is this a good idea or not? concerns breastfeeding?

Question

my son is 3 months pld and bottle fed with Allimentum (very expensive). he was breastfed for the 1st 6 weeks but we found he is lactose and soy intolerant, hence the expensive formula. he has never taken a paci without us holding it in his mouth and now he screams when you hold it in there. just about every night, he goes into this uncontrolable cry session usually lasting about 3-4 hours. i think he has colic but the pediatrician says it's reflux. i don't agree because both my girls had reflux and never did this. my question is this..... The only thing that seems to calm him down is to let him latch on to my breast. I only produce a couple drops of milk now and he eats before hand so he is only using me for a paci. Do you think that this is okay? Will it make me start to produce milk again? We have tried everything else we can think of. nothing has worked so far except this. what would you do?

we were told to stop breastfeeding him because of his lactose intolerance. I desperately wanted to continue and feel like a failure because I couldn't (doctor recommended). I would love to continue with breastfeeding but when we were he cried all the time and not just at night. about 85% of my diet includes dairy products so I decided I couldn't cut dairy out or I wouldn't be able to eat anything much at all. I am having a hard time affording the formula (it's 25 dollars per can that lasts for 2 days). do you think a little breast milk would hurt even if I eat dairy?

Answer 1

I find nothing wrong with you letting your son latch. Now that he is older he may be able to handle the dairy in you diet. Some babies have sensitivities that go away with time, while others have true allergies that may never fully go away.

If he breaks out in a rash or has the same symptoms before, why not eliminate dairy for awhile for the sake of your son? You can drink rice, almond or goats milk as a substitute until your son is able to tolerate the dairy in your diet. I would also try and vary your diet as much as you can. Your son as he gets older will want to eat the same as you and it will be better for you and him if you make positive changes in your diet now, so you can be a role model for him when he does eat solids.

If your baby latches, that is wonderful!!! You can still produce milk and with patience you can bring back your supply. I would highly recommend talking with a lactation consultant or la leche league. They will help you achieve your breastfeeding goals.

Babies who have colic and reflux can still be breastfed. Their are ways around these issues. Ask your doctor to explain to you why he/she feels your baby has reflux instead of colic and if your doctor can test for reflux.

Ask what you can do to help with these crying sessions. I am sure they are very long and very tiring for you. Swaddling may help your baby in the meantime and ask for a friend or someone else to step in so you can take a break during the crying session.

Luckily, most babies grow out of reflux and colic by the time they are able to sit up on their own (usually around 6 months).

You sound like a wonderful mother. I wish you luck.

Answer 2

My baby also has reflux. We tried him on just about every formula they make. He was about to go on the Allimenturm (I know just how expensive that can be) but the doctor wanted to try medicine first. He's now on Zantac 1/2 ml 3x a day. It's been a huge help. He's not perfect, but much much better. When we were trying to find the cause of his symptoms the doctor thought it might be dairy. He'd cry and cry with every feeding, go on and off the breast, scrunch in pain, hiccup all the time, always spitting everything up followed by a sharp cry. Doctor said he's not allergic to dairy becuase he'd have diarreah and he doesn't. I have heard that some babies do have a problem with soy as well.

As for colic, my doctor said to try to think of colic as a symptom and not the cause of crying. And to try to find what is causing the colic (easier said then done)

As for him only wanting to suck the breast now, I'm pretty sure that will increase your milk supply. I'm not sure if your saying that you want to nurse him, or if your looking for another way to get him to take a pacifier. Maybe to try to get him to take a pacifier, what if you held him in a nursing position, but put the pacifier in his mouth right over your breast. Also maybe try a different pacifier. The Soothie pacifier is shaped rounder rather than wedge like (they sell that at target).

If you do really want to breast feed again and he does have a dairy problem, I do think you should eliminate all dairy from your diet. But I'd check with your doctor.

Here's a website on infant reflux

Good Luck!

Answer 3

First of all, my daughter has reflux and colic. the colic is resolving. The first thing my doctor told me is to eliminate allergenic foods. He said even with colic, breastfeeding was still best. For her reflux, he had me start having her sleep upright in a carseat. She got 100% better over night. I am curious if he gave you medication or just the formula? Because a change in formula doens't really change reflux unless it's the thickened kind. Alimentum is hypoallerginic, but not a cure for reflux.

It soundsl ike you really want to breastfeed. If he can tolerate it with your elimination diet, I would go for it. The way to boost production is to increase time on the breast, or pump when you give him formula.

The only way to truly diagnose reflux is but putting a scope down the baby's throat, and even that is not a guarantee unless they are having an episode right then. So your ped's advice could be way off.

I am curious how he determined that your baby is lactose and soy intolerant?

I would put him to the breast any time he wants as long as it's not causing any adverse reactions in him. Good luck.

Answer 4

I would say that you have a quack for a doctor. Your breastmilk is designed especially for your baby. Sometimes it happens where the milk just isn't good but I've never heard of lactose intolerance with breastmilk. How does your baby act after he feeds on you? If he is content and happy then there can't be anything wrong with your milk. The baby would know if there was. Maybe it's the other milk that's giving him troubles. You need to decide between how he behaves after having the formula and how he behaves after having the breastmilk. If he's happier with the breastmilk, then continue with it. I think you need a second opinion on the lactose intolerance thing. See another doctor if you can. Good Luck!

Answer 5

I am not certain about this but I thought there is a product on the market that can help a woman produce milk again. (?) Also, I nursed my daughter for six months and her pediatrician suggested that I eliminate dairy from my diet along with whey and gluten products. This was after we commented that she was crying for an hour every night around 11:30pm. Immediately she diagnosed colic. It ended after about 2 weeks and I did not remove dairy from my diet. We also found a new pediatrician who was supportive of our parenting.

Answer 6

When my son was around 3 months he also had a negative reaction to my breastmilk because of milk/soy protein intolerance.
It is NOT the same as being lactose intolerant...what it is, is that the baby is having a negative reaction to the proteins in the milk and/or soy that YOU consume.
YOU CAN CONTINUE TO BREASTFEED, I did, but I had to cut out ALL milk and soy products and by-products from my diet.
It's NOT easy, but it can be done! Sure, I missed ice cream & cheese, and it wasn't easy dining out, but so very worth it!!
My son got over it at 6 months, and now can enjoy all kinds of dairy and soy.
Good luck & go for it!!

Answer 7

First of all, I've never heard of a soy intolerant infant...Next, it seems all your baby wants to do is breast feed and wants that closeness you can only get from doing so....if you only produce a couple of drops then you need to start working towards producing more. eat and drink plenty of milk products, and let your baby suckle 8 to 12 times a day for 20 mins on each breast. This is the fastest way to start producing milk for your baby...it just seems your baby can't tolerate all that fake milk..so do him a favor and give him the real thing..

Answer 8

I went through this with my first. If your baby is truly lactose intollerant (and not milk intollerant which is more common) you can not breastfeed. It took 3 long months to figure this out with me. Every drop of lactose he gets will increase his chance of never growing out of it and being LI forver, or have it come back on him in a few years.
Try switching from Allimentum to Nutramigen by Enfamil. It's supposed to be more gentle, and my daughter did great with it. Also, you may need to consult your doctor about perscription formulas. As far as soothing him, try walking, singing, infant massage. But chances are you'll be stuck with the crying anyway until he learns to soothe himself. Just try to keep your head up and, as you know from having 2 others, it won't last forever.

Again, as an edit, true lactose intolerance in babies is rare, but it does happen. It doesn't matter what you eat or don't eat, you could cut everything out of your diet (and I did, for a month, no dairy, soy, wheat, berries or peanuts) it is the lactose that forms naturally in your breast milk that will set off your baby's intolerance, not the milk and soy you consume. There is nothing you can do to take lactose out of breast milk. So don't feel like you failed in nursing. I went on to nurse my next two babies with no hitch at all, my first daughter just happened to get the genetic short straw. Lactose Intolerance is not the same as milk intolerance or soy allergy, so nothing to remedy those will have any effect on your son.
Good luck to you!

***another edit: breastfeelding a lactose intollerant baby is fatal. The very best you could hope for is brain damage. You can't even nurse a little or the baby will reject anything in his stomach from the tinniest bit of lactose, causing severe malnutrition and dehydration. It is a real genetic disease. It is very rare. So rare that some doctors don't even consider it when attempting to diagnose and the baby is chalked up to "failure to thrive." I almost lost my daughter to this. It is not made up or overblown, but it is very treatable with the right formula. Check out the sources for more info, it is congenitial lactose intollerance.

Answer 9

You will most likely begin to produce milk again...but using the breast as a pacifier may cause you some pain in the long run. If you are fine with it, then continue. It's very rare that a baby is intolerant to breast milk. Almost impossible. I think you got some bad advice to switch to bottle feeding to be honest. It is much much harder to digest and isn't as healthy as breast milk is. I say go back to the breast. Breast feeding 1 full year is what ped's recommend.

Answer 10

Breastmilk is the most easily digested food for your baby. I do not know whether you need to totally eliminate dairy or not. La Leche League is an excellent resource to answer your questions. They are a nonprofit organization that are very knowledgable on breastfeeding and issues surrounding it. I do know that if you continue to let him suckle at your breast you will produce more and more milk. Good luck!