>Kathy Birt <[log in to unmask]> posted:
>I have a client whose 4week old baby develops a red rash whenever she is =
>given breastmilk from the breast or from bottle.  Her pediatrician had he=
>r stop breastfeeding and start formula stating the baby is allergic to a =
>protein contained in breastmilk, not something she is eating and passing =
>to the breastmilk and not lactose. The baby has no other symptoms. When g=
>iven formula, the rash does not appear. Mom really wants to continue but =
>her dr and her husband a pressuring her to stop nursing so the baby's ras=
>h will go away. Also the longer she nurses, the worse the rash gets. Any =


What is the physician's evidence that it's a protein in the mother's milk
as opposed to something in her diet? I'm not an expert here, but this seems
a pretty big assumption. Would the mother be willing to try the
rice/turkey/squash diet to see whether her diet might be a factor? Since
she'd like to continue, it'd be a shame to stop breastfeeding before
pinpointing the problem.

The reason I'm responding despite my lack of expertise is that this
situation is precisely what a friend of mine just went through with her
breastfed baby (born November 2002). The poor kiddo was very rashy,
particularly on her face. She also wasn't gaining well. My friend
eliminated practically everything from her diet, gradually added things
back, and finally determined problematic foods (dairy and tomato products).
Once she eliminated those foods from her diet, the rash disappeared and her
daughter's skin is everything one could wish to see on a healthy, thriving
breastfed baby.

regards,
Julia


Julia R. Barrett
Freelance Science Writer
Madison, Wisconsin
608-238-8409; [log in to unmask]

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html