Just because your baby is being breastfed does not mean that it cannot develop a milk protein allergy. While it may occur less frequently than formula allergies the babies nonetheless can have symptoms of milk allergy. The suspicion on the part of a pediatrician that the baby might be allergic to breast milk is why most doctors recommend that a new mother start the infant on formula.
Many mothers think that when their child develops an allergy to breast milk that he or she is actually allergic to her milk. This is a common misconception and a true allergy to your own mother's milk wold be very rare indeed. The baby is, in actuality allergic to certain proteins in your diet that you have digested and that eventually end up being secreted into your breast milk. . Sometiems if you eat less of these protiends the child is still able to tolerate the breast milk. This means that you as a mom have to be careful about what you eat in order to make sure that your breast milk does not cause colicky symptoms in your infant.
The treatment for mil protein allergy in the breast fed baby is dietary retraction of the offending proteins. While some lactation experts will recommend broad sweeping restrictions most babies will do just fine with the restriction of the milk proteins casein and whey. This translates to mean that you can't drink milk or eat milk products like cheese or yogurt. This is because it is the components in cow's milk that are likely making your baby colicky and sick.
The foods that contain casein and whey that you should avoid are
· Milk
· Butter
· Half and half
· Sour ream
· Yogurt
· Ice cream
· Cottage cheese
· Custard
· Curd ghee
· Nougat
· Brown sugar flavoring
· Margarine
· Deli meats
· Chocolate
· High protein shakes
· High protein flower
· Nondairy creamer
· Cheese
Your baby usually shows signs of improvement after just a few days of clearing your diet of milk proteins. Some babies may take two to three weeks for the complete healing of the intestinal inflammation. The key is to be patient and give it enough time. Many babies really do settle down after the two week period.
If you change your diet and the baby is still sick then you will no longer be able to breast feed the child. The main treatment for the milk allergic baby is to take him or her off milk and feed him or her one of the hypoallergenic baby formulas. There are all different kinds of formulas on the market that do not have a trace of these proteins and once your baby starts drinking these the symptoms usually disappear altogether. Removing intact cow's milk protein from the baby's diet serves the role of making baby feel better as well as confirms any suspicion that milk allergy was the cause of the colic in the first place (if the symptoms are relieved!)