Ideas for more fat in a dairyfree diet?

[kalamos23]

My 7 week old EBF DD apparently has a milk allergy. As soon as I cut dairy out of my diet, she became a different baby - happy, smiling, almost never even fussing. This from a previously horribly colicky baby. I used to eat a LOT of dairy though.

At any rate, I had already lost all but 4 lbs of baby weight by 5 weeks. Since cutting out dairy this week, I have lost weight at an alarming rate, and DD is now not sleeping as long and feeding more often. I have an oversupply of milk, so that is not the problem, but I am pretty sure I am not getting enough fat in my diet now (I eat a lot of chicken and salads and turkey sandwiches) and that it is making my milk more like skim milk.

Does anyone have any ideas for getting more fat in my diet besides adding more red meat? I can't think of any good things - 'course that might be because of the sleep deprivation (she went from eating every 3-4 hours to every 1-2, all day, all night).

Thanks in advance!

[nalo]

Lots of avocado and coconut milk/oil/meat. Add lots of oils to whatever you are cooking.

[Natsuki]

Force yourself to eat a lot of food - you will have to make up for the lost fat in quantity to an extent. If there is a dairy-free dessert - have seconds. If there is a dairy-free meal you can eat - have seconds. I was dairy-free/soy-free for my DS for almost 2 years and it was a struggle to not lose too much weight and for a time I was too skinny in spite of eating like a hobbit. Once I was able to add dairy back in my weight stabilized (well, that and I got pregnant which meant my body started gaining immediately - I put on 10 lbs in my first trimester largely IMO b/c my body was making up for what it needed to start).

You'll need to change your orientation towards food to actively seek out high-fat/high-calorie meals for yourself - you're burning an extra 500 calories a day breastfeeding, and if you're truly eating the types of things you listed (lean meats, salads) then you're not getting enough calories to replenish and provide for your own body's needs in addition to her own.

Add olive oil to everything you can. When you make eggs, coat the pan with olive oil.

Buy a container of extra virgin coconut oil (it's about $15 for a big tub) and put it on all the sweeter foods that olive oil doesn't taste good on - in oatmeal, spread on bread in place of butter (it's an excellent source of fat!)

Eat olives by the handful.

If you can do it, eat nuts a lot b/c they have a lot of great fat and calories (i was nut-free until DS was a year and peanut-free until he was 18 months so that impacted how much I could add to my diet).

Make homemade granola - it is FULL of calories and fat. Eat several bowls . The recipe on www.allrecipes.com megan's granola is easy to modify and delicious.

Anytime a recipe calls for butter, substitute coconut oil or olive oil.

Eat guacamole and avocado as much as you can - Jessica Seinfeld has a recipe that you can use coconut oil in to make it dairy-free for chocolate pudding in her book Deceptively Delicious that is also made with avocado - it is incredibly rich.

You will have to be focused on your eating and be prepared for people to make all sorts of comments about 'you're so tiny' 'you've gotten so thin' and just deal with it the best you can. Once your DD is older and eating more solids it will help - when DS was 7-15 months was when my weight was lowest b/c he was nursing so much and my body was working so hard to provide all those calories for him.

[kjbrown92]

Add bacon to your turkey sandwiches. Bacon, bacon, bacon. And sausage. I use bacon grease in my black eyed peas. I use coconut oil with scrambled eggs (they make them almost buttery). Coconut milk ice cream. Coconut milk yogurt. Smoothies: coconut milk yogurt, carrot juice, ice, banana, spinach. My blog has lots of food ideas in case you're hitting a mental block. Just search for the milk free recipes.

[waluso]

If you have an oversupply you may have a hindmilk/foremilk imbalance problem, which will not be fixed by eating more fat. From what I have read, what you eat has a minimal effect on the fat in your milk (but I can't remember where I read that - maybe somewhere on www.kellymom.com). The following are some links that may be helpful:

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/oversupply.html
http://www.llli.org/FAQ/foremilk.html
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

[kalamos23]

I do have an oversupply, but I'm blockfeeding about every 6 hours on a side. It seems to have helped quite a bit and it is now manageable - unfortunately, because DD was eating a lot because her tummy hurt, it really stimulated my supply and now I've got it again. At any rate, I'm losing way too much weight to continue. Thanks SO much for the ideas, I totally forgot about bacon and avocadoes!

[momofmine]

She could also be going through a growth spurt. Often babies will nurse much more frequently for a few days to a week around that age. But I would still be trying to get lots of high-quality fat into your diet to replace the dairy.

[Neth Naneth]

I second homemade granola, good luck.

[bluets]

coconut oil in/on everything. as a treat, use macadamia nut oil on salads (it's a mild flavored oil).

you can make "candies" out of coconut oil, honey and cinnamon.

[mommydancer]

There have been oodles of fantastic suggestions, so I have nothing to add that way. Hopefully, adding fat will nip the problem. I did want to just alert you to the possibility that your DC is also sensitive to soy, as milk and soy seem to often occur together as intolerances/ allergies. I hadn't been warned, so as I ate less milk, I was inadvertently eating more soy. FWIW

[joybird]

All wonderful and delicious ideas for getting fat into you, but fat doesn't actually make you gain or keep on weight. Carbohydrates do though. I could eat fat all day long and not gain a pound, but a few days of bread and potatoes etc. will make a big difference.

[Alyantavid]

I bake everything in coconut oil. I use bacon fat to cook all veggies, olive oil for everything else.

I also make smoothies with frozen fruit, honey, tahini, rice milk and coconut oil.

[kalamos23]

Good point Joy - I was hoping that fat would make me feel fuller a bit longer as well too.

Mommydancer - I don't eat that much soy to begin with, though I know it's in a lot of processed foods - I had heard that about milk and soy though and will also be staying away from eggs because my family also has egg allergies.

I had some granola last night and in my half awake state (DD had fallen asleep on me and I fell asleep as well and woke up ravenous) I didn't realize it had whey in it. Needless to say, DD was fussy fussy last night and wouldn't go to sleep, poor thing, and then was extremely congested this morning. Apparently, she is highly reactive and reacts quickly to whatever I eat, as I had eaten about 2 handfuls of the granola (Just Bunches for you dairyfree) about 30 minutes before I fed her.

She's still reacting this morning and has been up for almost 3 hours now - 1 is usually her max. Every time I get her to sleep, she wakes up within 2-3 minutes. It stinks.

[Liea]

Originally Posted by kalamos23

She's still reacting this morning and has been up for almost 3 hours now - 1 is usually her max. Every time I get her to sleep, she wakes up within 2-3 minutes. It stinks.

Keeping my daughter in the Moby wrap during the day to sleep has helped her a lot. She continually wakes up, but will easily go back to sleep and it helps with the congestion too.

[nalo]

Originally Posted by kalamos23

Good point Joy - I was hoping that fat would make me feel fuller a bit longer as well too.

Mommydancer - I don't eat that much soy to begin with, though I know it's in a lot of processed foods - I had heard that about milk and soy though and will also be staying away from eggs because my family also has egg allergies.

I had some granola last night and in my half awake state (DD had fallen asleep on me and I fell asleep as well and woke up ravenous) I didn't realize it had whey in it. Needless to say, DD was fussy fussy last night and wouldn't go to sleep, poor thing, and then was extremely congested this morning. Apparently, she is highly reactive and reacts quickly to whatever I eat, as I had eaten about 2 handfuls of the granola (Just Bunches for you dairyfree) about 30 minutes before I fed her.

She's still reacting this morning and has been up for almost 3 hours now - 1 is usually her max. Every time I get her to sleep, she wakes up within 2-3 minutes. It stinks.

That totally sucks. This granola said it was dairy free and it has whey!!!!????WTF! However, I think you may want to double check the speed at which foods you eat can enter your milk. It definately varies from person to person but I'm fairly certain it is impossible for food you eat to be in your milk within 30 minutes. I don't say this simply to be annoying but to point out the possibility that something else you ate earlier may have affected her and you didn't realize. I think that 2-4 hours is generally regarded as the quickest time that your food enters your milk, but I could be wrong.

[kalamos23]

Mary -
I agree, I thought it was rather fast - the only other questionable thing I ate yesterday was a BLT sandwich and it had mayo on it. The thing is, I'm not sure if they toasted the bread with or without butter even though I specifically told them I could not have anything with milk. So it was either the eggs in the mayo, or if there was butter on the bread. I'm also wondering about the possibility that she is also allergic to something else in my diet. Her poos are mustardy yellow, but they have spinach colored bits of mucous in it.

[kalamos23]

Originally Posted by Liea

Keeping my daughter in the Moby wrap during the day to sleep has helped her a lot. She continually wakes up, but will easily go back to sleep and it helps with the congestion too.

Thank you for this suggestion! She's asleep in the Moby right now - I had been using the Baby Bjorn because she is such a hot baby (she's like her daddy) and she hated the Moby before, but within 5 minutes of walking around outside with her in the Moby, she was out! It seems like her shoulders are getting too big and she's getting way cramped in the Bjorn anyway (which is probably why she has started not liking it) as she is a pretty big baby already (she was 12.7 at 5 weeks and had gained a consistent 3/4 of a lb a week so she's probably over 14 lbs by now.)

I swear, I feel like I lost my brain cells when I had her and I REALLY appreciate you all weighing in with your advice - I feel like I miss the most obvious things! Thank you, thank you, thank you MDC!

[kjbrown92]

Well the mayo probably has soy in it, if she's a milk/soy kid. And a lot of breads of milk in them, whether they put butter on it or not.

I make my own granola (at least I did, before oats fell off the safe food list) so I knew it was safe.

Proteins are what keep you full longer, not fat. Eat the dark meat of chicken (I learned that one from a diabetic). It has more protein (and taste, actually). Quinoa is a protein as well. Lots of beans have protein. I've been making black eyed peas in the crockpot, with bacon grease, and they're exceptionally yummy (protein/fat). Three out of the five people in my family are restricted, and we don't have any problem keeping on weight. : Not sure if that's good or bad.

I agree on that it's a little fast for foods to be getting into your breastmilk. Not impossible, and everyone is individual, but that seems pretty quick. Mine was actually 24 hours. So maybe mine was longer than most.

oops. It's thundering. better get offline.

[Alyantavid]

Yeah watch for bread. Alot of meat you can buy has casein as well which triggers my son much more so than whey. He also reacts to soy so we have to get rid of that.

My homemade granola recipe is so good and very easy. Healthy and full of good fat and tastes awesome! Its at home but I'll try to remember to post it tomorrow.

[Natsuki]

You'll most likely have to stop eating out altogether for a time - saying 'nothing with milk' doesn't translate into a restaurant avoiding butter most of the time unfortunately .

You'll have to become very very vigilant about what you eat - I had to avoid trace amounts of dairy/soy as well and knew what specific brands of bread I could have (the majority I couldn't b/c of soy and dairy), mayo is out for sure - it's got soy in it, processed meats like bacon, ham, most lunch meats had stuff in them that DS reacted to. You can also run into cross-contamination issues (like if the people in the restaurant or deli counter slice meat and cheese on the same slicer).

While protein will help her feel full longer, fat is what will help her put weight back on and maintain her weight .