Can I breastfeed my 6 years old !

[Mummiessss]

My child while he was breastfeeding he was healthy. He had eczema but was healthy from age 0-2 years old. After 2 years old stuff started going south when we introduced cows milk. He developed diarrhoe and then chronic constipation. Now he is in milk alternative and have severe stomachache, looks pale and we just find out his calprotectin is slightly high ( they will repeat it in 2 weeks to make sure it’s due to infection and not bowel disease) . He suffered so much from when he was 2 years old till now ( hospital admission for Klean prep, movicol disimpaction and now he has severe stomach cramp). His belly cramps when he goes for a poop and he is not constipated anymore so we stopped movicol. But since we introduced milk alternative (oat and concunt) he still have severe pain and now the gut inflammation freaked me out.
I have newborn, I was thinking to express milk and reintroduce breastfeeding milk to him and cut off alternative milk and yougurt ?
has anyone done this before. I searched all the forum and I cannot find someone who thought of this

( I was eating dairy while I was breastfeeding him when he was young and he never reacted )

It might really help to express and give him some breastmilk , it will calm any inflammation and will be easy to digest and the nutrients and protective factors easily absorbed. Once he is better if it helps you don’t have to reintroduce any other ‘milk’ if it causes issues. At 6 a good multivitamin and mineral supplement plus probiotics will work alongside a healthy diet

This post title is very clickbaity especially coupled with the wildly unlikely misspelling of coconut...!

Assuming all legit, yes of course you can give your 6yo expressed milk, but I doubt you could give him particularly large quantities without affecting how much you give your newborn, who must take priority. Your 6yo can get protein etc from other sources

Have you tried cutting out all soy based products? It's in so many things including a lot of bread so you'll need to check labels on everything. Lots of children with a dairy allergy also react to soy.

Just no.

Does he have CMPA/I? Is that why he is on milk alternatives? Unless he has an allergy/intolerance I would get him on regular cows milk first to see how things go.

My daughter has CMPA and we must go through the milk ladder to introduce dairy to her, alternatives are not necessary for children unless they have allergy/intolerance diagnosed by a medical professional. If your son does have an allergy/intolerance to dairy and that’s why he’s on milk substitute then you need to push to see the dietician as that’s very standard protocol to have regular appointments with them.

Also just to add, some children just suffer from chronic constipation which is managed through the laxatives and healthy diet.

Yes, you can, you can also give him baths with breastmilk in it or rub it gently into his skin. It's very healing.

He'll have likely lost his latch by now if he hasn't breastfed for years, but to those saying he's too old to feed directly from the breast, the world natural weaning age is 4-7yrs old, so actually he isn't. They will lose their latch when they start getting their adult teeth.

so many unsensible replies to the op. Let me recap. The child is 6 not 2. The op has a new born. Thats why she has a milk supply. She plans to express the milk for the 6 year old. Hope that clears things up🤦‍♀️.

OP, I am not in the UK but can you get your GP to refer you to a paediatric allergist and a paediatric dietician? You need specialist help.

My children have severe non ige diary allergy and are other food protein allergies.

You could give expressed breast milk to him of course, but is it not a long term solution.

It is extremely important to understand not all diary alternatives are the same and they are not all suitable for a child with a diary allergy.

Soya and goat's milk proteins are very similar to cow's milk proteins. I'd be avoiding these at all costs giving the reactions you are describing. My children are allergic to wheat but not coeliac, therefore oat milk is also not an option as oat milk often contain traces of wheat. Almond milk was what my children settled on. Failing that coconut or cashew was the next one we were advised to try.

Feel free to PM me if you wish.

I wouldn't. He is 6 years old and you can't express forever, it needs a solution

No.

Your breast milk is needed for your newborn.

Your 6YO’s condition needs milk / dairy elimination and support from doctors.

appreciate you must be desperate, but No.

Sounds like allergies. Have you seen allergy clinic?

Ps: he did react to dairy through your breast milk - it was the eczema. My 7yo only has eczema when she was EBF. She carries epi pens for her CMPA now.

No again I meant expressing milk and giving him just one cup a day. Also I cut off soya too from his diet but his still not healthy.
we have a useless gastro consultant and I even paid private ££££ but till now no answer and he is getting worst and worst. My only option that’s left is cut off everything processed and only give him pure organic healthy food. Including one cup of breast milk till his gut mature and he heals. Maybe only 6 months 😭. Seeing him cry from pain is not easy. We always in hospital for his stomach issues. One day they say reflux and other day they say imapaction but thank god we managed his impaction and constipation. I don’t know how else to help my child, and doctors are dismissing us and he is tired of being dragged to hospital. He looks so poor and pale. When he was 2 year old he was such healthy chunky baby (99 percentile in growth) but omg that baby is gone since I stopped breastfeeding him and introduced alternative. I just want to help him. He has been drinking oat milk, almond milk and coconut milk for years. Also he never had wheat problems.

At 6 he doesn't really need milk if he can't tolerate it, I would just cut out all dairy and see if that improves things.
You can give him calcium supplements.

In your shoes I'd cut out all dairy - that means reading all the labels on bought food as milk powder goes I to all sorts of unexpected items.

It'll need to be for 4-8 weeks to see any impact but it will isolate if he has lactose intolerance.

She could express

Why would anybody give a school kid their breast milk? 🤨 That’s not solving his issue OP.

I found breastfeeding much more tiring second time and could have never considered expressing on top

I can't see you have anything to lose and he has much to gain.

do you consume dairy and soy in your diet? If you do it would be passed through your breast milk anyway. Even if he was ok previously he has now been exposed to it and it’s likely would react via your BM. Have you seen a dietician? It sounds like allergies to me and you need to get to the bottom of what’s causing it

Yes I read all the labels and make sure everything is dairy, egg and soya free. I even started making everything at home . He loves the fresh bread I make him and homemade nuggets etc. but till now cannot save him and make him gain weight. When he was 2 years old he was 17kg and he is 6 years old now and only 19-20 kgs. He is not gaining enough weight and just look like a sick child. His blood showed high ige level to milk and egg but skin prick test was negative so they said he has non-ige allergy. We cut off everything but he is still in pain. I am thinking it’s all the alternative milk and alternative yougurt

and no when I was breastfeeding him I was still heavily consuming diary and egg but he never had reaction just some eczema. His case doesn’t make sense !

Well you could but it’s not a long term solution so I’d keep at other fixes

Yeah expressed milk for a 6 year old is fine. Less weird than drinking another species’ breast milk, but we all seem to be fine with doing that!.

I think you need to push for more investigations and pay for private drs if you can. Breastmilk isn't going to solve the problem - if he's developed a diary intolerance it might even cause him pain.

Personally I'd cut out all diary (including breastmilk) and see if he improves. Keep a food diary and see if you can identify patterns - there's something going on, and breastmilk won't solve it, so best to investigate further imo

You definitely need to get on top of the doctors about this. You can give him some breast milk whilst you’re waiting but at the end of the day, it’s a small plaster stuck on a large wound. He needs a proper diagnosis and a strictly controlled diet.

Keep bugging them. Ask to be referred to an allergist or whoever would deal with this sort of issues.