Breastfeeding and Allergies

Very thoughtful post on a difficult topic, as usual. When I read it, all I could think about was the protests that La Leche League are probably organizing outside Ephron's home at this very instant. Some people hate debate or intellectual curiosity. Usually those people are conservative Republicans or crazy religious fanatics, but not always. :)

 

Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you and your blog? No? Well, I do. You are calm, thoughtful, helpful, comforting and encouraging. If Nora Ephron isn't reading your blog already,I am sure would appreciate and support your words.

 

This is funny. I have a friend who pretty much exclusively breastfed her first born. She's not a zealot by any means, but she made it the whole year. Her second child is six months old and still being breastfed, but is getting three bottles of formula a day. We live pretty far apart, but when we visited over New Years I teased her about the "baby poison" she was giving her daughter (she knew how much grief I'd been given about not being able to breastfeed, so she was in on the joke.)

But her situation does go to show that even in the same family, it doesn't always work out the same for every child.

 

What an interesting and thought provoking post.

I'd think, however, that Ephron is taking her thoughts a little beyond the realm of logic. Why on earth would the natural way to feed a child make him or her allergic to foods. Interesting speculation and yes, it does seem that there are a lot of highly allergic kids out there, but to blame nature? I think not.

 

Hmmm. I would have to say that the significant rise in childhood allergies(and other diseases/afflictions) is probably related more to other factors than to the moderate rise in breastfeeding in the US. It's not like b.f. is a new thing that just started in these past 15 years. I'd make a wildly uneducated guess that the culprit would be more in the line of antibiotics, antibacterial soaps/etc., and a world that may be trying to heal itself by trying to get rid of some of its inhabitants (morbid thought, I know. Just a wild, esoteric idea of mine.)

 

Thank you all for your comments. I don't believe that Ms. Ephron argued that anyone is actually allergic to breastmilk. (I certainly don't believe in any breastmilk allergy.) My guess, with the key word being "guess", is that what she is talking about is the argument that increased allergies are caused by our increasingly toxic environment and our increased consumption of processed foods over past generations. With processed foods, there can be a risk of cross-contamination (bread being exposed to nuts for example) so that when a mom consumes, for example a piece of bread, she is also eating traces of nuts at the same time which can then be passed on to her baby. Again, not a reason not to breastfeed. Just food for thought so to speak.

 

When I breastfed Alex many years ago, we were told that whatever went through our bodies went into our baby. Therefore, we were told to avoid caffeine and certain allergen producing products. Are Moms still being told this today? It seems logical to me that if a mom ate a lot of peanut butter, that her infant just might be exposed to something inside the peanuts that could trigger an allergy later. I don't think Nora Ephron was questioning breast feeding. She was just wondering why so many more children have allergies. I have often wondered the same thing. Rather than shoot the messenger, wouldn't it be better to see what is passing through the breast milk?

 

Hi Anonymous,
I absolutely agree. Thanks for commenting.

 

People have always looked at me funny when I've said I can't eat tree nuts when I'm pregnant or breastfeeding. It's really hard when you're craving nuts too.

I've always wondered why people care so much how I'm feeding my baby. I don't really care how anyone else chooses to feed their children. If I ask if a mom is nursing it is only because I'm making them supper and want to make sure to make something non-spicy, etc.

I remember feeling like I needed to clarify that is was breastmilk in the bottles I was giving my daughter. I was crushed that she wouldn't nurse. So much so that I pumped my milk for 6 months before I finally gave up.

Thankfully my second child nursed easily and for more than a year.

We'll see what #3 wants to do.

 

I love this! As Erin said, I love that you can be so coherent and calm on such a hot button topic.

 

I wasn't able to breastfeed my son, either, and it was heartbreaking to me at the time. He's grown up strong and healthy, though, and he doesn't have any of the allergies his dad does or that I do.

I'm not saying this to support Ephron. I do feel that she was being tongue in cheek and was really commenting on all the "special stuff" we do these days as parents, along with the fact that we all survived our less coddled childhoods. For example, my mother was encouraged, by her obstetrician to have a martini a day so that she'd have a relaxed, calm pregnancy. He also didn't think that the fact that she smoked was an issue. Does she wish she hadn't done either of those things? Of course! But I didn't have foetal alcohol syndrome and so far haven't developed lung cancer (knock on wood).

I really enjoyed your post. While breast is best, aren't we lucky to have some alternatives that our ancestors didn't. Without a wet nurse, your sons and mine wouldn't have survived. Horrible thought, isn't it?

 

Another insightful and interesting post on these issues. I am interested in the study. I hadn't heard anything about it.

 

When I read the title on Blogher (yay Blogher) I hopped on over to talk about MY allergies and breastfeeding.

My baby had allergies (not food allergies, pollen allergies) from the minute he was born, by the way, and I did breastfeed. He inherited them from me. I never had them as a child, but I have them as an adult.

My doctor told me to take benadryl for them when I was pregnant because it's safe for the baby in utero.

But, he did NOT tell me that benadryl would DRY UP my breast milk. So for 3 months I struggled to keep breastfeeding a starving baby.

First the milk wouldn't come in though I tried everything including beer (advice in a 1970s Le Leche League manual).

I would sit with the pump on my breasts for the majority of the day trying to revive my milk.

When the OB/GYN's nurse told me to stop the benadryl I started taking Zertek for allergies and it didn't help. It was spring and I HAD to take something. All the fenigreek in the world wouldn't make my milk come back.

By 4 months I gave up. The baby has allergies - but he had them when I was breastfeeding. He had them genetically from birth.

But, I'm still furious at that doctor for robbing me of my year of breast feeding and causing so much stress at the beginning by telling me to keep taking the benedryl.

 

J and I were just talking about the allergy issue, and he said that it's also due in large to the fact that parents are so paranoid about their kids' environments and they never get exposed to anything...in the good ole days before formula, they didn't have these extreme allergies either, but mom's didn't restrict their diet for breastfeeding then either. It's a tough call, but I'm glad that people are addressing the fact that there are, dare I say positives?! to formula. Good blog!