Breastfeeding - dairy free? Tongue tie?

[pancakes22]

Hi, went to a breastfeeding counsellor yesterday who believes my 6 week old has a posterior tongue tie. He is sometimes fussy on the boob pulling on and off, cries out with breast still in mouth, arches back and tense with some runny explosive poos. We have an appointment on Friday to get his tongue tie snipped.

She also suggested that I give up dairy to help his tummy. My HV has previously said not to give up foods to give his tummy a chance to get used to foods whereas she was shocked at this advice saying it was unfair for baby to be in pain if he's reacting to dairy.

My questions are...

Would you give up dairy now before tongue tie to see if any improvement in the next few days or would you wait until after tongue tie done on Friday to see if that fixes problems before changing diet? I have read that it takes 6-8 weeks to get out your system and so I'm worried I won't be able to isolate the two issues and see which one worked. I am already gluten free coeliac and so don't want to give up dairy if I can help it.

If I do give up dairy, how detrimental is it when trying to eliminate dairy in breast milk to have 'slip ups'. For example I am off to a wedding soon and it's too late for them to adjust dietary requirements so will likely need to eat dairy then. Will that then just affect him for that day or will that interrupt the whole elimination thing and I have to start again to build up to 6 weeks to see any improvement?

I wouldn't give up dairy on the advice of a breastfeeding counsellor, I think it's mad to exclude a food group without proper medical advice. Very few babies have a genuine dairy intolerance, I don't think it's great advice to just throw that out as an option for you.

That said, if it makes you feel better to be doing something to help I guess there isn't much harm in it as long as you eat well!

Is your dc gaining weight and sleeping ok?

A tongue tie snip might help with the latch which might help with how much air your dc is taking in.

My dc were all tongue tied and were snipped which helped immediately, both how much pain I was in and how much milk they were getting. But then we never had the back arching explosive poo situation you're describing....

If you can afford it, and breastfeeding is important to you, I'd see about finding a private lactation consultant for a consultation. If you're near South West London I can recommend someone.

I was in the same position (minus the coeliac part) but we don't have an appointment to sort the tongue tie for another 3 weeks so I gave up dairy a fortnight ago – on advice of GP and lactation consultant – and the poo and feeding have improved ENORMOUSLY. It's bloody difficult though, there's milk in everything, I was living off buttery crumpets, and all the silly vegan snacks/almond milk coffees I'm buying are eating through my maternity pay...

I know what you mean about isolating the two issues but in our case the wait for the TT division was too long to hang about in case dairy was an issue.

My baby has dairy allergy and I had to quit breastfeeding at 3 months as she was losing weight, had blood and mucous in stools and was having up to 8 dirty nappies a day. I came off dairy for 8 weeks bit she actually got worse and it's likely she has other allergies. She is 11 months now and salmon is one but all others fine so far.
Do not quit diary unless advised by a paediatric doctor or dietician as it can result in causing an intolerance.
Tongue tie often has similar symptoms to dairy allergy so get that sorted first and see if any improvement.
Dairy takes 6-8 weeks to fully leave your body so even the tiniest amount will affect you.....it is in EVERYTHING! From packet sauces to crisps to the chicken in O'Brien's Sandwich bar.