Breastfed babies can be lactose intolerant, because lactose is found in breast milk as well as baby formula.
All milk from mammals, including humans, contains lactose. Human breast milk actually contains more lactose than cow's milk. Full-term babies should have no issues with processing lactose. Some babies may develop lactose overload as a result of consuming large volumes of breast milk in one feeding.
If your baby has symptoms of lactose intolerance, you may be told to alternate breastfeeding with feeds of lactose-free formula or even take your baby off the breast. However, authorities only recommend the use of lactose-free formula if the baby is formula-fed and is very malnourished and/or losing weight.
Human milk contains about 7.5 g/100 mL of lactose, compared to about 5 g/100 mL in cow's milk and other mammalian milk [13]. A term infant is typically able to digest about 60–70 g of lactose per day, equivalent to one liter of breast milk.
If your baby is getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk, they might get an upset tummy from the high sugar content of foremilk. Help your baby consume a healthy ratio of foremilk and hindmilk by ensuring that you fully empty one breast before switching your baby to the other.
But they say this crankiness in babies is normal and just their natural way of communicating their needs to their mother and is no cause for alarm. For example, some cries will be down to tiredness not hunger.
If your baby shows negative symptoms after drinking breast milk. Consider how your baby responds to breast milk after drinking it. If symptoms occur such as fussiness, irritability, crying, gas, increased spitting up and/or drawing their legs up due to tummy pain, write down everything you ate that day.
Foods like beans, broccoli, cauliflower, or some dairy products can cause fussiness, gassiness, or colicky behavior in some babies. Foods like cow's milk, soy, wheat, corn, oats, eggs, nuts and peanuts, and fish or shellfish are common allergy-causing foods.
Symptoms of Dairy Allergy in Breastfed Babies
The proteins in cow's milk can cause gas in a baby's stomach and intestines, which can lead to pain, vomiting, or diarrhea. A food allergy could also cause reflux, symptoms of colic, a rash or hives, swelling, a runny nose, wheezing, and bloody poop.
Loose stools
Sometimes your child might pass loose, watery, yellow and green coloured stools after two hours of consuming milk or any other dairy product. This could be a sign of lactose intolerance in the baby.
Be mindful of your own diet while breastfeeding
Occasionally babies will react to something in breastmilk, and this may sometimes cause diarrhea or constipation. Certain foods in the breastfeeding parent's diet can also affect the stool color, but this is normal!
How does poop change with a milk allergy? The most common sign that a baby is allergic to milk is blood in their stool. A baby's poop may also become more runny and frequent, similar to diarrhea. It may also contain mucus.
Cow's milk protein is one of the most common causes of food sensitivity in a baby who is breastfeeding. Cow's milk protein intolerance is a reaction by the body's immune system to a protein found in cow's milk.
But if you are questioning whether or not breast milk is vegan and whether breastfeeding supports a vegan lifestyle, the answer is a resounding yes!
Vegans can, and often do, breastfeed their babies. And if you're a breastfeeding mother who has had an epiphany about the cruelty behind the gallon of cow's milk in the fridge, it's never too late to make the transition to a healthy—and compassionate—vegan lifestyle for yourself and your family.
Babies with lactose overload can appear like they're suffering from a digestive disorder. They may have a lot of flatulence/gassiness (wind), green, foamy or frothy, explosive stools and pain which will usually be noticeable with lots of screaming, not just grumbling or occasional complaining.
Cow's milk (either in the mother's diet or engineered into formula) is a common source of food sensitivity in babies. Cow's milk sensitivity or allergy can cause colic-like symptoms, eczema, wheezing, vomiting, diarrhea (including bloody diarrhea), constipation, hives, and/or a stuffy, itchy nose.
Lactose intolerance symptoms include wind, stomach pain, bloating, rumbling tummy and diarrhoea. Babies with lactose intolerance might also have nappy rash. Most breastfed babies with lactose intolerance can still breastfeed. See a GP about formula-fed babies.
For breastfed babies, gas might be caused by eating too fast, swallowing too much air or digesting certain foods. Babies have immature GI systems and can frequently experience gas because of this. Pains from gas can make your baby fussy, but intestinal gas is not harmful.
Sometimes, your milk lets down so fast that your baby can have trouble swallowing the amount of milk that's being released. Because of this, your baby may act fussy at breast or choke and sputter at the breast, and he or she may be quite gassy.
If your baby spits up after the milk has had time to mix with your baby's stomach acid, the spit-up is likely to appear curdled. Baby spit-up differs from vomit in that the flow of spit-up is usually slower and stays closer to the baby's body, while vomiting is more forceful and projectile and can indicate illness.