I have a client whose baby is dairy sensitive so she has been taking a
calcium/magnesium supplement. The mother has to limit her magnesium because
she gets loose stools, but the baby's reaction is very strange.

Whenever mom takes a ca/mag supplement, after the next feeding her infant
just "passes out."  She looks as if she is drugged and the state lasts for
about 3 hours during which she is in a deep sleep. Mom has tested this
several times and it always happens above a small level of mag intake. Baby
is about one year old now and has done this since mom began taking it at a
few months of age. Mom has tried to find the level of mag that her baby can
tolerate without the reaction but is concerned about her own calcium
assimilation, as calcium needs magnesium for adequate assimilation.

We are looking at her diet to help her get her ca/mag needs in foods. One
thing in her favor is that she doesn't eat much meat, and the less meat one
consumes the less calcium she needs. I know that there are cultures that
get all of their calcium/magnesium in their diets and don't rely on either
dairy of supplements.

Unfortunately, this mother doesn't have a very wide variety in her tastes.
In looking for sources of food magnesium she was excited to find chocolate.
Her baby doesn't seem to have intestinal distress with mom's consumption of
chocolate. (As opposed to my own who screamed whenever I ate the good
stuff. It wasn't fair!) So her plan now is to take plain calcium at a level
based on her meat consumption and to eat high magnesium foods along with
the supplement.

Have any of you ever heard of such a reaction in adult or infant? It
doesn't sound good to me.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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