I can't remember how much I've said about my experiences breastfeeding LG. To make a very long story somewhat shorter: she started demonstrating symptoms of multiple food protein intolerance very early (like, possibly from birth but I was a clueless first time mom), had chronic diarrhea within her first few weeks, was on reflux meds by 9 weeks, diagnosed with blood in her stool at 4 months, and was put on nasty hypoallergenic formula (Neocate) at 7 mo. I switched her to formula full time at 9-10 mo, because I was literally starving trying to feed her and despite cutting pretty much everything from my diet (including rice!) she was still symptomatic. Bottom line: it sucked. Neocate was her major source of nutrition until age 2; was off soy until 5-ish and milk until, well, last summer. If she's having problems (i.e. diarrhea and belly aches), I'm not hearing about them. Yay!
Now I know some folks with babies like LG start elim diets in the last 6 weeks or so of subsequent pregnancies (the theory being it takes some time to eliminate potential allergens from breastmilk). And, well, here I am, with 5-6 weeks max left on my timeclock. The burning question (you HAVE to know where this is going, right?) is whether eliminating my highly allergic genes from the equation will mean The Boy will be just fine. Or if the problem was uterine environment or some fundamental problem with my milk, well, not so much. I'd rather not put the proverbial cart before the horse here, and I'm not sure how much evidence there is that me cutting out milk now would help, but I do want to be prepared. And if I can, I'd like to spare both of us the agony of LG's first year. (Of course, I did keep her please don't feed me, I have food allergies t-shirt just in case.) I'll likely cut dairy once he's born because I feel better off it; but there's a difference between the 100% elim diet I'd do if he needs me to, and the 90%-I-still-take-cream-in-my-coffee version I do for myself (when, of course, I'm not appeasing a crazy accupuncturist!).
Even in the food allergy community, this is fringey stuff, so I'm not imagining many of you have experience or advice, but if you do, feel free to send it my way. I'm really hoping I can make it a full year breastfeeding this little guy. Losing that time with LG is just one of the many ways I feel gypped by my body's various reproductive failures...but with a DE baby, it seems to matter even more.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get LG some breakfast...
As a DE mom, I do empathize with the fairly fierce desire to breastfeed--whether it's a slap in the face of IF, a wish to regain some confidence in one's body, a mixture of the two, or some other reason(s) altogether. I started out with both sons, born 3 ½ years apart, hoping to make it to a year but ended up going until 2 1/2 for #1 Son; #2 Son will be 3 in a few days and is still quite interested. (How bizarre is it that I will likely still be breastfeeding when I turn 49 next month?)
ReplyDeleteI don't have any experience with allergies/intolerances and breastfeeding, and medically speaking, I don’t have a leg to stand on in giving this viewpoint. However, after reading your post very carefully, it sounds to me as if you’d be quite justified in skipping pre-emptive diet changes and waiting to see if there’s a problem after the baby’s born. Even if something does arise, your history with LG means you’d see the warning signs earlier and have a better sense of how to proceed.
Besides, even babies who are genetically full siblings (as mine are) can have vastly different nursing experiences. We didn’t have the allergy issues, but I struggled terribly with full-term #1 Son, probably due to a vicious circle of undiagnosed tongue tie and low milk supply. At several points in the first few months I was absolutely despondent and in retrospect probably should have taken one pediatrician’s advice that I supplement with formula. A 3-week NICU stay with #2 Son, who came 5 weeks early, should have complicated initial nursing but didn’t, and it was a breeze with him right from the start.
Thanks, Heidi. Although I haven't really had anything I'd call "cravings" during this pregnancy, lately I can't seem to get enough cheese. Perhaps that's self-protective, as longterm heparin use can lead to bone loss. I'm not quite ready to give that up!
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