Dairy intolerance in 3 week old?

[SpringySponge]

My exclusively breastfeed 3 week old has had a lot of problems WRT excessive wind & sickness. Some days it's been worse than others, but the last two nights have been awful. This morning he woke at 4am & I fed him almost constantly until midday, because every time he fed he was sick & we were pretty much back to square one. This is the worst example so far of an ongoing problem.

I've realised that the incidences of this coincide with me drinking milk before a feed. When I've not had any milk, things seem to be better (although this is a retrospective conclusion & may be flawed). Today I've stayed away from dairy entirely & the wind is much less & the sickness stopped.

I've had a look in the archives & have seen that this has been associated with reflux & so on. I'm not sure if what we're dealing with here comes under that category, or what to do about it (I'm not sure I'm able to cut out dairy, & I've not yet tested to see how much I can get away with without symptoms being caused).

Any advice would be appreciated, because I'm detesting BFing at times at the moment & am horribly exhausted

No idea Springy, but bumping for you.

me too - bar cutting out dairy all together and re-introducing it bit by bit - or maybe cut down and see if that helps - Good luck!!!!

Bump again, as I was passing by!

I know milk proteins can take a week plus to leave your system, but I've no idea how long it would take from not drinking milk to seeing an improvement in symptoms. I'd be wary about cutting out dairy unless absolutely necessary because this will severely restrict your diet and can make it difficult to consume enough calories (though I admit for me this was only a problem for the first month of being dairy-free - I seem to be able to find plenty of calories now unfortunately...). Could you maybe just see whether reducing the amount of milk you drink helps your lo's symptoms? Might be better for you if that works.

I too gave up all dairy - except butter - when ds2 was 3 weeks. All his colicky symptoms stopped and he slept much better. He also fed better. It took about a week to see the full effect. Over easter I ate a tiny cube of cheese and the next he was sick and cried all day

All I can say is that if you have a dairy allergic/intolerant baby, breast milk is by far the best thing for them to have. There are formulas available on prescription but they aren't supposed to be very pleasant (post on the allergies board if you want any information about them).

At 3 weeks a lot of babies are windy and colicky because their digestive systems are immature. The only reason I saw anything unusual in ds2 is because ds1 is also intolerant so I was half expecting it. The only way to know would be to cut it out if your diet for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I found I could still eat butter (thank gawd!) and ds1 also tolerates it. You may find you are able to eat some things. Then get your HV to get you an appointment with a dietician, for yourself but also in preparation for weaning.

You say you aren't sure if you can cut out dairy - is there a reason? Beyond it being a PITA I mean!

As AcademicMum said, be careful with cutting out dairy from your diet, you need to make sure you are getting enough calcium too. But my children are dairy intolerant, and I had to limit the amount of dairy that I took while bfing them.

I hope you find the right balance for yourself, and get advice from a dietician if you are cutting out dairy totally.

Hope the situation improves for you soon.

agree with theprovinciallady. breastmilk is best for any baby, but I think even more so for a child with potential intoerlances/allergies.

I too cut out all dairy, and egg, with ds2 and he was like a different child.
it IS hard to start with, but you get used to it. I did it for well over a year with ds2 and tbh I actually feel sooooo much better without it and rarely eat it any more now anyway.

I know how hard breastfeeding can seem too, esp if you're sleep deprived as well. but it's so satisfying when it works. I see it kind of as a short term pain for long term gain in a way.
having had a formula fed and a breastfed baby I can compare and it's def easier to breastfeed in the long run, even though you prob feel totally knackered right now.

Hi spingy sponge your post took me back 4 years to when dd1 was born (and was my introduction to mn!)

Your ds sounds very similar to my dd, with the sickness and colicky symptoms ( I had tried pretty much everything on the market for colic before I found mn). When dairy intolerance was suggested, things started to make sense for me, and like you I did a trial day (or 2) and it made what I felt was such a significant difference that I continued.

My dh was diary intolerant, so I knew what to watch out for ( the hidden dairy in pre packed food is the hardest to get rid of as it comes in so many guises) the allergy boards are always a good place to go for advice. I'm also vegi so did (when I remembered) take calcuim supplements to be on the safe side.

What clinched it for me was feeding dd after having asingle twix, and having the old screaming sdemon baby back for 24 hours.

FWIW when I was weaning we were refered for allergy testing, but this came back negative, But with hindsight she is intolerant not allergic (as is dh), although on a positive note she appears to have grown out of it now!

Oh and a second positive, I lost loads of weight bf as I had to be realy creative with food, and found so much of the stuff I was eating had empty dairy calories

Good luck and if it works for you and you ds stick with it

My problem with cutting out dairy is that I'm more or less a vegetarian anyway. Through my pregnancy I ate chicken (craving!), & whilst I can continue that I feel a bit weird eating anything else. It was easy to turn my mind off to the chicken thing because I wanted it so badly & I'm sort of used to it now. Eating anything else would be a massive struggle for me. Cutting out dairy would effectively make me a vegan, give or take a bit, which isn't convenient or a particularly easy way to breastfeed. Having said that, I see that Doris did it.

It's reassuring to know that BM is still the best way to feed him as opposed to formula in the circumstances. I do want to BF for a lot of reasons, but have been really struggling recently. Knowing that FF would not be as straightforward as it would be in another circumstance makes me feel a bit more inclined to struggle on & try to make it work.

Last night I got so angry. I've not been so wound up in many months & ended up screaming into my pillow & thrashing my legs around on the bed like a toddler because he wouldn't stop screaming & refused to feed properly, which was really frustrating for both of us & was making me very sore. Some Lansinoh & a bit of sleep later, I'm feeling much better. & he's seeming much calmer, too. & after another day of cutting out dairy, DS is much happier & quieter. It seems we have found the problem. That makes me & at the same time.

I'm hoping to be able to just reduce the dairy. I've always been a big milk drinker & had loads of it in my morning cereal, etc. Also cheese & chocolate! (Although I know that chocolate isn't great whilst BFing anyway). I'm intending to cut out the milk & see how things go with only that sacrifice - but I may give myself a couple of days to get over the screaming before I reintroduce anything, just in case

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I'm feeling much more positive about the whole situation now & will continue BFing for the time being, at least. The most I can do is just take it one day at a time. I know I'll make it to the end of today now Thanks.

SpringySponge I'm also veggie (for the last 20-odd years or so) but although dairy free was a strugle at first, I'm sort of used to it now. it has been especially hard though as ds1 has an intolerance to beans and an allergy to all types of nuts so I've been quite heavily reliant on soya. Would really recommend you see a dietician though.

For good dairy free chocolate try plamil who do a really yummy chocolate-orange spread and pretty good bars of diary free chocolate. Milk to drink - try calcium fortified oat milk or rice milk. Rice milk has a nice vanilla flavour. I haven't found a good cheese substitute but the Toffutti soya cream cheese is pretty good and they also do a mozzerella substitute which works quite well for cooking.

Also, just remember that it's not forever and take a good calcium supplement to make sure you are covered in that respect. Good luck.

AM, that post has made me feel less like throwing myself into oncoming traffic Thank you so much - I'll look into all of those things

springy, I am veggie too, so was basically vegan for over a year (aside from honey!)

I found that I felt really, really hungry to start with, but as I adapted to the new diet it all fell into place.
like Doris I lost quite a lot of weight. I needed to, tbh so it was a good thing, but if you don't have spare weight to lose then it's worth perhaps seeing if you can talk to a dietician or someone like that?

peanut butter was my saviour :D good for protein and nice and filling.

my key foods that I always made sure I had plenty of were:
dried figs/apricots (calcium and iron)
green leafy veg (calcium and iron)
nuts, and peanut butter (protein)
fortified oat milk (calcium, iron etc)
marmite (not quite the same without real butter, but still good for you!)
plenty of fresh orange juice and kiwis for vit c which helps absorption of iron and things

I loved houmous (maybe an acquired taste but one I definitely accquired)

Also on the chocolate front, many of the posh brands 70 -80% coco are dairy free which IS good for bf ( and as it's so stroing you eat less) (don't be fobbed off with the cheaper stuff you will be able to tatse the difference )

I was also able to get away with goat cheese and yogurt so use pecorino rather than parmesan in cooking and goat yogurt when making vegi cobbler, you just have to go back to basics (not that easy with a newborn I accept) but it can be done and for your (my) sanity it was worth it!!!

Good luck I will keep watching

Gosh, when I posted I wasn't expecting so much great advice about good foods as well as so much support. Honestly, I'm so grateful. I'm exhausted & hormonal & quite daunted by the whole thing - I'm massively appreciative of you all. Thank you

As a quick start nip down the dairy free aisle in tesco, it will give you at least a little to snack on whilst you plan where to go from here. 9 bars are also yummy >

Oh and sorbet instead of icecream (yes i really did eat stuff other than crap honest guv)

(just beware the prices)

Swedish glace (soya) ice-cream is really yummy too.

Also, it's quite normal and OK to be exhausted, hormonal, emotional etc etc after the birth of a baby, especially the first (actually, the exhaustion doesn't get better after the second either, but maybe that's just me). I'm sure you've heard it all before but rest whenever you can and get as much help as you possibly can. Your lo is only 3 weeks and I think that the first month or two are the hardest, but after that it does get easier, honestly.

Yes I'm vegetarian too, so have been making an extra special effort to eat well whilst not having dairy (except butter).

OK, here is a list of foods you can eat, just to save you looking at ingredients etc. It leans heavily on the treat side, because heaven knows you need them when you have a newborn! Don't forget that you can still eat EGGS which are a great source of protein.

Swedish glace ice cream (different flavours, also choc ices and cornets)

Ritter Sport marzipan chocolate

Plamil chocolate - more like milk chocolate than the average dairy free bars

Green and Blacks Maya Gold chocolate

Linda McCartney sausages, pies and burgers

Houmous

Quorn cornish pasties, 'meaty' pies, burgers, sausages

HTH. I am glad you seem to have got to the bottom of the problem anyway and that you are having a better day. Sometimes you need to have a good tantrum I always think I think you r plan of takng it one day at a time is very sensible - that is what I did and it got me through 18 months of expressing with DS1, and now 4 months of BF with DS2 (easy peasy now, I love it!). Best of luck.

Wow, there are a lot of vegetarians around! Today is even better than yesterday was. Haven't had chance to go shopping yet, so haven't got any yummy substitutes. But I'm still being careful & it seems to be paying off. I even got a decent amount of sleep last night!

Again, thank you all for your help & kind wishes

I am living this too SS. I went for the 'nuke' it approach, assuming reflux, intolerance to lactose, intolerance to protein, and all of the rest of it. Have gradually realised its is most probably cow's mik protein.

Lots of the food you eat will have milk in - like battered chicken, pork pie - so label check. Make the next shop a time rich child free zone and label check it all. Lots of cakes don't have dairy in, carrot in particular.

After much research, oat milk is best in tea. But still pants.

Lyme regis marzipan the saviour.