Breastfeeding and a sugary/dairy diet?? Causes problems?!

[mumchez]

Hi all, my dd2 is 4 weeks old and has had a couple of really difficult days this week!! I'm wondering if this could have anything to do with what i consume!??
I moderated how much dairy i was having when she was a few days old, and she didn't seem to be so aggravated- by this i mean pulling legs up, crying, can't sleep, wriggiling and straining.. then exhausting herself and finally sleeping.. - and she seemed to get better!
Now, i have found that i think eating too much sugary stuff, as in chocolate (which im a monster for now im breastfeeding ), gives her a similar reaction!! Today she has pooed twice, and a struggling twice, and usually it would have been double! Her poo is really bitty, looks like undigested bits, and it's sticky!!!
Am i on the right path with the sugar/dairy thing?? As in she finds it hard to digesT?? Obviously eliminating things one by one will tell me, but i only clocked on today with the sugar thing - lack of sleep and all!!! Any one had similar with their lo??????

[CastsSpellsWitchySpells]

Chocolate contains dairy! If your DD is dairy intolerant then you will need to remove dairy from your diet completely whilst breastfeeding. It's a pain, but worth it.

[mumchez]

castsspells- thanks for pointing that out for me, the chocolate thing i never clocked on for that one!!! baby brain kicking in again!!!

[Spidermama]

IME dairy can have a real impact. I think it did on me as a baby (or rather my mum now believes this) and I think it did on my babies.

It's worth cutting it out for a few weeks and looking for an improvement. Sugar's a possibility but less likely. It's so tempting to eat it because we feel so tired with our small babies.

Good luck. I know how distressing this is.

[hairymclary]

mumchez, I'm not going to say that dairy/sugar can't have an effect on your baby but at 4 weeks old it's very difficult to say whether her behavious is down to that or is normal baby behaviour iyswim?

pooing twice is normal, as is having 'bitty' poo, in fact you'll find that she has all kinds of poo in all shades of the rainbow lol

when you say it looks undigested what do you mean? My ds often had stringy bits and lumpy bits and all kinds and i honestyl think it's all normal and not a cause for concern.

Again, pulling legs up, crying, wriggling etc is all normal baby behaviour

[mumchez]

yeah the little lumpy odd bits, thats what i have found in her poo!! i had similar with my first daughter but to be honest, i have forgotten a lot of things .. i was just wondering if anyone had tried eliminating certain foods and them having effect on their lo?? anything for a little peace in the evenings!!! even if it does mean no more chocolate

[NotQuiteCockney]

You can get dairy-free chocolate. But chocolate does have a fair bit of caffeine in it, which is actually one of the most common causes of colic in bf babies, iirc. Cutting out caffeine (chocolate, coffee, tea, energy drinks) has been good for lots of babies.

That being said, it's more likely that she was just being an awkward bugger. It's her job.

[hairymclary]

a lot of babies like to cluster feed in the evenings,so it might just be that if she's cryinga lot or getting agitated.
do you feed on demand? she mightb e better if you just keep her with you in the evenings and feed her whenever she wants rather than trying to put her to bed earlier.
apologies if you're already doing that though

[mumchez]

notquite- thanks for pointing that one out to me too, caffeine and chocolate , gosh my brain isn't switched on!!!

i usually feed on demand, she has a couple of times when she goes 3-4 hours in day just sleeping, the rest im normally feeding every 2-3 hours on demand! we bought 'colief' to try but im not too keen on the whole expressing thing, putting it on a spoon and then having to give it before every feed!!

[Guapina]

Hey Mumchez

My DD had similar prob and we had some terrible nights with her seeming very uncomfortable. She recently had diarrhoea that wouldn?t seem to go away although she seemed fine every other way, I was told it could be teething but recently spoke to a HV who said try cutting out Diary, mainly milk cos I drink a lot of it (I love milk). since then I have cut milk (not all diary just Milk and yoghurt)and she has been 100% she does poo in bits and my sil is a medical student and says it now looks normal after about 3-4weeks of green goo. HTH DD now 5 months and I wish I cut milk out a lot earlier. I have cut sugar intake down too...but still love a tiny bit of chocolate every now and then