Anyone breastfeeding a baby with reflux and cut out dairy?

[JenX]

So I've just learned that my baby has silent reflux. She was 'diagnosed' by the lactation consultant who leads the breastfeeding group we go to after she observed a lot of the signs of it right there in the meeting. She offered some suggestions of things we can do to ease the pain position-wise (many we had been doing already, because they were just the things we found that worked for us).

I did some reading and decided it would be a good idea to cut out dairy from my diet in case the milk proteins were leading to her problem. She has also developed some eczema and an itchy nose- she rubs her face on me a lot. I read these can also be helped by removing dairy. I'm already gluten and soy free, so eliminating dairy is hard- it was a big part of my diet. Was just wondering if anyone here had good results with reflux from going dairy free, and if so, how long did it take you to see the effects?

 

[CupcakeBaby]

Yep I've gone dairy and soy free (50% of babies who have dairy intolerance have soy intolerance too)

Makes a HUGE difference for us.

I know this because I stopped dairy around 6 weeks ago. And then on Thursday I had a small piece of cake as our paediatrician said there was a chance DD could handle a little dairy.

He was wrong. We'd not smelt acid on DDs breath for a while and she was much happier.

But after that cake on Thursday she was not happy on Friday at all. Vomited strong acid up twice bless her.

Now back to dairy free and she's not been acidy today.

At first I think it took about 3-4 weeks to make a big difference but its so worth it!

 

[JenX]

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to hear you've had good results- really hoping we will too!

 

[greenlady]

Can I ask what the 'signs' were that the LC observed? I am wondering if my baby has a little bit of reflux and just wondered what the obvious signs were. Sorry its a bit off topic

 

[Fortune Cooki]

I asked my pediatrician about silent reflux today. She said most babies have reflux of a sort and it is not a big deal. It will not destroy the esophagus. Cutting out dairy is beneficial for so many reasons. It's good that you are doing that regardless.

 

[CupcakeBaby]

It's a big deal for my baby. She lives in agony.

Yes, most babies do have a small amount of reflux.

But there are degrees of it, and my daughter is in pain multiple times a day and has stomach acid come out her mouth and nose and burn her if we don't keep her medicated and I watch my diet.

Also we can't lay her flat at all or she chokes.

Reflux isn't just something that some people get dramatic about.

For us it's a huge, horrible problem that effects everything we do with and for our baby.

 

[babicyntaf]

I looked up the symptoms of silent reflux as I thought my lo had it. I cut out dairy in obvious forms such as milk, cheese etc. I haven't cut out gluten and I didn't go too mad on ingredients in dishes - didn't read packs etc. My lo has had less problems with the reflux type symptoms and certainly seems to be getting better. It could be because she's getting a bit bigger. It could be that symptoms were due to me producing too much milk too quickly and that she can now deal with that. I've also raised her mattress a little to help at night. I don't know what has made the difference. I just know that she is getting better and seems to have less problems thankfully.

 

[ladybug1023]

I have been dairy free for almost 6 months old and my DD is 9 months old. It really does seem to help us. I have tried some things with dairy in them off and on and she still reacts to them.

 

[JenX]

Can I ask what the 'signs' were that the LC observed? I am wondering if my baby has a little bit of reflux and just wondered what the obvious signs were. Sorry its a bit off topic

The signs the lactation consultant saw were her screaming and arching her back, stiffening her whole body. Also she observed coughing and hoarse voice. We have always noticed that when she gets fussy it would calm her to sit upright. The arching back and extreme fussiness started recently, indicating that it has gotten worse. She has nearly doubled her birthweight in only 11 weeks and rarely spits up, so we didn't suspect a problem, but apparently some kids feed more frequently to soothe the burn (breastmilk apparently acts as somewhat of an antacid) and therefore gain weight well or even quickly.

The good news is that we are only on day 3 of no dairy and already seeing improvement. I have high hopes that this will be the answer for us.

 

[JenX]

I asked my pediatrician about silent reflux today. She said most babies have reflux of a sort and it is not a big deal. It will not destroy the esophagus. Cutting out dairy is beneficial for so many reasons. It's good that you are doing that regardless.

The lactation consultant also said that most babies reflux to some degree and it isn't a problem. But for some it causes severe pain and great distress, and that's what we were seeing. It was bad enough that if cutting out dairy didn't help we would probably need to medicate her.

I agree that cutting out dairy can be beneficial for other reasons, but when I'm already forced to be gluten-free for my own health, it really limits my food options. Of course I'll gladly do anything to keep my baby from being in pain, though.

 

[cupcake0406]

I've started it today. My baby has horrendous colic so so bad. So I've started with colief and I am eliminating dairy, so far I'm finding it quite tough as I'm also doing slimming world so I'm very hungry at present! Will be stalking to see whether yours really helps x

 

[JenX]

I've started it today. My baby has horrendous colic so so bad. So I've started with colief and I am eliminating dairy, so far I'm finding it quite tough as I'm also doing slimming world so I'm very hungry at present! Will be stalking to see whether yours really helps x

It *is* tough! But this morning my baby woke up smiling, and that makes it all worthwhile to me! I'm seeing slow improvement, but it is improvement none the less.

Good luck to you and please keep me posted as to how it is going.

 

[cupcake0406]

Thankyou jenX i will do mine also woke up smiling today! Obviously not the dairy yet for me but probably colief! Lol will continue! Good luck xx

 

[BunnyN]

I just posted asking about food allergies then saw this. We have had big problems with weight gain and funny looking poo (mucus, foamy, green and blood). I got so desperate that I ate nothing but rice for a week. She started pooing less and smiling more within 3 days and in a week her poos were almost normal again. I thought she only had mild reflux but I actually suspect it was worse than I thought. It has improved too but I have been reintroducing foods and the day I ate bannanas she was sick everywhere multiple times and screamed a lot so we suspect bannanas are a problem. I haven't tried dairy yet as I wanted to give her a bit longer before adding the likely culprits.

 

[greenlady]

I'm just curious does anyone know if you eliminate dairy will the child have any intolerance of dairy later on as a result?

 

[summer rain]

I'm just curious does anyone know if you eliminate dairy will the child have any intolerance of dairy later on as a result?

If you have to eliminate dairy the likelihood is baby is already intolerant to dairy. However from what I've seen it doesn't cause the intolerance to last any longer than expected. My mum eliminated dairy with me as a baby and I didn't have much dairy growing up, and as an adult I am lactose intolerant and mildly allergic to dairy proteins-I experience hives, itching and post nasal drip if I ingest or have skin contact with something that contains milk. However my OH was dairy allergic as a baby and ended up in hospital several times due to it yet his mother ignored the advice and stuffed him full of dairy growing up, he now has asthma, eczema, IBS and is also like me dairy protein allergic and lactose intolerant but his is more severe xx

 

[JenX]

I'm just curious does anyone know if you eliminate dairy will the child have any intolerance of dairy later on as a result?

If you have to eliminate dairy the likelihood is baby is already intolerant to dairy. However from what I've seen it doesn't cause the intolerance to last any longer than expected. My mum eliminated dairy with me as a baby and I didn't have much dairy growing up, and as an adult I am lactose intolerant and mildly allergic to dairy proteins-I experience hives, itching and post nasal drip if I ingest or have skin contact with something that contains milk. However my OH was dairy allergic as a baby and ended up in hospital several times due to it yet his mother ignored the advice and stuffed him full of dairy growing up, he now has asthma, eczema, IBS and is also like me dairy protein allergic and lactose intolerant but his is more severe xx

Agreed, this is true, but apparently many kids will grow out of the intolerance.

 

[CupcakeBaby]

DF hints for you mamas.

If you get cheap Bourbon biscuits they are safe. As are the BBQ Kettle Chips.

Most bread isn't buy bagels and tortilla wraps are.

 

[summer rain]

Most bread is dairy free these days, however most isn't soya free. Most Waitrose and Tesco own brand bread is free from both, though a few of their white bread products contain dairy or soya based ingredients. Sainsbury's most of their bread products are marked as vegan (so no dairy at all) but most of them do contain soya xx

P.s. as for the cheap Bourbon biscuits this keeps chopping and changing depending on the supplier, last year nearly all the supermarket value range bourbons all of a sudden contained whey or milk powder, then all of a sudden early on this year they went back to being vegan. It's always worth checking though as ingredients can change really suddenly. The walkers salt and vinegar crisps contained milk derived ingredients for years but all of a sudden a few months back they took it out and the crisps were vegan however I always check as they may put the dairy back in at some point

 

[summer rain]

I'm just curious does anyone know if you eliminate dairy will the child have any intolerance of dairy later on as a result?

If you have to eliminate dairy the likelihood is baby is already intolerant to dairy. However from what I've seen it doesn't cause the intolerance to last any longer than expected. My mum eliminated dairy with me as a baby and I didn't have much dairy growing up, and as an adult I am lactose intolerant and mildly allergic to dairy proteins-I experience hives, itching and post nasal drip if I ingest or have skin contact with something that contains milk. However my OH was dairy allergic as a baby and ended up in hospital several times due to it yet his mother ignored the advice and stuffed him full of dairy growing up, he now has asthma, eczema, IBS and is also like me dairy protein allergic and lactose intolerant but his is more severe xx

Agreed, this is true, but apparently many kids will grow out of the intolerance.

Yes they often will however from what I have seen in some cases any allergy or intolerance can be made worse and more long term if the offending culprit is not avoided. My boys all outgrew their intolerance or allergy to dairy. My son whom I cut dairy out of my diet the earliest, when he was just a week old outgrew his dairy intolerance by 5 months xx