Lactose & cmpi 5 month old screaming after bf although I'm dairy free - do I give up?

[specialagentmeh]

Anyone been through this? Really wanted to bf to a year. 3 weeks ago DS had three days of mucousy, green, blood flecked nappies. Seemed fine in himself but weight gain had levelled off.

Reducing substances stool sample tests for lactose & cows milk protein intolerance were both positive.

GP prescribed Neocate, but phoned Paed registrar who said cut dairy continue breast feeding. (My prefered option.)

I have cut all dairy & soya, reading labels etc for the last fortnight & not had anything obvious - milk, butter etc. for 3 weeks) However, BF seems to make him more & more irritable, screaming etc afterwards)

We've given a few Neocate feeds after which he is happy & contented. Should I stop breast feeding? It seems to really be hurting his tummy.

he could have a temporary lactose intolerance if he was ok with your milk prior to 3 weeks ago. There is lactose in your breastmilk which could be why he is still reacting when you bf him. If it is temporary then he should be ok in the future with bm.

There is a lot of info on kellymom

Lactose intolerance and the breastfed baby

Thnks seona. Kellymom is great. I will read it again - I'd got the idea that as the LI is often temporary, I could feed through it, but it seems not to be the case without making DS suffer.

the gut will take some time to heal, so it may not be yr current breastmilk, just his inflamed tummy.

I second the advice it will take time to settle. Stick with the dairy free but I would also cut out egg - they often go hand in hand (my daughter certainly turned the corner when i dropped both dairy and egg). It is horrible when they seem so distressed, you have my sympathies.

My first son was and remains highly allergic to dairy, egg, wheat and nuts. He didn't really have symptoms until 4 months then severe eczema tummy pain etc until I figured out the allergy link. From memory it took good few weeks to settle feeds and had to be strictly dairy free and mainly egg free. Interesting if I ate wheat or nuts it never affected him. Managed to carry on bfeeding til 18 months when he went on(reluctantly!) to oat milk... Did try neocate but too late, I think they won't take to it if older asit tastes yuk so u might consider giving him it 1x day or even less just so he keeps happy w it? Other thing is bfeeding and cutting out dairy made me v underweight so keep up your calories! Was really toug
h when he was little but he is happy tall and healthy now, it does all work our w time and support. Good luck

My first son was and remains highly allergic to dairy, egg, wheat and nuts. He didn't really have symptoms until 4 months then severe eczema tummy pain etc until I figured out the allergy link. From memory it took good few weeks to settle feeds and had to be strictly dairy free and mainly egg free. Interesting if I ate wheat or nuts it never affected him. Managed to carry on bfeeding til 18 months when he went on(reluctantly!) to oat milk... Did try neocate but too late, I think they won't take to it if older asit tastes yuk so u might consider giving him it 1x day or even less just so he keeps happy w it? Other thing is bfeeding and cutting out dairy made me v underweight so keep up your calories! Was really toug
h when he was little but he is happy tall and healthy now, it does all work our w time and support. Good luck

Thanks everyone for advice. I'm up to 3 weeks of no dairy & egg. Loving choc oat milk! DS been taking the Neocate reasonably happily. Still breast feeding and sometimes seems ok, sometimes seems to really irritate.

Last night he went really mucousy, an eczema patch on his face appeared & his tummy was sore. It occurred to me that I'd opened a "frube" yogurt for DD with my mouth & some went in. Could this small amount set it off?

Hi specialagentmeh, I have been going through a similar experience with my DS although his problems have been screaming, back arching and silent reflux. I was first told to stop all dairy and soya too, which did help a bit but he was still not well. And then to take out egg. After that again some improvement but still not settled like he had been up to 3 weeks of age. I was them told the main things left that are allergenic and go through breast milk are wheat and gluten. As you know yourself, having given up all the others is really tough when you are a busy mum that depends on snacking, and I was losing weight a bit too quickly without wanting to and starving all the time. We were told to introduce neocate and give him at least 14 days on just neocate and then try reintroducing breat milk if I could handle the diet. Despite really trying to because I love bf and I bf my dd up to 16 months of age, I just couldn't cope with the diet and exhaustion.

We are lucky in a sense that we are already under an allergy specialist for our DD, so we got very appropriate advise early on. But she always clearly stated that if his growth ever started to slow down then I would definitely have to stop bf. and if that's happened with your DS then I think you really need to think about this. Please remember general paediatricians like the one your GP spoke to have very little knowledge of allergies. We know this only too well from our experiences with both DD and DS.

And although it was hard giving up bf, I feel so much better in myself, I was starting to feel really unwell despite taking supplements. I didn't realise how awful I felt on it until I stopped and am now feeling normal again. And my DS is so much better for me stopping. I found the guilt hard too, seeing him scream really badly on some nights and racking my brain for what was it that I ate that's made him so bad.

Good luck and I hope you make the decision that's right for you and your DS.

Chocamilk that is really good food for thought. I appreciate it as it doesnt seem easy to access an allergy specialist at all. My first instinct too was that although I love bf, if his growth was slowing, something needed to change.

But then I've read so much pro bf info online and lots of it says you can feed through lactose intolerance with an elimination diet.

Sorry for the drip feed (seemed like tmi in my op!) but an especially hard decision with DS as he has had such a rough start - a brain haemorrhage in utero, straight into intensive care at birth and then operations to fit a shunt to treat his post haemorraghic hydrocephalus. Bf was obviously an effort to get going with the expressing etc, but felt like the one thing I could do to help him.

One of the main problems he could face is if he gets an infection in the shunt and I thought with the evidence re bf lessening chance of ear infections etc, it might help protect him a little against this.

But then, due to the brain damage from his haemorrhage, he also risks developmental delay and if he starts 'failing to thrive' due to these feeding issues/ reacting to allergens in the bm, I'm sure that won't help him develop.

For now I'm still mix feeding. If I didn't have DD (3)to look after too, I'd maybe try 2 weeks totally off bf whilst expressing to maintain supply, but I don't think there are enough hours in the day!

Oh special I really feel for you. Well done for managing to bf through all of that, your DS is really lucky you managed to do all that.

I agree that if your DS sounded like he only had a lactose intolerance that you could bf with an elimanation diet. But he shouldn't really have slowed down in his growth with lactose intolerance, and at this age it is very rare to have lactose ntolrance, much more likely cows milk protein allergy.

I found the guilt both ways very hard to deal with. But our consultant told us to help me that from the immune system point of view, baby gets all the main benefits if you've managed up to 6 wks of bf, which is why HV etc really try to get mums to bf for at least the first 6 wks. Our comsultant said she hates telling mums not to bf because she knows how emotionally it's a great bonding experience, but obviously you have to put babies health first. I am very pro bf, as our so many mums on MN, but you also have to take each case on its own. And like you say, any growth problems is basically a sign the body is under stress, so this really won't help with any developmental issues. It is a tough decision though, so just take your time and do what's best for both of you. I also have a DD (aged 2) so the expressing frequently didn't end up happening for me either!