Hello all,
I have been lurking and discovered that I don't quite fit in around here,
and my problems seem very insignificant after reading about the lengths
many of you must go to to insure your children's health. I feel very lucky.
Even though my problem is a quite different than what I have read about
here, I wanted to post in case someone had a similar problem and knew the
answers. The doctors in my area here haven't been much help. It concerns
lactose intolerance in pregnancy only, and a resultant infant who cannot
tolerate breast milk.
I never had a touch of lactose intolerance UNTIL I was 7 months pregnant
with my first child. It was moderate, I could still get away with a
little dairy here and there, as long as I didn't drink milk or eat ice
cream. Remarkably, immediately after my son's birth, the lactose
intolerance subsided, and I was back to my old dairy queen self. I was
breastfeeding, and when my son was about three weeks old, he developed
severe diarrhea.
In hindsight, I realize now that the baby's diarrhea started about the
same time I started back on dairy products. His diarrhea continued for
weeks. I asked the pediatrician if it could be a milk allergy or lactose
intolerance, but he said diarrhea was not a symptom of either. He just
insisted that his diarrhea was normal and treated me like a worrisome first
time mother. There was nothing normal about it. My baby was in pain,
screaming every time he had one of these watery bowel movements and I was
changing diapers about 20 times a day and just trying to stay ahead of the
horrible diaper rash that resulted from the irritating diarrhea. Finally
I changed pediatricians. The new doctor put me on a breastfeeding diet
which eliminated all known irritants, including dairy products. I didn't
see any immediate improvement, and I couldn't take it any more, so I just
quit breastfeeding and put him on soy formula. He did wonderfully after
that. When he got older, I started giving him milk. He is 6 now, drinks
milk all the time and has never shown any symptoms.
So for the past six years, I have been heavily consuming dairy products
with no symptoms. UNTIL I got pregnant again. This time the lactose
intolerance started right away in the first month of my pregnancy, and is
more severe than last time. I can't even tolerate butter on toast. My
problem is easily manageable, but my concern is the baby. I want to
breastfeed, but I am afraid to chance it. I don't want to put another
child through that kind of suffering. Another thing I have wondered about
is that since I am only lactose intolerant when pregnant, could it be the
some sort of rejection by the fetus? If so, could I be causing a milk
allergy or lactose intolerance or harming the fetus by consuming dairy? I
have talked to my obstetricians and they tell me not to worry, but it is
also clear they have never heard of anything like this. Has anyone here?
Thanks, Miranda
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