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From:
Goodteam <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 19 Jun 2000 13:17:27 -0500
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Mom wrote to me, somewhat at the end of her rope, and not sure where to turn
next... She is motivated to continue nursing, has good supply, but is
worried that her own dietary intake is causing more harm to baby, than would
starting her on n*******gen.  Here are some specifics from her, and I'm
hoping someone can give some further direction.  Mom is quite savvy,
medically speaking, and very assertive, but is naturally concerned about her
child.

Baby is 4 months old, and has a history of allergic reactions after nursing.
Mom is working full time, and pumps EBM for the girl.  Mom has history of
allergies and asthma in her family, and is committed to nursing since she
knows it makes a difference.

Here are some specifics from her post:

"We had so many food intolerance issues, which I thought I had finally
worked out over the time period 3 - 8 weeks. She's definitely
sensitive to any dairy, nuts, peanuts, or gluten (wheat, oats, etc) in
my diet, though I thought I could get away with trace amounts of dairy
or wheat (like what cheese I missed when picking cheese out of salads,
or less than 1% ingredients in salad dressings, etc). When I eat
something she's sensitive to, she'll be very fussy, cry and reject the
breast (and sometimes bottle, also), sometimes vomit or spit up (all
these in the first 24 hours), and have green gassy mucusy diarrhea for a
week.

She's also had 2 nasty 1 month long colds, I think, largely courtesy of
her sister. Whenever she gets a cold, she also gets the green mucusy
diarrhea.

So the past month had a very bad start. She got a nasty cold from
K****, the diarrhea started. She started sulfatrim on her 3mo birthday
(for a sinus infection, she had fever, coughing, and thick yellow
mucus and her sister and I both had definite sinus infections at the
time too), the diarrhea continued. She went on a huge food strike ---
rejecting breast and bottle, even in the dead of night, to the point
where her diapers were dry. I managed to coax occasional bm/ebm into
her, and eventually (after an urgent care visit and a children's er
visit) the consensus was that the sulfatrim was making her so nauseous
she wouldn't eat. Switched her to amoxicillin. She seemed to get
better, but the diarrhea continued. As of her 4mo visit, she still had
the diarrhea, but seemed happy and well. I was concerned, though,
because from 3mo to 4mo she gained no weight at all --- went from 13
lbs 7 oz clothed to 13 lbs 4oz unclothed. During the worst of the food
strike, she was 13 lbs 4 oz clothed.

So this weekend, she seemed to have another big allergic reaction to
something I must have eaten. She was fussy and rejecting breast and
bottle, spit a little, and the diarrhea got much worse (waking her
crying in the middle of the night, where usually she is poop-free
through the night).

So now she's had diarrhea, with an occasional day of improvement just
to return to that awful green, mucusy, foaming, liquid stuff --- for
five weeks. She's not gaining weight, and she seems traumatized by the
idea of nursing, sometimes she seems to hate it."

Mom has kept good records of her own intake, in order to discern foods that
might be causing a problem, but is naturally discouraged, and not sure where
to turn next.

Any ideas?  I know that overall, breastfeeding this child, in particular, is
the most beneficial.  Someone else suggested that she consider full time
pumping, and bottlefeeding EBM, but I don't know that the mom wants to
completely give up the physical nursing relationship.

As mom told me, "Any information or advice would be welcome, I have no
emotional
distance left to really put things into proper perspective."

Thanks,

Trish Kuper, proud mama of Claire & Cecelia,
and member of an internationally recognized breastfeeding support
organization
[log in to unmask]
Untaught, yet wise! mid all thy brief alarms
Thou closely clingest to thy Mother's arms,
Nestling thy little face in that fond breast,
Whose anxious Heavings lull thee to thy rest!
     -Samuel Taylor Coleridge. To an Infant

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