Is this weird? Is there a benefit? (Giving almost 2 yr old breastmilk after medical reasons quit...

[DeChRi]

I just had a thought and don't know where else to put it without someone thinking I have lost my mind, except MDC. :-) 

I will spare the long medical history, but the short....DD1 BF for 4 yrs.  DD2 self-weaned at 2.5-ish yrs.  DD3 was horribly ill since birth with a mystery illness. What was obvious was that something in my milk was contributing massively to this, even after cutting all but 3 foods )and rotating those) for months and months.  Drs, trips out of state, specialists, surgeries, procedures, me starving and pumping, for months and months.  All we knew then was the only thing that did not make her incredibly ill and was not causing massive damage to her GI tract was a prescription amino acid powder with no intact protein chains.  Which it was she lived on from about 6 months forward.  She was given a diagnosis, which my DD2 has now also been given.  DD3 has had no food since then, until recently we have started working with a specialty team out of state.

Long story short....this team thinks her diagnosis may be wrong.  We have been able to start, over the last 3 weeks, getting some food into her without the violent fallout, and a scope this week showed no damage to her GI tract. 

We are waiting on the final verdict...if the diagnosis was right or wrong.  But now I am expecting another LO in April.  DD3 will be not quite 2 yet.  If things are at a place, medically, with her then that she can consume my milk without becoming ill.....is there a health benefit to her at that point if I were to pump and get some BM down her?  IS that weird to think?  I feel like if she can digest it, I "owe" her a good dose now, even though quitting BFing at the time was 100% the right thing.  Not sure if this is my mama-conscience struggling with the fact she isn't still nursing, or if it makes total sense to get some natural goodness back into her GI tract and system that she missed.

Anyone have some outside thoughts, as my thinking on it is all skewed by my personal baggage from all of it.

THanks :)

[etsdtm99]

there is nothing wrong with giving her breastmilk -  its really just what it is, human milk for a human child - there is no reason for her to not drink it now (if she can digest it that is) its not weird biologically at all .  if it provides some healing and closure with the whole situation for you, that's a nice bonus.  and its hard to say much about the benefits without knowing more about the medical background but anyway, i think its a great idea :)

[DeChRi]

Staci, thanks. :)  I feel this same.  Her history is complicated, but basically she was thought to have a condition where her immune system sees protein chains as pathogens and attacks it in the GI tract.  I can't even put into words what her first 18 months have been like (5x in general anesthesia, biopsies, me starving determined to BF my child, specialists in 3 states, and loads of other things).  Moving her to the amino acid formula was the only thing that got her through.  A very odd chain of medical events recently has led the Drs to think there is another issue causing similar symptoms, but that ultimately it will not be one that required absence of food. 

So we are far from getting the stamp to feed her whatever, but they anticipate we will get close over the next few months. 

[PatioGardener]

I remember you writing about your ordeal as you were looking for answers, and admiring your stamina and "mamabear-ness".

I don't think offering a toddler is weird at all. If your kiddo can tolerate it, I can't imagine it not being beneficial.

And congrats on your pregnancy

[DeChRi]

Thanks PatioGardener. It was/is such a hard road for her.  The GI team we see now (esp since our older DD was definitively diagnosed) just can;t pin it down with my 18 month old.  The normal protocol helps but is far from what it should be.  And her last scope biopsies, when she was very symptomatic (food trialing) we perfectly clear.  Which tells them the current set of symptoms is not food related.  They want her to see a neuro.  For her first 13 months, then only thing that offered her relief was no food and only the straight amino acids, but it helped.  Now at 18 months she seems nearly the same when trialing foods vs when not, but has regressed symptom-wise.  Even off food she was screaming in pain 10x a night.  She cries often all day.  She is chronically agitate.  Randomly vomits.  Goes days with a few hours of sleep because she cannot stand being still.  But they believed it was GI pain related, and now her GI tract is finally looking pristine, biopsies are clean, and she is still struggling.  Total tangent from my first question, but at this point, if it is not food specific, I figure loading her up on breastmilk smoothies sure can't hurt. :)

[katelove]

I think there is always benefit from BM (except when excluded for medical reasons of course). She will get vitamins, minerals, antibodies, phagocytes, hormones... I say go for it