It bothers me that so many doctors are so quick to point to breastfeeding as a “problem” when babies have digestive difficulties.  The result is usually babies’ consumption of soy-based formula, which can have drastic consequences for brain development.  Could this part of the reason we’re seeing a huge increase in rates of autism, ADD/ADHD, and learning disorders?

Although some may not like to admit it, animal-based milk (preferably mama milk but, in its absence, cows’, goats’, or sheep’s milk) is critical to healthy brain development.  Why?  A sugar called galactose.  The only source of galactose is the breakdown of lactose (into its component sugars galactose and glucose) during digestion.  Galactose is an essential building block to the myelin sheaths around the nerves.

Unfortunately, doctors are often very quick to diagnose infants as “lactose intolerant” and put them on soy formula.  It is extremely rare to encounter a baby who is truly lactose intolerant.  (It should appear obvious that if God designed babies to drink breastmilk and designed breastmilk to be high in lactose that God designed babies to digest lactose. Which He did.)  In most instances, the real problem is that doctors are not very knowledgeable about breastfeeding.  (Which makes sense, as it also wasn’t God’s original design for us to learn about feeding our babies from doctors – mamas used to learn about feeding their babies from other, experienced mamas!)

A fairly common issue among breastfeeding mothers is something called foremilk-hindmilk imbalance, or “overactive letdown syndrome,” which is closely related.  It mimics the symptoms of lactose intolerance, but is readily correctable.  Unfortunately, it is more likely to occur and/or to be exacerbated when mothers insist on feeding a baby at both breasts for the same amount of time at every feeding – which is precisely what the doctors have told most of us to do!

See, a mother’s milk is not all the same.  The “foremilk” – or the milk that a mother produces at the start of a feed – is thinner/more watery.  I think of it as more like the baby’s “drink.” The “hindmilk,” produced at the end of a feed is thicker and denser in calories.  I think of it more as the “food.”  The foremilk is also higher in lactose.

When the baby gets an overabundance of foremilk, there is a higher proportion of lactose in the feed, and the baby shows signs of lactose intolerance – not because he has difficulty digesting lactose, but because he has difficulty digesting that much lactose at one time.  The solution is not to stop feeding him real milk, but to adjust his feedings so he gets more of the hindmilk (which is also more filling and will keep him better-fed for longer) and less of the foremilk.  This can usually be accomplished by offering only one breast per feeding or, in extreme circumstances, offering a single breast for several consecutive feedings.

(An overactive let-down tends to cause issues by preventing a solid latch as the baby tries to avoid being choked by a sudden onslaught of milk.  It’s sort of the equivalent of trying to drink from a fire hose.  Babies generally develop coping mechanisms, but they don’t always lead to effective nursing.)

We need to get back to trusting our instincts, common sense, and God’s design!