Expert: ruth kraft - 2/13/2009

Question
Dear Ruth,I have 2 questions:
My baby is 16months old and I am still breastfeeding her - she only really feeds in the morning and at night but I leave expressed milk for her during the day while I am at work. She in fact has never had formula. Last week,she had a bloody stool and the next day and a few more with more blood. She had a slightly runny tummy as well but no fever or pains or cramps - she was 100% normal, eating and drinking normally.She has just finished a course of antibiotics (the bloody stools cleared up after a day of medication) but the doctor was not certain of the cause.I cannot figure out what the reason could be-her caregiver was giving her rooibos tea with a dash of cow's milk a couple of day before the incident occurred-was her first time she had cow's milk but eats cheese and other dairy products without any problems. Do you perhaps what could have caused it?
2. Not sure if this is a coincidence,but 4 days after her bloody stools cleared up, I started menstruating (for the first time since before I discovered I was pregnant!) - this could not have affected her, could it? Also,while my menstruating affect my milk and/her feeds? She in fact seems to be drinking a bit more since it started!

Thank you,
Yolande

Answer
Hello :)

my first instinct would be to say that the intestinal issues are associated with the cows milk. Maybe for some reason her body rejected that specifically... I would wait a while before trying cows milk again.  I am not sure why it wouldn't be also affected by cheese etc... but the body is an odd thing sometimes. I also cannot say for sure what caused it but I would imagine the cows milk had to do with it... maybe it was too much dairy ( more than she normally had that triggered it )  it also could very well have been the antibiotics. as often, the antibiotics not only kill the bad bacteria but also kill the good bacteria. So with that knowledge, I would go to a nutrition store , and get pro-biotics . they make jarro dopholous for babies and kids too. you can ask them for advice when you get there on what kind would be best. the antibiotics also increase her chance to have a yeast infection and this will help with that too. So... even if you see no other symptoms, this would be helpful and has no bad side effects...

I don't think that your mensuration has anything to do with her bowel issues... there isn't anything that would correlate in my mind at all.

You menstruating wont effect your milk as much as how much she nurses effects your menstruation. She must have decreased nursing as much as she was which is why you got it back. Once the body senses you are no longer primarily caring for another baby, it figures its time to create a new one :)

I hope that helped !
Ruth Kraft
www.honoringwomen.com