Giving up dairy

[sheeplikessleep]

DS2 is incredibly windy and over last few day has developed colicy like symptoms and seems in more and more pain every day (goes stiff, fists clamped, draws legs up). It's waking him up from his sleep, he rarely sleeps for longer than an hour at best and he cries after most feeds. I'm not sure whether it's developing into colic or even reflux (he keeps projectile throwing up). He's 5 weeks old.

I'm going to try giving up dairy myself as a first step, but just wanted to ask a question of those who gave it up and found it made a difference ...

Firstly, did you give up ALL dairy (i.e. cakes, biscuits etc) or just milk, butter cheese?

Secondly, how quickly did you see a difference?

Thanks

Bump

I gave up all dairy and it really did make a difference. I have slowly introduced dairy back in a different times and it makes my LO ill so I know it is that. IMO, there is no point in only giving a little bit of dairy up but there is a point in bring different types of dairy back in (eventually) as you may find that some dairy is ok. For instance, my DD can't tolerate cheese it would seem but IS ok with yoghurt.

You need to give it a good couple of weeks though before you would see a difference as if you LO is having trouble processing it, it may stay in their system for a few days since the last time you had dairy.

Good luck, it really did help us but make sure you get calcium via other avenues such as broccoli etc

xx

you have to eat loads of brocoli to get the same calcium. best thing is to get oatly enriched with calcium - asda sells it the cheapest, its oatmilk, can be used for everything. then take some eskimo fish oil to get the efas that you will miss, then you could also take bifida bacterium powder yourself and it will reach baby through the breast milk, this will really help with the colic,

my baby suffered with this as a result of me being prescribed anti biotics after birth and also taking lactulose. he went on to develop a dairy intolerance which he has just grown out of age 2.

have you got a good health food shop near you? they should have the stuff. you definately get used to the non dairy. I lost loads of weight from it despite eating 4 plates of shepherds pie a day!

My DD as terribly colicky and windy when newborn and was diagnosed with reflux as was bringing up whole feeds at times. I gave up dairy and it seemed to make a difference but only after about 3 weeks or so. It takes a good few weeks to get out of your system and the another week or so to get out of theirs. My DD is now 3 months and am starting to reintroduce dairy and so far so good (although very early days). I have been very militant about it and cut out anything with dairy in, including cakes, biscuits, chocolate etc. You have to become an expert on food labels though to identify various derivatives of dairy used in pre-prepared stuff. It's not all bad though as there are some good dairy free cakes and chocolate around, it just takes a bit of hunting around. I found Sainsburys and Waitrose particularly good.

thank you so much for posting, that's helpful and reassuring to know that it can make a difference. i keep looking in my fridge and cupboards looking for foods and getting despondent that all 'treats' (and believe me, i have a huge appetite at the moment!) contain milk derivatives.

oh well, if it works, will be worth it. just need to investigate what i can eat, so i don't feel hungry and deprived (which i do today!)

thanks again for posting.

kalo12 - what is bifida bacterium? how does it help baby with colic (through me taking it?)

also cut out all caffeine and alcohol if you're having any
switch to camomile/fennel/digestif tea. made a big difference for mine.

i've been drinking decaff tea and haven't had any alcohol since conceiving

i might try camomile tea though (fennel tea is aniseed isn't it, which i can't stand)

thanks for this, i'll try this too.

i am taking ds2 to see cranial osteopath tomorrow too, so hopefully a few sessions there will help.

I saw a cranial osteopath too. Not sure if it worked but after a few sessions my DD was definitely more relaxed. It's definitely worth a try, it makes you feel better by doing something that might help.

A lot of food does include dairy derivatives and it's not consistent between brands; for example Tesco finest dark chocolate has no dairy but something like Green and Blacks dark chocolate has butter fat in it (as does Bourneville). Just read the labels and once you've found something you like buy in bulk! Alternatively you could snack on fruit......didn't work for me mind but then I'm a bit of a pig!