The baby Fiona Coombs describes may have breastmilk colitis. It does
happen, but it need not mean the end of breastfeeding. I have worked with
several women whose babies had this problem It was much worse when the
mothers were drinking cows milk (often lots of it!) When that was
eliminated from the diet, babies did better but not completely blood-free.
Usually these kids do not exhibit any signs of discomfort and they grow
well.  I had one mother whose baby did a lot of bleeding resort to using
one of the pre-digested (really stinky awful) artificial milks in a tube
feeding device at breast. The combination of her milk and the stinky stuff
seemed to work well. Baby's bleeding stopped and baby continued to grow and
mom preserved breastfeeding relationship. (She sent me several loaves of
wonderful homemade Christmas breads as a thank-you.) The baby and I
resembled one another. Mom's milk when to baby's thighs and I felt like
just avoiding eating all that wonderful stuff and smearing on MY
thighs--which is where it went anyway!

Check out mom's diet and see if you can identify a history that may help
explain what is happening.  Good luck.



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         %% Kathleen G. Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC          %%
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