My daughter has been nursing her daughter for five months with no problems. She weighed eight pounds at birth and now weighs 21 pounds. During the last couple of days she has had traces of blood in her stool. Her pediatrician recommended stopping nursing completely and taking her off all milk products. Last night the baby cried lots and had five soiled diapers and a lot of gas. She has never had anything other than breastmilk -- no formula, cereal, juice or anything. Until now she has been so healthy and satisfied. My daughter is very frightened and confused. Should she stop breastfeeding? She nursed her first daughter 10 months and had planned to nurse this one even longer.
Your daughter must be worried. Not only is she worried about the health of her baby, but now she is concerned about the Doctor's recommendation to wean her baby from the breast.
The first thing that needs to be looked at when there are traces of blood in a baby's stool is where that blood is coming from. Is it from the mom? That can happen if there has been any trauma or bleeding of the nipples. This is the most common cause of blood in the stool of a breastfed baby. It could be from the baby. Has the baby been straining to have a bowel movement? Introduction of solids could be a cause in a baby of this age, although you said in this case, your granddaughter has never had anything but breastmilk. Has she ever taken any medications or vitamins of any type?
Before I would ever consider weaning this little one from the breast, I would want to know the Doctor's rationale for this recommendation, and what he considers a good alternative to breastmilk. Even the non-allergenic formulas (which are very expensive) cause problems in very sensitive babies (and since they have a terrible taste and smell, many babies totally refuse them). Your grandchild needs to be on breastmilk or formula for at least seven more months and I would really be worried about taking away this most important source of nutrition for her when the feeding alternatives are not good.
The first thing that is typically done when there is blood in the baby's stool, is have the blood tested to find out if it's fetal or adult hemoglobin (meaning, does it come from baby or mom). According to Breastfeeding: A Guide For the Medical Profession, Ruth Lawrence, MD, 1994, while diagnosing the problem, "breastfeeding can be maintained, meanwhile, unless a lesion requiring surgery is identified. More than 50 percent of cases of bleeding in the neonate go undiagnosed ... Allergy to human milk is unreported as a cause of intestinal bleeding."
Before sacrificing the breastfeeding relationship, ask for some hard scientific facts. Find out what published studies point to weaning from the breast as the treatment of choice for blood in the stool. As far as I know there aren't any. Best wishes in finding the cause of your granddaughter's problem, while maintaining the breastfeeding relationship.
