Milk Allergy/Sensitivity or an Oversupply of Breastmilk?

It's not an allergy to breast milk. It's an allergy to the protein in cow's milk which the baby gets in the breast milk if mom drinks cow's milk.

My granddaughter was allergic to milk protein. Her pediatrician tested her for allergies. The tests also determined she was allergic to soy. I suggest that you have her tested to find out.

My daughter ended up taking my granddaughter to a pediatric allergist who provided a better understanding of allergies and how they affect the body.

Edit: about block-feeding... I started doing this too when I was self-diagnosing the problem. The lactation specialist I met with said this can actually screw up your milk supply so unless you are sure that your problem is with hindmilk/foremilk imbalance, I would not do this. I really do encourage you to work with both a lactation specialist and an allergist instead of tryin to work this out yourself. I was so grateful for the help they provided me....Good luck :-)

Don't give up and don't beat yourself up! All 3 of mine had milk protein intolerance. They were rashy fussy babies and had green stool with blood at times :-(

a few suggestions.....

Stop both dairy and soy. The proteins are similar and it is common for babies to be bothered by both.

Seek help from a lactation specialist .... Either through your hospital or privately. I did this with my third as I was worried about a fast let down and foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. Meeting with the lactation specialist was invaluable.... She helped me determine that the actual nursing wasn't the issue.... So in essence helped narrow down the cause of my baby's issues.

It can take several weeks for allif the dairy/soy to leave your baby's system so symptoms can take quite a while to clear up. If, however, you feel like eliminating the dairy and soy isn't fixing all the problems, I would REALLY encourage you to have your child allergy tested. My middle child only slightly improved after stopping the dairy and soy. My pediatrician had us go see an allergist. She tested positive for true food allergies -dairy, egg and nuts! We were sent home with an EpiPen and a newlist of foods to avoid. After stopping the dairy, soy,eggs and nuts she was like a new baby. So.... Long story short, your baby can have MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance) and/or other significant true food allergies causing problems.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't test a baby for food allergies either. Not true. A simple skin test can really help provide valuable information.

I hope I didn't ramble too much. In short, Be patient, cut out soy too, get some help from a lactation specialist and an allergist.

Best of luck. Keep nursing as long as you can.... Really is doing baby more good than harm.... I hope you get some answers.

Yes I had the exact same problem with my first, except he also had blood in his stool right around the 3 week mark. I was told to cut all dairy, nut, & wheat from my diet completely. It was so hard, I pretty much ate rice meat and veggies-- very bland and boring. I did this for about 3 months and only noticed a slight improvement, but not as drastic as I expected. He still had really watery stools, but the gassiness and cramping totally disappeared.

It wasn't until I read about the foremilk/hind milk issue that I realized that was probably what was making his stools green and runny. I had a horrendous milk supply. I basically ended up feeding 2, sometimes 3 feedings, on one side, and it helped tremendously. He still did not tolerate dairy well until after 6 months, and even now at 4 yrs, I suspect a sensitivity to it, but no more rashes and his stools are fine. he just gets really congested and the allergy shiners when he has too much.

I say go ahead and keep up with eliminating both the dairy and soy, and continuing the block feeding for a couple weeks---it can take up to 2 weeks or more to totally eliminate the milk protein from your system. If there is no improvement might be worth switching to a formula that works for her. No guilt needed , breastfeeding isn't for everyone, and you definitely gave a full try at it. More than others I'm sure...Good luck and congratulations on your new addition.

This happened with my son, and it was oversupply -- too much foremilk, not enough hindmilk. I didn't know what it was, but my midwife suggested I ask the La Leche League leader, and she suggested that and also the solution -- which worked, so I'll pass it on. "Bloc nurse" -- nurse from the same side for a set bloc of time, e.g., two hours -- if he starts nursing at noon, nurse only at that breast until he's done (no artificial switching of sides after 10 minutes -- just nurse until he's done) and if at 1:30 he's asking for more, start on the same side. In my case, it cleared it right up.

Another option if you have oversupply would be to take advantage of your prodigious production and pump as well as nurse and donate your milk.

one of my friends went thru this process. She ended up having to eliminate all dairy, soy, some vegies, some proteins, gluten....& some other things like soda, caffeinated tea, etc.

It was a living hell, but she had zero funds to buy the Nutramigen. If she strayed from her diet, then her child was covered head-to-toe in rash & had severe tummy pain. My friend who has always been skinnier than skinny dropped to a skeletal framework during the 1st year of her child's life. The pediatrician kept a close eye on the child's development....& the child thrived. Don't know how...but it happened.

My friend looks much better/healthier now. Her child did great switching from breast milk to a regular diet....because they simply started with what she could eat as the child's 1st diet plan. They also found that they could add in many foods as the child matured. Still no dairy, tho!

My recommendation for you: try no dairy, see where it goes. Try the Nutramigen & then see how that goes. & then decide how far you want to take this. Eliminating breast milk is not a sin.....& you have to do what is best for your family. Doing the elimination diet for yourself requires strength & fortitude, it can be done....but formula is also a very viable option. Peace to you!

I definitely had an oversupply along with a forceful let down. My girl would choke and cough and pull off. She never had green poop, it was always the normal breastmilk poop. I would expect that if the oversupply was that big of an issue that it's affecting her poop you would also see it affecting her eating habits and behavior - she would be hungry all the time and probably losing weight.

I think trying block feeding is a good idea - I'm not sure how it would mess up your milk supply - doesn't make sense to me. In fact, that's always the first suggestion for a suspected oversupply.

However, it sounds to me more like a reaction to something in your breastmilk rather than solely an oversupply issue.

Also - please don't beat yourself up about not breastfeeding your other daughter as long as you would have liked. Ultimately, you did what was best for her - for her health and her comfort. As moms, that's all we can hope for.

Dairy elimination or reduction for 1 month should show some change, as would trying to limit your gluten. Caffeine, nuts and eggs are a distant next round to consider, but between the cow's milk and gluten reduction/elimination it should reap benefits.

COLOR of the bm shouldn't matter - your bms change color because you eat many things, so should your child's. The consistency is the main thing with breastfed babies. Foamy bms I can see would be alarming, but an occasional odd bm is nothing to worry about.

If after a month of TRULY limiting your cow's milk (includes casein, whey products too) and gluten consumption at the end of the month hasn't shown improvement... then I'd contact an IBCLC or LLL Leader/group. Heck - be pro-active and contact them NOW when you start the diet elimination methods.

If you do think you are making too much foremilk - which is a good possibility - you can pump first for a few minutes then have baby pop on the breast. If the milk is very light in color, almost translucent, then yes you were making too much foremilk.

I had an overproduction of milk when breastfeeding both of my babies. They would get a lot of foremilk which would make them spit up a lot, it also made nursing difficult for them because of the heavy flow. It did not have any effect on their poop, both had the yellow seedy poop.

Do not carry around guilt for having to switch your first to formula! You did the right thing in my opinion because the breastmilk, for whatever reason didn't agree with her, and she needs to eat. It's perfectly fine. If you end up switching to formula, maybe you can still do some of her feedings by nursing. I did this with both of mine.

I say that before making things harder on yourself by making crazy changes to your diet you try to balance out your foremilk/ hindmilk as you said you would. Green poop usually means that she is getting too much lactose, seems like you allready know about this which is great! i exclusively breastfed DD3 for 6 months and i fed from one breast at a time to ensure she got to that foremilk.I think this is THE biggest issue that most bfing mothers have and dont even know about it. Good luck to you!!

BTW, feeding from only one breast did affect my supply a little, so if you have the time (and energy) feed from only one breast, and completely pump out the other breast and save/freeze it for whenever you need a break or will be out of the house for longer than 2 hrs. but keep in mind, this will also cause you to over produce b/c ur body will think your baby is emptying both breasts.as long as you drain both breast your foremilk/hindmilk should stay balanced. i would pump while baby is feeding on the other side so that you dont feel like you're pumping/bfing 24/7.

there is no such thing as being allergic to breastmilk, sounds like your doctors live in maid demanded a raise, now you can be allergic to something in the breastmilk, a babys digestive track is not designed for junk food, anything the nursing mother consumes the nursing baby consumes
K. h