How long does your food take to come through in your milk?

[puntasticusername]

DS2 (five weeks) has been rather unsettled this afternoon, from about 2pm onwards, with painful wind at the bottom end - and he's done a couple of rather nasty liquidy poos (even more liquid than a normal bf poo I mean!). He seems to be feeling better now that he's got all that out of his system.

I've previously noticed similar symptoms after I've eaten spicy foods, which I know can often upset bf babies when they come through in the milk. The only spicy thing I've eaten just lately was a tomato soup at about 8pm last night. Is it likely to be that that's been upsetting LO this afternoon/evening?

(I'm rather hoping it isn't that, I love my curries I do, don't really want to give them up for the next five months...)

DS is allergic to dairy and soy and will be ill 2-3 hours later if I accidentally eat it.

I was wondering about that, but I eat dairy (and wheat) daily and we don't see these symptoms every day.

Soya is in lots of foods incl some vegetable oils, ice cream, chocolate. Youghurt
Could it be a gassy veg, broccoli, garlic, cauliflower Tec?

It's really unlikely to be the food. Babies in Asian countries would be permanently ill if that were the case! Thoughts about onions, spices, etc (I've even heard fizzy drinks! ) are really just old wives tales unless your baby has an allergy like Superworm's does. Even then, allergens which agitate through milk have to be fat-soluble for them to come through, and not all babies have problems with it - I know a woman whose baby is allergic to dairy but it doesn't affect him if she eats it.

Superworm - sorry, just realised you were talking about timing, not substance. Duh. My excuse is that I am on quantities of sleep that are consistent with having a 5wo baby...

Bertie so what you're saying is, I don't have to give up curries. I am LIKING the cut of your jib. I had no idea that it's now thought that food doesn't have this effect though. I'd assumed that babies in countries where spicy food is eaten more often just adapt to it better and sooner, out of necessity (or perhaps they always have yucky nappies, I dunno...).

Breastmilk is basically just blood with the red blood cells taken out and fat added. Okay, there's a little more to it than that, but essentially, it's blood.

People like to blame a lot on breastmilk... if it was really so fragile how would we have survived for millennia with only that as our first form of nutrition?

What you eat is unlikely to be causing the gassy tummy in your baby. The kellymom site has more info...

I noticed mine cried a lot if I ate parsnip or garlic .... lo and behold same effect when she was weaned maybe it's rare but not impossible. Also issues seem worse during teething. I really regretted garlic potatoes on Valentine's day ( and also Brussels at xmas)
There are also a lot more allergies now/ diagnosed ones

Great article whereisshe :) I love the notion of a FF mum shaking her fist at the negligent dairy farmer who let their cow eat some clover

But even so foods you eat can affect your hormones etc
So for thyroid people Brussels sprouts are noted to cause a problem so even if the food itself doesn't maybe go into the milk your milk supply can be affected say people advices someone to take fenugreek for supply, well if they don't have a problem they they would get too much supply too much formilk and gassy baby
So even if you don't believe it obviously can have an affect
Also when I saw Dr they didn't disagree but said bf is the best thing.
I think for my lo it causes reflux (soya)
However if this is the cause of yours you will notice a pattern, hopefully it's a one off any baby can be fussy occasionally.
We have allergies in the family so more likely that it was this.
Allergies and intolerance can take hours or days depending and can lots of different symptoms

Could it have been too much foremilk?

Right, but the content of breastmilk isn't affected by hormones. The production of it is which is why fenugreek can improve supply and certain drugs or herbs (St John's Wort for example) can inhibit supply.

It might be that something was affecting your individual baby but generally it is not the case that food affects babies through breastmilk, all information on it is anecdotal, there is no evidence. Foremilk/hindmilk theories are thought to be outdated now too. It could have been the milk but as the article says it could have been clothing, or a breeze, or feeding position or just a weird blip in the development/growth of their gut or an emotional/stress related upset (actually a lot of clinical evidence for this though not necessarily in babies, but if it can affect adults why not? Babies don't have a lot of ways to process emotional or stress related stuff) or a million other things that we will never know because the baby can't tell us.

Wow, this is really interesting, thanks everyone!

I think (DH was on nappy duty yesterday pm, so not totally sure) that the poos were yellow rather than green - the green ones seem to be the really nasty buggers. Come to think of it, if food is definitely not likely to be the culprit the whole thing is probably down to the fact that DS has had a cold lately. We have been seeing lots of mucus in his nappies, so perhaps it was just that making him uncomfortable. Thanks all!

I did look on Kelly mom and it clearly says milk and soya allergies can affect the baby through bm due to the proteins in them.
See dairy and other sensitivities on bf babies
It did say that garlic does go into milk and make it taste different.
But does say other foods are unlikely to cause a problem. But I suppose that is because cmp and soya are 2 of the biggest allergens
Superworm if you are still about I'm interested in soya allergy what affect does it have on your baby?
I suspect though that many mums who diagnose milk allergy or soya when bf go on to find they are allergic to it when weaning or put on formula
Tbh I think you just have to be in the situation yourself when you know it's not anything else, same position , only used 1 , always inside, always evening, (don't theme to eat the foods morning ) but not colic as continued way past that. For her it was causing upset stomach and vomiting (soya) the vomiting continues at 20m after soya.

Op I'm glad it doesn't seem to be the case for yours
Possibly a visit to a bf support group.
Mine did frequently have green/ yellow poop but then she pooped a lot I think up to 8 times a day more generally about 5 and now at 20m on cows milk still 2-3, oh to have had a bf baby past first few weeks that didn't go for days so inconvenient when you want to go out

Soy has a big effect on him, poor thing.

When he was little he would be farty, had frequent green poo, mucous on his chest, patches of eczema and was generally unsettled and a is poor sleeper.

Now he is nearly two his symptoms are similar but his poo tends to be constipated, a bit green with a film of white mucous on it. He tends to do lots of little poos and they have always been quite acrid and cause bad nappy rash very quickly. They have a distinctive smell.

The sleep has been the biggest issue tbh. Soy is in everything too. It's a nightmare.

Could definitely be a cold - colds can make poo green and mucousy, probably because (disgusting but) babies aren't able to cough and sneeze the phlegm out and blow their noses etc so it gets swallowed. And then because all they eat is milk it shows up as something different.

I agree sleep is the worst. Generally waking a lot. I think the soya causes her reflux so from 6m or so she slept on tummy. It is always worse around teething.
Her sleep off soya is lots better 12 hrs straight after sleep training.
No eczema but had cradle cap.
Soya does seem to be in so many foods but I tend to think more in one's not too good for young children ice cream biscuits chocolate etc luckily seems fine with soya flour in bread.
It helps dissuade over indulgent grand parents from handing over treats which can only be a good thing
I think there shouldn't be so much in food but I esp disagree with it in formula which you think is cow's milk. I originally though it was cow's milk allergy as soya is in so many milk products.
But it's in also margarine and oils:(.

OP has the baby recently started dribbling? Extra saliva seems to push food through quicker. Can't agree or disagree about colds as dont think mine had 1 for a year

Not much dribbling evident atm, no. I think the cold is probably the most likely culprit. He does seem like a pretty windy baby in general - there's nearly always something going on at one end or I other - mind you, his dad's the same...

Sounds like the cold is the culprit.

There are lots of things that make poo green, virus, teething. Allergies are pretty uncommon and come with loads more symptoms, so I wouldn't worry.