A Sustainable Pathway When an Elimination Diet is Indicated
This blog is always handwritten from my perspective and my clinical experiences — no AI slop found here!
Are these unfortunate symptoms familiar to you?
Fussy. Gassy. Mucousy stool. Refluxy. Green stool. Rashy. Pukey. Sour smelling stool. Gurgley belly. Bloody stool - which isn’t always easy to identify with mama eyes!
If so, you might have been encouraged to eliminate dairy to help your baby feel better. Sometimes that recommendation comes from your pediatrician but it’s just as likely to come from a friend, google, or social media.
But, are those folks there to answer your questions about the logistics of eating a dairy-free maternal diet? Are they checking in on your mental health and ensuring you don’t have a history of disordered eating that is about to flare big time and requite lots of extra support with this new diet recommendation? Are they accurate when they tell you that dairy will take 2 weeks to eliminate from your milk (spoiler alert — latest research shows dairy is out of your milk in hours, not days or weeks!) Are they walking you through what you actually can eat, rather that just telling you want not to eat? Are they explaining WHY your baby is possibly reacting to dairy in a way that makes sense to you and making recommendations about HEALING foods to hopefully stop the cycle of food reactivity?
Let’s say I make the recommendation for a dairy-free trial to see if that eases your baby’s symptoms.
I will only make the recommendation after watching your baby feed at the breast or bottle and a full functional exam. If we have confounding factors that could confuse symptoms and symptom resolution, I will identify and full explain the issues I am observing and keep a firm finger on the action steps needed for you and your baby’s success.
By the time we get to “how do you feel about a dairy-free trial?’ we have already discussed your current nutritional status and self-identified nutrional needs. We’ve talked about your relationship with food and challenges that make food easy/hard for you. I ask questions. I read the room. I listen. I pick up on food vibes in big ways. This is necessary because an overhaul in your diet might mean more to you than it does to my next client and that matters.
I will explain my hopes and expectations over the course of your elimination and make a list of all the symptoms we are hoping to improve for your care plan. I don’t gatekeep information. I will share latest research, my clinical experience, my personal experience and ask, “do you have any questions?” at every juncture in the conversation.
We will discuss your favorite foods, your cravings, your non-negotiables, your kitchen helper and your kitchen obstacles to make a realistic plan for you.
We list the symptoms we are hoping to improve.
We set a hard deadline of 1-2 weeks of a dairy free trial and make a plan to meet again to discuss how everyone is doing. If dairy is a culprit, the VAST majority of mothers see a big improvement in at least 1 or 2 symptoms within just a few days. When your baby is feeling better, it’s easy to want to continue the dairy free path. If baby is still 100% symptomatic at 1-2 weeks of a hardcore dairy trial, we will examine other possibilities and pivot with a new plan. That new plan will definitely include a reintroduction of dairy to see how baby does and either an elimination trial of other foods or exploring the possibility that food reactivity is not the culprit for your baby’s discontent.
I highlighted dairy elimination in this blog article but the story stays consistent with any food elimination. {Dairy reactivity often goes hand in hand with soy reactivity but for big picture understanding, I simply wrote “dairy” in this piece.}. Dairy and/or soy is the most likely food for infants to react through maternal diet. Corn, wheat, eggs are the next biggies! But a systematic elimination creates a level of sustainability and ease that makes elimination trials much more productive than eliminating everything all at once and muddying the data pool.
Are you wading through the unknown waters of food reactivity? Did this post resonate with you? Please let me know how I can help you and your baby!
——————————
I provide clinical lactation care locally in Tallahassee, Florida and via my secure telehealth portal from my screen to yours. I offer holistic lactation care to you and your baby through the lens of health and wellness with a focus on creating ease and sustainability to reduce stress and bring more joy into raising your little one!
