter tested positive to lactose intolerance, which is apparently quite common in small babies. I switched to soy milk for a few months (uggh that was revolting) and she was better. When I drank cows milk I could hear her little tummy gurgling, poor darling. She outgrew it very quickly - about 3/4 month's'ish from memory. She is 17 months now and quite happily drinks 3 sippy cups of cows milk a day, no problems. There is no history of allergies in our families, so I was quite surprised to have the problem in the first place.
Other friends children have reacted to onions, strawberries, green vegetables, all sorts of funny things !
My second daughter tested positive to lactose intolerance, which is apparently quite common in small babies. I switched to soy milk for a few months (uggh that was revolting) and she was better. When I drank cows milk I could hear her little tummy gurgling, poor darling. She outgrew it very quickly - about 3/4 month's'ish from memory. She is 17 months now and quite happily drinks 3 sippy cups of cows milk a day, no problems. There is no history of allergies in our families, so I was quite surprised to have the problem in the first place.
Other friends children have reacted to onions, strawberries, green vegetables, all sorts of funny things !
Thanks everyone!
I stopped the dairy after having it for two days and now two days later things are settling down again. The thing i'm finding hardest at the moment is that my son wants to feed a lot to get comfort (mainly from colic i'm told) but that makes things worse because he ends up having milk permanently in his tummy upsetting him and giving him wind. Not to mention the milk that won't go down at all and stays in his throat or chest til he spits it up. Also, because i have a tendency towards an oversupply of milk feeding often overstimulates my breasts and makes it harder for him to drink and for me, my breasts get so full they're painful after just a couple of hours. I can't go too far from home because the only position we can comfortably feed in is lying down! not conducive to breastfeeding in public.
It's funny. I couldn't breastfeed my first baby at all and with my second we worked through a lot of issues and i thought that by 6 weeks things would be fine. In reality at 9 weeks i still spend so much time thinking about breastfeeding, about what i'm doing right or wrong, about how i can get him to feed with me sitting down for once! etc. I thought it was supposed to be easy and come naturally! Not that i want to stop. I kind of like having an excuse to go into the bedroom to chill out and read a book while i'm lying down but still...
I stopped the dairy after having it for two days and now two days later things are settling down again. The thing i'm finding hardest at the moment is that my son wants to feed a lot to get comfort (mainly from colic i'm told) but that makes things worse because he ends up having milk permanently in his tummy upsetting him and giving him wind. Not to mention the milk that won't go down at all and stays in his throat or chest til he spits it up. Also, because i have a tendency towards an oversupply of milk feeding often overstimulates my breasts and makes it harder for him to drink and for me, my breasts get so full they're painful after just a couple of hours. I can't go too far from home because the only position we can comfortably feed in is lying down! not conducive to breastfeeding in public.
It's funny. I couldn't breastfeed my first baby at all and with my second we worked through a lot of issues and i thought that by 6 weeks things would be fine. In reality at 9 weeks i still spend so much time thinking about breastfeeding, about what i'm doing right or wrong, about how i can get him to feed with me sitting down for once! etc. I thought it was supposed to be easy and come naturally! Not that i want to stop. I kind of like having an excuse to go into the bedroom to chill out and read a book while i'm lying down but still...
mscheerful
Registered User
my baby was allergy to union. he cried a lot too because of colic so we decided to give him pacifier right after 6 weeks old. He was much settled and eventually came out of it at around 10 weeks.
Try one more day and tell yourself again tomorrow, i will try one more day to breastfeed and soon, it will go real smooth and you don't want to give up b/f. Seriously, i wanted to give up on day one but still do after 6 months! Chill out and cheer up
Try one more day and tell yourself again tomorrow, i will try one more day to breastfeed and soon, it will go real smooth and you don't want to give up b/f. Seriously, i wanted to give up on day one but still do after 6 months! Chill out and cheer up
I have just listened to a tape from the LLLI Physician's Seminar 2006 entitled The Breastfeeding Dyad: The First Year and Beyond by Lori Ricke, MD, FABM.
When they were talking about allergies another doctor explained the problem that she had been finding a lot. That the food intolerances in the mother and the fast let down work together to cause problems in the baby.
For the allergen to cause a problem for the baby it has to first cross through the mother?s digestive wall into her blood stream and then into the milk and then through the baby?s digestive wall in to the baby?s blood stream.
The doctor believed that the over supply and fast let down caused the allergens to pass easily from the mother?s blood to the milk and thus into the baby?s digestive system. She commented that often the mothers with an over supply and forceful let down had protein allergen problems with the baby (usually dairy) even though their own intolerance problem was so slight it didn?t affect the mother. So the problems I mentioned in the above post are likely to occur together.
Eliminating dairy and working to reduce the forcefulness of the let down can help. The method that many mothers find helpful in reducing the forcefulness of the let-down is to feed on one side for a set number of hours. The other suggestion is feeding the baby in an upright position, such as the straddle position.
Best wishes,
SARAH
When they were talking about allergies another doctor explained the problem that she had been finding a lot. That the food intolerances in the mother and the fast let down work together to cause problems in the baby.
For the allergen to cause a problem for the baby it has to first cross through the mother?s digestive wall into her blood stream and then into the milk and then through the baby?s digestive wall in to the baby?s blood stream.
The doctor believed that the over supply and fast let down caused the allergens to pass easily from the mother?s blood to the milk and thus into the baby?s digestive system. She commented that often the mothers with an over supply and forceful let down had protein allergen problems with the baby (usually dairy) even though their own intolerance problem was so slight it didn?t affect the mother. So the problems I mentioned in the above post are likely to occur together.
Eliminating dairy and working to reduce the forcefulness of the let down can help. The method that many mothers find helpful in reducing the forcefulness of the let-down is to feed on one side for a set number of hours. The other suggestion is feeding the baby in an upright position, such as the straddle position.
Best wishes,
SARAH
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Sarah, that sounds just like us. I've gotten rid off dairy again and he's back to feeding pretty well. I am feeding more or less exclusively on one side for a few hours but find that i have to top up a little bit with the right breast if it's a feed before sleep situation as he doesn't get enough from the left one.
thanks for your advice.
Mscheerful- i completely agree with your advice to tell myself 'one more day' and to do it again the next day. It's exactly how i got this far after some problems at the beginning. It's amazing the pressure it takes off if you allow yourself the thought of quitting but tell yourself you'll give it another day before making a decision. It's probably the best advice you could give a new to breastfeeding mother- aside from latching techniques of course.
thanks for your advice.
Mscheerful- i completely agree with your advice to tell myself 'one more day' and to do it again the next day. It's exactly how i got this far after some problems at the beginning. It's amazing the pressure it takes off if you allow yourself the thought of quitting but tell yourself you'll give it another day before making a decision. It's probably the best advice you could give a new to breastfeeding mother- aside from latching techniques of course.