My name is Trill, I'm a Molecular Biologist and mother of 2. When our oldest was born we were elated and so deeply in love. But life with her was hard. She cried all of the time. All through the night, all through the day. We were told it was colic and normal. Then at three weeks old we got up one morning to find her covered in a rash from head to toe with severe rectal bleeding. I have never been more terrified.
After being admitted to the hospital, the doctors told us that my breast milk was killing my baby. Now I was terrified AND heartbroken. June was placed on a 24 hour "starvation diet" (their words) and then given a hypoallergenic formula that we would later discover was $50 a can. I pumped during this time because I didn't know what else to do. It was misery creating bottle upon bottle of baby "poison" while sitting on the hospital floor.
I asked if I could make breast milk that wouldn't hurt her. I got a hesitant yes, but that I would have to remove a bulk of my current diet. While that was incredibly daunting, desperation and necessity took over. I was told that it would take 2 weeks for all of the allergens to clear my breast milk. So I pumped like a madwoman, removed the top 8 allergens from my diet plus oats and corn, and hoped that she would still want to nurse after 2 weeks of formula.
Since my year of breastfeeding allergen free, and now doing so again for her sister, I have learned so much. Most importantly, that it does not take two weeks for allergens to leave mother's breast milk (research showed it only takes 2-8 hours!) and that mothers can continue their breastfeeding journey through food intolerance. I am determined to spread the word and to develop products that will empower parents with food sensitive infants.
Comments