>Heather,
>I do think dairy sensitivity is a very real and genuine problem in some
>breastfed babies, and if your baby is screaming and unhappy all the
>time, going off dairy for a couple of weeks can be a useful experiment.
>Incidently, it is impossible to enjoy anything if your baby is like
>this.


I agree Anna - you've misunderstood me.  I meant in this particular case.
The dairy-free had been tried for two weeks and hadn't made any difference
at all.  I would not have persisted in suggesting it.

I think there is enough evidence that going dairy-free is well worth trying
in cases where the baby is screaming and unhappy and all other options
(including feeding without the baby having to 'beg' for it, checking the
positioning, reading cues, skin to skin etc etc) have been shown to not
work.

The UK-personal bit is that I check through these options and give them a
chance to work before talking about how to make a change of diet work
(though the notion of a diet change may well be raised earlier on).

That's all!

I gather you feel like me that taking this baby to a paediatric
gastroenterologist and prescribing meds at 6 weeks is over-doctoring? The
parents were doctors themselves, which makes it understandable....but the
very practical and sensible measures suggested by Ann Perry are surely the
'treatment' of choice, if the parents really feel the 'reflux' is very bad.
These practical things support the mother, support the bf, aim at the
baby's comfort, and take the heat out of the situation. No one is assuming
there must be something terribly wrong with the baby,  with the bf, or for
heaven's sake, with the breast milk.

The day the notion of 'breast milk allergy' comes across the Atlantic is
the day  I chuck everything in.

My hat goes off to all of you working in a situation where so-called
experts can say this situation is common - I just couldn't bear it : (




Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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