Dairy Sensitivity and Breastfeeding

Time for a Punkin update!!

Punkin is doing well now.  Why not before?  We think Punkin has a problem with dairy.  Why?  We did a little experiment.......

Punkin was a relatively good sleeper, but became horribly fussy every night from about 8 pm to 1 am or even 3 am.  Those were very very long nights!

Now, our house is allergy safe for Bee but I will admit to some late night takeout surprises from Prince Charming.  And, yes, those little snacks did have dairy and gluten and eggs and other bad things!  The evidence is always outside in the trash before morning and all the paper plates and paper towels are thrown out too.  But our little late night date snacks are our little secret.  What better to do while we were staying up with Punkin than watch a movie and eat some cheesy pizza?

After a few weeks of very little sleep, my hubby suggested going completely gluten and dairy free to see if we noticed a change in Punkin.  One week later she went to bed at 11 pm and slept until 5 am.  That was nice!  She did this for several nights.  Coincidence or not?  We decided to try to find out.

I had one day of eating some dairy.  She did fine that night but was fussy the next day.  The evening of that second day she did not go to sleep until after 3 am.  It was the longest and most miserable night for both of us.  That was our little experiment.  Maybe it's not exactly scientific but we feel the results are conclusive enough for us.  Punkin may or may not have an allergy to dairy but it does seem that dairy bothers her if I eat it.  I have since gone completely dairy free again (and I'm still avoiding gluten), and she's going to bed at 11 pm and getting up at 6 am on a consistent basis.  I can handle that!

So, even though doctors tried to convince me that my diet did not bother Bee, I know it did.  And I think I just proved that once again; the mother's diet affects a breastfeeding baby.  I miss our late night snacks but I've just had to bake ourselves some little treats to make up for our lack of take out snacks. 

Now Punkin is doing very well.  She's a very calm, smiling baby who enjoys her sleep!  I enjoy my sleep too!  And now that she sleeps and naps, I have more time to bake!