ALLERGY BABYCARE: ADJUST THE MORNING FEED PATTERN

Posted by admin on March 30, 2009 under Allergies | Be the First to Comment

So where do you start? If the baby has evening colic, one of the most likely causes is thought to be a form of lactose intolerance whereby the baby is able to cope with small frequent feeds, but not the large first morning feed that most babies take. The volume of this can overwhelm the baby’s supply of the enzyme lactase which breaks down the milk sugar lactose. The morning feed reaches the intestines by evening and causes the symptoms at that time.

There are a number of ways in which you can adjust the baby’s feeding pattern to see if it helps evening colic. You can try waking the baby up early to give a very early morning feed, smaller than usual. Giving a little boiled water before the first feed also helps to quench the baby’s thirst and appetite a little, and means he or she takes less milk at the first feed. If you have plenty of milk, giving the whole feed from just one breast seems to improve things, rather than swapping to the other breast after a set interval. Giving shorter, more frequent feeds and using just one breast, thereby reducing the milk supply, also seems to help.

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