Hindmilk/foremilk imbalance or allergy?

[mk8]

Hello ladies

I've posted in various threads about a problem I've been having with my breastfed baby but thought I'd start a new one in case people going through a similar experience has missed this.

I exclusively breastfeed my 3.5 months old baby. From about 6 weeks he started having the odd green mucusy stool, which rapidly became every stool. I went to the doctor, who thought it was a foremilk/hindmilk issue. About 2 weeks after that I noticed a v small amount of blood mixed in. I freaked and took him to Accident & emergency in hospital. They were not overly concerned after examining him (touching his tummy, listening to his breathing) and asking me lots of questions. They thought it was a virus and to let him get over it and the blood should subside in 2-3 days. It didnt. I returned and they thought it may be a milk allergy intolerance. I therefore cut out all dairy and soy and within 48 hrs I saw the first yellow nappy in weeks. I was ecstatic to day the least! The stools also became less mucusy.

I was booked in to meet the paediatric consultant and I advised him if the developments. She felt this was enough to confirm a milk protein intolerance. I was told to wait 4-6 weeks and to reintroduce dairy to see if it was indeed that. I got discharged.

6 weeks on and my baby's stools are still mucusy and I see the odd speck of blood every few days. Admittedly it may be because I have tried soy now and then by accident. I returned to my gp who said it could be that his gut is still irritated and simply needs time to heal. My baby us putting on weight (initially following 9th percentile and recently moving towards the 25th. He is also a very happy baby and developmentally doing very well so far. Therefore the docs aren't overly worried about this.

My concern is that despite the dairy elimination, his stools have stopped improving in consistency and blood specks. Initially there was a huge improvement and then it plateaued. I'm wondering if he is also allergic to other things and I've read some cut out eggs, wheat, nuts etc etc. whilst I'm willing to do anything for my son, I'm hesitant to cut out so many things as I'm worried it will affect my nutrition and thus the quality if my milk for my baby.

I'm also wondering if the initial hindmilk foremilk imbalance has some merit as I've read prolonged imbalance can irritate the gut, leading to blood specks. My baby nurses from both sides each time (he drains one side after 10 mins it seems) and sometimes he pulls off then frantically tries to latch on again. He also poops immediately after a feed.

He also poops really frequently. Varies 4-6 times a day, sometimes more. Which the dietician I saw said it a bit much for his age. It's also v runny and hardly ever seedy, though occasionally curdy looking.

He's fartsa bit but I wouldn't say it's excessive. He spits up but I wouldn't say it's vomiting as not projectile.

Does anybody have a similar experience to share? Thank you for reading.

 

[bananaz]

A few questions: Do you think you have an oversupply? How do you decide when to switch breasts? Have you looked into block feeding?

 

[mk8]

Hi, I don't think I have oversupply. I switch when it seems like little one has drained the breast~ he kinda lets go then suck again but makes noise as if to say"huh? Where's the milk?!" I give my nipple a quick squeeze and nothing comes out so in guessing its done.

 

[summer rain]

It does sound to me like oversupply to some extent though your LO may just be eating a larger volume of milk than average so it doesn't seem like it. True foremilk/hindmilk imbalance is rare what usually happens is there is an oversupply and so baby is getting more milk overall but since most of the feed is the more watery milk anyway and gradually becomes thicker and fattier throughout the feed, with the overall bigger volume baby is getting a slight overload of lactose. It's not harmful but it can irritate the gut and take a good few weeks to fully resolve, hope it resolves for you as it has for the most part, for us.

I have oversupply and OALD it's not as pronounced as with my second youngest where I had it really badly for months, but it's moderately bad. Most days he has 3-4 dirty nappies still, sometimes more and while he has skipped a couple of days on occasion this is unusual for him. As I mentioned in another post he did used to get a lot of blood spots and mucus but now it is once every few weeks, he had a tiny speck today but it's the first time in ages. He is also a very heavy wetter, he is in size 4 nappies just about but have to put him in a 5 at night or else he soaks right through it and whatever he is wearing. He was an average gainer but has jumped up the chart a bit as he has started gaining nearly 8oz a week which is 2x the average for his age. I don't think tandem BF is helping the oversupply issue as my toddler is very efficient at stimulating my supply and then the next few days he will barely feed at all meaning even more oversupply for my poor youngest to handle xx

 

[CandyDay]

Are you sure you have totally eliminated all dairy. There is hidden dairy in things as well so you might want to take a look and make sure your not missing any dairy.

https://www.kellymom.com/store/freehandouts/hidden-dairy01.pdf

Hidden Dairy Ingredients to avoid
On an Elimination diet



 Acidophilus Milk
 Casein
 Caseinate
 Curds
 Galactose
 Ghee
 Lactalbumin
 Lactate
 Lactic Acid
 Lactoglobulin
 Lactose
 Malted Milk
 Nougat
 Potassium Caseinate
 Ready Sponge
 Rennet
 Sodium Caseinate
 Whey

It could also be a oversupply issue. You might want to try block feeding for a few days to see if that helps.

 

[summer rain]

Lactic acid in the uk is almost certainly not from dairy. I used to avoid it when I was eliminating dairy with my second youngest but looked into it and it is never from dairy here. Vegans have looked into this issue too and have found the same. Xx