Dear Melanie, 
       You wrote:
       As a side note, I also read that breastmilk is made from what's in the
mother's bloodstream, not what's in her stomach, and most foods the mother
eats do not cause any problems in the baby. It did say the one exception to
this would be dairy, but that dairy sensitivities usually manifest in bloody
stools and skin problems rather than gas.  He's never had bloody stools or
skin problems.  What do you think?<<<  (The mom did say that baby sometimes
has mucus in the stool but no blood and he does not suffer from eczema)

And Terri added:
       Milk allergy is still a remote possibility.  (I have a child who goes
into anaphylaxis if she consumes any dairy.)  The behavior you describe
does not fit with the symptomology of milk allergy though.  Most babies
will present with hives, diaper rash, projectile vomiting (that flies 3
feet across the room!), with possible wheezing, possible anaphylaxis, or
some combination of the aforementioned symptoms.

       Many babies with dairy allergy and/or other food allergies do not have 
blood in the stools, or skin problems, though some do.  And *some* babies 
present with hives, diaper rash, projectile vomiting (that flies 3 feet across 
the room!), with possible wheezing or possible anaphylaxis.  But many babies do 
not have these symptoms.  Many babies will throw up *a lot*, but not 
projectile.  Many babies will cry and cry and nurse and throw up and cry and do it all 
over again.  Others will be very gassy and unhappy but not throw up.  And 
some, whose mothers are more fortunate, throw up a lot but are happy as clams.  
Others may have constant nasal congestion.  I have even watched babies who are 
breathing well when they first get to my office, but within two minutes of 
starting the breastfeeding are snorting and full of nasal congestion.  And many 
babies can have one or more of these symptoms with absolutely no skin problems.  
My children both had dairy allergies and struggled with my overactive 
let-down.  My first child screamed for hours and threw up lots, but never had blood 
in his stools and projectile vomiting was rare.  My second child threw up more 
and more as the weeks went by, but was happy as long as she was held.  (She'd 
smile, throw up on you, and smile some more!  But I also had eliminated all 
dairy during pregnancy with her, in an effort to avoid the nightmare we 
experienced with my son.  However, not realizing how the allergy could work, I allowed 
a little in after her birth, which is what was causing the throwing up but 
which is probably why she wasn't screaming like her brother.)
       I had overactive letdown, though not oversupply, but no one recognized 
this problem or gave it a name until my firstborn was 8 years old.  (He 
wasn't nursing then but it was sort of a relief to me even then to at least 
understand what had been happening when he was a baby!)  Information that babies 
could be allergic to something their moms ate was very new, so there was a lot of 
trial and error then.  A lot of my son's gassiness and cramping and 
*screaming* eased when I got really strict and got rid of all dairy (had to be 
especially careful to watch for hidden dairy) in my diet.  You might tell the mom that, 
when moms get the dairy out of their diet, some babies begin to show 
improvement in 48 hours, and continue to improve over the next 7-14 days, but other 
babies don't show any improvement at all until every stitch of the allergen is 
out of their bodies, which can take 2-3 weeks.  But then they suddenly wake up 
one day a totally different (calm) baby.  So mom can't give up on the no-dairy 
trial until she has done it a full 3 weeks.
       You might also suggest that she ask everyone on both sides of the 
family if there is any food that "doesn't agree" with a family member they know.  
Those words--doesn't agree--are very important.  If mom asks about a food 
someone is "allergic to", everyone just thinks of hives and says "no".  But the 
other words draw out lots better answers.  I once worked with a mom and baby, 
the baby was a very unhappy camper for 4 months.  We had determined dairy was 
*not* her problem.  At 4 months, they finally learned that a very distant 
relative on daddy's side, whom daddy had never even met, couldn't tolerate 
tomatoes.  Mom loved tomatoes--had tomato juice for breakfast, tomato slices on her 
sandwich at lunch, and tomato sauce on pasta for supper.  When she got rid of the 
tomatoes, baby woke up one day a very different child.  That had been the 
problem.  So encourage this mom to do some family detective work while she is 
working through the other suggestions.
       It also can be a good idea to take a look at mom's diet for anything 
she eats or drinks on a daily basis.  With such severe problems, this isn't 
going to be a food mom only consumes once every week or two.  It's going to be 
something she eats regularly (if indeed an allergy is going on here), or the 
baby wouldn't have such consistent problems.  One baby turned out not to be able 
to handle mom drinking *decaffeinated* coffee.  When she accidently ran out 
one day and drank regular the baby was fine and his stool was the normal color 
for the first time in months.  She went to the store and got decaffeinated, and 
his problems immediately came back.  I think some chemical left over from the 
decaffeination process must have bothered this baby.  But this just 
illustrates that it's important to check what mom is drinking as well as what she's 
eating.
       Good luck.
       Dee Kassing

       

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