Food Allergies in Breastfed Babies??

sarahevebee

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My 2 month old baby girl has been having dark green poops with mucous and occasional spots of dark blood for about a week now. My pediatrician says my daughter is most likely experiencing a food intolerance (to cow's milk proteins, since it's the most common allergen) and I should cut out diary from my diet for a while and see if her stools improve...

Now, I'm willing to do whatever I need to when it comes to my daughter's health! But dairy is a major part of my diet, and I'm not sure where to get calcium and protein from if I'm not consuming dairy.

Also...how do proteins I'M consuming cross over into my breastmilk???? Leaky gut??

My immediate thoughts were that I need to stop slacking on my daily carrot salad (now I am trying to eat 2 salads a day, with coconut oil, vinegar and salt of course.) And are my progesterone levels plummeting so fast after pregnancy that it's causing digestive issues over estrogen dominance? I am pretty irregular now, similar to how things were before I ever started Peating. I'm considering supplementing with progesterone, increasing raw carrot salads and eliminating dairy to see if things improve. I thought today would be my first day without dairy, but I had half and half in my coffee this morning without thinking.

Thoughts?
 

Mittir

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Lactose is the most problematic part of milk. You can try home made Farmer's cheese
as a good protein source. Most of the calcium is lost with the whey. There is still good
amount of calcium there. You can try other cheese if histamine is not a problem.
Just avoid non-animal enzyme cheese. You might have to add some egg shell powder
or oyster shell powder for calcium.

I think you can follow a non-dairy version of peating high in low fat fish, bone broth,
ox-tail soup ( assuming gelatine does not cause digestion problem, as it does for many),
shell fish, skinless chicken breast, red meat etc. Just add some extra gelatine with
muscle meats and some calcium to fix the amino acid and phosphorus ratio.

You can also try giving her whole body oil massage. I have seen it's beneficial
effect in many instances. Regular carrot salad or cooked bamboo shoots can do
wonder. If you buy bamboo shoot cans you can boil it in fresh water for 10 minutes
to remove the bad taste. I have found bamboo shoot more effective for me, but it tend
give me stomach problem after 2-3 days of regular use.

If you have problem with orange juice you can try good quality commercial apple juice.
I have found Apple juice to be very beneficial. It is free of pectin and high in fructose.
Also check all the supplements and med you are taking for possible allergen source.
Avoiding starch, soluble fiber and hard to digest foods can improve over all health.
 

tara

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Hi, Congratulations on your baby.

I'm no expert in baby food allergies - I was lucky, mine didn't have any as far as I'm aware. But I have had trouble with milk for many years myself, and now seem to be able to drink quite a bit. I know it's a pain going without it, trying to get protein and calcium. I had a couple of thoughts on things you could try before eliminating dairy (or after, if you want to try reintroducing it again later).

For me, my own tolerance of dairy seems to have improved with progest-e. I still avoid aged cheeses.

I don't know what milk you are drinking, but you could try different kinds, if you haven't already, eg:
- milk without additives (these won't help if it's the protein itself that is the problem)
- grass-fed (ditto)
- A2 instead of A1 milk proteins (burtlancast has some posts about this - seems to make a difference for some people)
- goat - has different proteins.

If you do go without milk for a while, it may be worth supplementing calcium. Some people use eggshell calcium; I use oyster shell.
If you don't have any problems with gelatin, eggs, white fish, shell fish, those can be good for quite a bit of protein, so it's not all coming from red meat.

I think some dairy proteins are hard to break down fully if digestion is not strong, so some inappropriate bits can sometimes get through. I've heard lots of stories of babies reacting to mum's food.
Carrot salad is good.

Good luck
 

BingDing

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Very cool threads about your pregnancy and baby!

In your earlier thread you had Ray's email. Just ask him what he thinks. He seems like one of the nicest guys in the world, if he doesn't answer it doesn't mean anything. He just didn't answer.

There's a song about love like that, isn't there?
 

tara

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I hadn't read Mittir's reply when I sent mine. Good stuff.
I understand the lactose is what usually causes people trouble with milk. But for some people, probably including me, it seems to be the protein. I suspect that if the milk issue is with your baby, but you are not experiencing any negatives from it yourself, my guess would be the protein is a more likely candidate than the lactose. Though from what you've said, it could still be various other things - just that milk may be a likely first one to try.
 

HDD

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A friend of my daughter's baby also had blood in her stool. The Dr. advised her to stop dairy and if that didn't resolve the problem she would have to stop breastfeeding. I wondered about this and had thought about posting it on the forum. She did stop dairy and has been fine. The same mother recently had a piece of pizza crust dipped in the "butter sauce" that caused a negative reaction ( I am not sure if it was blood). When I first heard about her friend's baby, I thought maybe it was from the different additives in dairy such as carrageenan since she would not know to avoid it. However, since you are having the same problem, that would rule that out. I would love to know Ray Peat's thoughts on this.

I massage a little coconut oil into my granddaughter whenever I get a chance. ;) Mittir posted the following study about this a while back.

Edit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16269830
 

Mittir

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I think avoiding milk for few days can be a good experiment.
If your avoidance of milk does not help then you might have to consider
other options. The female relative i was talking about in the other thread, her daughter
was having regular stomach upset from an early age. She was not breastfed
and diet was mostly wheat and milk. I told my relative many times to cut off
milk and wheat for few days to see if digestion gets better. She went to see
several gastroenterologist without any luck. Finally one young gastroenterologist
recommended the same thing i recommended. She was all fine within a day.
Her mother introduced milk slowly after a month and she is doing fine on milk now.
All these happened when she was 2 years old. I was terribly milk intolerant before
starting thyroid. It took me about 2 months to be able to digest milk without any problem
when i slowly introduced milk from 1/4 cup to 1 quart. Now i find milk to be the easiest food
to digest. RP has also mentioned progesterone to improve milk tolerance.
Often time people become milk intolerant from infection or disease.

Here is one interesting video on vitamin D requirements for breastfeeding mothers
and infants. You might find this useful. He mentioned that mothers need to
have daily vitamin D instead of interval dosing for steady supply of active
vitamin D in milk. The requirement for Vitamin D is higher for mother than
average people. This is applicable only if child is not getting vitamin D
from external sources. They mentioned that an infant need about 400 IU
daily and mothers need about 6400 IU to supply 400 IU in milk.

Dr. Bruce Hollis - Vitamin D Requirements for Breastfeeding Mothers & Infants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxWHjtG9F8Y
 

LucyL

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Haagendazendiane said:
Mittir posted the following study about this a while back.

Edit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16269830


Yikes! I've always worried about massage oils. I usually try to shower right after I get a massage to remove as much of the oils as possible.

On the issue of the baby, sarahevebee , nursing patterns might also play a role. Is the baby getting enough hindmilk? (http://www.llli.org/faq/foremilk.html) Do you nurse her on one side per session? When I nursed, I had a special bracelet I always wore that I could switch from arm to arm at each session so I could remember which side I nursed last :)
 

HDD

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sarahevebee said:
My immediate thoughts were that I need to stop slacking on my daily carrot salad (now I am trying to eat 2 salads a day, with coconut oil, vinegar and salt of course.) And are my progesterone levels plummeting so fast after pregnancy that it's causing digestive issues over estrogen dominance? I am pretty irregular now, similar to how things were before I ever started Peating. I'm considering supplementing with progesterone, increasing raw carrot salads and eliminating dairy to see if things improve. I thought today would be my first day without dairy, but I had half and half in my coffee this morning without thinking.

Thoughts?

Coconut oil promotes cholesterol conversion to pregnenolone which is the precursor to progesterone.

"As far as the evidence goes, it suggests that coconut oil, added regularly to a balanced diet, lowers cholesterol to normal by promoting its conversion into pregnenolone. (The coconut family contains steroids that resemble pregnenolone, but these are probably mostly removed when the fresh oil is washed with water to remove the enzymes which would digest the oil.)"

Ripe fruits/juice for cholesterol.

"When the thyroid is functioning properly, the amount of cholesterol in the blood entering the ovary governs the amount of progesterone being produced by the ovary, and the same situation exists in all steroid-forming tissues, such as the adrenal glands and the brain. Progesterone and its precursor, pregnenolone, have a generalized protective function: antioxidant, anti-seizure, antitoxin, anti-spasm, anti-clot, anti-cancer, pro-memory, pro-myelination, pro-attention, etc. Any interference with the formation of cholesterol will interfere with all of these exceedingly important protective functions."

I have made a large batch of chicken neck broth for my daughter for T3. Fish head soup can provide T3, too.
 

Mittir

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Chicken Neck and Fish Head Soup

I have a relative who had advance stage breast cancer and went through chemo
and surgery. She is kind of a consultant to other relatives and friends
diagnosed with breast cancer. I see her always talking about chicken soup.
During her chemo she find out that she could only digest chicken soup and
it energized her. She was using 3-5 small sized chicken everyday.
She was probably getting 3-5 grains of Armour thyroid supplements equivalent.
I asked if she was adding the neck to chicken soup. She said she did.
She did not add skin. I think that thyroid soup played a big role in her recovery.

I was using store bought neck to make chicken soup and noticed the
intensity of effect was varying. Chicken's thyroid glands is at the base of
the neck. If they cut the neck little bit above then thyroid gland might be
missing. I am planning on using the whole neck including ribcage for future soups.

Depending on types of fish, thyroid hormone is scattered around different
parts of body. Some type of fish has most of the thyroid just below the mouth area
and some fish has most thyroid around kidney and liver than the lower neck.
If the fish soup warms me immediately i know there is some thyroid there.
 
OP
sarahevebee

sarahevebee

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I am boiling a whole chicken right now! Neck included! Funny, I guess we are on the same track :)

All of your suggestions and info are great and just what I need. I feel a little bit of 'hive mind' going on here, because I've been thinking of vitamin D, thyroid, progesterone, and I've been smothering my baby in coconut oil ever since she had her first diaper irritation...

I've been doing a non-dairy form of Peating but I feel like I'm STARVING...I miss milk so much and it's only been a couple days. I'm eating eggs, chicken, coffee with coconut oil and sugar, canned peaches, juices with salt (apple, grape, orange,) spoonfuls of coconut oil with sugar sprinkled on top (usually at night,) and fruit smoothies with gelatin. Oh and carrot salad. Last night we ate out and I had a hot dog with mustard and onions...
I want to make some lamb with mint jelly, and some gelatin snacks. And I have a can of lychees to pop open still. Annnd I need to grind up some egg shells. Some shrimp would be nice...Oh and what's the best way to get more Vit D? I've been sunning every day for about 20 mins...but not sure if I'm producing enough D for baby and me both.

I really think the main problem here is the strength of my digestion! Like Tara said - those pesky bits of protein are slipping out because my digestion is wonky. I suppose it's worth it to eliminate dairy while I try my best to correct things through diet. What's sad is that if my daughter really is intolerant to milk proteins, then the lactose in my breastmilk also could become a problem because her gun lining is damaged, and thus less lactase enzyme is produced.

My baby's diapers are still green. And stinky. Less mucous, though...and no more blood (there were only a few bloody diapers in the first place, but I was alarmed enough to call the doctor because...well, that's just not a good sign!)
LucyL - I did actually have an issue with overactive letdown/abundant supply so I've been block feeding my daughter since she was about 2 weeks old, and it's helped tremendously. My daughter's stools that are usually a result of too much foremilk are tinted light green...the poop is otherwise normal. These diapers are dark green, with lots of mucous and then there's that occasional blood...

So I guess the question is...how long to try fixing my digestion issue (which I really think is due to low thyroid and low progesterone...common postpartum issues maybe?) with diet alone and when do I start supplementing?

In the meantime...I'm going to make an appointment with the pediatrician so I can discuss testing. I want to make sure my daughter doesn't have a virus or something (even though she doesn't have a fever and seems to be in good spirits...)

Anyway, thank you all for your help!! I will continue to post updates.
 
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sarahevebee

sarahevebee

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Oh and BingDing - I don't have Ray's email...just mistakenly thought that he had his contact information on his website for some reason...silly me.
 

LucyL

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Here's a website with baby poop information - http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-poop-a ... 0319333.bc - You've probably seen it before? Is your daughter getting iron supplement? My pediatrician told us all breastfed babies were iron deficient and we should give them an infant vitamin with iron supplement. I "forgot" as often as I could :twisted:
 

HDD

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LucyL said:
Here's a website with baby poop information - http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-poop-a ... 0319333.bc - You've probably seen it before? Is your daughter getting iron supplement? My pediatrician told us all breastfed babies were iron deficient and we should give them an infant vitamin with iron supplement. I "forgot" as often as I could :twisted:

Such a coincidence you would write that LucyL. I was researching babies in Peat's articles and had just saved the following.

"During pregnancy, a woman's ability to retain dietary calcium and iron increases, and the baby seems to be susceptible to overloading. A normal baby doesn't need dietary iron for several months, as it uses the iron stored in its tissue, and recently it has been reported that normal fetuses and babies may have calcified pituitary glands."


New nursing mothers usually continue taking their prenatals that quite often contain iron. I wonder how this could affect breastmilk?
 
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sarahevebee

sarahevebee

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LucyL - Thankfully no iron supplements here! I would definitely "forget" too, heh. And I have seen that website before - I've never googled so much about poop in my life! lol

Haagendazendiane - Great quote! I never got around to making eggshell calcium and now I don't feel bad about it :)

Update: Abby's poops are normal, non-smelly, yellow again! And I'm back to eating dairy (I lasted almost a week.)

I really think it was the carrot salad. I was not consistent with it after Abby's birth...and with the dramatic drop in progesterone during the postpartum period, I'm thinking it's pertinent that mothers take care of their digestion! No more cow's milk protein in my breastmilk, please! BUT honestly there's no way to figure out exactly what caused the strange poops...pediatrician thinks maybe Abby ingested something that her body couldn't handle or something in my diet affected her...he says the stinky green mucous poop with blood was not characteristic of a viral infection...so I dunno. He also thinks green poop can be normal for babies... Although it may be common, my intuition tells me it is not normal!
 

LucyL

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sarahevebee said:
He also thinks green poop can be normal for babies... Although it may be common, my intuition tells me it is not normal!

That is going to last throughout childhood :( The pediatrician will say something is "normal" even though you know it's not right. Usually best to take that statement as meaning one shouldn't get stressed over it. And it is easier to figure out solutions if you are not stressed and worried. Glad things are better.
 

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