Can wheat affect a breastfed baby?

[SachaF]

Hi.
My ds is 19 weeks. He has exzema, has been a very windy baby (esp at night) and been snuffly (people keep saying ' ooh, the poor chap, he's got a cold' and I keep thinking 'surely a cold can't last 9 weeks!?'). I am alredy dairy and egg free for my own food intolerances. DH suggested I cut wheat out of my diet as he is sensitive to gluten. After a week ds has a clear nose and has gone back to only waking for feeds at night, not for bottom problems (touch wood, 3 nights now).
So, am I right to be linking these effects to eliminating wheat from my diet or is it preposterous that wheat could pass through my milk and it's all just a coincidence?
If the former, should I speak to a HV or a GP about this and will I be able to eg get pasta on prescription for me (as I will soon tire of potatoes, rice and oats).

[MrsBadger]

no idea, but Sainsburys Free From corn pasta is pretty nice...

[SachaF]

Cheers Badger, I will have to look to find out if I can get similar stuff from Asda or Tesco or Morrisons (no idea where my nearest Sainsbury's is!)

[mamado]

I'd say possibly. My dd1 is allergic to dairy and eggs and we noticed when she was just breastfed - all the Drs and specialists say this is extremely rare, but I think maybe some people are more sensitive to noticing these things . Can you get ds referred for allergy testing from your gp?

[MrsBadger]

bet most of them do it - Sains is the only one I've actually eaten!

[SachaF]

I guess I should give it a try with the GP then. I'm so bad at going to the GPs, they are always so busy! and things like this seem quite minor at the time but I guess as time goes on it will have more of an impact so better to get tested now I guess?

[Beachcomber]

Yes it is possible for wheat consumption in the mother to affect the baby. Both my babies were like this, I found dairy gave them exzema and wheat runny noses just like you.
Well done for following an elimination diet it's not always easy! Good luck with everything.

[hobnob57]

Hi SachaF,
My dd is now 22 weeks and for all of that time has struggled with stuffy nose, horrendous bloatedness, bowel spasms and either mucusy nappies or diahorrea, despite me being dairy-free. I finally found a website here where others had had the same problems... Found it in desperation after the Worst Night Yet and remembering I'd previously been having a bit of a hobnobfest! I've been gluten-free for 4 days now and dd has slept through the night for 3/4 nights.... amazing! She is still farty, but seems less bothered about it. Am so angry at being fobbed off with 'colic' for all this time, despite me pestering the hv weekly! (things have been complicated by silent reflux though). Prescription pasta would be great, but Tesco do do some stuff (Sainsburys are better though). Am considering switching to formula for my ownhealth, but the hypoallergenic stuff is evil in dd's mind and has put her off bottlefeeding entirely. Rather PANTS since I go back to work in 3 days!

[SachaF]

Thanks for the advice/support and that web site does make interesting reading. am seeing hv monday and will mention it for 3rd time but at least this time I do have a solution to give them and am pretty convinced, hopefully they'll take me seriously (they already want me to weigh him regularly, although 25th% is nothing to worry about especially given mine and dh's weight, just that he has gone down from 75%)

[hobnob57]

Let me know what the hv says on Monday... I'd love to hear their take on it.

[tartanchatterbox]

I do know that when I drank orange juice (which I was on because I had anaemia) my milk "turned" really quickly. When I expressed the milk and fat instantaneously separated and I found it impossible to store Anti-biotics had the same effect. So it is ridiculous to suggest that your worries are unfounded.
I asked the same question of my GP and she said it was not unlikely that I was right! (Took me a while to work THAT out - whether she agreed or disagreed). I even had to supplement my feeding because she was bringing up so much breastmilk!
Don't let any GP throw you the "we have already tested to Coeliacs or wheat intolerance and it came back clear". According to the Allergy Bible, most babies should be tested within 5 days of having wheat products for them to come up as being positive or negative for intolerances.

[pamplemousse]

I would say go with your impulses, if it works, keep doing it. Its not going to be forever too... Also ime hv and gp's know next to nothing about food intolerences and allergies and tend to dismiss it rather readily.
I don't eat wheat or dairy either and if I lapse (like eating soup thickened with wheat flour when your friend doesn't tell you, grrrre!) dd's eczema gets red and itchy, she gets colicky and is generally evil! (Bit like me after wheat!!)
I hate that corn pasta! I prefer the one from Sainsburys in a tan coloured packet, Salute or something? They also do dairy free pesto, yum!

[SachaF]

FWell I saw the HV yesterday and she has advised me to see the GP as it needs to be put on ds's records and that I should definately be referred to a dietician. If the GP doesn't she said come back and she would write a letter of referral for the GP to sign. So I have GP appt Friday and have chosen to go with the one whose interests are in paedeatrics(sp?). I will write down the things to say / what I want from it otherwise I am bound to forget! Must remember to be pushy....
Corn pasta - not bad - but £1.50 for 250g so for 1 meal! Have treated myself to TruFree spaghetti, double choc chip cookies and a Mrs Crimbles everything free cake. Forgot I didn't have any rice cakes in store so today have ended up cobbling things from the fridge into corn tortilla's - blt not as nice as it sounds in a tortilla wrap!