Going dairy free to breastfeed 2nd child?

[StoryOfMyLife]

My 3 year old dd was diagnosed with cmpi at about 3 months. The time prior to that was a hell of trying to breastfeed, pumping, her dropping through the Centiles. She was so unsettled and in pain until she was diagnosed. She's still cmpi now at 3.5.

I'm now expecting dd2 in June, I am desperate to make a better go at breastfeeding.

I'm wondering if there is any benefit in going dairy free before this baby? Is there more chance of my second child having cmpi since my first did?

Thanks!

Story, I don't know what official stats are, but i do know several of our friends who have had 'allergy' children have had another allergy down the line with next child. Having said that, i think that you would be better not going DF initially, and only changing should you need to, if symptoms show. If your DD2 doesn't have an allergy at birth, you increase the chances slightly of her developing one if you delay her exposure.

The best thing you can do is to start taking probiotics regularly (get some for DD1 as well), as they will both reduce the chance of DD2 being born with allergy and also reduce the 'average' time frame for DD1 to grow out of CMPA.

If DD2 is born with CMPA/I, then you know how to drop out the dairy from your diet and it will only take a very short time to get it sorted. Remember also that if you think it's CMPA but cutting out dairy doesn't work, there are a lot of other foods that might also be triggering (soy and egg probably the next culprits after dairy).

Sorry; 'best' thing you can do is my opinion... someone out there may know better (but if so, i'm yet to come across the research).... but i'll keep an eye out. DC3 due in May, we're swigging probiotics daily here.

PS. DS2 born with multiple allergies. Some of those things I hoovered during his pregnancy (dairy, eg), some of them i basically didn't touch (peanuts, eg).

My second didn't have cpma, my first did. I gave up milk (& other things he was allergic to when he was diagnosed when weaning started and carried on breastfeeding). In hindsight he was a very unsettled baby with hideous eczema - both of which miraculously cleared when I cut them out of my diet.

I didn't cut them out when my second was born but was very alert to the signals that might suggest that he was allergic to them and reacting to them in my breastmilk. He was fine though.

I'd be wary of cutting allergens out of your diet until it's clear there's an allergy. You need to be very careful that you are getting enough calcium when breastfeeding and cutting dairy out makes that very difficult. Plus also there are schools of thought that frequent exposure to allergens increases tolerance of them (DS has become more and more allergic to nuts since we cut them out of his diet).

Am in same position. Planning to stay on dairy and see how next one gets on. Maybe think about cow's milk protein allergy a bit earlier if new baby as colicky and refluxy as DD was. What probiotics are you taking? Do you know they are safe in pregnancy?

I'm on Symprove. They're expensive, but one of the few that DS2 can actually take without reactions, plus they actually get to the gut without being mostly killed in the stomach by the digestive system. Definitely safe in pregnancy. Seem to help my normally recurrent pregnancy thrush as well; haven't had it since i started taking the symprove, which is a bonus!

Thanks. Looked at their website - it says consult with your doctor first before using in pregnancy. Will look into this.

Your call, of course! My son's doc recommended it :-)

As far as I am med to believe there is I conclusive research that tells us excluding food groups in pregnancy will prevent allergies.

Dd1 has severe allergies to milk eggs and nuts. Dd2 has no known allergies. No idea why!