Need advice on breastfeeding a baby with possible food allergies

[tutu100]

DS2 is 9 weeks old. I have posted before about his health problems. At 3 weeks old he was admitted to hospital with suspected hirschsprungs which has now been ruled out. I was advised to go on a dairy free diet as they thought he may have a dairy allergy and he could be getting traces through my milk.

He is still having bowel problems with not pooing and a distended tummy. Due to a lot of hospital mix up's our follow up appointment have been delayed and we have not seen anyone other than our GP who is just keeping a check on him. We now have an appointment next week with the consultant.

I have since also cut out gluten as my brother has ceoliacs disease, my excema has cleared up but ds2 seems to be getting worse. Anyway I am kind of getting to the end of my tether. I am so worried about ds2, and have no answers. I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing by breastfeeding or whether he might be better on formula. Obviously I will ask the consultant these questions but that is a week away and I'm feeling quite depressed about it all today.

Just wondered what experiences others may have had if they breastfed a child who had a food allergy and how they coped, or if people formula fed.

hiya, I would say that breastfeeding is ALWAYS best. esp so if your child is indeed intolerant/allergic to dairy as formula milk is made of cow's milk and you would have to be prescribed a hypoallergenic one.

think of all the goodness and antibodies and stuff that he is being provided with via your milk.. it's no contest really

How long have you been dairy/gluten free? have you seen any change at all? it can take a couple of weeks for it to clear up completely and for all traces of dairy to leave your system, so might be worth persevering?

i cut out dairy and egg for over a year for ds2 and it was fantastic for him. and not really that much of an issue for me once I got over not being able to have cheese lol

what kind of symptoms does your son have?

Started off with pasty poo, sort of plasticine consistency. He then developed a really distended tummy. When we were admitted to hospital they found he was backed up with poo. Although he had been pooing it was only small amount but where he is breastfed I thought that was fine to start with so didn't realise anything was wrong. He started pooing on his own a few days after we left hospital, but his tummy was still distended for a long time. It still is now sometimes.

However in the last week he has stopped pooing by himself again. He then gets terrible tummy pains after a few days so we have to give him a suppository. Then he is like a different baby, very happy and all smiles.

He has now pooed tonight so I'm feeling better (less stressed). It's just when he is in so much pain and the last thing we've been suggested is the problem could be an allergy I keep thinking if he's getting it through my breastmilk, then maybe formula would be better for him as allergens can be completely removed e.g. no dairy or gluten etc.

I don't want to stop breastfeeding as I fed ds1 for 8 months and was hoping to go longer with ds2, it just at the moment I don't know what is causing ds2's problems, but I'm worried it could be me trying to do what I think is best for him - if that makes sense.

I had a terrible time bfing my DS. he used to scream and arch his back the whole time. he had the opposite problem and we went through tons of nappies every day.

It took us until he was nearly 6 months to realiseit was due to allergies.

I had considered dairy allergy at one point and cut out dairy and things improved initially,but then got worse.

it turned out he was also allergic to eggs and soya.

My Ds was allergic to several of the hypoallergenic formulas, he was much better being breastfed with me on a restricted diet.

It was an awful time before we got it sorted out, so I can really empathise with you. I hope you get it sorted out soon.

What tests can they do for allergies trixymalixy? Thats why I'm worrying that I could be causing his problems because I keep thinking what if it's an allergy to something I haven't cut out yet.

I'm happy to have a restricted diet if it works. But I'm just worried I might not have cut out the right things.

One of the doctors we saw when we were in hospital said that an allergy can make a child go either way with either the runs or constipation, but ds2 is gaining wieght really well with they thought he wouldn't with an allergy. They also said though that whatever the problem is, it is probably being minimised by the fact that he is breastfed as it is easier for him to digest and there is less waste so it takes longer before he starts having problems.

bumping for the daytime

My DS gained weight very well even though he was allergic to the proteins in my milk, so my GP wasn't really interested in sorting out why he was screaming while feeding and stopping and then wanting to feed 10 mins later because he was hungry. he said it was a minor inconvenience and DS would grow out of it .

They can do skin prick tests which would determine allergies. The only problem is that they will only test for things you think they might have reacted to, so i would try and say that you are suspicious of as many things as possible if you manage to gte a referral.

We've got an appointment with the consultant gastroenterologist next week. There are food allergies in my family so I think thats why they are going down that avenue. But they do keep going on that his good weight gain means there can't be much wrong which I think is bollocks as you can have quite serious illnesses and still grow normally.

With a suspected allergy it is always better to BF. It takes time to find the right formula (dairy and soya should be excluded in allergic babies) and nanny goat is more indicated for older babies.

DS2 had a severe reflux and for suspected allergies (confirmed later with bloodtest), I had to avoid all dairy, eggs and poultry, fish, citrus fruit, tomato. He would produce explosive poos, so smelly and acid, I had to change him head to toe. Sometimes, his poo was black and sticky.
With my new diet and medicine, both vomiting and diarrhea got better.

The gastro paed acted the same as yours: he is gaining weight so he is fine, WRONG! He was crying all day long, sometimes even while bf . It is called comfort feeding, and they gain weight because they search for the breast 24/7, as they are in pain.

Be aware that 9 weeks may be too young for prick test or blood test, you?d better ask n the allergy board.
Good luck!

Thank you all. I will try asking for any more advice/experiences on the allergy board, but glad to know I am not alone.