On Tue, 19 Aug 1997 10:45:00 -0700 Susan Martin
<[log in to unmask]> writes:

>  MY question was-- does eating these foods WHILE
>PREGNANT not just while nursing, have any effect on the baby's
developing
>system?  Do the proteins and any possible immune reaction I am having to
>them pass through the placenta?

While I don't have any direct research data for this, I do have 2 points
of information that might be of interest.

The first was from a conversation I had with my allergist about avoiding
highly allergic foods while nursing.  One of the comments he made was
that they no longer recommended strict avoidance because of lacking
nutrition problems that occurred and caused too many problems in low risk
cases.  He mentioned that they didn't recommend it at all ANYMORE during
pregnancy because of the nutrition problems.  This was more dangerous
than the incidental benefit.  I didn't really think to probe harder at
the time and only recalled the comment recently during another
discussion.

The second point is strictly anecdotal.  I don't normally consume that
much dairy because I'm slightly lactose intolerant.  Well, I drank lots
of milk while I was pregnant.  I ate cereal w/ milk for breakfast most
mornings.  I ate a ton of ice cream.  And, because I hate the taste of
milk, I mixed it with chocolate!  I don't like most cereal that don't
cover the taste of milk, so I eat ones that flavor the milk - usually
with chocolate.  My daughter is very reactive to milk and chocolate.
Coincidence?  I don't know...

Kathy