Breast milk has turned watery on elimination diet - help me brainstorm this pls

[Blessed_Mom]

Short synopsis:

my LO is 12 weeks old. We have battled seemingly everything in his short life but he was gaining excellently in his first few weeks (12 ounce per week) and it started dwindling. I take every galac in the world to keep up with his low transfer of milk which earlier we thought was for a myriad different things (extreme gas, silent reflux, UTI and abx one week, then diagnosis of weak latch, tongue tie, tongue tie clipping and the after effects and next week stretching and its after effects which is continuing)....

But each week we have believed was a new reason why he wouldn't transfer my complete milk. Last two weeks he had been having random hives mostly on his face but sometimes on his body and finally we concluded it must be allergies. I was already off Dairy, eggs, tomatoes since week 2.

Despite it all..he was gaining about 8 ounce a week (I used to wonder how even with his minimal feeds ). I noticed something this time the few times I pumped (I have only one working breast..the other is too large and slow letdowner and he already is impatient and cannot latch on the other side (palate issues and one-side preference issues..we are trying CST) anyway so I cannot pump my only working breast since he does NOT take ANY form of supplementation. Even if u pour drops of my milk he spits it out). Whenever I pumped a few times...my milk used to be really thick and white and sticky (as opposed to when I produced for my now 3.5 yr daughter). I have always suspected that the tons of herbs , tons of milk, fish and all the oatmeal I was eating this time must have made it so... which is why he was gaining well despite the less quantity.

NOW because of the rashes I have eliminated most all top allergens. His rashes (hives) have disappeared but I can defintely see my milk has gotten thinner. When it dribbles down his mouth..it is watery. when I squeeze it it is watery. Also his weight gain has slowed to 4 ounce a week.

I have removed now Dairy, eggs, wheat, oats, fish, tomatoes, corn, soy, chocolate, caffeine and nuts from my diet.

SO questions:

1. Have moms on elimination diets noticed this? That their milk supply took a hit in quantity as well as quality. My milk supply is still dwindling. Am up to 150mg/day of Dom. Yet supply is still tanking. I blame the ED . As well for the now watery quality.

Please advise how I can fatten up my breastmilk again? I believe the oats, milk, fish and wheat were fattening up my BM now. Definitely the milk, oats and fish.... 

I eat rice, veggies, lentils , lamb and chicken so far. Nothing else! I also used to use lots of butter and ghee and flax seed oil (this I cut I shall add back)... but anything else?

2. It is becoming clear we need to supplement him soon. Which tastes better? Elecare or Neocate? Is there anything else in the market for such an allergic child? Nutramigen tastes awful......plus it makes him very gassy and I am not sure anymore if it is for someone with extreme dairy allergy. Any good allergy-free tasty formula out there?

Thanks so much for your answers.

[Blessed_Mom]

Please don't tell me I am imagining this. It used to be sticky, thick, white and milky before. Now it has turned translucent and watery....more like extreme foremilk

[phathui5]

Why would you need to supplement him if he's gaining weight? Four ounces a week is on the low end of normal, but it's still normal. 

[Blessed_Mom]

Because it used to be 8 ounce a week..and that was his normal. :)

[Asiago]

Is he nursing less frequently? Then it may be excessive foremilk especially if he is gassy as more lactose is going right to his lower intestine quickly and that can result in gas. Frequent feeds mean less foremilk has accumulated and the hind milk is more readily available.

[pek64]

You can use coconut oil and olive oil to increase fats. And eat other grains or potatoes for carbs. It sounds like to me that you simply need to add new things into your diet to help milk production. And too much foremilk will give the baby runny stools. Give him time to nursr and get hindmilk. Sorry this is short, I've got to run.

[seraf]

My foremilk has always been watery.

My 13 month old's weight gain slowed by half around 3 months, so there could be something to the age.

My milk supply took a huge hit when I eliminated wheat. I read that cows are fed grains to increase milk supply and it made sense to me. Are you eating enough calories? I have a really hard time making lots of milk when I'm eating less.

Are you planning to test oats soon? I would probably bump that one up to next. Also, if I had to choose between a rash and weight gain, I would go for weight gain and go through eliminations more slowly. There are a lot of viral rashes and my boys have had several non-food related rashes.

Finally, if you're thinking about supplementing anyway, you could pump after nursing to increase your supply and supplement with that, maybe even with an SNS if he struggles with milk away from the breast. My supply dropped suddenly after thanksgiving (sage?) and I started pumping once a day (and extra water and calories) and my supply recovered in about 5 days.

[MichelleZB]

But is he still gaining and on the chart? It's not necessary for him to gain the same amount of weight every week.

[pek64]

You can make yourself more worried by weighing your baby every week. That said, you removed foods from your diet and need to replace them.

Butter and ghee are saturated fats. Coconut oil is also saturated, so makes a good substitute. Olive oil is a mono unsaturated fat, but a healthy fat.

Wheat and oats are grains. Oats a bits richer than wheat. Millet has some of the warming properties like oats. Sweet rice and short grain rice can also substitute for oats.

Fish. Not sure what to use as a substitute. Lots of protein and perhaps flax seed oil for the omega 3's. Greens can help with that as well.

Good luck!

[Blessed_Mom]

Originally Posted by seraf 

My foremilk has always been watery.
My 13 month old's weight gain slowed by half around 3 months, so there could be something to the age.
My milk supply took a huge hit when I eliminated wheat. I read that cows are fed grains to increase milk supply and it made sense to me. Are you eating enough calories? I have a really hard time making lots of milk when I'm eating less.
Are you planning to test oats soon? I would probably bump that one up to next. Also, if I had to choose between a rash and weight gain, I would go for weight gain and go through eliminations more slowly. There are a lot of viral rashes and my boys have had several non-food related rashes.
Finally, if you're thinking about supplementing anyway, you could pump after nursing to increase your supply and supplement with that, maybe even with an SNS if he struggles with milk away from the breast. My supply dropped suddenly after thanksgiving (sage?) and I started pumping once a day (and extra water and calories) and my supply recovered in about 5 days.

Oats is one of the first I will test by adding back once his symptoms subside for a month or more, yes. 

I am eating enough calories... I just wish I could eat those foods which seemed to have made my milk richer (dairy, oats , wheat , eggs , ghee , butter and fish). It is a pity about them being top allergens.

It is interesting you write that you would choose weight gain and ignore hives. I thought hives were an indication of GI erosion and can cause long term irreversible damage while weight gain (while very very important..else we wouldn't be having this conversation) was a bit more - ignorable (license).

Is this a common consensus? Also interesting is the fact that I first noticed his rashes around the time he caught a common cold from my daughter..which is why I originally ignored it but they are seeming to persist beyond two weeks (and his cold vanished in 3 days)..so am not sure what to think anymore.

I have only one breast for all practical purposes and I cannot pump it because we don't have good feeds (we have half a feed here and then some after a short while due to excessive gas).. so I cannot empty my breast. Also my son will NOT take any supplementation. He literally fights, screams and spits out an sNS. He even spits out breastmilk drops if I feed him that via a dropper. 

[pek64]

Personally, I would add foods back in cautiously. Butter and ghee can be replaced, as I have already said. Fish can contain various toxins, so I'd be cautious about putting that back. Try some of the replacement suggestions, and tell us what happens.

[Blessed_Mom]

Originally Posted by pek64 

Personally, I would add foods back in cautiously. Butter and ghee can be replaced, as I have already said. Fish can contain various toxins, so I'd be cautious about putting that back. Try some of the replacement suggestions, and tell us what happens.

Definitely.

I have noted down all your suggestions.Thank you.

I wouldn't be adding back dairy, wheat and fish for a long time.

Will try oats, tomatoes and maybe soy after 2-3 months of clean skin and poops....

[Blessed_Mom]

His rashes seem to have diminished somewhat... I may trial back oats. I cut down oats and wheat at the same time.... 

I also started taking Marshmallow and Alfalfa (which I had stopped)...definitely milk isn't so watery anymore although I miss the rich sticky ooey milk I was making :-)