Dairy Sensitivity in EBF baby-- anyone have experience with this?? « Back to Group Discussions

[Arianrhod]

After my normally content-through-the-night daughter woke up screaming and scrunching up her legs and clearly in pain on several random occasions, I started to pay more attention to what I was eating. I found that the worst incidences of this occurred on nights where I'd gone a little overboard at one of the self-serve frozen yogurt places. Anyhow I cut out dairy as an experiment, the incidents stopped and her cradle cap cleared up. To confirm, I ate some very cheesy lasagna one evening, and that night was awful for my baby but at least we had an answer. 

Our doctor feels strongly that this is a sensitivity rather than an allergy and that we will eventually be able to phase dairy back in. However, the conversation didn't get more specific than that. I've also seen vague references on the internet about phasing back in but would love to hear some specifics. For example, I am under the impression that kefir or yogurt would be the first thing I would attempt. And I think I will eat it rather than give to her directly, assuming she'll have started solids by the time I would start experimenting with this. But when will that be exactly? Definitely after 6 months. 8? 9? 12?  I guess I would love to hear from anyone who's done this as to how it went, and see whether any of you know of any good online resources that aren't vague on the subject.

[MLog]

I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say that I'm in the same boat.  DS has a clear reaction just like you described when I eat dairy.  I haven't done too much research yet.  I was also dairy sensitive as a child so I've never eaten a lot of diary - except when I was pregnant.  Then I was eating dairy like a fiend so it's been quite a change for me to cut it out, but DS is so much happier now.

I was thinking I may try a little dairy again starting around 6 months, but that's just an arbitrary number for me, not backed up by anything.  I too would love to hear from others if they have any experience with this.

[forestmushroom]

My daughter had an extreme dairy/soy intolerance. I cut out all dairy and soy from my diet. Kelly mom has a great list of "hidden dairy." By the time my daughter was 3 she could eat small amounts of cow yogurt and cheese. We don't drink cow milk, but she can eat icecream, etc.

It took awhile longer for her to tolerate soy, but now has no problem with tofu, etc. Maybe when she was 4-4.5 she stopped getting hives from soy.
 

[Arianrhod]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Forest.

MLog-- we have a lot of similarities here. My parents always made me drink milk as a child and never connected the dots between that and my chronic GI problems and asthma. When I got older, I realized I was somewhat dairy intolerant, cut it out completely for a year, and have been eating cheese,yogurt, etc without issues ever since. Then when I got pregnant, I started craving milk and frozen yogurt like crazy. So this is harder for me than I would have expected, especially since I plan to BF for about 2 years.

I have been thinking I'd try eating yogurt when my daughter is between 9-12 months and see how that goes. I'll definitely expose her to it through breastmilk before giving it to her directly unless we end up waiting until after she is weaned. I had some caesar salad dressing that contained parmesan last week and I don't think it was a problem, but it's hard to tell. I suspect she has some other food sensitivity that is less severe as she still has some cradle cap even though it mostly resolved after I discontinued dairy. But I just don't know what I'd eat if I did the full elimination diet. I am so lucky at work if I have time to scarf down a granola bar at lunchtime already :(

I don't want to overcompensate with processed soy products, so I'm trying to use rice and almond milk in my coffee, baked goods, etc. I did buy some margarine for baking with which grosses me out so much.

Anyone have any experience with raw milk assisting with this problem?

[BubbleMa]

Check out the Health and Healing forum here.  I bet there's some good info there.  That's always the first place I go with health related questions.  Lots of very knowledgeable mamas!

[forestmushroom]

Earth Balance is a great dairy free spread, no hydrogenated oils, and they doo have a dairy free/ soy free version. That or coconut oil are good butter replacements... olive oil. Avocados, Hummus....

We use almond milk or coconut milk for all of our milks... and there are good coconut milk yogurts. I think Dairy free is pretty easy... just read the labels of any processed foods.

[Astraia]

If you find out anything about raw dairy, let me know! I'd be interested. Not that it matters at all, raw dairy is illegal in Canada :(

We've been dairy free for a long time now. My daughter has GI problems and asthma (sound familiar?) with dairy- I used to eat a bit here and there, but the baby has problems with it too so now I'm off of it. I am drinking soy coffee creamer in my coffee (because, honestly, almond milk in coffee is revolting) but otherwise we use rice or flax milk- almond milk gives my kids diarrhea. It's really easy to modify most recipes to use a non-dairy milk, and I just ignore all recipes I would have made that contain cheese, sour cream, etc. This of course means no mexican food, ever, and pretty much no processed but that's for the best anyway, right? I also rarely feel that I need margarine. I use oil/applesauce combo or coconut oil in place of the margarine/butter called for. I'd love to know how to make a good dairy-free pie crust, though! Without shortening (ugh!).

Oh, and if you're looking for a cheese substitute- Daiya. Only one worth bothering with. They sell grated mozzerella and cheddar and wedges of things like havarti and jack cheese. Pricey, but no soy, dairy, or wheat.

We are currently testing out gluten and dairy free to see if that makes a difference. I'm considering some really radical changes in how we eat (paleo/ no grains or sugars- gulp!) to combat a lot of issues we have around here but I'm not quite there yet.

[forestmushroom]

Coconut oil or palm oil make a good dairy free pie crust.