Is my milk harming DS?

[Writerwannabe83]

I'm all over the place at the moment so sorry if I ramble. DS is almost 5 weeks and is EBF.

He's currently in a phase of screaming for hours on end throughout the evening which I assumed to just be normal colic but my friend in a roundabout way said it was my milk that was causing him hard and suggested an allergy.

Last night was horrendous - I was up probably every hour with DS, he'd suddenly wake up and just start screaming. I put it down to trapped wind as he suffers from that a lot but now I'm wondering if it's something more.

His poos have generally been normal, initially having the seedy bits in them but that stopped a few weeks ago (ish) and now they are just yellow/brown and watery. Sometimes they are watery enough to soak into the nappy but I was told this can be normal. I have just changed his nappy now and although there is yellow/brown poo in it, there is also a light green, mucousy and stringy patch.

He's got a lot of spots on his face and chest which I assumed to be milk spots but what if they're actually due to an allergy?

I'm just feeling so confused.

He's generally pretty good at night, last night was like nothing we've had before. We tried Gripe Water for the first time last night so I don't know if that upset his stomach?

He's generally quite a grizzly baby - my DH jokes that DS is either asleep or crying. He's not that bad though and has periods in the day there he's happy and settled and when he sleeps in the day he can do for hours.

I think he has reflux too.

We have issues with his attachment as he had a severe tongue tie and despite it being cut 3 weeks ago we are still having some problems.

I just don't know if he's just suffering from reflux, he's got normal colic or if he's got an allergy or an intolerance.

I'm stressed and crying over it a lot. I really want to BF him and I can't bear the thought of my milk causing him problems and pain

Thanks if you made it to the end if this - I just needed to get it off my chest.

Your friend sounds delightful

It sounds like my dd. She had a tongue and lip tie plus intolerance to dairy and reflux. I suspected the dairy and reflux because of my eldest so I very quickly cut those out and took vitamin supplements/had alternatives for calcium.

The tongue tie took longer.

What I did was I wonder dd after every single feed even if she seemed fine and made sure she was as well latched as could be. This reduced the screaming wake ups.

As for it being your milk - no this is incredibly rare. Babies are rarely allergic to lactose. It's more likely to be intolerance to dairy. Switching to formula won't help if it's that unless you got one of those dairy free formulas.
If it is a lip tie then that's harder to solve. My dd's broke at about 18 months when she crawled off a sofa (!) but I couldn't find anyone to help with it. But you could switch to formula if she has no issues with dairy.

It's a tough call but please don't blame yourself. As for your friend, her baby may have had tongue tie and she never knew.

This sounds exactly like my experience with my DS. Don't feel guilty or feel that you should stop breast feeding - but in my case it was helpful for me to stop eating dairy and soy products. I'd recommend trying that for two weeks and seeing how it goes. Then if it's the same you can explore other possibilities - but to me, that's what it sounds like. If it helps, it's a simple fix and you can keep breast feeding!

You have to weigh up how important it is to BF. A happy baby who sleeps should be the aim. Neither of mine grizzled or cried. People on MN will tell you to breastfeed even if the baby is miserable. If a baby is happy and thriving on breastfeeding then that's perfect. If not then you have the option of many different formula milks. Why would anyone insist on continuing to BF if the baby is unhappy??

Have you tried cutting out dairy in your diet just to see if it has any effect? My DS had reflux, i had a special powder to put in his milk, sadly this meant no more bf. I was just glad that he was comfortable, even if it meant he was on formula.

converseandjeans unless OP knows what is causing the discomfort, stopping BF is not an obvious answer. If it's dairy then the majority of formula will also be a problem. She needs to seek advice but also can try eliminating foods which is fairly simple and painless. I did not suffer from switching to almond milk for a month or two while BF my infant. Certainly not as much as the friend who tried 4 different formulas trying to get to the bottom of her baby's issues.

newbian Yes - exactly!

Ds1 was exactly the same. It's worth going to the gp as it could be an allergy, in which case you may have to cut out certain foods from your diet.

Thank you everyone,

I want to continue breast feeding as long as possible as although some people dismiss the long term benefits of it, it's something that I do believe in and I want my baby to have those benefits.

If he has a sensitivity to dairy then I will cut dairy out my diet, it's no hardship and if it is reflux then I shall just use medication in the same way I did with DS. I would obviously never put my wish to BF ahead of DS's comfort but breast feeding would be definitely be preferable for me over formula if possible.

He's had another 'normal' nappy this morning so that one dodgy one he had yesterday is the only strange one he's had in the 5 weeks since he was born. He's never vomited or had blood in his stools. I think the main thing that has made me think of an intolerance is what my friend has said on top of the pain he seems to be in sometimes. I hadn't even considered an intolerance until my friend's comment but maybe I should have?

Yet like you've all said, babies do cry with colic and trapped wind so it's not as though he's exhibiting behaviours that you wouldn't expect from other babies either.

He gets overtired too and really fights sleep and I think that adds to his screaming.

I'm going to take him to the GP tomorrow to discuss intolerances/reflux so I will just see what they think.

Good for you OP.

I've taken my little babies to the GP with a cold and a small skin infection, and both times the GP (different ones) said "are you breastfeeding? Then I'm not worried". There are benefits from sticking it out, and you've almost got over the worst bit.

Just to warn you that GPs generally know nothing about these issues. They will probably recommend Gaviscon, which is virtually impossible to give to a BF baby. Ranitidine is better but many are reluctant to prescribe. It was only when we were finally referred to a paediatrician that he took the idea of an allergy seriously - and told me Gaviscon is the most useless and over prescribed medication for babies! Good luck - you may have to advocate hard and take matters into your own hands.

Bue - thankfully I went through the whole Gaviscon/Ranitidine issue with DS1 so I'm well prepared. To be fair, the GP I saw didn't put up any resistance and just gave me the prescription. I wish I could remember which one I saw and I'd ask to see him again

In my experience it wasn't 'normal' for either mine to cry at length either during the day or at night. I would have found that really distressing and stressful. I think if a baby is crying lots then there must be something wrong - cold/over tired/hungry/in pain.
You wouldn't carry on feeding a toddler/small child/teen something that upset their tummy or wasn't substantial enough for them to not feel hungry.
Surely the most important thing is that the baby is settled and content rather than the obsession with how they are fed. Everybody knows that the ideal is to BF and it's great for those who have babies who latch on and take a good feed. Not all babies are able to gain enough nourishment from just BF and might need a top up. New Mums shouldn't be made to feel guilty - it's not always in the best interest of the baby to BF exclusively.
It sounds like the friend is genuinely concerned and wants to help - she is just passing on what happened to her.

The issue is converse that the the alternative to breastfeeding isn't nessicarly going to improve reflux, colic or allergies. In fact the evidenced suggests the opposite. so while it can be meant well suggestions of switching to formula to a mother wanting to breastfeed aren't helpful but can undermine her confidence further.

converseandjeans no one is disagreeing with your wider point but OP wants to BF firstly, and secondly if a child was very allergic/intolerant to mother's milk, then it's extremely unlikely that child can digest cow's milk based formula. So that's a matter of seeing a GP and potentially needing a hydrolyzed formula prescribed. It's not as simple as "well you tried just switch to formula," that's what we're all getting at.

Besides the fact that what OP describes to be honest sounds like run of the milk colic/reflux that infants tend to outgrow! So why stop BF for that? Better to confirm with a GP and not make rash decisions based on what her friend told her.

converse - it is distressing to see him cry, it really upsets me. When I was getting him ready for bed tonight, as soon as we laid him down on his back for his nappy change he started screaming so loudly, and clearly sounded in pain, it was horrible. It was very symptomatic of reflux and I'm hoping that's all I'm dealing with.

He's had lots of sleep during the day today (he's been out and about in his pram and on long car journeys) and although there was some crying/upset at bedtime he was much easier to settle and then he slept for 4.5 hours which is the longest he's ever slept for at night.

Today I dramatically reduced the amount of dairy I had (not cut out altogether though as I had butter on my sandwiches) and I will continue to do this. I have also made an appointment with a lady who deals in baby slings who I'm seeing at the end of the week to see if using one will also help with his reflux.

He's had 4 dirty nappies today all of which continued to be normal.

I'm feeling more positive at the moment - probably because I've just had a block of 4 hours sleep. He's settled back off since the feed he's just had so I'm hoping for some more sleep myself (currently 2.30am).

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts, advice and support. It's been a stressful few days and I'm hoping after seeing the GP tomorrow we can take some steps in alleviating DS's upset.

Hey wanabee I'm so glad his symptoms are improving. I'm on day two of no dairy and have also noticed an improvement in my dd.

Have you seen the app the wonder weeks? It talks about when babies have developmental leaps and when your baby will be most fussy /uncomfortable from simply just growing. There is a big leap between weeks 5-6

I've always been a bit sceptical about the Wonder Weeks but I do have the App

I'm just back home from the GP's and to cut a very long story short o have got some Gaviscon and Ranitidine. The GP asked me to try the Gaviscon first and if there's no improvement in 3 days to switch to the Ranitidine but I'm pretty sure she knows I'm going straight for the Ranitidine

Ah really that's interesting - what makes you sceptical?

Hope the ranitidine works!

I don't know - I guess I just find it odd to think that someone has claimed that every single baby at a certain week of its life learns a new skill or emotion (or whatever the current leap is) and that one baby experiences it at the exact same point of its life as every other baby does.

Admittedly I haven't read all the research and theory behind the concept but it just seems a bit far fetched to me.

Of course I may be completely wrong but it's just my opinion

Hope DS settles down better now. It sounds very stressful for you :(

Thanks Converse. We opted to go straight for the Ranitidine because we knew trying Gaviscon was going
to be a big waste of time.

We had a much better night last night on that he fell asleep on my shoulder without any screaming at all and when I put him in his basket he stayed asleep. Normally within minutes of him going on his basket he starts gulping and spluttering, starts hiccuping and then wakes up screaming but last night none of that happened. He fed much better overnight, no squirming or pulling off or crying etc, he just fed and went straight back to sleep.

Hescwoke uo in a good mood and is currently lying on his play mat and he isn't screaming.

It's all very strange!!

It may just be a coincidence and I'm not going to count my chickens just yet, but I will take pleasure in having had a much better night

writer that is amazing! Well done for getting it sorted. So glad he will be in less pain. Must be really distressing to hear & it's great the doc was able to prescribe something.