Dairy Free BF Mums- Questions

[MsWilson]

Hi, DD is 3mos and CMPI. As of tomorrow I will have been 100% dairy free and about 90% soya free (my multivitamin has a soy letchin coating..) for three weeks. I am BF and supplementing with Neocate for two feeds. My questions are this:

1. did you stop eating beef as well? (one website I saw said you should remove beef too)

1. are food products containing vegetable oil ok? (again-another website I saw said sometimes soy is in vegetable oil?)

1. DD's poos are back to yellow and no more runny nappies (hooray!) but she still sometimes cries and pulls away when BF. I don't want to give up BF but feeling like maybe I should just go totally Neocate. Is three weeks still too soon to see if my Dairy free/soya free diet has worked?

Thanks X!

1. No I didn't. I believe there can sometimes be cross-reactions but I don't know how common they are. Ds1 was certainly fine with beef.

1. Vegetable oil is often soy, and an allergist I saw said that you don't really know which bit of the soya they are reacting to so it's best to avoid soya oil as well. I looked into it a bit and guess who funded the research that said soya oil was non-allergenic - the soya producers. If the label just says 'vegetable oil' it's best to assume it's soya, but you could always call the company making the product and check. It may be rapeseed oil or sunflower oil or whatever was cheapest at the time. I didn't call very often but when I did, saw it as educational - letting the food companies know that people worried about soya content in their food!

1. After 3 wks I think you could try reintroduction one morning and see how she is that evening. But given that you have already seen a clear improvement I think you should be ready for a negative effect. If that happens it's best to avoid milk and soya for the next six months.

But why do you think you need to give up breastfeeding? The pulling away may be something else - you could go to a good (properly trained) breastfeeding counsellor or call the La Leche League to explore this.

Bear in mind these are just my opinions but ds1 was cmspi as well.

Sorry, have no experience of being dairy-free but the pulling away when bf is fairly common and likely to be unrelated - if you post in the breast and bottlefeeding section I'm sure someone will be able to advise.

I'm afraid I can't advise but I thought I'd let you know I'm in exactly the same boat with ds! Although I was advised to cut dairy and egg, soya is the next thing on the list. Good luck, it's such a pain trying to solve the problem isn't it? I'm so jealous you don't have the leaky nappies any more , although ours are back to yellow after 2 weeks which is a start!

ditto, we're on a dairy free diet (or I the BF martyr - thats what it feels like sometimes)
on week 3,as someone who relied on cheese for their treat/ lunchtime staple its a real bugger (if you'll pardon me).
I also wonder about the beef.. who knows. I think the difficulty is there are so many variables, its causing me a lot of anxiety worrying if I should also cut other stuff out.
(its like the carol vorderman detox diet with none of the bikini buying pleasure at the end of it!)

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Unfortunately we have had really bad nights the past four nights. DD has been hysterical crying and having really bad reflux and bringing back my breast milk... (she seems to be able to keep the Neocate down...) Went to see another consultant today for another opinion and she also said like my first consultant that I should stop BF full stop. If I do and DD is still upset then they will know there is something else wrong with her but right now because I am still BF there might be another protein in my diet besides milk she is allergic to..

Feel really gutted as wanted to go to 6mos at least BF'ng, but this whole experience is really taking a toll on my husband and me (and our marriage), plus more importantly seeing DD so hysterical and in pain makes me so upset.

Best of luck to you all with your dairy free adventures-

Sorry to hear about the problems for DD. I went on an extensive food exclusion diet (the sort a dr would not recommend) out of sheer desperation. We started by taking out the most common allergens - milk, egg, wheat, fish, shellfish, soya, nuts, peanuts, legumes. I kept to a very bland diet and slowly introduced things back in. 1 cup of tea a day with a tiny bit of milk was enough for a reaction; same for soya milk.

1. still ate beef and was I glad of that

1. avoided anything with an ambiguous label so if it said vegetable oil, no I wouldn't touch it.

1. 90 % soya free does not equal a soya free diet.

A. for some foods e.g. egg it would take 4-6 weeks for the resonse to clear up. 3 weeks isn't always a good cutoff but you should see a difference.

I found that keeping a food diary was an immense help. Because of problems with milk and soya, DD was breastfed for 18 mo and the reason this was possible was because we figured it out (drs kept insisting she couldn't possibly be reacting to anything in my breastmilk [hmmm]). DD is now labelled as milk/egg/peanut reactive and bloodwork with food challenges are next on the list to see if it a true allergic reaction.

I really hope you manage to figure it out soon, for DD and for the family. I can remember how stressful that period was for us and wouldn't wish it upon anyone.

Thanks Mamakoukla. You are a better woman than me. I don't think I would be able to do an exclusion diet like that. But glad you were able to find out what your DD problems were. Good to know about the vegetable oil. I said 90% vitamin free because the multi vitamin I was taking had a soy letchin coating.. ugh.. have now switched though.

I know, when I tell people who have kids w/o allergies how stressful its been, they say "oh I know, babies are so hard" but then I am like, "no, really its been really really bad!"

1. Absolutely not - does not contain CMP!

1. Yes, they are ok.

1. 3 weeks is long enough to see whether it's worked. Crying & pulling away when bf can be for a whole host of reasons other than allergies. Breastmilk will be much better for her in the long run than neocate, esp if prone to allergies.

What are the signs that a baby is intollerant to cmp? Bf babies nappies are runny anyway?

MsWilson, I don't know about a better woman... just sheer desperation drove me over the edge and I was at the point where I was willing to try most things

Trust me, I did cry when I broke my diet and DD was onto soya milk (the reaction had stopped... she used to get a classical hives pattern all over her back with soya) and no more BF. But I ENJOYED the 'normal' food. Bizarrely, it was like there was too much choice after being so restricted. Now a few kg heavier... oops!

They vary Tara, but in my dd's case she would scream for around 20 hours in every 24, had the most horrendous blistered and bleeding nappy rash that didn't respond to treatments, was sick a lot and pooed almost constantly. This continued until 16 weeks when I gave up dairy, and within a few days it was like having a different baby!

With my ds we picked up the signs a lot sooner, and eliminated dairy around 3 weeks.