Dear Friends:
Last night I saw an eight-week old beautiful baby boy. His mother brought
him to me because he is always fussy. He would, if he could, breastfeed "alll
the time". He frequently vomits after feeds, and often spits up. He has had
skin problems almost since birth: first acne, then eczema, and now thick
crusty patches over the entire top of his head. His stools look like
blue-green algae!
His mother has decided not to nurse him so often. If she can stretch out
the feeding interval for 4-5 hours, he is more comfortable. She saw this as
relieving their (his and her) misery. I questioned this as a long-term
solution! Fortunately, this boy is obviously thriving (has the Michelin Man
look to his legs and several chins) so that is not of concern.....yet.
I did some craniosacal therapy on his mother, and on him. I suggested she
postpone the immunizations until his misery is relieved. (Can you believe
that the accepted practice now is to give a 2 month-old baby FOUR
intramuscular injections at one visit? Hep B, HiB, DPT and Polio? It shocked
me.)
She does not drink cow's milk, nor eat meat. In view of his apparent
insatiability at breast (which is always a red flag for food intolerance: see
Ducharme et al. "Apparent Insatiability: An Unrecognized Manifestation of
Food Intolerance in Breast-Fed Infants" Pediatrics 1994 pp. 1006-1008), and
the fact that her major protein source is soy (soy milk, soy burgers, soy
cheese every day) I suggested she eliminate soy from her diet.
The mechanism for the insatiability is that the baby ingests milk that
makes his tummy hurt so he wants to nurse more for comfort so he gets more
milk that makes him upset so he wants to nurse more. It is a vicious cycle.
For how long should soy be eliminated to rule it out as a source of this
baby's discomfort?
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner; childbirth educator
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative
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