> I also have been talking with a mother who was told by her Family
> Practicioner to stop breastfeeding because the baby was 'lactose
> intolerant'. He convinced her to use Soy formula for the weekend as a test
> run.  Unfortunately, the baby was symptom free..no gas..slept well,etc.

To quote Jack, AAAAAARGH! *Of course* giving soy formula will work in the
short term, but this is not necessarily the solution and in the mother's
and baby's best interests long term.

*When* will more family doctors learn about so-called 'lactose intolerance'
in breastfed babies???? This happens here as well, unfortunately, and is a
source of great frustration to me.

<snip>
  What ended up happening is she
> mixed lactaid with Formula  (I know..it would have been better to mix it
> with breastmilk..but unfortunately she did it this way...who's advise I'm
> not sure) and gave it to baby just prior to breastfeeding.  She had good
> results with this and was satisfied with babies comfort level, and
> decreased gassy problem.  She was able to continue breastfeeding.

Quite possibly, I would guess, what really happened is that baby had a
lactose overload from too much milk, too fast (or intolerance such as
dairy) etc. and all the mucking around has reduced mum's supply, so there's
no longer an overload, and hey presto! no more gas problems. Presumably
this baby's 'lactose intolerance' is secondary, otherwise it would be very
sick and FTT. Then there must have been a reason for/cause of it. Look for
oversupply in mum, food intolerance in the family, gastro, or other causes
of subtle gut damage in baby.

For an excellent coverage of the topic see Lactnet post from Laureen
Lawlor-Smith on Fri, 2 May 1997 titled 'Lactose Intolerance' (this was
great, Laureen). Perhaps a copy to the doctor might be in order as well,
with Laureen's permission of course.



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Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
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