Is it possible to relactate?

[flyingbeet]

I exclusively breastfeed my baby who is 5 months old. However she isn't tolerating it well. She seems to always have abdominal pain, loose mucusy and bloody stools. I have been trying to get help since she was 1 month old but it's been so frustrating to continuously chase doctors up and them just referring me from place to place. I figured on my own that she has cows milk protein allergy. Excluded dairy from my diet and saw a big difference. It's now been months but she is still having the same symptoms and it seems to be getting worse. Although I really don't want to I'm thinking of starting her on hypoallergenic formula. I think she may be allergic to something else in my breastmilk but I can't seem to find it. The transition will be tough because she is always comfort feeding/feeding to sleep. It's the only thing that makes her stop crying. So although I don't want to I feel like I have to. I'm hoping she is transitioned to being fully formula fed by the time she reaches 6 months and I can start her on solids. That way I can observe any allergic reactions.

Once I know what she can't tolerate I plan to cut that out of my diet and re-start breastfeeding. Has anyone re-lactated before? I'm a FTM and don't know what would be wise. To continue breastfeeding or starting hypoallergenic formula

Relactation usually involves a strict schedule of pumping every 3 hours, sometime with the help of domperidone, and it doesn't always work.

It would probably be easier to cut out common allergens from your diet - eggs, wheat, soya, fish and shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame. It’s most likely to be one of those, and unless you eat a lot of fish or eggs it shouldn’t be too hard to cut out most of those. Not straightforward, but probably easier than relactating.

When you say comfort feeding, is she having frequent feeds or is she staying on for a long time? If the former, and you swap sides for each feed, there may also/instead be an issue with her getting too much foremilk which is sweeter and creates more gas when digested than the fattier hindmilk. You could look at block feeding to help with this. I found this helped with my baby who also had CMPA, egg and soya allergies.

Where are you based? Can you see an allergy paediatrician privately?

Would be easier to get an allergy price test and find out any allergies from there

It's probably easier to pump and dump for the time you'll have stopped rather than stop and then try to relactate.

Which HA formula are you thinking of trying? They are expensive so could be worth comparing to the cost of private allergy testing.

Will be easier to cut allergens from your diet. Bear in mind if she's allergic to dairy, she will likely react to soy which is in EVERYTHING. I have the same issue and the only way forward was to cook everything from scratch. It's incredibly hard to eat out and I can’t be bothered anymore. It's made a huge difference to my baby. Hypoallergenic formula doesn't taste nice and breastfed babies tend to reject it so it's not a perfect answer.

Have you now reintroduced dairy?