Melissa

In response to the newsletter item about breastfeeding and food allergies, I have a child with FPIES who is reactive to his triggers through my breastmilk. I’ve read that triggers are undetectable in milk in 12 hours or less (https://www.freetofeed.com/post/truth) and in my experience, this seems to be true — my baby will react within a few hours after I’ve consumed his trigger, but is usually fine the next day. I think the longer time frames mentioned (72 hours, or 2-4 weeks) are about how long it takes for your baby’s gut to heal. The reaction caused inflammation that makes them sick and so it may take some time to notice the healing effects of removing the trigger from your diet. But if you slip up and accidentally consume some of the trigger(s), you do not need to dump your milk for weeks after — evidence seems to suggest dumping milk for the next 8-12 hours or so and then you’re in the clear to continue breastfeeding.