Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Breastfeeding my hyper-allergy baby - Mama's Entry


Breastfeeding has been a challenge with KJ, but being a determine cow, I succeeded and breastfed KJ to 16 month old, I stopped because I found out one day that I did not have any supply at all, and suspected it was due to my pregnancy with Kai Ann, and demanding little sister is taking all the supply to herself.
Breastfeeding KA was easy, at least I thought. Being an experience "cow" latching and supply was not a problem at all, she has been breastfed exclusively since. After 2 weeks, KA started to develop rash. Something we had experience with KJ before, only difference is, her rash didn't go away like the pead predicted, and continue to get worst. We seeked professional advise and all seems to think it is "milk rash" or "hormone rash". Finally a doctor told us the baby could be allergy to my breast milk! I was devastated when I heard that! I can't understand how can my baby be allergy to my milk? Isn't it developed especially for her? I felt so lost, and down, and at the same time blaming myself. I was given Isomil as a supplementary, but KA was determine to only want my breast milk, and rejecting the supplement, I continue breastfeeding her against all odds.
With some help from a dear friend Libby, we search the internet and decided to start an elimination diet, because we notice that some days she is fine and somedays there is a outbreak of rash. At first we cut off all allergy food like shellfish and nuts, she continue to develop rash, so we had to move to plan B, which is the total elimination diet: Eat only one kind of food for 3 days in a row. If no rash developed, that is "safe food", move on to the next type of food, and repeat the process. It was really bad news for mama, but I lost so much weight because of that and I am not complaining! :)
Finally we found the source of her allergy: Egg (highly allergy), raw cucumber and Jumbu Air. The last 2 was only found out when she started solid and we gave her cucumber and jumbu air. How bad is the reaction? If she touches eggs on her skin, it will blister like burn! She also reacted to margarine, but not butter.
If you have a hyper-allergy baby, you may want to try my method.

1 comment:

MieVee @ MummysReviews.com said...

My boy is allergic to soy (very bad), mushrooms, some types of berries and possibly nuts. His severe rash on the face went away after I eliminated soy from my diet. Managed to breastfeed him until 1.5 years old too. Glad you found the allergy source. :)