Babies cry it’s what they do. But there was something uncomfortable about Myla’s cries and the timing of them that made me think “this isn’t normal”. She sounded upset, dissatisfied and angry. For ages, I thought it was because she wasn’t feeding enough, that my milk supply was low or that she wasn’t latching properly. I was obsessed with trying to get that right and that would make me more stressed and on edge when trying to breastfeed. I would top up with formula in hope that it would settle her. That didn’t work. This went on for almost 3 months, where I was just desperately trying to find out what the issue was. It was draining! Obviously being in lockdown made the situation worse in that I couldn’t get more experienced help from family/friends, we could only do telephone consults with the doctors and just in general not being able to go anywhere made it all that bit harder.
It wasn’t until I saw an Instagram post from @LucyMeck1, about her little one being diagnosed with Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA), that I started to look into it being something other than “low milk supply”. CMPA, I’d never heard of it and never been told about it. Even though it is super common in babies, not once did it ever get mentioned in any NCT class, by a midwife or consultants, by any nurses or doctors. The first time I’d heard about this common allergy was on Instagram; the power of social media! I think it was from that point that I really started to notice and appreciate how much of an impact celebrities/influencers can make to people’s lives. Just that one, quite personal, thing that she decided to share helped us massively and probably thousands of others too.
After that I did a lot of reading about CMPA and looked into it a bit more. I quickly realised that the signs and symptoms that Myla was showing were listed under every site I came across; she was arching her back and screaming when we tried to sit her up to burp, she had a constantly blocked nose, she had a rash on her sides and tummy, and she cried after feeding. So, from then I took the decision to cut out dairy. I really should’ve made a Doctors appointment to check with them first, but honestly at the time I was really struggling with our GP – I hadn’t had a great experience with my postnatal and vaccine appointments.
I cut it out for 2 weeks and realised she had got a lot better in herself; was feeding better and settling better. I couldn’t believe after weeks of thinking her crying was normal, and then weeks of wondering what was wrong and wanting to cry myself – it came down to such a simple thing (well not simple in terms of condition, but so quick to resolve). And from then on and mostly to today I live a diary-free lifestyle! ‘Mostly’ because now I’m weaning it back into her diet and I’ve cut down massively on breast feeding.
Anyway I did eventually get support from a dietician who is still coaching us today to introduce dairy into Myla’s diet.
Since this, I haven’t doubted my gut instinct again. If you think somethings wrong, check, do what you feel is right and what you feel comfortable with. I do wish I consulted a GP before I cut out Dairy all together but hey, it worked for us!
As always if you have any questions, reach out! If you know anyone who might benefit from this post feel free to share using the little icon links below!
~x~