My 4 mo breastfed baby seems to be sensitive to food in my diet (especially eggs and dairy) and I've been trying to limit the problem food as much as I easily can. However, she seems to be getting worse after the 4 month mark instead of better, with changes in bowels ranging from seemingly constipated or she at one point had green mucousy stools for two weeks. We're continuing to have trouble getting her to settle to sleep at bedtime and now she's even not settling back to bed after the middle of the night feedings or if she does, she'll often wake back up screaming every hour after that and seems to be miserable. When she's not miserable she's great at putting herself to sleep and can sleep for long periods up to 9 or 10 hours. I'm starting to worry that she may be sensitive to even more things in my diet, although my pediatrician thinks my diet has nothing to do with this. I'm very confused and very tired, and just would love to have some answers. My pediatrician just keeps telling me to calm down and she will grow out of it, but how long do I have to wait and lose sleep and see her be miserable?! Does anyone know of any pediatricians who specialize in food sensitivities or allergies that could maybe help figure things out, and is there any way of telling what's bothering her other than just trial and error?
www.askdrsears.com
look for the TED diet (total elimination diet)
is seems hard! but it's ONLY two weeks!
I did it!
I am SO GLAD I DID!
if you are cutting out milk proteins (not LACTOSE, this is milk SUGAR) you must cut them ALL out- including 'hidden' in ingredients w/ names like whey rhennet, casien, etc. you must cut them out for a full two weeks. same w/ eggs- you must cut out eggs IN things, too.
that's why the TED is good.
You poor dear! I know what you are going through. My daughter starting having problems with my milk from the day she was born. She never had breastfeed baby poop. It was always brown water. She screamed all day long. She would suck on my breast for food, pull off and scream then go back. You could tell her tummy was just hurting. My pediatrician told me, I was just over reacting and tired. After coming in twice a week for the first 6 weeks of her life. The nurse pulles me aside and told me she thought my baby was allergic to milk. When I suggested my baby might be allergic to milk to my pediatrican (btw no longer my pediatrician) said you can't determine allergies at this age and told me she would outgrow it. The nurse pulled me aside again and said put your baby on soy formula and see what happens. I gladly tired it. With in a few days of my breastmilk making it's way out of her and the soy formula getting into her. She was a happier baby and all the screaming stop. When she turned one, they were able to do the allergy testing and she was allergic to milk. As we had thought.
I suggest taking the dairy & eggs completly out your diet if you still wish to breastfeed. I moved over to soy formula because I had only one breast with milk in it (barely). I was already supplementing her with formula after the breast. So going completely soy formula was not a hard choice for me. It was the best choice for me.
After taking dairy & eggs out of your diet it will take up to 2 weeks to see improvement. But be patient. Your mommy, you know best!
May I also suggest getting a second opinion. Ask around from friends who are happy with their pediatrician's. It can't hurt. You may get some great advise from another doctor. Also trial and error really is your only option before age one. At age one they can do allergy testing.
Hope this helps.
Hi, so sorry about your baby's plight! Sounds like your child has classic food sensitivity symptoms. (but I am no Dr, so don't take my word for it) Have you checked this site for other posts on this topic? An elimination diet can be really rough and I do think it is trial and error. Dr Sears outlines a comprehensive elim. diet on her website, if you feel like you need to look into other possible allergies.
Your Dr sounds a bit insensitive. Babies do grow out of food allergies, but I think it usually happens around 6 mos or later.
Someone just posted yesterday on "feeding problems". Please take a look at that post. I think it might help you.
My son peaked with his dairy intolerance at 4 mos, and boy was it rough! I hope you can take some comfort in knowing that with some more help and time, you will get to the bottom of this.
I don't have an exact answer for you, but I think if you as her mother feel something isn't right and your current pediatrician isn't looking into or isn't giving you a good explanation, maybe you should see a different dr. We have 2 girls and our Ped never lets us leave the office unless we feel comfortable with any issues our kids might be having. I breastfed both girls for 15-19 months and I found changes in my diet rarely affected them. Breastfeeding should also help guard against food allergies. A change in the sleeping patterns could be unrelated since she is getting bigger and more active.
Hi there. We went through similar problems with our son, right around 6 weeks while I was breastfeeding. At first I thought it was just reflux, but once he started getting "colicky" (he had previously been very happy) and his poop turned green, I knew something was wrong. Once I told my doctor (who used to specialize in pediatric gastrointenstinal medicine) about his symptoms, she checked him for a milk and soy protein allergy. He also had reflux, which accompanies most babies with the allergy, but that was not what was causing his tummy pain. It's very common in babies actually, but not talked about a lot. If you're breastfeeding and eating any form of dairy or soy (even breads/pasta made with milk or whey or soy) your baby will react if he has it. By the way, oftentimes soy proteins react the same way as milk proteins to babies with the allergy.
It's a very simple test that your doctor can perform. They take a sample of his bowel movement when it's that green color, put it on this special paper, if it turns blue, then yes he has it. And it's very easy to fix once diagnosed :) If you've got questions about this, contact me. I'd be happy to tell you my son's symptoms, etc.
Not sure if this is what your son has, but it may be worth talking to your pediatrician about. Good luck!
Join yahoo group "foodlab" where you will find a wealth of information on this subject. Oh, and fire your ped. immediately! Good luck.
My baby wasn't quite this bad but I went for weeks thinking my baby's gas was due to my diet. I tried eleminating all kinds of things! None of it worked. As it turned out, he had cholic and was just a gassy baby. Once he got used to having gas, it seems to not bother him anymore but he used to scream for hours. The poop sounds odd, with the seemingly constipated, was it actually firm and look like adult poop or was it just that she took a long time to go? Breastfed infants can go over a week without pooping and its totally normal! However if it was firm then I'm sure you are right. Constipation has to do with how much milk they are getting. If your doctor isn't worried, I wouldn't be either. It sounds more like night waking trouble than diet trouble (to me, I'm not an expert ;P) As for losing sleep, could you take her to bed with you to nurse? I held out for the first 6 weeks, trying to do the recommended thing and got up every three hours to feed my child. After that I was so exhausted that my lactation consultant advised me to just take him to bed and let him nurse when he wanted throughout the night. It worked great and although there isn't much privacy, I at least am getting enough sleep!
