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Dairy overload
Causes…
Dairy overload is caused by:
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unbalanced feeding practices — feeding newborns beyond physical capacities
dairy intake outweighing natural protein and fat digesting enzymes
dairy in a breastfeeding mother’s diet
some formulas.
Newborns can suffer from one or more of the causes. A breastfeeding mother’s diet, as well
as offering both breasts in one sitting, formula choice and cluster feeding, compounds dairy
overload. Upset behaviour indicating dairy overload can be evident from Day One and can
happen at any time, continuing as long as there is an overload of dairy.
Proteins called casein and whey are found in dairy. It is known that a newborn’s digestive
system struggles to break these components down. This leads to communicated distress.
The enzyme lipase, found in breast milk and a newborn’s saliva, helps to break down the
fat in dairy. When newborns swallow minimal amounts of lipase, their digestive systems
labour with the fat, and even more so if they are formula fed since it has no lipase. This can
lead to large, unhealthy weight gains and allows abnormal passing of fat globules through
the intestines which causes discomfort.
Note: Some newborns digestively react to casein or whey making them dairy
intolerant — this is more serious. But true allergy to the proteins, or 'milk allergy',
will be apparent within a few minutes to a couple of hours of drinking the milk.
With an allergy the immune system reacts to fight off the proteins by producing
chemicals that generate allergic reactions. These consist of digestive difficulty, hives,
eczema, skin itching, sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose, coughing, wheezing,
difficulty breathing and, rarely, anaphylactic shock. If you see any of these straight
after you have given a feed, seek immediate medical help.
28 | Dairy overload
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