Talk to me about nursling's issues with dairy proteins

[CookAMH]

I say proteins because she's fine with me eating a lot of butter (no protein). She's 2mo old, and since the time my milk came in, dairy has seemed to be an issue. We've resolved her reflux once I cut out all the OJ I was drinking (that was the biggest culprit, plus too much chocolate) but she still fusses after eating and doesn't settle to sleep as well with dairy. Yesterday I trialed raw milk kefir, what I thought would probably be the least offensive dairy product, and it seemed to be a fail. However, trace amounts in something like cake or a packaged product haven't been issues. I hoped raw dairy would be ok (I've been drinking raw milk for 3 years).  Cheese seems to be a big problem. Thankfully, when I have dairy now, her discomfort with it passes within a day & a half since when I have had it lately, it's been in small amounts so there is less to pass out of my milk.

How long should I wait before trying more? She's been an infrequent pooper (1x a week) since she was a couple weeks old, even when I didn't have dairy for 2-3 weeks. I have noticed a growing bumpy red rash in the crease of one leg in the last few days (before I tried dairy again). Looks like it could be yeast.

I love my raw milk so it makes me sad to consider not being able to have dairy for our whole nursing relationship :(.

ETA: I said proteins since I can have butter...let me know if I'm misunderstanding that. I heard of a mother giving baby lactose pills and she could have dairy...but it seems that would only be in the case of a lactose issue?

Her poop, though infrequent, smells like bm poo, is dark yellow and not hard, mucousy or green.

Edited by CookAMH - 6/5/11 at 10:30pm

[Comtessa]

I don't have much experience with this, since my kiddos haven't seemed to have any issues with what I eat, but I myself am fairly sensitive to dairy protein, so I have some experience with what works for me.  Since lactose isn't the issue for me, reduced-lactose products or lactose pills don't make any difference.  I find that I handle full-fat dairy products best -- perhaps because there is proportionally less protein in them?  Or perhaps simply because the fat is there to help it be more digestible?  I'm not sure.  I've noticed that things like butter, cream, whole milk, whole milk yogurt, etc. are fine.  Low-fat yogurt and skim milk tend to be the worst; any low-fat versions of dairy are problematic.  I used to be more sensitive to dairy when I ate very little of it -- now I eat more, and I'm less sensitive to it when I do have it.  So it may be that your LO will be fine with it if you introduce it slowly back into your diet. 

I suspect that we moms have a tendency to jump to conclusions about what our LO's can or cannot handle in our BM, because we're so nervous about ensuring that they get all the right stuff in our milk.  However, sometimes it can just happen that a developmentally normal fussy period (like right around 2 weeks old, for example) coincides with us eating a lot of some particular food, and we immediately conclude that the food caused it.  My SIL went off tomatoes for a year because she was convinced that her spaghetti dinner caused a crying fit in her newborn.  I suspected (and still do) that she was just looking to get out of eating tomatoes, which she doesn't like much. 

Just saying that it might make sense to write down everything you eat and how your LO reacts for several days, including dairy and whatever else you want to eat, and really examine that information to be sure that you're not changing your diet for no reason! 

[CookAMH]

Thanks for the feedback. That's good to know about the fat, it makes sense. I had goat's milk frozen yogurt saturday night, I wonder if that was low fat or not.  Any milk I'd drink is whole (raw) milk.

It definitely seems tied to dairy.  She was a very fussy baby the first 2 weeks, I stopped dairy, and she improved greatly and was so different than the beginning. Tried it again in week 3, went back to fussy for several days, then back to normal and was a very calm and mostly contented baby until I had dairy the weekend before, and then this past weekend. Last two times it passed within a day and a half for her and started the day after I had the dairy.  She didn't have any increased nursing or sleepiness to indicate growth spurts.  We had already resolved reflux from acidic foods and overactive letdown, so those are no longer issues.

[Comtessa]

I don't know about other folks with milk-protein issues, but I have to say that goat's milk strongly disagrees with me -- it's much worse than cow's milk.  I tried it once and loved the flavor, but I'll never drink it again! 

[neonalee]

I think I remember reading 3 or  4 months?  I tried then, and at 6 months without success.  DS was the same way - dairy = VERY fussy and hard to get to sleep.  Small amounts were ok, like american cheese on a burger, but that was it.  For us it seemed to get better around 8 months.  Or else he just adjusted because that was when I started drinking coffee with creamer again and that was a point in time where I DESPERATELY needed that coffee & creamer and wasn't giving it up.  I was surprised to notice when he was younger that my liquid coffee mate had milk protein in it, it had never occurred to me until I was trying to figure out what the problem was because I wasn't eating any other dairy!

[CookAMH]

Just a late update that around 4 mo, I was able to resume eating dairy. I'm not sure what changed, except that she got her tongue & lip clipped. I saw a couple articles with a reference linking reflux with dairy to tongue tie...interesting to stay the least. She does react now to yogurt at 7 mo, when she eats it, so I'm holding off for a while and will do some more probiotics. Her reaction is immediate - redness on either side of her head that fades within 5-10 min.