Breast milk intolerance? Does it exist?

[Olga lab]

Hello ladies.
Quick question, is there anything like breast milk intolerance?
My ds seems to be better off on the formula (I had to give it to him for 2 days due to some meds I had to take).
He is a refluxer and also has diary allergy (which got better when I stopped eating diary myself..)
Any ideas?
Tia!

[trimbler]

Hi there, I'm no expert but I've never heard of an intolerance to breast milk itself, however there are many substances which may pass into our milk which our LOs may be intolerant to - for example, 'dairy' (which I think could be the lactose and/or protein), as you've experienced with your own LO. Can I ask what his symptoms are, to give others a better idea? Some LOs who experience intolerance to cow's milk are also sensitive to soy, so you could try cutting that out of your diet if you like? Wheat/gluten could be another culprit, some mums cut out eggs and all sorts of other things but I'd be inclined to discuss with your doctor before trying a strict elimination diet - after all, you need to make sure you're eating well yourself if you want to breastfeed Was the formula he tried for those two days based on cow's milk or soy?

[weaver]

It's completely normal that his dairy allergy would improve when you stopped eating dairy.  I would ask if you stopped eating *all* dairy including hidden dairy? If you didn't, that might account for the improvement on formula. Also depends a bit on what's in the formula, that'll give you a hint on what you might consider excluding from your diet while BFing.

BM allergy I have never heard of, so as PP says, it'll most likely be something in the BM.  Bear in mind that BM has many benefits that formula does not give, but it is of course your decision whether you stick with BF or not. 

BTW, I'm sure you've been given excellent advice, but I would query the need to give you meds that mean you need to stop BFing, even for a few days.  There usually are alternatives.  If you have any questions about compatibility of drugs with BFing, contact the Breastfeeding Network Drugs in BM service where a qualified pharmacist who also knows a lot about BFing will help you.  They even have a page on FB!

[*Liz*]

BM is an extremely thin milk, so that can be why a refluxer can seem better on a formula, as it can tend to stay down better, although hypoallergenic milks are pretty thin as well.

[Olga lab]

Hk, thanks a lot for your replies.
I needed to take the meds for a special mri test coz there was a chance I needed a knee surgery, but all false alarm.
The symptoms he has are basically the spitting, mucus and blood in the poop (blood went away as soon as I stopped eating the diary including the hidden one, mucus still there though from time to time). But the overall kind of feeling about the baby was different those 2 days.. He was happier, slept better and so on.
While now he started giving me the back arching and weird bird-like screams (especially during the night)  which I have never heard before.
I am very keen on breastfeeding him until he is min 1 yo (as I did with my ds1)  but I don't want home to suffer if there is a problem.
Unfortunately here in Greece where I live now there are not a lot of exams they really do in that case. The docs normally recommend to try the hypoallergenic formula and some prebiotic.. So nothing much. But as I m going back home to Moscow to see my mum I was thinking to run some test..

[trimbler]

My DD had mucousy poo for a while, I was told that this is usually a sign of some gut irritation, which I guess your DS has had, with the dairy allergy. For us, a combination of tongue tie and reflux, together with my generous/over-abundant milk supply, meant that she was getting too much of the lactose-rich 'foremilk' and not enough of the fattier 'hindmilk' and her stools improved loads once I started block feeding. She had the classic green stools though, I wouldn't suggest block feeding or anything like that for you unless yours was having similar symptoms, I'm sure there are lots of other things which could lead to gut irritation/mucousy stools... How have things been the last couple of days?

[Olga lab]

Oh..I guess this is my promlem too...I have  oversupply and a very aggressive let down 2hich I can't really improve anyhow.
My ds1 has never had a problem,but with ds2 I see that he stops suckling and won't take more,so I check the milk which comes out and it looks more like the foremilk to me.
He is still worse than those 2 days I was giving him formula...but I m so so much in favour of breastfeeding that I want to find out how to stick to it with him being happy!
Thanks for your help!!!

[zissi]

he probably was "happier" on formula because a big bottle just knocks him out whereas breastmilk is quicker digested, hence the need to feed more often. this is the biological norm and young babies are often just fussy and want to be held, nursed etc. I always see this with babies of friends who are formula fed, their babies always sleep in their buggies etc and mine only every slept when they were in the sling.
the back arching could point to tongue tie too. have you had LO checked for this? I would only listen to a lactation consultant in respect to tongue tie or BF questions in general. a lot of health care professionals don't have a clue and can give quite damaging advice...
hope things will improve!!

[weaver]

For Over active let down and abundant supply, you can slow the flow down by laid back breast feeding - google it for videos etcetera. You can also try hand expressing very beginning of the feed (into a towel or a bottle for later use) and then putting baby on, that way the first rush is done, tho there are several let-downs in a feed normally.

There's a massive difference between FF and BF as PP said. Hope all going better for you now.

[*Ali*]

This faq may also be helpful Oversupply and Overactive (Forceful) Let-Down