bm lactose intolerance

[blessedwithboys]

This is about the issue, not the person.

I'm thinking of a certain quasi-famous mom who has stated that her dd19 was lactose intolerant and needed pre-digested formula to thrive.

Why couldn't the baby just be given lactase supp's and stay on human milk? Escpecially as a micro-preemie? Is there more to bm lactose intolerance than just that? Is it one of the metabolic dosrders that are looked for on the newborn screen?

Clue me in mamas! Thanks

[blessedwithboys]

bump

[Tattooed Hand]

Well, I do know that many women have been and are still told that their babies are allergic to their breast milk, when really they are showing reactions to what they are getting through the breastmilk, like mom eating dairy.

[blessedwithboys]

Thanks. I did some research yesterday and that's pretty much what I found. The mother eats dairy, wheat, soy corn, whatever and that breaks down the premmies already fragile gut. The gut is damaged and stops making lactase. Baby develops secondary lactose intolerance and gets yanked off bm and put on elemental formula.

So sad. Does anyone know why they wouldn't try lactase-ing the milk first?

[LadyCatherine185]

i don't know about the specific situation you are talking about, but it is possible for a baby to be allergic to breastmilk, though very rare. I think it is called Galactosemia

[boobs4milk]

my dr. diagnosed dd1 as 'allergic to mama's milk' because she was vomiting up almost all of her feeds. turns out, she had a weak lower esophageal sphincter.

i don't have first hand knowledge of the aforementioned situation with quasi-celeb and baby, but i have read that the baby has lactose intolerance and it was discovered after they brought her home and she wasn't gaining weight. firstly, she wasn't being force fed (ie. gavage and bottles with X amount in X time or it gets gavaged) so she was probably gaining weight, just not as quickly as the dr's wanted. my dd4 was in the nicu, and they expected her to gain 1-2 ounces PER DAY regularly or i was 'doing things wrong.'

secondly, if she had been receiving her mother's pumped milk plus human milk fortifier (as per the report i read) wouldn't the lactose intolerance have been caught earlier? and galactosemia is something screened for on the newborn screening, so wouldn't that have been taken care of beforehand?

it is aggravating that this is being put out there because now, mother's having the least bit of trouble can blame 'lactose intolerance' and switch to formula without even knowing what it truly is. like i said, i don't have first hand knowledge of the situation, but it sounds more like something other than lactose intolerance.

[lilangelmelanie]

I'm so glad someone posted this because it was driving me nuts. If the baby is lactose intolerant.... STOP eating/drinking things w/ lactose. Ok I know it's not always that simple, but it just bothers me that the dr said on national television that the babe was LI and mom's BM was no good for her. ARGHHHHH

[JessicaS]

Actual Lactose Intolerance in an infant is extemely rare. Human milk is one of the highest in lactose.

Babies can have problems digesting dairy it is generally a problem with the protiens in dairy and those can be avoided.

But those are two seperate conditions.

[blessedwithboys]

It wasn't galactosemia. They would have said so, because they gave names of other medical conditions.

Eliminating foods with lactose would not have made any difference. Human milk is naturally extremely high in lactose (milk sugar). It's in there no matter what the mother's diet is.

I think after poking around some more, in cases of a micro-preemie being "lactose intolerant", it's simply gut damage from some other source causing the child to stop producing lactase. Too bad doctor's don't suggest trying other things to keep babies on bm.

[dakotablue]

I'm so glad you posted this. I was so sad and confused when I heard this. Poor baby and poor mama

[akind1]

I felt bad for the mama because she had done so much pumping! freezers full of milk; but at least it is not going to waste, it is being donated.

I think, in a full term otherwise healthy infant, lactose intolerance would be really rare, and might be something else. In a premie, or in this case, micro-preemie, anything is possible. It does say something that baby has had no gut issues since switching to formula.

[boobs4milk]

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys

It wasn't galactosemia. They would have said so, because they gave names of other medical conditions.

Eliminating foods with lactose would not have made any difference. Human milk is naturally extremely high in lactose (milk sugar). It's in there no matter what the mother's diet is.

I think after poking around some more, in cases of a micro-preemie being "lactose intolerant", it's simply gut damage from some other source causing the child to stop producing lactase. Too bad doctor's don't suggest trying other things to keep babies on bm.

i read something about this, too. i don't think it's good to put babies on the lipids and electrolytes and leave them on them for months, either. i asked why millie couldn't be given my milk and they said she wasn't ready. she was a 35 wk baby as opposed to a 25 wk baby. my son was a 30 wk baby and was getting my milk by the time he was about 10 days old.

the details of the other instance mentioned above are not clear, but i always thought that lactose issues resulted in constipation, not diarrhea? anyway, i do feel horrible when a baby is sick, but i question giving a baby formula. i'd be willing to try another route, but that's just MHO.

[ein328]

I agree with the PP that mom's diet likely has more to do with it....

Also, I wonder how much the fortifier comes into play? I know that, in this particular situation, said baby has been taking bm plus fortifier the whole time. Considering there's only one type of fortifier available made from bm rather than cow's milk, I think it's safe to assume that baby was getting cow's milk-based fortifier.

So, instead of cutting everything out, why not fortify mama's milk with mama's own milk? I know there's a process by which you can extract fat from bm and add it to feeds, thus boosting the calories of each feed without using fortifier. Does anyone know more about this?

At least she donated her milk. I was about to die thinking she would toss it....

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by abimommy

Actual Lactose Intolerance in an infant is extremely rare. Human milk is one of the highest in lactose.

Babies can have problems digesting dairy it is generally a problem with the proteins in dairy and those can be avoided.

But those are two separate conditions.

[boobs4milk]

i asked for the fortifier made from breastmilk and was told that it was so expensive that our hospital didn't even bother with it and there was a waiting list for it. once, when i finally allowed them (they guilted me and then threatened us with CPS) to fortify my milk, i went over to mix the fortifier into the bottle and they wouldn't let me because they claimed that a box of the stuff cost $500. seriously? i read the ingredients list and it's not too much different from formula. in fact, it's super concentrated, so it might even be harder on the gut than formula and certainly more so than breastmilk.