Infant Allergies & Breastfeeding

Many new moms who want to breastfeed their babies worry that their infants may have allergies to something that they have ingested, which may been passed to their babies through breast milk. The Healthy Children Website of the American Academy of Pediatrics states that, in fact, this is uncommon, affecting only two or three out of 100 children who are exclusively breastfed. More often, allergic babies have an allergy to milk protein.

Symptoms

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics' Healthy Children Website, the symptoms of allergies to something in breast milk in infants include "severe colic, abdominal discomfort, a skin rash such as eczema or hives, or may react with vomiting, severe diarrhea (often with blood in the stool), or difficulty breathing that lasts up to several hours after breastfeeding." If your baby exhibits any of these symptoms after breastfeeding, you should call your pediatrician as soon as possible.

Milk Protein

Most often, allergies in breastfeeding infants are to cow's milk protein in the mother's diet. The allergy occurs when the baby's immune system incorrectly detects the milk protein as something it should ward off. An allergy to cow's milk protein often goes hand-in-hand with allergies to goat's milk and sheep's milk, and the allergy is sometimes connected to the protein in soy milk.

Time Frame

Researchers are not sure why some babies develop allergies, while others do not. There is likely a genetic link. In most cases, babies with a milk protein allergy will outgrow the allergy by the time they are between three and five years old. However, some children never outgrow their allergies.

Prevention/Solution

If you are breastfeeding a baby who has an allergy to milk protein, you should speak to your child's pediatrician or a nutritionist about limiting your dairy intake. There are a number of other sources of calcium that you can consume to replace the loss of milk. Food packaged as of 2006 must, by law, clearly state on its packaging whether it contains milk or milk-based products. This makes it easier to monitor your diet for possible allergens.

Considerations

An important consideration for moms to make when debating whether to breastfeed in light of the potential for allergies is that exclusively breastfeeding a baby for the first six months has been proven to "significantly lessen the risk and severity of food allergies in families with a strong history of them," according to the Healthy Children Website of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Mothers are encouraged to consider limiting their intake of dairy products, fish, nuts and eggs during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, if there is a family history of severe food allergies.