# allergy to breastmilk



## sailormom (Jan 6, 2002)

Has anyone ever heard of an allergy to breastmilk. My daughters dr says there is blood in her stool. It is only detecytable with a chemical test it is not visible to the naked eye. He says it is from an allergy to my milk, and tha tit is common. He says it can't be helped or changed by any thing I am eating. ( I thought it maybe dairy and I had stopped eating it. But he says that doesn't make a difference.) He says we just have to keep checking her for anemia e3very month to make sure she isn't bleeding too much. Anyone ever heard of this!!!?????


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## organicmama (Nov 27, 2001)

A true allergy to breastmilk is extremely rare. My pediatrician told me the same thing with ds #1 (who is 6 years old now). She pressured me to put him on formula. I didn't buy into it. Neither of my sons has ever had a drop of formula! She was so concerned (it was visible blood) that we ended up taking him for a colonoscopy!!! He was less than 5 months old! Poor baby! The gastrointerologist went on & on about how aweful it would have been if I hadn't followed my heart & kept him on breastmilk. He had a benign intestinal thing that went away on it's own, totally non-threatening. Problem was, if I had switched him to formula, he would have started having more formed, harder stools which would have cause a lot more blood loss. I wish I had had the confidence to go with my gut instincts & not put him through the colonoscopy but I was a 1st time mama & the pediatrician freaked me out! I felt that I was harming my baby by trying to do my best for him. By the way, he went on to nurse until he was almost 3!

Also, be aware that a baby's HCT (hematocrit) is at it's lowest at around 6 months since that is when their "reserve" runs out & they start really making RBCs on their own to pick up the slack.

I would contact LLL for more info & encouragement, especially before considering formula. Good luck!


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## saige (Dec 16, 2001)

Please contact a LLL group,and I would get another opionion,too.I agree with everything posted above.


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## gabner (Feb 4, 2002)

Normal human babies are not allergic to human milk. If your baby was "allergic" to breastmilk, the baby would have many health problems. Fortunatly you doctor is not wanting to do anything about the occult blood in the baby's stool. It would be difficult for me to trust a doctor that thinks breastmilk allergy is common.

You could try eliminating dairy from your diet - it is the most common thing for a breastfed to be allergic to, but still rare.


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## sailormom (Jan 6, 2002)

Thanks for all the great advice. I have eliminated dairy from my diet, and am currently looking for another ped. I will definetly not stop breastfeeding. I will let you know what happens.


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## Drewsmom (Jan 12, 2002)

I don't know if you've heard of electrodermal testing. It's a non-evasive way to test for allergies. Ds has many food allergies and that's what i've done for him. I was surprised to see human milk as one of the things they can test your baby for to see if he/she actually does have an allergy. I agree with everyone else, it's very rare and most likely your baby isn't allergic to your milk. It took me 4 weeks to totally have milk out of my system to see the effects on ds but for us it was a milk allergy and it made a world of difference. I thought I would offer this piece of information though to give you another resource. The particular machine that we used is made by Biometrics and is called the MSA machine, various professionals use this such as nutritionist, chiropractors, homeopathists...more along the line of alternative health care providors. Good luck and follow your instincts!


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## Iguanavere (Nov 26, 2001)

at [email protected].

He is a pediatrician and a lactation consultant (IBCLC) and on the advisory board for LLL. He will give you the best advice about what your ped has told you.

Dr. Gordon support breastfeeding and has a lot of experience giving second opinions and supporting children with allergies.

Good luck!


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

Please call a lactation consultant and/or LLL... Doctors have very little nutrition training, and unfortunately, lots of peds know diddly squat about breastfeeding.

I'll save you all the details about my own experience with this (PM me if you want them), but I was in a situation very similar to yours, and a LC and LLL helped me! My ped was an idiot and tested my ds for all sorts of pathogens... The LC asked me to eliminate dairy from my diet (said it could take up to two weeks to see full results). What a difference! It totally changed his nursing, his sleeping, and his weight gain!

Good luck!

Kristine


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## 3girls1boy (Nov 20, 2001)

I just was looking at a whole lot of nursing shirts that were for sale on e-bay. In the description, the seller said that her baby had had blood in the stool and the dr. said breastmilk allergy and so she put her baby on hyperallergenic formula.

My dr. had told me too, that blood in the stool was usually caused by dair sensitivity. I felt so bad for that mom on e-bay that her dumb doctor didn't know that.


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## Momtwice (Nov 21, 2001)

refresh for mama x


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## DaryLLL (Aug 12, 2002)

It's funny how these threads all come up at once. One time it may be everyone has thrush, then mastitis, now it's blood in stools.

Don't panic about blood in stools. Many, if not most ABM fed (artificial baby milk) babies get intestinal fissures, causing microhemmorhages, this blood loss often leading to anemia.

Dr's are not taught anything about breastfeeding or nutrition in their training.

LLL Intl is the world-wide authority on bfing and has been in operation since 1956. Call a Leader!

A mom I once knew (and I know I said this on another thread) went thru this. Her baby had blood in stool. She went off dairy, some improvement. Went off beef (not sure where she got that idea), all better. I don't know if it is common for the 2 foods to cause this problem, it makes sense tho, as they both come from the same unfortunate species.


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## veganmamma (Sep 10, 2002)

Hmmmm... if breastmilk allergy were so common, how'd humans ever survive until Naste Nestle came to save our poor, malnourished, intestinally bleeding babies??? What a totally thoughtless thing to say. How do docs get through med school when they can't even reason???
Lauren


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