can low dairy diet help prevent milk allergy in pregnancy

[annette.xx]

Hi all

just wondered if anyone had read anything about low dairy intake in pregnancy lowering the chances of dairy allergies?

I read something a long time ago - at least I think I did!!

dd has suffered terribly and in turn so has mummy!! just want to provide the best start to new babys life!!

obviuosly I would need to supplement the calcium into my diet and i would go out of my way to do this is I knew it may have a possibility of helping...

what do you think?

Annette.xx

[MLK]

I am not sure about dairy, but I k they did a study where they compared countries where mothers were recommneded to avoid peanuts in preg compared with those that ddin't. Turned otu the countries where peanuts were avoided had MORE peanut allergies in thr kids than the ones which didn't!


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19432829

Not sure how that exptrapolates to dairy thoguh, just pointing out that allergies aren't as straight forward as it seems...

[LizzieN]

Hey Annette darling, great to see a post from you   So are you pg or trying??? SO exciting!!!

Ok so I did a study on the available information as to maternal antigen avoidance during pg and breastfeeding....Bear in mind this was about 8 years ago now, so the research may have changed, but the study showed that there was no statistically significant decrease in the incidence of allergy caused by allergen avoidance during pregnancy...there was (obviously) during breast feeding.  I think as pp suggested that there was a slightly increased risk of peanut allergy in those who completely avoided peanuts (go figure!!)...

HTH sweetie, if you are trying - good luck, if you are already pg CONGRATS xox

Hugs
Lizzie

[Katet]

The trouble is there is milk allergy & there is milk (lactose intolerance) etc & it isn't just a simple antigen that causes an allergy or intolerance the same way it is with peanuts & having worked in research & been exposed to work (not done directly by me) of other researchers in the area of allergy it isn't simple. Allergy is on the rise in western cultures & even countries like Singapore & it is very uncommon in countries like India.

In an oversimplified example, an allergy is a reaction to a substance (antigen) that the body sees as foreign & it mounts a "hyper" response to it, (kind of like being a foreign visitor being  "normal"  & being part of an army invasion as the "hyper" response) The trouble is allergy does tend to run in families so there is that factor & also there is a higher incidence of asthma & allergy in first children which has been attributed to the "hygiene Hypothesis" that parents are more vigilant about sterility & cleanliness with their first born & the "lack" of exposure to antigens (germs) actually precipitates the body to hyper responses because its immune system has nothing else to do. One of my research group actually did a study of mice kept in sterile environments & they actually did have more autoimmune issues.

So based on that in an over simplification it would almost say it was better to over-indulge in dairy... trouble is if it is actually a MSPI/MPI (so an intolerance) rather than an allergy (most so called "milk allergies" are actually intolerance's) then it won't hold true as the intolerance is simply that the gut struggles with the protein rather than the body mounting an immune response. (vomit/gut issues more intolerance, rash more allergy... but also oversimplifying there).

So quite simply the easiest issue would be to avoid dairy in the last weeks of pregnancy & early BF & then slowly try it when your baby is about 2-3 weeks old!

[annette.xx]

ah thanks so much ladies - some really great info there! well im just on my last BF just one a day in morning which I plan to drop by my second trimester - that answers your question lizzie! thanks so much for your congratulations - im 8 wks pregnant so still early days!

think once im finished BF I will start up on a normal dairy diet - im getting fed up with the size of the calcium tablets im taking!!

Annette.xx

[LizzieN]

YAYAYAYAYAY  brilliant news sweetheart, hope you have a wonderful pregnancy xox

[MLK]

Congratulations!

[~Sara~]

Congrats, Annette!!  I'm so happy for you

And re: your thread topic, I craved dairy foods for the last half of my pregnancy and ate tons of cheese, yogurt, ice cream (hehehe), and drank lots of milk, and Aaron's not ever had a problem with milk products.  Fwiw

Here's hoping that all goes well!!!  Again, many, many congrats.