Milk Allergy in Breastfed Baby.

Just like Lisa B, my daughter was also diagnosed w/ MSPI (milk & soy protein intolerance). From my daughter's pediatric GI specialist, I was given a list of foods for me and her (as she would grow & start eating table food) that listed certain foods from local grocery stores that were OK for me to eat. I learned that there was ONE type of bread that I could eat, one brand of semisweet chocolate chips that didn't have milk OR soy (YAY!!!), etc.
As Lisa said, it is a limited diet, but you can find substitutions - I used Rice milk for cooking since I couldn't use the soy milk.
I have a close friend who has just started this diet also and it was helpful for her to go to the local grocery store (Hy Vee) and they have a dietition/nutritionist on site. She walked my friend through the store and told her specifically what she COULD eat out of each aisle. She said it was a great help!
Good luck! It's hard, but possible, I did it for a year while breastfeeding. (FYI: the alternative formulas are super expensive!)
PS. My daughter, now 3 yrs, has since outgrown her intolerance and LOVES dairy products!!!

My husband and I both have a casein allergy, meaning we can't eat any dairy. Our daughter tested negative, but our household has gone nondairy. We use a lot of goat and sheep milk, butter, and cheeses. I try to stay away from using anything with soy, because of the high estrogen in the soy. Plus, I'm also severely intolerant to soy. :)

I actually really like the taste of goat milk and, if I could make sure that we would drink enough of it, I would buy raw goat milk. However, since my hubby and daughter like rice milk, I just occasionally buy myself some goat milk at Whole Foods. I just don't like the fact that it's pasturized. Kills a lot of the good stuff that the body needs.

My daughter had a dairy sensitivity until she was 6-7 months. Start slow and see what happens so you don't get overwhelmed and want to quit breastfeeding. I went off "big" dairy (things that were mostly dairy like milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc.) I didn't scour labels for any possible dairy (you have two little kids, like you'll have time for that!)

My daughter was not sensitive to soy so that helped a lot. I ate soy milk, yogurt, ice cream. There is no decent substitute for cheese so don't even bother buying the cheese alternatives. The only exception is tofu cream cheese (sounds gross, but is actually very good and works well on sandwiches, bagels, etc.) There is also rice and almond milk, yogurt and ice cream. All of these products are readily available (and not overly expensive) at Trader Joes, Whole Foods or your local coop (Wedge, Seward, Mississippi Market and many more). These stores also carry a lot of frozen meals that are dairy free. I would buy the Annie's frozen lasagna or burritos or whatever and keep them on hand for easy, healthy options (especially if I was feeding the rest of the family something with dairy in it).

Try to eliminate most major dairy for two weeks and see if you notice a difference (I did immediately with my daughter and I was quite skeptical). If not, try eliminating soy too in case that is also an allergen.

It sounds like a pain, but once you get to a store with more options than a regular grocery store, you'll realize that its pretty do-able. And its only for a short time. You'll be back eating chocolate ice cream in no time!

B.

Hi,

My son (who is now 2) had the same issue starting around 2 months of age. I avoided milk, ice cream, cheese, and yogurt products, which meant no cereal, pizza, smoothies, chocolate, etc. I noticed an improvement almost immediately with my son not spitting up as much and burping more easily and sleeping better.

In addition to giving up dairy, I nursed my son with him "sitting up" on my thigh. This was pretty interesting since he was only a couple months old and couldn't hold himself up, but once I got the hang of it it really wasn't bad and it also seemed to help. He was able to nurse longer because he wasn't gagging and he burped more easily since he was taking in less air. I also had him nap in his car seat since that was at an incline. (I know, you're not supposed to let them sleep in their car seat but good luck finding a mom who hasn't at some point!)

The best part is that by 6 months my son had basically outgrown his dairy intolerance. I slowing re-introduced dairy into my diet once he was on solid foods and it never seemed to be a problem, just a really long four months for me! :-)

Good luck!

J.-
I experienced this with both of my sons. While it was definitely challenging, it was really worth it to me. I did find that they both outgrew the allergy at about 6 months. Hopefully that will happen with your little one too. The only way to avoid the discomfort for your child is to avoid dairy altogether. Cutting back doesn't help. Once in a while I would stockpile milk and pick a day to "go crazy". My baby would get bottled milk that day and I would pump and dump. (Which we all know is heartbreaking.) This helped me get through this period, as I love pizza and cheese in general. Hang in there and good luck!

J.,
My second child was finally diagnosed with MSPI (Milk and Soy Protien Intolerance) when he was 5 weeks old. This was so out of what I was used to with our daughter. She was the easiest baby ever and I could eat anything I wanted. I've done a ton of research and worked with a lot of women who do work in this area while I was breatfeading him. Here's what I learned...
If you want to continue breatfeading you can not have any milk products. PERIOD! Now it may seem bad but trust me, it's not that hard. You should be lucky that it's the only thing your child is allergic to. Having a soy allergy along with the milk is much harder. Soy is in EVERYTHING! I ate meat, fruits and veggies for 6 months! Period!!!! nothing else. Now, I will tell you that if you do go through with this and decide to cut out the dairy to be careful when you go back to eating it. I became lactose intolerant and had to take lactaid for the first month after I started eating dairy again.
It's very possible to do this! You just have to remember that every time you eat something that has dairy in it and then feed your child they will be in pain! Nothing that you want, so it's best to stay away from it completly if you want them happy.
A plus too, You lose your baby weight SO MUCH FASTER! I dropped below my weight that I was before we had our daughter.
Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions or need a little help. There wasn't much support out there when I went through this for breatfeeding mom's so I'm always willing to help anyone out that is a little lost.

L.

My son was the same way. I figured out that he was sensitive to the dairy that I ate as well. I really wanted to breastfeed though since there are a lot of allergies that my husband has and his side of the family. I had found it very difficult to go without dairy since I am from Wisconsin and loves my dairy products. I personally just took it day by day and drank a lot of orange juice with calicum in it. I was able to eat pizza and have a little bit of mozzarella cheese so that helped. I forgo the rest of dairy for about twelve months until I was all done. This is a decision that ultimately you need to make, keep breastfeeding or not. It was a choice that I made and I don't regret doing it. My son is now 6, he is not allergic to dairy or lactose intolerate at all, he stills doesn't care much for milk but will still drink it. He does have a few allergies but luckily they are low key. What ever choice you make good luck.

I have two kids with the same problem. With my second one, I was on a no dairy diet for almost a year, so that I could continue breastfeeding. My best advice to you is to read every label when buying things at the store and try to buy as much fresh food as possible. Also, I recently found an invaluable website that I really wish I had access to when I was breastfeeding. It is intolerantoffspring.com. Check it out! It will really help you out! Good luck!

The thing to remember here is she is not LACTOSE intolerant, she likely has a diary protein allergy (most people do, or have a sensitivity) because cows milk is very hard to digest.... its meant for baby cows, not humans.

Human breast milk has much much higher levels of lactose, and people are typically not born with lactose intolerance, if she was truly LI she would be very sick and not thriving at all. Just somethin to keep in mind.... most people mistakenly think their baby is lactose intolerant when they aren't, that is something that develops with age and dairy exposure over time.

ANYWAY, keep a food diary so you know what truly affects her. Also, SOY will likely affect her just as much as cows milk dairy, so avoid that as well. If she is having issues with cows milk dairy, she will likely with soy too. Soy, when it finally makes it to milk form, is ridden with hormones and is not even true soy anymore. Stick with something better like goats milk or almond milk.

You can likely eat some dairy like cheese and yogurt, as the proteins in these foods are so broken down they can be easily digested. To start a true elimination diet, cut out all dairy for 2wks. That is how long it takes it to fully leave your system, nad essentially hers. Then slowly add foods back in and keep that food journal so you know what you ate if she has a reaction.

My oldest was dairy intolerant, and still is to this day. Too much milk or ice cream and his skin breaks out in bleeding eczema and he's suffering. He didn't have reaction to my breastmilk with dairy in it after he was about 4mos old. My youngest couldn't tolerate anything with tomato or citrus, but around 4mos I began adding those foods back in slowly and he was fine with them after that.

Just take it one day at a time. Research a hypoallergenic diet for breastfeeding. Find some support at La Leche League, and also kellymom.com and mothering.com message boards. You can do it, you are doing hte best for your baby right now. By exposing her to foods through your diet you are reducing her risk of having larger, more serious, food allergies in the future.

Hello! I apologize this is a very late response, but I noticed something no one else mentioned. My daughter also has a milk protein allergy, and the list of foods you can't have is quite extensive. Whey is a milk product and turns up in almost everything (taco seasoning?!) and so is caramel color. Found that one out the hard way - her vitamin drops had caramel color and caused a huge issue. Good luck and hang in there. Living on fruits, veggies, hard boiled eggs, chicken breasts and brown rice for as long as you nurse isn't totally bad - I'm now slimmer than I was before either of my pregnancies! :)

My daughter had a dairy sensitivity as well and I avoided dairy until she was a little over two and could handle it better through my milk. She was very sensitive to it so I found I had to cut out ALL dairy. Even though the diet was hard, it was SO worth it to have my sweet little girl not in pain and still able to get all the benefits of breastmilk. Breastfeeding is more than just getting food in them, it is such a comfort to our babies and getting rid of the tummy aches helps so much.

For me I ate rice milk and cereal for breakfast every morning. I had lots of peanut butter toast/pb and J sandwiches, turkey/tuna sandwiches, our meals turned into a lot of meat and potato meals. Earths balance has a great "butter" spread that is dairy free. I've also used smart balance light. Really the only thing I never had a substitute for was cheese, so I definitely avoided it because it caused major stomach aches in my daughter.

You should also avoid things that have dairy baked in so look at all labels. I found this diet to be very healthy and helped me lose a lot of weight! I also second the calcium fortified orange juice recommendation and make sure you are taking your prenatal vitamin and calcium supp. if needed. It really is such a short time in your life and the sacrifice is so worth it! Good luck!

-E.

Goat milk!! It is the next best to the breast. Only thing it is lacking is folic acid, so just purchase folic acid capsules and dissolve. We bought our goat milk at Health Hut fresh half gallons. You can also buy Meyenburg (sp?) powder goat milk.

Good luck!

My daughter also had a dairy problem and I ended up giving up breastfeeding. I'm not a huge dairy person to begin with so changing my diet wasn't really working. She was so miserable off my breastmilk and then off reg.formula we switched her to nutramigen and she was a different baby.

Almond milk and almond cheese. Found at the natural foods co-op. Almond cheese works sufficiently for pizza and tacos. That avoids the whole soy possibility as well. Best wishes!