Breastfeeding

Breast milk is the best milk for infants. It’s the first choice of the World Health Organization (WHO) and health care professionals around the world.

Unfortunately, some children can have an allergic reaction to diary and soy proteins passed along in their mother’s breast milk. Even so, the good news is that under the recommendation of your physician, you may be able to continue breastfeeding with a food elimination diet.

In a common elimination diet, the lactating mother removes all dairy and soy protein from her diet. It’s important for the mother and baby to get the nutrition needed, so an elimination diet should only be tried under the supervision of a doctor or dietitian.

Avoiding dairy and soy proteins is challenging as they are found in many foods. The following are a few examples of foods that may contain dairy or soy protein:

• Meat
• Chocolate
• Nutrition bars
• Fortified cereals
• Glazes
• Salad dressing
• Any product with whey or casein on the label
• “Lactose-free” products

If you try an elimination diet and your baby still displays food allergy symptoms while being exclusively breast-fed, or if you are not able to get enough nutrition yourself, your doctor may recommend an amino acid-based formula such as Neocate for your baby.

Neocate is proven nutrition that is based on 100% free amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Your child’s body is able to easily digest these simple building blocks to grow. In comparison, milk- and soy-based formulas, even when broken down (hydrolyzed), still contain partial protein chains that sensitive children can react to.

Related Links

• Amino Acid Formulas
• Elimination Diet
• Whey
• Casein