Mother's milk causes rare reaction in her baby daughter

Little girl is one in one in 45,000 suffering from an extremely rare condition which causes a violent reaction to lactose

Tracey Cooper was determined to give her healthy 7lb 8oz daughter Dorothy the best possible start in life. After leaving hospital, she started to get into a breastfeeding routine, and everything seemed fine.

When she was just nine days old, however, little Dorothy fell into a deep sleep, and couldn't be woken up. After being rushed to hospital, doctor's fought to save the little girl's life.

It took 10 doctors in three hospitals a further six days to diagnose a potentially lethal allergy to her mother's milk.

Dorothy has galactosaemia, an extremely rare condition causing a violent adverse reaction to lactose, which affects just one in 45,000 babies in Britain. Her mother's milk had been poisoning her, causing her liver to fail.

One month on, Tracey and her partner have been able to take their seven-week-old daughter home. She's being fed a soya-based milk free from lactose.

Tracey told the Daily Mail newspaper, 'I'll never be able to have the closeness of breast feeding again, but having willed her to get better and seeing how she put up such a battle, I know we'll be OK.

'It's a horrible thought, but I was actually poisoning Dorothy with my own breastmilk.'

If you're worried about possible allergies in your children, talk to your GP or health visitor.