How much does diet really affect breast milk??

Plumie, overfeeding is difficult in a breastfed baby, as they come off the breast when they've had enough. That said, it can occur if mum has oversupply or a fast flow, or sometimes if a baby with reflux spends more time at the breast for soothing. It is possible that your little one was just having a bad day and needed a lot of comfort so was feeding more than she actually needed nutrition-wise, and so was just a one off. (Edited to add: a growth spurt can very occasionally result in this, too.) *Hugs* I hope you work this out. Having a baby in frequent distress is awful :( edited by BFC on 13/01/2011 BFC - Thank You so much for taking the time to always reply with such detailed posts!!! Yes - i think today she was having a really **off** day and it was a mixture of many things! Finally got her to sleep from 5pm - 7:30pm and then she had a really good feed! It started off a bit shaky, (pulling off the breast after 3 minutes and crying) but we eventually got there and i tried the compressions and boy did she gulp it down when i squeezed :) She managed to stay on the breast for 30 minutes (and quite content & relaxed), which was the longest she has fed, in one session, for the whole day! And the Sling - i managed to get one from a friend today, so will DEFINITELY be giving it a go!

Popping back to link to a page with some suggestions for calming a colicky baby: http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussybaby.html

Plumie, overfeeding is difficult in a breastfed baby, as they come off the breast when they've had enough. That said, it can occur if mum has oversupply or a fast flow, or sometimes if a baby with reflux spends more time at the breast for soothing. It is possible that your little one was just having a bad day and needed a lot of comfort so was feeding more than she actually needed nutrition-wise, and so was just a one off. (Edited to add: a growth spurt can very occasionally result in this, too.) Gastro-oesophageal reflux can cause crankiness, discomfort, and often (but not always) vomiting or regurgitation. If symptoms don't improve with breastfeeding management, it might be a good idea to see a doctor to rule this out. If it is diagnosed, medication can work wonders, and there are breastfeeding techniques which can help to manage the symptoms too. If you want to rule out any feeding-related cause, it's generally suggested to 1. make sure that baby is feeding effectively enough to get a "full" balanced feed as mentioned below; low-fat food passes through the stomach quickly, and if too much passes into the small intestine too quickly, some of the lactose in the milk may not be digested which can cause GI discomfort. In practical terms, this means: - revisiting latch (as baby grows, positioning and attachment may change subtly but enough to make a difference), - continuing to feed baby on cue and allowing baby to feed until they come off the breast, using breast compressions if baby remains on the breast but stops feeding actively 2. rule out or manage oversupply and/or overactive let-down (these sometimes go hand-in-hand but not always); oversupply can result in "foremilk" imbalance as in 1, and OAL can result in too much air being taken in 3. consider dairy allergy. Some babies, as AnonDubai said, want to be held a lot. Some parents of colicky babies find that a sling helps them to keep baby close and allows them to move around and do other things at the same time. *Hugs* I hope you work this out. Having a baby in frequent distress is awful :( <em>edited by BFC on 13/01/2011</em>

Plumie you said in a previous post that your DD was on infant gaviscon? Did this help? **SIGH** helped for a bit, but then made no difference :\: Maybe i should persist, as i only used it for 1 week...i guess my patience threshold is dipping really low as i try something and then expect changes immediately! BFC - scratching explosive diaper of my worry list then, seeing that it falls into the normal category for 4 - 6 week old babies :)

Oops! SORRY I should have said that 3-4+ poos a day is an indicator of sufficient intake *in the early weeks.* Going to add that in to my earlier post. By 4-6 weeks, this typically settles down as a baby gets more efficient at digestion, poos less, and in fact it's normal for some breastfed babies to only go once every few days. Often when this is the case, the poo when it happens is pretty explosive, so that's quite normal.

Wow plumie we really need to catch up and talk. Maybe a cranky baby support group? I take it you are ticking my boxes as well?!?! I wish i could go to the BFQA Meeting on Sat, but with the roller coaster we are on at the moment, it is very difficult to plan anything as DD rules the Palace right now ;) I had a friend over when the "big throw up" happened and she said, not even she has seen anything that bad yet (and she has a 6mo DS) :( Looks like it is HUGS for both of us :)

What is nappy output like? 3-4+ dirty nappies a day along with plenty of wet nappies indicate sufficient intake - which is not in question - but the colour of the nappies may give clues. Typical poos are mustard-yellow and "seedy;" a foremilk imbalance may result in green-ish, possibly frothy ("swamp monster") poos. Question re: nappy output! The past week or so, DD is only filling one, max two nappies a day! And when she does - it is explosive, runny, mustard in colour with no texture or "seeds" in it! Why is this and is it normal? DD is 5.5 weeks & is EBF! If this is a foremilk/hindmilk inbalance how can i "rectify" it? Today - she had a rather explosive throw up :( Not flying/spewing out, but like an open tap it ran out of her mouth! She has had a real cranky day and am afraid i could've overfed her :( Is this possible? She has fed so many times today, my breasts never really had that "full" feeling... What could've happened today? Thanks BFC!

As the mother of 2 children, one breastfed and one not breastfed, I truly believe it has nothing to do with your diet. Your baby is miserable for some reason and some babies will just scream because they want to be held. So I would not change anything in your current diet because you are concerned that it's causing your DD to be miserable. Cutting out caffeine when breastfeeding, however, is a good idea.

Breastfed babies between the ages of 1 and 6 months take an average of 750ml/day (every baby is different) - intake has been found to not increase with age/weight during this time. The normal range is between 570ml and 900 ml. So 800-850 ml per day is definitely well within the realms of normal for a 5-week old! That said, it is easy to overfeed a bottle-fed baby, so if you're worried about her taking too much, it might be worth paying close attention to her cues towards the end of a feed, and if she tries to come off the bottle, let her. She will let you know if she's still hungry but just wanted a pause/burp :). If she fusses around, still displays sucking behaviour, looks around or roots, then just offer her the bottle again. Are you manually expressing or using a pump? Hospital-grade pumps are pretty efficient at emptying the breast, so probably no worries there. Hand-held electric pumps (both single and double) or manual pumps are less efficient, and some mums may find that they're getting a lower proportion of "hindmilk." You may be able to see the gradual change throughout a pumping session from more watery, possibly slightly bluish, milk at the beginning through to a creamier colour. If you're not seeing much change, then you might like to try breast compressions at the end of the session to ensure you're getting as much milk out as possible. What is nappy output like? In the early weeks, 3-4+ dirty nappies a day along with plenty of wet nappies indicate sufficient intake - which is not in question - but the colour of the nappies may give clues. Typical poos are mustard-yellow and "seedy;" a foremilk imbalance may result in green-ish, possibly frothy ("swamp monster") poos. Whatever the cause, I hope your little one settles down very quickly. xx <em>edited by BFC on 13/01/2011</em>

Sometimes dairy products in mother's diet can cause a lot of wind and stomach ache. Have you tried eliminating dairy from your diet? If not, please give it a try. One of my friend's said her baby used t cry for unnown reasons. Then doc told her to stop dairy prodcuts. Her baby changed overnight. Do give it a try and see if you see any changes.

I have been ebf-ing for 9 mos now and and honestly nothing i eat has any effect. At first I stayed away from garlic, coffee, etc. but I quickly realised that I can have a spicy thai washed down with a latte and ds doesn't notice at all. BTW nursing mothers are supposed to have 300 mg or less of caffeine per day, and a coke has 50 so as long as you aren't having 6 . . .

I found my little one suffered from wind everytime I did. It was the food that i ate, if i couldnt digest it well, she couldnt either. I cut out a few foods from my diet and that helped....cooked cabbage, cauliflower, kidney beans, lentils, and all spicey food- Out. Greens are particularly good in settling the tummy and this helped my breastfed baby as well.

Could be the cafeine, in my case my baby threw up twice as much as normal if I "sinned" with a latte. My friend drank lots of coffee and her baby didnt even feel the difference, I guess it depends on how your body breaks it down and how sensitive the baby is. On the website from dr Jack Newman it says that not a lot of foods really cause a baby to experience discomfort. I followed everything he said and even mailed with him if I had questions and the busy man always took time to answer. My pediatrician who is a gastro-internal specialist cured my baby boy's colic by having me space out his feeds, he said there should be a MINIMUM of 3 hours between end feed and beginning next feed. In 2 days my son was cured and he has never had colic or painful wind again. Might work for you as well.

Ok, i am pulling my hair out. DD is 5weeks old and the last few days have been really rough with her not wanting to sleep. Then she finally gets to sleep only to wake up crying 5mins later. The 4am feed last night turned into an hour and a half screaming match. Nothing i did comforted her. This has been happening on and off for the last two weeks. She grunts and groans as soon as i put her down like she is in pain. Took her to the Dr and he said its just wind. I have done everything he has said still to no avail. Now the only thing i can put it down to is maybe caffine in my diet. I eat very healthy and the only vice i have is a few diet cokes or coke a day. I know not very healthy but its my only thing to keep me going with a toddler and a new born. If i have one its always immediatly after i express to try and ensure its out of my system 3 hours minnimum later. Any other thoughts ladies? My mind is thinking possible silent reflux?? But wanted to rule everything else out first? Anyone else had any experience with this? I could've written this post Leshell!!! And our DD's are the same age! So you are not alone :( I had a read through the Kellymom link which BFC has posted and am going to try experimenting with a few positions as see if there is any change... ps. I have no caffeine in my diet! And have pumped DD full of Gripe Water, Infacol, Infant Gaviscon - anything that i thought could relief her of whatever was unsettling her, but still no significant changes :(

Oh Leshell, I'm sorry things are not going so well for you. *Hugs.* Parenting is hard enough without a wakeful babe suffering from discomfort, and no-one wants to see their wee baby in pain :(. Firstly, the vast majority of babies do not react to *anything* in their mum's diet. A small minority do, but as every baby is different, it could be anything. That said, when baby does have dietary sensitivities, dairy is the most common offender. Before rushing to cut dairy out (and sometimes it is necessary to cut out even trace amounts), you might like to cut out the caffeine to see if it makes a difference. Can you get the imported caffeine-free cokes for a few days, or switch to 7-up? In brief, other things which can cause wind: - fast let-down. Some mums notice that their milk is "letting-down" faster than their baby can handle, causing baby to gulp/splutter, and take in excess air. If you think this may be the case, this page might have some useful information: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html - "foremilk imbalance." (sometimes goes along with oversupply). Milk towards the beginning of the feed has more lactose and less fat; as the feed progresses, the milk becomes "richer." A baby who does not stay on the breast long enough or feed actively for long enough to empty the breast, or when mum has an overabundant supply, may get proportionally more lactose than their little digestive systems can cope with. This can cause discomfort. Ensuring baby "finishes" one side before offering the other side, or encouraging baby to feed actively on the one side before offering the other (using [url=http://www.drjacknewman.com/pdfs/Breast%20compression-2008.pdf'>breast compressions[/url'>) may help. Pumping and dumping actually does not speed the removal of anything from your system :(. Hope things get better fast! Hopefully some mums will be along with their own experiences, but feel free to give me a ring (evenings) if you'd like to discuss strategies which may help (I am a breastfeeding counsellor with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers): 050-4705577 . Or e-mail me: khoury@null.net Alternatively, if you are in Dubai, you might like to drop by the BFQA informal meet-up this coming Saturday at noon in the Dubai Mall Organic Cafe. xx <em>edited by BFC on 12/01/2011</em>