Today I got a blog comment from a woman who's interested in trying the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) but has concerns about getting enough calories and nutrients to continue breastfeeding her 8-month-old daughter. Here's her blog comment and my reply, for those who are interested in this topic. Keep in mind that the food list I included in my reply is enough calories for me when breastfeeding only FOUR times a day with Cassidy eating a lot of solids too. When I was nursing Cassidy 8-10 times a day I ate more almond flour baked goods, probably 2 more muffins or what-have-you per day.
********
November 11, 2008 10:03:40 AM
Hi Amy,
Just found your blog on a search of "scd diet + breastfeeding" on
google. I'm inspired by your story. I have ulcerative colitis and have
been flaring on and off since I was diagnosed 1 1/2 years ago. I flared
throughout my pregnancy, was hospitalized for a week, and then gave
birth 7 weeks early after a placental abruption. Anyways, my daughter
is 8 months old and healthy as can be, but I am still flaring. I'm
thinking of trying the SCD diet, but not sure I'll get all the
calories/nutrients required to keep breastfeeding. Are you still breast
feeding Cassidy? Had you talked to your doctors about this at all?
Thanks for any help you could offer.
Sincerely,
Audra
********
November 11, 2008 9:01:32 PM
Hi Audra,
I'm sorry to hear about the health issues you've been having. I know how hard it can be to feel sick while taking care of a baby. I hope that I can give you some answers about my journey with SCD to help you decide if you want to try it. First off, I am still breastfeeding Cassidy four times a day, and I'm for the most part feeling great on the diet. I did have a flare several months ago when I cut down on feedings. I think this flare-up was related to hormone fluctuations. So I went back to the intro diet from "Breaking The Vicious Cycle"" (BTVC), and stayed on that for a few weeks. That got me back to a healthy place, and I've been feeling great since. I spoke with a nutritionist when I was pregnant, and she agreed that the SCD is very healthy as long as one includes enough fruits and veggies. She also said the homemade yogurt (I make it from whole milk) and the almond flour baked goods are a great source of calcium, calories, and vitamins. I also take a prenatal vitamin, calcium citrate, and Omega 3-6-9.
My doctors are all thrilled with how I'm doing and say that I'm eating healthier than most of their patients who eat a "normal" diet. I've had no trouble keeping enough weight on and actually am up about 5 lbs over my pre-SCD weight. You may lose a little weight at first with the intro diet, but once your body gets adjusted and you figure out how many calories from foods other than bread products you need to eat during the day, it should get better. Here's what I ate today as an example of what you might need to eat in order to get enough calories to breastfeed and keep your weight up (I won't include water in my list, but I do drink a lot of it all throughout the day):
breakfast:
2 eggs
1 cup homemade whole milk yogurt mixed with...
1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
8 oz apple cider
snack:
banana with peanut butter
lunch:
2 slices of Lois Lang's Luscious Bread (from BTVC) with butter & honey
1oz cheese
1-2 cups homemade tomato soup (canned tomato juice, with homemade yogurt, salt, pepper, & honey)
handful of baby carrots
apple
snack:
cashews and raisins
dried prunes
dinner:
Parmesan Walnut Encrusted Chicken from Raman Prasad's "Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet"
1 cup pureed butternut squash (with honey, butter, salt & pepper)
asparagus
1/2 c applesauce
snack:
homemade Peanut Butter Brownie
1/2 c homemade yogurt
Let me know if you have any other questions about anything at all. Starting the SCD is a really big deal and it helps to have a support system, whether it be family, friends, or Internet buddies like me. :)
Take care,Amy
I'm so proud of you big sister.
Amy, I was wondering what omega 3-6-9 you take. I think this might be a helpful addition to my daily regimen!
Emily
I use Whole Foods brand OmegaForce 3-6-9 Complex. It seems to be the least expensive of the Omega supplements that Whole Foods carries, yet comparable to the pricier brands.
Hello Amy,
I am following the adventures of your beautiful family for a while now (especially since i became pregnant on SCD) but now i need a little bit of your advice.
I couldn't find your email on the blog so i am writing in the comments. I am also brestfeeding on SCD and 5 months into breastfeeding i started to flare (exactly on my 2 year SCD anniversary). It has been going on for 2 weeks now and i stayed on intro first week and now i added few simple foods but basically it is still a lot of broth, pureed vegetables and meat and fish. I also started 2 g Pentasa when consulting my doctor.
Can you share with me how your flare when you breastfed looked like (how severe it was) and how long it lasted? And what you ate because i am starting to loose weight witouth nut goodies. I am also suspecting my hormones but at the moment it is not really important, what i need is to stop the flare so that i can continue to take care and hopefully breastfeed my soon to be 6 month baby boy.
Thank you in advance for your answers,
Janja
Hi Janja,
Sorry to her you are flaring. I know it's really hard to take care of a baby when you aren't feeling your best. I hope you have a quick recovery.
I also flared when my baby was 6 months old. I was having intestinal pain, bloating, frequency (but not diarrhea--that's never been one of my symptoms), and fatigue. I was on the intro diet plus cheese, applesauce, and yogurt for about 2 weeks, and after that I began to add in more cooked fruits and veggies. I think it was about a month before I added back small amounts of nut baked goods. It was very hard to eat such a limited diet, but I was able to keep the weight on with the yogurt and cheese. Not sure if you are able to handle those but if so it might help a lot. I never did go back to medication, but if I had needed to my gastro doctor had said he'd do a round of prednisone to calm the flare since Pentasa never worked very well for me. Have you tried coconut oil? I've heard that can have anti-inflammatory properties. Here's a link about it: http://www.comfytummy.com/2009/08/14/coconut-oil-health-and-digestion/
I've not tried it myself, but I do eat Jennie's Coconut Macaroons every day.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you are feeling better soon!
Amy
Hi Amy,
My baby is 5 wks old and I've been breastfeeding... I have been on diet 9 years and it has been very successful for me. After I gave birht though I went into flare and I cannot tolerate much.. mostly cooked pears, squash, beans, zuchini, carrots, all meats and fish, DCCC. I just don't have enough calories for us boht... I've been actually taking the boost drinks to give me more calories cuz I"m starving! I just don't know what to do, I can't tolerate yogurt or cheese... any advise?
Hi Kerri,
It's got to be really hard with such limited options while breastfeeding. You said you cannot tolerate much, so the foods I'm suggesting are probably ones you've already tried...my thoughts would be to add fatty, calorie-dense foods like avocado, olives, coconut (maybe the oil would be easier to tolerate?), lots of butter, peanut butter, eggs...could you tolerate any of those? If you are unable to eat any of those and are feeling like you can't get enough calories, it might be useful to consider a round of prednisone to get the flare under control, and then you might be able to eat more SCD-legal options. Sources say that prednisone is fine to use while breastfeeding, for example: http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/aap-approved-meds.html . My gastro doc told me that's what he would suggest if I had a flare that I couldn't manage with the diet (he supports my choice to do SCD and wants to help me stick with it). I hope you find a solution that works for you, even if it means going on medication for a while. I had some postpartum flares that in my opinion were related to hormone shifts. I was able to control them with a modified intro diet that included yogurt and cheese, which helped me keep my calories up. It's got to be difficult without the yogurt and cheese. Let me know how it goes for you--I am expecting baby #3 in March and would love to gain the knowledge of other Moms' experiences.
I know I'm joining into this conversation very late but I'm breastfeeding my 7 month old son and am just starting to have a flare up again after being completely in remission during and after my pregnancy. I was on SCD prior to being pregnant but felt so great during (and had morning sickness and cravings) that I went off of it. Now, I'm starting the diet again (reluctantly) and am wondering why you went on the intro for so long. The book suggests a couple of weeks. That diet is so unbearable, I'm hoping I can just switch to the regular SCD without having to go on it again, but not sure if that will work.
Anyways, I'm really happy I found your blog!! There's not a lot out there about UC/Chrones and pregnancy/breasfeeding, let alone those things combined with SCD. It's frustrating! I'm new to the blogging world, but started blogging my recipes in case you care to take a look!
http://againstallgrain.wordpress.com/
Hi Danielle, thanks for your comment. I am sorry you are starting to flare, and I hope that you can get some quick relief once you start the SCD again. In answer to your question about why I stayed on the intro diet for more than 2 weeks--it was because it took that long for my gut to get back to a good state. I did a modified intro diet though, including cheese, applesauce, and yogurt. And after a couple weeks I added more cooked fruits and veggies. Then I added nut flours once I was feeling good. Maybe try a strict intro diet for a week and then slowly add things in and if you start feeling bad you can always backtrack a bit. Also, a round of prednisone might do the trick if you need an extra boost to get back into remission while on the SCD. My GI had told me I could try that if I ever needed to, but I've not had to so far. I'm finding that if I cheat on the SCD for a while and start feeling bad, as long as I go back to the SCD as soon as I notice symtoms I'm able to bounce back. I hope you are able to find a good balance for yourself and that you are feeling healthy soon!
Hello, I hope you are still reading and responding to these comments. I'm just about to begin my 2 1/2 year old son on the SCD due to chronic diarrhea since about 3-4 months old. Initially we removed milk, then soy then variable other things with no long term success. After much reading and preparing I'm trying the SCD and hoping to heal and re-balance his gut! I was wondering however if you had ever heard of a nursing mother going on the SCD to prevent her nursing child from having the tummy troubles we had when my son was younger? I don't necessarily have any major troubles myself but am fully aware that what I eat is passed onto the nursing child. In the case of both my sons at around 3-4 months nursing exclusively they both had bloody moucosy stools and ended up on a special formula where the proteins were broken down etc. Since we're introducing the diet for my 2 year old and I'm expecting again I thought it might be worth a try for me to do it as well in case my 3rd child shows similar symptoms. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this since most of the Dr.'s I've spoken with haven't been much help when it comes to managing the symptoms using food. Thank you!
I had similar issues with 2 of my babies having blood and mucus in their stool while I was breastfeeding them, from about 2 months-9 months old. I eliminated all dairy and soy from my diet for several months while breastfeeding and it seemed to help with the mucus but the flecks of blood did not resolve until solids were added into their diet. Since my babies were thriving despite the blood, and there was no anemia, I continued to breastfeed and didn't do the allergy-free formula. By a year old, my boy was able to eat dairy and soy with no problems. It took until about 2 year old for my daughter. But now she is 6 and eats dairy all the time. Although I an not a doctor and can't offer medical advice, I think you could try to eliminate dairy and soy at least. With my boy, I eliminated beef, all grains (because of SCD), and eggs (for 4 weeks as a trial), but none of those seemed to make an impact on the bloody stool situation. If you do the SCD without dairy, it is HARD (In my opinion) because yogurt and cheese provide lots of nice calories and calcium for pregnant and breastfeeding moms. I did dairy-free SCD for 8 months, and I was very glad to eat dairy again once my boy's symptoms cleared up. I hope this helps a little. Let me know if you have any other questions!