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A Year Without Milk Products
Breastfeeding the Child With Cow's Milk Allergies By Shannon Caster
Within days after Nathan was born, he started vomiting. Not a little spit up, but full-blown projectile vomiting. Along with the vomiting, came gas, bloating, fussiness, diarrhea and lots of crying. Confused as to the cause of his symptoms, we scheduled what would be the first of many appointments with pediatricians and newborn specialists.
Nathan was born full term, after a healthy pregnancy. We welcomed Nathan, our second child, 19 months after our daughter was born. Within the first three days we realized something was amiss when the vomiting started. At his one-week baby check, he was down half a pound from his birth weight. Doctors ran blood work, did ultrasounds to rule out pyloric stenosis (failure of the stomach to empty out food), and suggested upright feeding and sleeping positions. After two weeks of doctor's appointments, he was diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux. We were given two separate medications to control the reflux. Since almost half of all infants have some degree of reflux the first three months of life, we were hopeful this was our answer.
Three weeks and several doctor visits later, Nathan continued to vomit and lose weight. After nursing, his entire meal would come back up. This was followed by screaming pleas to be fed again. I nursed almost every hour attempting to keep food in Nathan's little stomach. Out of answers, we were referred to a specialist at Children's Hospital. It was here Nathan was diagnosed with an allergy to the protein in cow's milk, almost like being lactose intolerant. The differenceis thatwhile Nathan produced the necessary enzymes to digest lactose, it was the protein in cow's milk causing his symptoms. Switching to a lactose-free baby formula wouldn't necessarily help Nathan's allergy. The solution: stop nursing and put him on a hypoallergenic infant formula or rid my diet of all foods containing cow's milk that would pass through my breast milk. I opted for a dairy-free diet with the support of specialists at Children's Hospital.
