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Allergies and intolerances

Could this be cow's milk protein intolerance?

4 replies

specialk1215 · 29/07/2007 21:05

Hello lovely mums - I am hoping that some of you can provide me with some of your knowledgable insight on cow's milk protein intolerance with infants.

My 9-month old was diagnosed with cow's milk protein intolerance 5 months ago (when he was four months old) and was moved off of breastmilk to a special formula - nutramigen. He seemed better for a couple weeks and then started screaming again. Our pediatric gastro interologist felt he also had reflux and put him on reflux meds -ranitidine. Since then, our little guy has been a super-happy baby who is growing really well.

So.... because the reflux meds were so effective, I have always wondered whether he indeed really had a cow's milk protein intolerance. Yesterday morning, I decided to test it out. I gave him a tiny yogurt (petit filous) and he seemed fine all day. Last night in the middle of the night, he woke up and vomited. He was then fine again and seemed fine all day today. I didn't give him any more dairy today. Tonight when I was going to put him down to sleep, he threw up again. He has had no diarrhea or rash of any kind - he just threw up twice. He doesn't really seem sick (no fever or anything) although who knows.

I am wondering if this could be the delayed result of the yogurt he had yesterday morning. Could it cause vomiting 18 hours and then 30 hours after the fact?

Any idea? I guess he could be battling a small virus, or maybe he really does have a cow's milk protein intolerance. Wondering if any of you can shed some light on this.

I really appreciate your help. YOu guys are so knowledgable.

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3Ddonut · 29/07/2007 21:11

I think the fact that this is an intollerance rather than an acutal allergy, meaning that he can tolerate an amount before he becomes sick (the key is finding the amount) is what you are looking at here, he may be able to tolerate a yogurt and a square of chocolate but not a glass of milk for example or a glass of milk and some cheese but nothing more....

Also, a lot of people intolerant to lactose are able to tolerate yogurt because a lot of the lactose is destroyed in the process of making it. I suppose the true answer is time will tell, try him and monitor the effects.

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IsabelWatchingItRainInMacondo · 10/08/2007 01:26

Difficult to know really. DS is allergic and intolerant to it (if it is possible to have it both ways!)

Immediate reaction is painful tummy bloating and rash, delayed reaction is worsening of his asthma and he becomes very snuffy. Althought the problems with asthma and snuffiness were more evident if he had regular exposures (as before removing milk from his diet), not much diference after a single one.

I think it may be another thing, although I would avoid dairy anyway until the doctor confirmed baby has outgrown his allergy.

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tatt · 10/08/2007 09:58

sounds more like reflux to me, because he voimits at night and relux is worse when they lie down. However dairy makes reflux worse so it sounds like you're best to keep him off dairy until he's outgrown the reflux. Voimiting at night is dangerous because they could inhale it so it really isn't worth running any risks.

Still sounds like you won't have a long term problem. When you do decide to reintroduce dairy again you might consider/ ask your doctor about goats milk (past 1 year) as it's more readily digested.

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ib · 10/08/2007 10:20

Was he cranky?

Ds' is intolerant to cow's milk. He is bf si I'm off dairy. The last time I tested it I had a very small amount of cheese. Ds vomited twice over the following 48 hs and was incredibly cranky. He was on reflux meds at the time.

The gastroenterologist felt this was sufficient evidence of an allergy to recommend that I stay off dairy for another 6 months before doing another trial.

Apparently around 40% of reflux babies have cma, so the two often go hand in hand

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