Is this dairy intolerance?

[Bertiebutterfly]

DD is 19wks and suffers from reflux. She's on gaviscon and ranitidine and her symtoms have reduced - she's still sick but no where near as bad as she was and is no longer in the screaming / feeding cycle that caused me to stop breastfeeding.

The problem is she still isn't settled sleeping. She will nap for no more than 40 minutes during the day and to get her to do this she either needs to be rocked to sleep or taken out in the car / pram. At night she falls asleep on the bottle and then feeds every 3/4 hours which is fine it's just that she wakes 6 or so times between feeds and needs settling each time

Since being on formula she has also come out in eczema on her chest and back.

The dr has suggested dairy intolerance (although she was a bit vague!)and prescribed nutramigen which dd has now been on exclusively since saturday.

Are these symptoms, paricularly the sleeping patterns, consistent with dairy intolerance? If the nutramigen does help when are we likely to see any improvement?

Thanks - we're getting desperate!!

[loulou33]

Hi there, there is a link between reflux and cows milk protein intolerance (CMPI) in babies. Nutramigen has hydrolysed cows milk in it and should tackle any cmpi - you should see results in a week or so but my ds1 was on it and sadly, i tmade no difference to his reflux. SOunds like the ranitidine is tackling the acidity levels in her sick, hence why she is no longer screaming. DS2 has reflux and has been prescribed domperdione to move the food faster through his gut thereby reducing the amount he can be sick. i know of babies who take this as well as gaviscon and ranitidine and it does help, maybe ask your gp for this too? Her sleep pattern is very similar to ds2 and i have no answers as to why only that repeated night time waking is common in this age group - there is a thread called 4 to 5 month waking or something similar that i am on and there are loads of mums with similar age babies in the same situation. Sadly the symptoms for reflux/cmpi are many and varied and each child is different so i can't ell you if her sleep problems are caused by reflux/cmpi or just her temperament....there are also threads about cmpi and there are others who are far more experienced than me!!!! Hopefully they will be along soon....

[Bertiebutterfly]

Thanks Loulou.

The problem is dd has not slept well from birth!! We had one 5 hour stretch back in November but other than that she's been awful!!

I was hoping if CMPI was the reason for the discomfort then the Nutramigen would improve her sleep - wishful thinking I know!!

[sb6699]

Don't have any experience with reflux but my dd1 suffered from a dairy allergy as a baby and was prescribed Nutramigen.

She had severe excema which cleared about a week after we started on the new formula.

Is she constipated at all, this is one of the more common signs of dairy intolerance as well the excema.

If you are concerned, you can press for testing to confirm.

[Bertiebutterfly]

Hi sb6699

Yes she is constipated - we've always put it down to the gaviscon but now I'm not so sure...

I didn't think testing would show an intolerance only an allergy??

[sb6699]

No it probably wouldn't show an intolerance. But as your dd's symptoms are similar to my dd's it could be an allergy.

I found it quite difficult to get the testing done via my gp so you might need to be stubborn about it. Her excema became badly infected and she was referred to a dermatologist at our local childrens hospital who got the testing done.

[sb6699]

Re; my first sentence I should reiterate I'm not medically qualified but just comparing symptoms