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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Quitting milk while breastfeeding. Any good?

4 replies

user1485182339 · 13/07/2018 12:39

Xposted.
I'm considering cutting out milk from my diet to see if it will make DC happier. No allergy, but it was suggested that maybe they are intolerant to something I'm eating. Milk seems the first port of call based on what I've read. I do drink a lot of milk. Is lactose free milk a good alternative? Or does it have to be soy or almond or the like? And would I have to cut out other dairy like cheese and butter immediately too, or could I only do milk? TIA.

OP posts:
DunesOfSand · 13/07/2018 12:54

If you are going to do this, you need to cut ALL dairy (and all hidden dairy, which means reading all the labels). It isn't the lactose DC is possibly reacting to, but the proteins (lactose is in Breast milk), so lactofree isn't sufficient.
It isn't an easy thing to do, unless you are fairly dairy free already (breakfast was the only hardship for me, I eat very little dairy, and DS was intolerant). Your best best is to cut everything for a week or 2, and see if it makes a difference.
It's worth taking a decent supplement.

user1485182339 · 14/07/2018 07:48

Thanks. That's helpful. This is going to be hard. 😬

OP posts:
NewElthamMum13 · 14/07/2018 08:20

It is unlikely that dairy in your diet will be affecting your baby, unless there is a diagnosed allergy there. I was involved in breastfeeding support for years and felt that it is one of those things that people suggest so quickly, and mothers make a herculean effort to eliminate dairy, but usually the only difference is that a) time passes, babies settle a bit whatever you're doing, b) mother suffers and life gets more complicated, and c) bystanders get impression reinforced that BF is difficult and complicated. Yes, some babies do have cow's milk protein allergy, but it's much rarer in breastfed babies than in formula fed (only 0.5% as opposed to around 5% formula fed) . It may be that this is your baby's issue, but I'd try easier steps first - have you seen a breastfeeding counsellor? If baby is fussy, could it be eg oversupply? Block nursing made a big difference to one of my babies, for instance.

IF the baby has a cow's milk protein allergy, that is a different matter. Lactose - free milk is a red herring and unrelated to CMP allergy. Lactose is just a sugar found in milk. Your body makes lactose in your milk even if there is none in your diet.

Kellymom on CMP allergy is helpful.

Whatever you decide to do, it may be helpful to keep a careful diary of your baby's symptoms now, to see if any patterns emerge. This becomes very important if you do start an elimination diet as it can be hard to look back objectively and be sure whether it's made a difference. If you think 2 weeks of eliminating CMP helps, you'd then need to challenge that really by reintroducing CMP for a few days, to check if things change or if, in fact, baby is the same. I think when you've done something difficult like changing your diet, there's a strong incentive to want to feel all that effort was justified and to want it to have made a difference. It is important to check, though, because if it's not CMP - yayyyy! Back on the ice creams for you!

Here's an NHS article on CMP allergy.

LaBelleSausage · 14/07/2018 08:36

Just want to reiterate that it will have to be all dairy. Also it will take up to two weeks to leave your system and another two weeks to leave your child’s system so you might have to be totally free of all dairy for a month before you see any results.

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