The dreaded “still”

As in, “you’re STILL breastfeeding?” I’ve heard this a few times since last month. Sigh.

Ryan will be eleven months old next week. He is breastfed, and will continue to be breastfed. My original goal was one year. At that point I figured I would wean him (note I said wean, I do not believe in cutting him off cold turkey simply because he’s exactly one year of age) off the breast and give him cow’s milk.

Now I’m not so sure if that is going to happen. Without my knowledge (at the time) and consent, he was given cow’s milk. Twice. Each time, after the usual digestion period, his poop was very smelly, greenish, and it ate his butt up. We’re talking raw red spots that have since scarred over. Considering that both times I hadn’t eaten anything spicy, hard to digest or out of the ordinary, I conclude that the milk did it to him. Obviously, this is a milk sensitivity, if not a downright allergy.

At this point, knowing this, we’ll give cow’s milk another try around a year of age, but if the same thing happens? I’m not weaning him, and I am not putting him on formula. I will continue to breastfeed him and pump. Hopefully he’ll outgrow this milk sensitivity by the time he is two. If not, at that point I may consider looking into lactaid or something similar.

If you have or had a breastfed baby that displayed signs of a cow’s milk allergy, what did you do? Continue to breastfeed? Wean to formula? Or wean to some sort of specialized product (such as lactaid)?


One response to “The dreaded “still”” - Jump to comment form

  1. Emma wrote on #

    I feel really weird talking about ME in this situation, but I was milk sensitive until I was 2 or 3. My mom’s a workaholic though, so she weaned me to a special formula and continued to pump at work.