<if a baby is at the breast TOO long, it will overstimulate the breast and
cause lactation to "shut down">

This was an LC? not an IBCLC I hope? You can see why we in Australia don't
want (and work hard to discourage) people calling themselves LCs when
they've done a course.. Where do people dream these things up from, or is
it just the pressure to change a story to fit the circumstances... "you
couldn't have breastfed long enough int eh early days" "Oh but he was at
the breast for hours, never got off.." So "maybe too long"!!! Unless of
course this was a mother misremembering: let's give the LC the benefit of
the doubt??

Trish said: All I can say is that I have seen the difference and know people
who are severely effected by cows milk who are able to tolerate goats milk.

Yes it sometimes happens. But that will not be because of the lactose.
Lactose is lactose. Where a person can tolerate goats milk and not be
lactose-intolerant on it (windy, abdo cramps/colic, loose stools etc.) it
is because they are tolerating the protein of the milk, it is not damaging
their gut lining, so the villi are not flattened, they are retaining
lactase activity in the bowel. Most lactose intolerance in babies is
protein intolerance/ viral infection/ bacterial infection causing damage
and secondary lactose intolerance developing.  Maybe the different fat
blend of goats milk affects gut transit and absorption, maybe a million
things contribute as no milk is simple. And tolerance changes: the child OK
on GM initially may get a gut virus, have damaged gut lining, allow antigen
penetration and become intolerant thereafter. Or the converse: may have
thrush damaging gut lining, get treated for thrush, lose lactose
intolerance and maybe even become tolerant of the protein that it's
sensitised to. I should phrase that more carefully: the child may not have
symptoms, although it remains sensitised (just as vaccination affects us
permanently in most cases so does sensitisation, but a person can be
symptom free for years and only when under pressure from infection, stress,
age, disease, will they re-emerge as symptomatic. We have just one immune
system to deal with all invaders, and it can get overloaded.)

That said, if the person uses goats milk the way they used cows milk they
will almost certainly become GM Intolerant as well as CM Intolerant. And
many people are exquisitely reactive on first try. In Food for Thought,
where this is discussed, I tell of one mother I knew, a biochemist, who
took one teaspoon of goats milk, diluted it in one pint of water, gave her
baby one tsp. of that, and the kid had a massive reaction. Cross reactivity
with GM is common, with sheeps milk much less so. But acquired intolerance
will probably result even to sheeps milk is the CM and GM allergic insist
on increasing the SM in their diet to the levels that characterise CM
intake: cheese, cooking, drinking etc etc.

<Dr. Love HAS had a significant change of heart regarding BF>
You know, I suspect she hasn't changed her heart one bit, but just got
better informed, as we all have, over time. There's no intrinsic reason for
a surgeon to be a breastfeeding expert; if she has improved the book it's
probably because she had feedback about less desirable bits over time. She
is a professional. Now if I were Dr. Love I would be feeling patronised and
irritated by the nature of the ongoing discussion of my work on Lactnet. I
think we need to be more professional in talking about such things and even
about the companies. They are corporate citizens making needed products in
the US, and we make no friends by criticising them in intemperate language.
(We should criticise them, of course, but professionally: far more
effective.)  Speculation about motives and what other people feel or think
may be OK on some chat lines, but I think it's not the content of Lactnet
but the use of language which puts some people off and makes them talk of
Lactnet as fanatic-line or whatever. I'm not singling out anyone for
criticism here and don't think anyone needs to take time apologising or
explaining what they meant: I'm simply  using this as the most recent
example of what irritates me on a bulletin for healthworkers. Apologies to
the writer in advance if I've hurt your feelings (I didn't retain the
whole, just this line, so I have no idea who it was): I know it was well
meant and a shorthand for other things unsaid, but I needed an example,
because this has been a growing concern. Maybe I'm the only nutcase to have
it???

I've said too much. You see whay I don't stay on all the time?! But I love
Lactnet... Maureen Minchin