Re: Sue:Vitamin C articles & info summarized

[Guest guest]

thank you Sheri and Sue for the info!

Sue, with vit D, i am just worried that living in Canada, I might not

be getting enough sun myself to have adequate amounts of vit D in my

breastmilk- is that humbug?

while we are at it(sheri told me you are an expert on breastfeeding,

so here I come with questions!), what do you think about when to add

solids? they keep changing their minds about it! i am planning to

start when my son is 6 months. I actually have a problem of

oversupply, so i should have enough for his growing needs!

and one more question: Nico is colicky and they think he might be

lactose intolerant (found reducing substances in his stool). I have

been off dairy since his birth, so it can't be cow milk allergy. they

think he might be lactase deficient(here I am, ready to nurse him

into toddlerhood and he might not even like my milk!lol!)i thought it

was extremely rare that a kid would be intolerant of mother's milk!

he is gaining weight like crazy, so the only problem is his colic- i

guess all the unbroken sugars in his intestines causing gas, etc. I

was thinking of maybe pumping and adding enzymes before I feed him.

any info on that?

thank you!

> If baby is *exclusively* breastfed, do not give anything other than

> breastmilk. They do not need any other vitamin supplements, sick or

> otherwise. Please don't succumb to this so-called evidence that

breastfed

> babies don't get enough vitamin D or any other vitamin. Nature

doesn't get

> it wrong.

>

> Love, light and peace,

>

> Sue

>

> " It is not unfair to conclude that medicine is the only branch of

science

> that has based its structure on opinions and suppositions rather

than on

> laws and principles. " - Vithoulkas, " The Science of

Homoeopathy " .

>

> > Re: Vitamin C articles & info summarized

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Thank you Sheri!

> > I haven't ploughed through all of the links yet, so perhaps this

> > question is answered- but in case of breastfed babies- would you

only

> > give them such doses when they are sick or every day? (the message

> > you sent says " you should notice a difference within 24 hrs " , so I

> > assume it is for sick babies)

> > also, somewhere else read about vitamin A being effective against

> > measels, pretty sure Cave mentions it in her book. any idea what

form

> > that would be?

> > any other vitamin that a breastfed baby should be getting on a

> > regular basis? (vit D?)

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

HI ,

> Sue, with vit D, i am just worried that living in Canada, I might not

> be getting enough sun myself to have adequate amounts of vit D in my

> breastmilk- is that humbug?

No, it's not necessarily humbug. There are certain circumstances where mums

*may* be vitamin D deficient, but it's rare, even for mum living in colder

northern climates. There has been a huge amount of discussion over the past

few years about the subject of supplementing lactating mums with Vit D, and

opinion generally seems divided. Have a look at

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-d.html - an article

written by a lady who is a respected lactation expert on both sides of the

Atlantic, Good Mojab. I think it's helpful and it actually gives a

table of recommended times for sunlight exposure for babes. My personal

feeling is that nature doesn't make mistakes about this sort of thing, but

having said that, I respect that people nowadays are a lot more careful

about sun exposure, and using suncreams, so perhaps babes don't get as much

full spectrum light exposure as they used to. My personal opinion is that,

unless you live nearly up in the Arctic Circle, and get very little natural

daylight in winter, supplementation of vitamin D for either of you should be

unnecessary. Breastfeeding plus adequate daylight exposure should provide

enough. What concerns me is that vitamin D is fat soluble, and thus there

is the potential for overdosing in both mother and baby. Breastmilk doesn't

have huge amounts of vitamin D but as with iron, what is there is very

bioavailable and well absorbed, and it is in balance with calcium and all

other vits and minerals.

> while we are at it(sheri told me you are an expert on breastfeeding,

> so here I come with questions!), what do you think about when to add

> solids? they keep changing their minds about it! i am planning to

> start when my son is 6 months. I actually have a problem of

> oversupply, so i should have enough for his growing needs!

I'm not sure about being an *expert* on breastfeeding, but I was a b/f

counsellor for nearly five years (although have given up now to concentrate

on homoeopathy studies). The official line from the WHO and UNICEF has been

six months for a very long time. The UK government only adopted six months

last year, and there is still an awful lot of misinformation going out to

mums from health workers who think that this is too long for *hungry babies*

and who recommend four months or earlier, totally confusing the issue. Six

months is early enough for any babe - sometimes this means that b/f mums

find they are feeding *very* frequently at around four or five months, but

it is best to leave solids until six months or later. The gut is much more

mature after this age, and much less likely to react to potential allergens.

Highly allergenic foods such as wheat, eggs, citrus and dairy are best left

until 9-12 months, more especially if there is a family history of allergic

conditions or food intolerances. I find it amusing that so many mothers

think they are giving babe *more* to eat by supplementing with fruit and veg

purees and baby rice, but if they only stopped to look at the calorific

value of these *baby* foods, they'd soon work out that the fat content of

breastmilk provides a hell of a lot more calories. Hungry babies mean one

thing - feed more often. It can be a tie and does nothing for your social

life, but in my book it's a small price to pay to protect your babe's

health. As a rule of thumb, babies are ready for solid foods when they can

hold their heads up well, unsupported, when they lose the tongue thrust

reflex (put there by nature to ensure that they don't ingest anything they

shouldn't before they're ready to do so), and when they start grabbing food

off your plate and actually eating it as opposed to playing with it. Purees

should be unnecessary - finger foods are the best first foods - better for

co-ordination, better for practising chewing action.

I have known of babes with huge family history of allergy actually refuse

solids until around a year - almost as if they know that they're better

without. When challenged about them *needing* solids early, I tell of two

babes I know of, one who refused solids until 13 months and went on to

become a champion swimmer of over 6', and another who refused solids until

20 months - I last saw him when he was 17, and 6'4 " tall, and a strapping

young athlete. Apparently his mum was so concerned about his lack of

solids, she resorted to scattering cake crumbs on the floor to try and tempt

him!!! And she is a La Leche League leader! )

How old is your babe now, ? Oversupply shouldn't really be a problem

if he's more than around 6-8 weeks. There are ways of reducing supply if

it's causing a problem for either you or Nico.

>

> and one more question: Nico is colicky and they think he might be

> lactose intolerant (found reducing substances in his stool). I have

> been off dairy since his birth, so it can't be cow milk allergy. they

> think he might be lactase deficient(here I am, ready to nurse him

> into toddlerhood and he might not even like my milk!lol!)i thought it

> was extremely rare that a kid would be intolerant of mother's milk!

> he is gaining weight like crazy, so the only problem is his colic- i

> guess all the unbroken sugars in his intestines causing gas, etc. I

> was thinking of maybe pumping and adding enzymes before I feed him.

> any info on that?

Have a look at http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/2.html. These articles

are written by Jack Newman, highly respected in the world of b/f support.

Lactose intolerance is pretty rare, as I understand it, but it does happen.

This article suggests the mother taking pancreatic enzymes to break down

foreign proteins in her intestines so that they are not absorbed and do not

appear in the milk. You will see in this article he mentions using enzymes

for the baby, but also says that it rarely works.

From a homoeopathic point of view, I'm not sure I'm at all comfortable with

this *lactose intolerance* label. Maybe some babes are incapable of

digesting lactose because they lack lactase, but for me the question would

be *why* don't they produce lactase? After all, it isn't normal not to be

able to digest their mother's milk. It smacks of problems that have

originated somewhere else, so although you might well get this *diagnosis*

from an allopath, my advice would be to try cranial osteopathy to see if

adjustment helps Nico, and to see a homoeopath to try and treat the root

cause of his inability to manufacture lactase - if this is indeed the case.

What does occur to me from what you have said is that Nico may simply be

getting too much foremilk. You have said you have oversupply problems, you

have said that he is colicky, you have said he is gaining like crazy - and

you suspect he may not be breaking down the lactose. It could simply be

that he is getting too much lactose - a common problem for mums with enough

milk to feed an army of babes!!! ) If his stool is green and runny that

is a distinct possibility. Reducing supply and feeding on the same breast

for several feeds in succession may solve this as it will make sure he is

getting plenty of hindmilk and less of the sugary foremilk. Expressing the

foremilk and putting him to the breast so that he gets hindmilk as soon as

he starts feeding will have the same effect.

HTH. Sorry for length of reply!!! )

Love, light and peace,

Sue

" It is not unfair to conclude that medicine is the only branch of science

that has based its structure on opinions and suppositions rather than on

laws and principles. " - Vithoulkas, " The Science of Homoeopathy " .

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/28/2004 at 9:30:21 AM Central Standard Time,

tanyakrol@... writes:

I have

been off dairy since his birth, so it can't be cow milk allergy.

Have you checked for hidden dairy? Sodium casienate, casien, lactose, whey,

etc for starters? Also, remember butter, and cheese are also dairy. I had

to go off Every drop of dairy.. or my babies would pay.

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue! Thank you very much for the detailed reply! I've mentioned

enzymes to my pediatrician, but he said it's unclear whether they get

into breastmilk and therefore whether they are safe for babies. Any

info? I am dying to have eggs! It's been 3 months since

I " eliminated " them...

> How old is your babe now, ? Oversupply shouldn't really be a

problem if he's more than around 6-8 weeks. There are ways of

reducing supply if it's causing a problem for either you or Nico.

Nico is almost 4 months now, but I still have to block feed (4-6

hours on each breast), and he is still choking and has to swallow

like crazy to keep up and it feels like he can never fully empty

those breasts!With pumping before feedings, the problem is I don't

want to increase my milk supply (working hard at reducing it!). I

should probably try to go longer with feeding on each breast (and

hope not to get mastitis meanwhile!

> What does occur to me from what you have said is that Nico may

simply be getting too much foremilk.

It is very likely so! He used to have green stools before I started

block feedings and now they are consistently yellow- can he still be

getting too much foremilk though? I was thinking about it too-

wouldn't fat in hindmilk also be somewhat laxative? Most of Nico's

intestinal discomfort seems to come from gas and difficulties with bm

(although the poop is soft and profuse). )

>

> HTH. Sorry for length of reply!!! )

You must be kidding! Thank you so much!