A British mom said she was “gaslighted” by medical professionals after her baby developed an allergy to her breast milk.
“Everyone’s telling me it’s fine, but I know that this isn’t fine,” Kate Lancaster told The Times of London. “I knew there was something wrong, even though I hadn’t had a baby before.”
Lancaster’s daughter Violet developed rashes and was in pain from digestive issues, according to the outlet.
“Before you get that diagnosis, you’re kind of made to feel like you’re going crazy a bit,” Lancaster, 39, said. “There is sadly a lot of that gaslighting in that initial [phase]. You’re being told, ‘No, no, everything’s fine,’ you know, that you’re overthinking it or overanxious.”
It wasn’t until a friend made her aware that her daughter could be suffering from a cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA) that Lancaster and Violet were able to get relief.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, CMPA is the most common allergy among infants and young children. But Lancaster’s case was rare in that Violet was allergic to the cow’s milk proteins from her breast milk because Lancaster was consuming dairy.
After ceasing eating dairy, Lancaster found that Violet’s symptoms resolved.
Now, the dedicated mother of two is making sure other moms don’t have to walk the same difficult path she did. Her instagram page, @thedairyfreemum, has gained 77,000 followers. Along with a website of the same name, she is spreading the word and making a difference.
“That’s really what fuels what I do with the page, because I just don’t want anyone else to have to feel like that,” she told the Times. “I want there to be better training. I want there to be more information, more guidance and just more support for allergy parents in general, really.”
Lancaster is now working with the Natash Allergy Research Foundation (Narf), the charity founded by the parents of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 from an allergic reaction after she ate a Pret A Manger baguette which contained sesame seeds.
For Lancaster, there’s solidarity in fighting for awareness regarding allergies.
“It’s a really, really tricky, lonely, frustrating journey to actually get to the point of a diagnosis,” she said.
