Next review due: 12 July 2022, treatment for lactose intolerance in children. Babies generally appear well but may occasionally have anaemia or low albumin levels in the blood or, rarely, may fail to thrive26. Theories include: Your medical professional or lactation consultant can help assess whether your baby could have a food allergy by taking a full medical history including a family allergy history. For more information see the About Page. goats or sheep) and products made from these milks. This is likely to be associated with the time taken for any existing inflammatory reactions to settle down in the baby rather than the time taken for allergens to leave breast milk. Even With Allergies, 2015, Minchin, Milk Matters Infant feeding & Immune Disorder, 2015, Minchin, Leaping to Conclusions: When to Introduce Foods, 2017, Vaccine Ingredients, University of Oxford, 2017 [accessed Oct 2019], Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary, CDC.com, 2017 [accessed Oct 2019], Just One Bottle Won’t Hurt or Will It? In addition to owning and editing Breastfeeding Support, Philippa is Managing Editor for Leader Today—La Leche League International’s Journal for Leaders. 2016, Food Intolerance, NHS Choices, 2019 [accessed Oct 2019], Symptoms, CMPA Support [accessed Oct 2019], Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE disease) in Children, GI Kids, Understanding Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome, Action Against Allergy, 2013, Noble, Breastfeeding Works! Nutrition. In rare situations, mothers who are breastfeeding a baby with cows’ milk allergy may also need to remove cows’ milk from their own diets. Allergy Tests often return false positive and false negative results. In extreme cases, Noble notes that when mothers consume only cooked foods or take pancreatic digestive enzymes* it seems to help food breakdown to reduce food allergy severity (Noble, 2015, p50-53). Consider use of pancreatic enzymes* for the mother. The most common symptoms of food allergy in the breastfed baby include: There can be other reasons for symptoms of reflux, waking at night, green poop or fussy behaviour that may not necessarily be to do with the mother’s diet or allergy. In the event that a food allergy is not the culprit, stay in close contact with your health professionals and IBCLC lactation consultant to help find other causes for your baby’s symptoms. Nutritional information for alternative milks is discussed in Specialised Infant Milks in the UK: 0-6 Months, April 2020 by First Steps Nutrition Trust. GPs will prescribe an appropriate infant formula with fully hydrolysed proteins. Infants with a family history of allergic disease are at higher risk of having cows’ milk allergy. They are more likely to be due to food allergy if there is a family history of allergies. Introducing bottle feeding either partially or exclusively, may reduce the supply of your own breast milk, which makes reversing the decision not to breast feed difficult. Do not give your child any other type of milk without first getting medical advice. Cows' milk allergy can cause a wide range of symptoms, including: Occasionally CMA can cause severe allergic symptoms that come on suddenly, such as swelling in the mouth or throat, wheezing, cough, shortness of breath, and difficult, noisy breathing. Experts estimate that 2% to 7.5% of U.K. babies under 12 months old have it. Be careful with coconut milk products, as some may contain undeclared cows’ milk … Some doctors may be unaware of the latest recommendations and excellent resources available on this topic: There may be situations where a breastfeeding mother needs to supplement her allergic baby. Your child may be referred to a dietitian for specialist advice. You may also be referred to a dietitian. Our sister article Elimination Diet explains: Once a mother has excluded the trigger food from her diet, her baby’s symptoms may start to improve within three to four days however it may take two to four weeks to see full improvement.