Hello Moms/dads - my beautiful daughter will be one month old tomorrow. She is exclusively breastfed (BF). I've noticed that sometimes right after BF she gets fussy, like not just a little bit, but crying. Not all the time though. She is also REALLY gassy. I've tried to pump her legs when she gets fussy and this does help. I've also tried a little bit of mylicon - not really sure if this helps much. One thought I had was is she having a hard time with my consumption of dairy? My son was exclusively BF, but didn't have this issue. I was going to try to cut it out of my diet for a week or two to see what happens. This will be hard for me as I LOVE dairy. I wanted to ask if anyone has had to do this? For how long? How and what did you eat to replace dairy foods in your diet? Did it help with the fussiness?
Many thanks, P.
What I have found that's better than Mylicon is Gripe Water. Works so very well & helps with the gas. You may not have to eliminate dairy as much as cut way back & see if it gets better. Some babies are just gassy. I didn't have a child with colic until my 3rd child so I had no idea what was wrong with her, LOL. So try cutting back and try the Gripe Water.
I would think its your letdown being forceful and her getting too much foremilk at times than it would be a food intolerance. Try nurisng her on one breast only per feeding for two feedings in a row, then the ohter breast for two feedings in a row. If your letdown sprays lke a garden hose (mine did! LOL) let herl atch until you letdown, then let the milk spray into a towel or burp rag until it slows, then let her relatch and nurse. This should help with her getting enough hindmilk, and therefore help the fussiness and gas.
My sister's youngest had horrible reflux issues when he was tiny & exclusively BF, though not her oldest and neither of my kids had that issue either. I'd say if you want to give it a go of dropping dairy from your diet & see if that helps out then go for it, but just be prepared that it may not be the root of the issue at all.
Do you have a Whole Foods near you? They can give you a list of casein-free foods which will give you tons of ideas.
It was hard for us at first but it gets much easier. And once you stop eating it for awhile you realize how "heavy" it can be on your system. My husband also stopped being so clogged and stuffy all the time.
Good luck.
If you think it's dairy (or any other food), it can be difficult to fully eliminate it, and traces of it can hang around in your body & breastmilk for a few weeks, so it's tough doing an elimination diet like that. One book I read (I think it was La Leche League's) suggested a sort of "reverse elimination diet" -- instead of going for 6 weeks w/o the suspected trouble-making food, eat a lot of what you think may be the problem food for one meal or one day, and see if the baby's symptoms get worse or not. If not, you know it's not that food but something else; if it does, then you've got it narrowed down or perhaps even nailed.
She may just be taking in too much air at feedings, and causing gas. Sometimes a change in positioning can help to prevent that.
Milk protein intolerance is often accompanied by soy intolerance, so you may want to consider eliminating that, as well.
And read labels. My dairy-free coffee creamer has milk proteins in it. :-/
It can take 2-4 weeks for all dairy to leave your systems, so don't assume it isn't working after just 1 week.
I would encourage you to give it a serious shot. It went on way too long with us (lots of hidden dairy in my diet, as I later learned) and ended our bfing relationship.
My ped. ran bloodwork on my daughter to see if she had problems with dairy. Then I knew that dairy was not her problem without having to try the elimiation diet.
You need to cut it out for 3 weeks before you will notice a difference. Start eating goat milk products instead. Once you find out if it is a dairy issue, then slowly add in organic milk products ONLY - but like one item a week and not straight milk. Yogurts, cheeses, etc - once a week after the 3 week dairy detox.
my son was like this and with him it was an allergy to milk. he couldn't have anything with milk or any milk proteins in it until he was almost 3 and finally outgrew it. could be that or it could be just an intolerance. i ended up swithcing over to formula, which i had to get nutramigen, because his was so bad. everything i was eating had something in it that affected him. it is hard to deal with milk allergies but you have to do what you have to do! good luck. hopefully your daughter won't have the same issue
I did this with my son until he weaned at 16 months (started at one month). It turned out he had a dairy sensitivity, as I did (he outgrew his around age 3, no one can tell me when I outgrew mine). It was hard, but worth it for me. He was much less fussy (and stopped having projectile diarrhea--I kid you not). My husband wasn't so sure as it meant the food we ate together changed.
I used soy milk and pretty much everything else I just didn't bother with the soy, rice, or other substitute version of because I didn't care for them. It's just important to read labels carefully because some soy cheese, margarine, and other surprising foods have dairy in them. I used olive or canola oil to replace butter, occasionally used soy yogurt or sour cream in baking, but wouldn't personally eat them plain. I found some vegan recipes online that provide substitutes for dairy, but mostly I cooked things that didn't have dairy products in them. I can assure I totally pigged out on cheese, yogurt, and ice cream after my son weaned!
My second born had some fussiness early on and I was afraid we were facing the same thing, but it turned out to be me producing too much milk and reflux (which both kids and my husband have). I managed to slow down the milk (check out KellyMom.com if you have questions on that) and we got her on Zantac. But, she also has turned out to simply be more irritable and expressive than her brother. Good luck.
I eliminated dairy for the entire year I breastfed my twins. It was difficult the first few weeks, but then became completely routine. Just make sure you're eliminating ALL dairy - milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter, margarine, sour cream, and all baked goods and sauces that say they contain casein, milk solids, or whey. The hidden dairy is harder to cut out than the obvious just because you have ready labels for everything and be careful what you order in restaurants.
Cutting out dairy really helped my daughter a ton.
I too LOVED dairy. I wish I would have know to cut it out of my diet with my daughter because she was fussy for 2 years (she nursed until 2 1/2). We recently found out we are dairy and gluten intolerant and had to change out diet. We switched to goat's cheese, almond and coconut milk, and real butter. I did miss my daily glasses of milk, but after a week or two I didn't. Instead of cutting it out try to replace it with something so you don't feel so sad about it.
have you talked with your ped? I know my son got these issues from caffeine, do you drink soda or coffee or eat chocolate? Those could also be at fault. Good luck
There's lots of other reasons to cut out dairy, so it is a good thing you are doing.
I just cut it out because of cancer. You can try Soy, Almond, or Hemp milk. Instead of ice cream, try So Delicious made with coconut milk. I found that at Walmart and it really is delicious. There is no reason to cut out whey protein. That is what is in your breast milk.
