to worry about people being told to cut out dairy

[noblegiraffe]

I've noticed on here recently (or maybe I've only just noticed?) that if a mother posts about a fussy baby and she's breastfeeding, it is quite common for someone to suggest the mother try cutting dairy from her diet.

Now I'd have thought that cutting out dairy should be something done carefully and with dietary advice on how to compensate for it.

If you're cutting out dairy, that means you have to cut out nice things like cheese, milk in your cereal/tea, and if you're doing it thoroughly, things like chocolate that contain milk products. This sounds tedious and not very pleasant. It may even convince a mother to give up breastfeeding.

So I would have thought that cutting out dairy isn't something that should be taken lightly.

Also, babies are quite often fussy, and they quite often grow out of it without any intervention. A mother who has cut out dairy may attribute the improvement to her restricted diet and continue on it for months despite it being completely unnecessary and making no difference at all.

It's different to when people make other suggestions on here like 'it might be reflux' because people will need to see their GP before getting a prescription, and tips like propping up the cot are harmless even if it's not reflux. People can go ahead and cut out dairy without any health professional giving it the once-over.

So, AIBU to worry about this advice being bandied about? Or do people not attempt dietary restrictions on the say so of an Internet forum and I'm worrying about nothing?

sounded a bit weird to me too cote but as it's all second hand i really don't know. it was still a shockingly poor diet.

the Uk does not support dairy-free well.

mountain air obviously helps :)

That vegan friend's problem could be pernicious anemia, caused by B12 deficiency - common problem of vegan diets.

The uk doesn't support dairy free very well. As in, restaurants and cafes don't really out anything on their menu. However, I don't really struggle. I have oat and nut milks, vitalite or nut butter and do all my own baking,

The only thing I miss is cheeses but my waistline is thankful!

Erm I think you will all find that Monaco is the country with the highest life expectancy

Even tesco do their own range of almond and coconut milks now.

"almond and coconut milks"

Those are not milk, just some white liquid.

Milk comes from the breasts of mammals.

When I cut out dairy I sought other sources of essential vitamins and minerals. I felt and looked so much better for it!

I still don't get the panic about how hard it is. It's not. U can still make cakes just switch the butter, Swedish glacé non Dairy vanilla is nicer than many of the cheaper dairy ice creams. There are plenty of crisps available. The alpro soya yogurts are perfectly nice as is the custard. There is no need to miss out on cakes and biscuits and pancakes. Dd2 was ill for the first few weeks. She had permanent congestion dry skin etc

I've served entirely dairy free three course meals and no ones even noticed. If you avoid the processed reformed crap that's not good for you anyway then your fine. By rights my dd should be a pale skinny sickly little thing. That's pretty much what everyone suggested. Ill tell you now, aside from calpol when she's had a cold she's not required any antibiotics or anything since she was 6 months old. Shes now two and s half. Compare that to her sister who by this time had had several chest infections and hospital admissions and caught everything going. She fares far better than every other toddler I know, they all constantly cough and sniff and pour with snot.

Some of you make out avoiding dairy is like depriving a child of oxygen.

It really isn't that hard. And I really don't see y people so adamant to breast feed as its best and its natural, wouldn't want to give that a go before resorting to all the artificial preservative and risk laden medicines. Defeats the object surely??

If it was that unhealthy then wouldn't we be tripping over all the collapsed vegans on the way to work????

So I got the name wrong Cote. Still taste great in my coffee and pancakes.

There seems to be two different tables, cote
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Not sure how they are worked out. Either way, I think GDP is probably a better predictor of life expectancy than dairy consumption :)

cote presumably that mother was vegan when pregnant, so its no wonder she was deficient. It would have ony got worse, especially if she didnt have supplements.

Yes, babybarrister, we are all looking at the same page of "List of countries by life expectancy".

The only reason Japan is #1 on that first list you are looking at is that Monaco, Andorra, San Marino etc are not considered as countries there. Scroll down a bit and you will see that #1 is Monaco with 89.73 years at birth. Japan is #5 with 82.25.

Anyway, as noblegiraffe said GDP per capita is a great indicator of life expectancy in a country.

OHFor - I think the more important point there is that her breastfed baby was terribly deficient.

I just checked, soya milk and almond milk are over 3 times as expensive as cows milk. Those who are saying that it is not hard to switch, are you taking cost into account?

Are you putting a price on a happy baby noble ?

When cutting out dairy and soya, I didn't think well actually my baby will continue to suffer just because cheese is cheaper.

No, not at all. But people seem to be saying that it's fine to tell a mum to give a dairy free diet a go because it's easy, that finding calcium elsewhere isn't an issue, and I'm wondering if they think it's not a problem that it's more expensive too.

I'm saying that more care should be taken and that it simply shouldn't be suggested on a whim as seems to happen in some cases.

People are adult enough to make their own decisions. I did it from reading MN and other sites. I'm not a sheep and do realise that posters are not gurus who I must follow blindly.

It's cheaper than constant cab fares and bus fares to a&e and drs!! Think of all the money you save in saline sprays to clear out the nose, washing powder cos you have to wash clothes for the tenth time that day. All that coffee you don't need to drink cos baby isn't keeping u up all night.

Trust me it pays for itself noble

Caffeine, how about in the case of the three month old who was being fussy in the evening, or the baby with the nappy rash?

Do you think a dairy elimination diet would pay for itself in those situations?

I realise that cote, but the mother cannot give what her body does not have.

If she was already deficient before being pregnant, then that would have made it much worse. It would have given the little it had to the baby which wouldnt have been enough, and so continues when breastfed.

I bet my bottom dollar this deficiency started far before her pregnancy even began.