Absolutely not, no matter what diet the mom is on, her milk will not
become "ketogenic".

Infantile spasms is a form of epileptic seizures in infants, where the
baby bends forward at the waist and throws their arms out and their head
down.  Sometimes leg movements are included.

Infantile spasms are notoriously difficult to treat.  One of the better
treatments is ACTH (adreno cortico tropic hormone (syllables seperated
for easier readability).  Predisone or other steroids are also used, as
are various anticonvulsants.

The ketogenic diet is a very severe high fat, low protein, very low
carbohydrate diet that induces ketosis in the child being treated.  The
ketone bodies released rachet down brain metabolism and reduce or
eliminate seizures in about 1/3 to 1/2 of children on the diet.  It is
incompatible with breastfeeding, breastmilk has far too much sugar for
the diet to work.  No matter what mom eats, her milk will contain a
normal amount of lactose.  It is problematic to put an infant on this
diet, as it may affect growth and development.

If every other treatment has been tried and failed, then perhaps mom
could consider weaning and trying the diet for her child, but I would
recommend that she continue pumping to maintain her supply so she can go
back to breastfeeding if it does not work for her baby.  The known
neurological benefits of breastfeeding have to be weighed against the
adverse neurological effects of seizures, taking into account the
seizure frequency of her child.

In severe cases, infantile spasms can lead to Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a
very severe epilepsy syndrome with developmental regression and
neurological dysfunction.  Mom has some serious decisions to make.
Catherine Watson Genna, BS, IBCLC  NYC

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