Baby in A&E after first taste of dairy

[tinybaba]

I've just come back from a traumatic trip to A&E with 6MO DD. We started BLW a couple of weeks ago (bits of fruit & veg that were just being sucked).

Tonight I gave her veg with a cheese sauce (milk, cheese, bit of flour). I thought these were ok from 6 months?. Anyway an hour later she was screaming and in so much pain we had to take her to A&E. They were focusing on her lack of poo (19 days now, bit scary but she's purely breastfed and has gone 18 days before now with no problems until tonight).

She can't have eaten much as she only really sucks on food at the moment.
Her tummy has settled now thank goodness but I'm under pressure from family to start pureed food and follow a traditional weaning route (introducing one food at a time). We're loving BLW but I'm now terrified to try her with anything else. Please help

[gigglewitch]

bumping for you - hope some blw gurus turn up...

FWIW my dc are all dairy free, and there is no real way you know what the problems might be until you try each food. Surely you can do that in a blw way? (knows zilch about pure blw)

[greensnail]

oh no, how scary We're blw with dd at the moment but am no expert so don't really know what to suggest. Maybe carry on offering real food, not purees but limit what you offer at a time to see if anything affects her. I suppose it could have been the dairy, or the wheat if she's never had flour before.
Has she done a poo yet? It seems unlikely that this could start bothering her so suddenly but i suppose it could be the problem. Any idea what made things settle down again?
Hope she's feeling better today.

[Lulumama]

are the doctors sure it was a reaction to dairy?

[ilovemydogandmrobama]

wow -- don't know anything about blw, but seems to me that if your child may have a reaction, then it's common sense to introduce one food at a time.

Have you been referred?

[tinybaba]

DD is back to her usual self this morning so we are very relieved. Haven't given her any food just milk but thinking about sticking with basic fruit and veg for a couple of weeks before trying any wheat/ dairy again (although last night was so scary I may wait longer until feeling braver).

Docs at A&E didn't have much advice at all so we're waiting for referral to paediatrics.

Still no poo but she had an xray a few weeks ago and it was clear (she had gone 18 days last time, then a small poo, now another 20 days and counting.....)

[Honeymoonmummy]

You will probably be best sticking to no soya too. Have you asked for urgent referral to a paediatric dietician as well as a paediatrician?

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Very scary tinybaba. Did A&E actually do anything to make her better, or did she just stop by herself? Was her screaming the only reaction, or were there other symptoms too (eg rash, wheezing). Milk intolerance (or allergy) is surprisingly common, though it could equally well be the gluten from the flour. You didn't do anything wrong in offering these foods from 6 months btw - in most circumstances this is fine, and you obv had no reason to suspect she would have a problem with them.

The good news is that if it is a CMP (cows milk protein - this is what causes the problem for children rather than the lactose) intolerance then she will more than likely outgrow it within a few years (around 80% do so before school age).

The bad news obv is that she will need to avoid the offending food until then, which means that you will need to label check everything, as milk is a hidden ingredient in so many things. Generally you would be advised not to offer the food again until she is a year old, and then offer a small amount and wait to see if she reacts before offering any more (and there is an order to offer milk products in, starting with things like yoghurt and butter then moving on to cheese and cooked milk, leaving raw milk until last).

Of course you will need to establish for certain whether it's the milk or the gluten that is the problem. Statistically milk is the more likely, so I would offer a small amount of gluten again in a couple of weeks and see what happens (this is what I would do, but obv you must make your own decision about whether to offer either food type).

Dairy actually passes through in a milder form in the breast milk of many women, and constipation can be a symptom of milk intolerance (as can diarrhoea (sp), which affected both of mine), so you may choose to go dairy free yourself for a few weeks to see if it makes any difference to her bowel habits. It takes around 2 weeks to clear completely from your and her systems. It takes a little getting used to, but really isn't that bad.

Hmm mentions avoiding soya, and that is because between 30 and 40% of children with a milk problem also have a problem with soya, and so if you substitute a lot of soya into your diets then she will still be poorly, and you may conclude from that that milk isn't the problem, when in fact it still could be. Exposure to a lot of soya can also trigger a soya intolerance where there wasn't one before. Both rice and oat milk are available in most supermarkets these days, as well as health food shops, so go for one of those instead, making sure that you buy a version with added calcium. (I opt for Rice Dream and Oatly, and personally think that provomel rice milk is the work of the devil). There has been some recent press about low levels of arsenic in rice milk. If you have read this and are worried about it (I am not) then stick with oat milk.

The method of weaning that you choose, be it purees or blw, will make no difference to any allergies, so you may like to point this out to interfering well meaning relatives.

[tinybaba]

Thanks so much for your advice.

A&E didn't do anything that helped, she settled on her own after a few hours. She had no rash and no other symptoms other than drawing her legs up which indicated it was her tummy.

We thought she may be lactose intolerance when she was younger but she was diagnosed with reflux, which she still has and it hasn't improved much (though doesn't cause her pain now).

Thanks for reassurance, as usual with babies the first thought is to blame yourself

[Northernlurker]

Tinybaba - did the A&E staff agree with you that this was a reaction to the food you had given her?

With respect you say she was 'in so much pain we had to take her to A&E' - well she can't tell you what level of pain she has so what you mean is that you felt she was in pain and acted accordingly. I'm not saying you are wrong in that btw - just want to point out that you don't in fact know how she felt because it is impossible to know exactly how a small baby is as they can't tell you.

I think that constipation not allergies is your problem. Has your dd been nursing more in the recent hot weather? How many really wet nappies are you getting through?

[jabberwocky]

Taht sounds like a really long time to go without a poo. Just b/c she's done it before and seemingly didn't have a problem doesn't mean it's OK.

Ds2 had eczema so we followed the advice for "allergicky" babies. No dairy until 12 months. But actually I thought that was recommended anyway.

I would try the "P" diet - prunes, pears, peas and peaches. Very good for getting things moving.

[Northernlurker]

Jabberwocky - I think it's a really long time too. She is breastfed but not exclusively so now she is having other foods and what was ok for a younger baby is not necessarily so for this age.
some information here and here

[jabberwocky]

Northern, yes, I'm probably more sensitive to this than the average mum since ds2 has had three fecal impactions . Luckily, with a change in diet and supplements things have been moving along normally for the last year or so.

[Northernlurker]

Oh how horrid for you both - glad things are ok now.

[jabberwocky]

oops, I meant ds1

Thanks, Northern. It was really tough on everyone for a while as you have to go through a lengthy period of colon rehabilitation.

[tinybaba]

Gosh jabberwocky, that's awful. Also glad things are ok now.

I did post a message but seem to have lost it..

DD has pooed tonight. Family and baby all very very relieved. Poo normal (maybe bit thicker, don't think she's ingested much solids, didn't look constipated). Absolutely tons of it (sorry if tmi).

Forgot to add earlier that DD had xray a few weeks ago (after the 18 days) and there was no blockage. She has been prodded by many docs and tummy not hard so it's a mystery.

Now very confused - not sure if constipation or food . Speaking to paediatrics tomorrow (will ask for dietician, didn't know they had one so hopefully they will be able to help).

Thanks again for help - am becoming nervous wreck!

[greensnail]

Just wanted to say that dd started going much longer between poos (only 10 days in our case though) just before she started to eat really "get" eating. She then started actually swallowing food and we now get a poo most days, sometimes more than once a day.

My theory was that she had got to the point where she was needing so much of the nutrition from the breast milk there wasn't much waste left! Of course this is just my experience and my own theory, and I'm sure someone with a bit of knowledge on the subject will tell me that's rubbish!

Good luck with the paeds, I hope they manage to set your mind at rest and you get some kind of plan sorted out.

[BonsoirAnna]

I cooked with formula until DD was 1 and didn't give her much in the way of dairy at all.

I also needed to give her a lot of puréed prune once I had started weaning - she got very constipated initially.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Anna - formula is made from cows milk, so not appropriate if it is a milk allergy.

[BonsoirAnna]

I know - I was making the point to the OP that vegetables with a cheese sauce made from normal (not formula) cow's milk and cheese isn't great weaning food, really.

[greensnail]

The official guidelines are that its fine to use cows milk in cooking and cheese from 6 months, unless you suspect allergies, which the OP obviously didn't until this happenned. No reason for OP to feel bad about offering these foods - my 6 month old eats them very happily without any problems.