Breastmilk allergy?

You may have heard about “breastmilk allergy”. Babies that seem to struggle with allergy issues from eczema, bloody stools, reflux and more. So they get switched to a “hypoallergenic” formula and all is well. Right??

Not quite. This is another band-aid in our system. When a baby’s body reacts with eczema, reflux and stool issues, it is saying that something is wrong, the body is reacting in a way it’s not intended to. A “hypoallergenic” formula doesn’t look for the cause of these symptoms or treat the issue, it just tries to make the food so tiny and easily digestible that it won’t upset baby. Sometimes it helps a little, other times it doesn’t. But no matter what it seems to be, there is still inflammation and irritation having under the surface, baby is still staying in a heightened reactive state.

Instead, by searching for the root cause, trying to understand WHY baby’s body is reacting like this and eliminate the allergens in the food (in this case the allergens mom is eating that are passing to baby) baby’s body is able to fully calm down and stop being so reactive.

But WHY is mom passing these irritating foods to baby? When looking for the root cause we don’t just stop because there seems to be one answer, we want to fully understand the whole process. So baby is reacting to food in mom’s milk.

Let’s step back one minute and talk about mom’s milk- where does it get made? It’s not made from stomach contents (though many people think that you do turn broccoli right into breastmilk). It’s made from mom’s blood. So how did the food get into moms blood and was it supposed to be there?

Nope! In a nutshell, when we eat our food is supposed to travel from mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, colon and rectum. It is supposed to stay inside that super looongg tube and NOT get out! So how did it get into mom’s blood anyways?

This is where I have really spent a LOT of time learning (Functional Medicine is amazing!). The food got into mom’s blood because mom has a LEAKY GUT!!! And WHY does mom have a leaky gut? That could be many reasons (part of why medicine is meant to be an individual process not a flowsheet where everyone gets the same answer). Once we know mom has a leaky gut she needs a full work-up with a Functional Medicine practitioner, a Naturopath or other health care provider who can help her search for the root cause.

So if we just put baby on a hypoallergenic formula will that fix baby’s inflammation? Nope. If we just pull food out of mom’s diet will that fix her leaky gut? Nope. Those steps might be part of the process, but they shouldn’t be where we stop. We should always look for the root cause.

And with babies it’s simple. Heal the mother, heal the baby.