allergic to breastmilk?

[farmer mama]

It seems that lately I have talked to moms and heard of moms who were told that their babies are allergic to breastmilk and so they went on formula. Is this possible? I know that things in the mom's diet can get into the milk and trigger allergies, but I am talking about being allergic to the breastmilk.

[Jaimep]

I really doubt it.

I am sure that anything is possible. But from everything I read, it is something IN the breastmilk that is the allergen. Such as dairy, shellfish, nuts things like that.

I think that in alot of these cases, the mothers are too lazy to do an elemination diet and just switch to the formula. It also may have to do with VERY uneducated health professionals doling out bad info.

[marisa724]

There are very few babies who are actually unable to digest the fats in BM (or any milk -- they need to go on expensive pre-digested formula). But what you're describing sounds like what Jaime's talking about... there's something in mom's diet that's bothering the baby, and either she's unwilling to eliminate it, or wasn't told the proper course of action by her dr.

[wasabi]

Yes there are a tiny tiny percentage of babies who are unable to digest BM. BM does have lactose in it and someone with a severe allergy might have a problem with it. What drives me nuts is someone who says they realize the baby needed soy formula. No sounds like you needed to eliminate dairy from your diet not put the baby on formula!

[girlndocs]

Isn't that true condition called galactosemia? And it's really rare, like 1 in thousands?

[Past_VNE]

OT: There are documented cases of people allergic to water. They have to clean very carefully and must drink juices instead of water. I don't recall the name of the disorder, but heck...if you can be allergic to water, you can certainly be allergic to breast milk.

I agree with the above posters, though. Definitely extremely rare and most likely to be a case of the mother's diet.

[girliemama]

The human body is mostly water and so are juices, tears, blood, and saliva. It's not possible to be allergic to water. We would die without it. Anhydrous liquids are not potable. If someone were allergic to his own body, he'd be dead. He can be allergic to chemicals in the water, but since those tend to be minerals and pollutants rather than organic substances, it's more likely to be a severe sensitivity than a true allergy.

My daughter is severely allergic to dairy. She cannot have lactose nor could she ever, but by eliminating her allergens from my diet, I was able to nurse her for three years. It was very clear to me that human lactose and bovine lactose are not the same thing. Good thing too!

[TiredX2]

It was very clear to me that human lactose and bovine lactose are not the same thing. Good thing too!

And, of course, human milk provides the correct amount of lactate (?) to digest the amount of lactose in human milk.

It seems that lately I have talked to moms and heard of moms who were told that their babies are allergic to breastmilk and so they went on formula.

Have to agree with most of the previous posts.

Sometime, though, the allergy is very hard to narrow down. A friend was on a complete meat diet for awhile as it was the only thing she could eat and still nurse her child. Of course, her DS ended up being extreamly sensative to a number of major foods (dairy, soy, wheat, etc...) so it is very fortunate that she did do a strict elimination diet. Many children are sensitive to dairy products, but mother's don't realize that just giving up milk does not eliminate dairy (though it is enough for many babies), or that you have to wait 2-3 weeks for all diary to be fully out of your system.

[Mrs Dimples]

There is a mama floating around here somewhere whose DC had that galactosemia...can't remember her username :doh ! It is extremely rare, as you might imagine - since, if it were common, the human race would be extinct. There is an incredible amount of misinformation circulating, and healthcare professionals such as peds are in the unfortunate habit of handing out this misguided advice despite having minimal training on the subject. Women, of course, believe them, and pass the untruths on to their friends, who pass it on to their daughters...

[mama24-7]

From what I've read, it's extremely rare to be unable to survive from BM. I think that healthcare professionals sometimes say their allergic to BM because they don't really know what it is and they have bad information (imagine the forumla rep sitting in their office talking about all the babies who are allergic to BM; here's your free samples).

I knwo a BF woman who was told her daughter was lactose intolerant and that the mom could no longer drink dairy. Well, BM has more lactose than cow's milk and this was an incorrect statement; her daughter was unable to digest the cow's milk proteins that were getting into the mother's milk from the cow's milk the mother was drinking. Luckily for teh baby, the mother just stopped eating dairy and she nursed her to about 12 months, by which time the baby had outgrown the dairy issue.

I know of another woman who's son is 6 weeks older than my dd who decided that her child was allergic to her milk and switched to formula. Unfortunately for this child, he has a lot of problems due to a cell division that did not occur at 11 weeks: he's missing one ear and gets lots of therapy.

Anyway, it's possible but extremely rare.

Sus

[Amys1st]

I do know a good many mothers who had to elliminate certain foods from their diets at the beginning. My mother told me all of her children had milk allergies. My sister & I had problems until we were 6-8 years old.

When I was expecting DD, I stopped drinking milk at 35 weeks and kept it out of my diet (as well as most dairy) for 5 months. I then slowly brought it in. She is fine now and drinks milk everyday.

[bec]

Originally Posted by Mrs Dimples

There is a mama floating around here somewhere whose DC had that galactosemia...can't remember her username :doh ! It is extremely rare, as you might imagine - since, if it were common, the human race would be extinct. There is an incredible amount of misinformation circulating, and healthcare professionals such as peds are in the unfortunate habit of handing out this misguided advice despite having minimal training on the subject. Women, of course, believe them, and pass the untruths on to their friends, who pass it on to their daughters...

I think the mama is LovingMyBabies. Her first had galactosemia, and her second is nursing successfully.


Bec

[SaraJ]

Originally Posted by Amys1st

When I was expecting DD, I stopped drinking milk at 35 weeks and kept it out of my diet (as well as most dairy) for 5 months. I then slowly brought it in. She is fine now and drinks milk everyday.

I plan to do this as well. My son has eczema, and milk/dairy seems to aggrivate it, as well as making him gassy and cranky. I gave up dairy when he was a few months old, and it made a world of difference both in his skin and digestion issues. I have since come to read that eliminating dairy is one of the first things they reccomend with colic, so I've decided to go off it before my next baby is born in January just to see if it helps head off any problems.

[KittyKat]

I have 2 cow's milk allergic kids. Not surprising since my FIL had such a severe milk allergy as a baby that ONE DROP of cow's milk on his skin would immediately start to blister and break out into a rash on his skin!

DS2 had such a severe case of dairy protein allergy that he had a rash all over his face and chest before he was 2 months old. I had to cut out ALL milk-derived products for, oh, months and months. Even the slightest "cheat" and there was that rash again!

DD2 is also milk allergic. She didn't have symptoms as severe as DS2 as a baby, so I still drank milk and ate cheese while nursing her. But when we started solids and cow's milk at around a year she got a rash all over her face and diarrhea from anything with milk in it. She's living dairy-free now and healthy. She's such a trooper. If the kids are eating anything with milk in it she says "I can't eat that, it make me sick." (and I try whenever possible to have milk-free alternatives available to her)

TRUE inability to digest human milk occurs in less than 1% of the population. 99% of the time that doctors or mis-informed mothers say this, what it means is : I don't know exactly what is causing the problem, and I'm not willing to make the effort to find out, so "switch to formula" is the easiest answer.

[MA mommy]

galactosemia — a condition where the body is not able to process galactose (a sugar), which makes up half of the sugar (called lactose) found in milk. When galactose levels become high, body organs and the central nervous system can be damaged. In newborns, the condition is found when first breastfeeding and can cause jaundice and other problems.



http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...nsitivity.html

Most common are dairy and soy allergies and intolerances -- which is what formula is made from

[farmer mama]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems that I hear this so often that it couldn't possibly be all galactosemia. Of course I have no wish to grill the moms saying this, so I don't know all the details. I may gently slip in that if they have enother baby that a lactation consultant may be helpful. It just makes me sad that women can be so misinformed and I wish they had more suppport. But how much can you do for the mom on the playground that you will probably never see again?