breastfed baby screamathon - dairy allergy? those with experience, please advise?!

[ginger2000]

Hi - have posted this in bottle/breast feeding too as didn't know where was best!

Had an absolutely horrendous eve/night with 11 week old dd2 yesterday. She screamed from 4pm until about 3.30am (with some half-hour breaks when she had cried herself to sleep in our arms)when she promptly did a huge poo and then relaxed! She is pretty on edge today but I think that must be down to tiredness. While she was screaming, nothing would console her - she wouldn't let me feed/suckle her (got some milk down her by feeding her as she was stirring from the fitful sleep).

Now - I am taking her to the docs at 11 and am going to ask to have her tested for a dairy allergy - I had cut out dairy for about 3 weeks as she had been doing so many yucky poos and had been very colicky (sp?) - had seen some improvement but must admit haven't been very careful over last few days and yesterday had cream of mushroom soup at lunchtime and some choc at about 2pm. Now - Do you think that could be what caused the problem? Those of you with intolerant/allergic dc's, what reaction do they have?

sorry for the length of this but want to get my thoughts straight before I go to docs as I think they will just tell me that's what babies are like but this so wasn't!!!

hope this makes sense (i haven't had much sleep!)

Hello,

My DD2 has a dairy allergy and from about 10 weeks had terrible eczema and stopped sleeping. However, the sleep thing didnt' improve after i cut out dairy, though her skin did a bit. She had a very explosive digestive system too and it turned out she had silent reflux and gaviscon made things much better until she was about 7 months and grew oput of it. It is a pisser though, you have to give it at EVERY feed which in the middle of the night isn't fun, but better than getting no sleep.

I think you will find it very hard to get the docs to take you seriously unless you find a lovely one. I was dismissed for ages and she only got tested at about 10 months.

good luck

FB x

my friend's dd was like this, was pronounced lasctose intolerant and they found Colief was a godsend - maybe ask your gp to prescribe it? It is a bit of a faff as you have to express a bit of milk and give it to her first but it's supposed to give great results.

The baby in question is 6 months now and has grown out of it already

thanks guys - am sure its not me being precious so will really push at docs for a solution. will suggest colief and/or gaviscon - something that might be able to help the poor little thing. She's just woken up now in a pickle again!

What you describe eating would have definately been enough to set off my baby at the same age. I was breastfeeding too and cut out dairy which improved the situation dramatically however I found it too hard to avoid dairy in the end as one slip up meant a couple of days of upset - at six months changed him to a perscription formula, within 24hrs he was a differnt baby, no more reflux, colic or crying for hours. I wish we'd done it sooner but I was consistently told by HV 'yes dear, babies do cry alot' and GP informed me that he didn't 'believe' in childhood allergies.

Good luck with your appointment be firm with that GP.

obviously - 20mins before the appt, she is like a golden child - all smiles and gurgles! Can just tell they won't believe me! Oh well!

well - docs was pretty much a waste of time! Doctor agreed it was likely to be dairy if I had identifed it as the cause of dds discomfort and basically told me to get on with breastfeeding without dairy in my diet, that there was nothing other than gripe water to help if we get a repeat of last night and that we would deal with the possibility of an allergy by an elimination process when she is old enough for solids or when she goes onto formula.

feel a bit let down although I knew this is how it would pan out. I tried to be firm but could feel myself getting teary (am tired!) so just wanted to get out of there.

What now!?

go to another doctor at your practice. i had to go back again and again until i found one who had a baby with eczema/allergies and took me seriously. this was after being told not to trust what i read on the internet thank you patronising bastard.

do a trial of gaviscon - my DD2 slept for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT within 24 hours of me giving it to her for every feed. I literally wept because I had give months of no sleep and it wasn't my fault after all. Be very strict about dairy in your diet. It is a pisser but wroth it. or switch to non dairy formula. soya formula made my DD2 worse, and it think the others you have to get prescribed and it is ming, so my DD2 refused it

Sorry to hear the GP was so disappointing.
I'm not sure it's worth trying another to be honest especially if you're not feeling up to a battle.

What now...? As FB said I'd try Gaviscon before each feed in the first instance. It can be a bit of a faff when you're breast feeding but did help my son too. I however got fed up with it all pretty quickly and started giving him a hypoallergenic formula 'Neutramigen' (I was feeling like a pretty big failure by this stage though so it wasn't an easy decision). It smells really awful and I was convinced my son wouldn't touch it especially as we'd previously tried the soya based formulas and it was a definate NO WAY - but he loved it and really was a different baby within 24 hours.

As I said my GP didn't 'believe' in childhood allergies and refused to perscribe it to me but I was able to buy it over the counter so that's what I did (it was expensive though). After about 4 months I felt more able to go back to the GP to insist I get it on perscription as I could categorically say it made him better (and I'd had more sleep so felt stronger etc)...

Baby massage worked a bit too, there's a way to move their legs around that can stimulate the bowel and ease trapped wind after a feed, also propping up the head end of the cot helped to stop reflux when lying down. My friend in a similar situation said a dummy really helped her little girl too.

Another friend of mine recommended cranial oseopathy as she had taken her very unsettled colicky baby to one and it had made a remarkable difference - I didn't feel comfortable with this though so I never persued this route...

I do hope you find something that works for you as I remember all to vividly being in your situation, it's horrid. It will get easier though especially when you start weaning and with a bit of luck your baby will grow out of it in a few months.

Good luck

Thanks for your thoughts floury and fruit.

DD2 has been a little angel today - probably because I have had a totally dairy free day!

Might have to get some of that formula for my going back to work training although I guess she might have grown out of it. Am planning to go back to GP in a few weeks and beg for some on prescription.

Now then - off to plan a dairy free christmas!

If cutting dairy out of your diet works though, then there isn't much else the GP can do? There isn't a magic solution to allergies except for avoidance.

If its any consolation, DD1 is exceedingly allergic to dairy, and so when DD2 started getting colicky at a couple of weeks old, and getting worse and worse, I tried cutting out dairy from my diet. It did the trick within 2 days. I'm pretty sure that she's not actually allergic/intolerant to dairy now though (she's 18 months, although she has a largely dairy free diet anyway due to DD1, so can't say for sure yet), so grew out of it.

If you want to stop BF though, then perhaps keep a food diary for you, and symptom diary for her, then you can prove to your GP that your dairy consumption relates directly to her problems. Much more likely to get hypo-allergenic formula on prescription if you can show them something concrete. I wouldn't hold out too much hope though - it took 4 months to get a referral for DD1 (even though she had an anaphylactic reaction), so I had to keep BF until she was a year old anyway. You can just buy Nutramigen/Neocate at the chemists for the odd feed if you need, but its too blooming expensive otherwise.

I would ask the gp to refer you to a dietitian they can make sure your getting enough calcium and advise on suitable formulas. A lot of gp's won't prescribe nutramigen without a dietitians letter as its really expensive.

My DS screamed at every feed, gp was rubbish and wouldn't try anything other than gaviscon and didn't believe that it was possible for babies to react to the proteins in breastmilk.

Anyway at 6 months when we weaned DS it became very obvious it was a dairy allergy.

As others have said there us not much the GP can do except refer for testing and prescribe hypoallergenic formula.

In our case there were multiple allergies which confused the matter as sometimes a dairy free diet helped and then he would start screaming again. Something to bear in mind.

Both my DC were allergy tested at 6 months.

Hi there

My dd2 was very dairy intolerant and breastfed. If I ate any dairy at all, then within about 12-24 hours she would begin screamng, and not really stop until she managed to poo out the mucus sludge it created in her.

I agree that really, you have done the hard work and proved the diagnosis, and that your GP is correct to say carry on breastfeeding on a dairy free diet. There is no treatment or line of attack I'm afraid. You just have to wait it out. I did it and found it tough, I really missed cups of tea!

If you choose to go on to formula, then you need to make sure you are given a prescription only formula that is hydrolised. A low lactose milk is only suitable for babies with lactose intolerant babies, not cows milk proteing intolerant babies. You don't know which it is unless you go through the whole exclusion thing for that too, and I never thought it was worth worrying about. Apparently with reactions as strong as our babies, it is likely to be proteing intolerance or both. Just get the good stuff from the word go!
Apparently about half of babies who are intolerant to dairy and also sensitive to soya, so I suggest it is wise to avoid soya too. Well, that was the line from dd2's consultant and dietician, as is all the advice I am giving here.

It was the view of her team, that this should be managed through a paed and dietician, particulary as regards formula prescription and weaning. So you might wish to get the ball rolling in that respect. I only got a referal after a locum GP suggested I held her more, when I told him about her constant screaming. I believe my words were 'With respect, I request a referral to paeds. I request it now' was verrrrry close to the edge! I still get a twitch when I think of that appointment!

The consultant asked me to take photos of any skin rashes and mucusy/abnormal poo for the appointment, which is something you could do. They asked me to expose her to dairy to gain this positive evidence, happily I already had pictures and a stool sample to boot , so she didn't have to go through another dairy challenge.

Apparently 6-8 months is a period when babies can grow out of it, and then 12-18 months, then 3-5 yrs. We got lucky and dd2 can tolerate limited yogurt and butter and processed dairy at 22 months.

All the best, it's a horrid thing. But oh the relief when you know what it is, how to tackle it, and suddenly you see your screamer transform into a ball of shnuggly calmness. Well done on being so on the ball too, it took me months to realise it was dairy.

This type of reaction doesn't necessarily mean a dairy allergy. My eldest had real gut/pooing/scream/discomfort and was helped considerably by my cutting out dairy; when weaned she had no issues at all. Gripe water also helped as she would always have a good burp afterwards which seemed to settle her down. I think the fennel is soothing. Massage and leg pumping also helped things along sometimes. I couldn't belive the fuss she would make over what was essentially a really runny poo! Lots of green poo too; which I think was caused by my over feeding to help her settle as opposed to anything sinister.

DS does have a dairy allergy (which remains at 4) and had no problems at all whilst breastfed. It was only discovered when we started weaning at 6/7 months and had an obvious reaction - swollen tongue, face, eyes the full works.

Sorry the purpose of that is to reassure you that this discomfort as a wee baby doesn't necessarily mean a longer term problem.

Agree with the other poster however that if you intend to continue breastfeeding there is not much else the GP can do to be fair.

Just to say my dd's intolerance is not an IgE response. Therefore it will not show up with intolerance testing.

this
this

are good reads, and explain why unless you have the immediate, hurling vomit and swelling type of reaction, a RAST or prick test will be essentially looking for the wrong thing.
The right tests for the slower onset, gasto symptom intolerance are withdrawal and challenge. Which you may feel you have done.

OUr paed suggested re-doing them 3-6 monthly.

wow - thanks for the rest of the responses - some really useful info which I will fully take on board.

v excited to know that after eight are dairy free!!!

With regard to the GP - I know there isn't a great deal more she could have 'done' and Im pretty certain from what you have all said and other things I have read that DD2 is intolerant rather than allergic (at the moment anyway!!) I think I was rather hoping for an immediate prescription/magic cure which obviously doesn't exist (I'd only had a few hours sleep so forgive me!)

I like the idea of a food diary (my mum suggested this too) so that I can get some prescription formula. I know that BF is the best thing and I will keep going for as long as possible but I know with the best will in the world, I will not be able to express enough to cope when I go back to work in March. I am aware it might have resolved itself by then so am keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks again for so much info - lots ot think about.

It is hard. I was dairy, soya and egg free for nearly 2 years!!

Oatly milk and cream are really good in cooking and on cereal. Pure and vitality spread are dairy free. You can get all of those in larger tescos.

Co-op doughnuts are egg dairy and soya free.

Toffuti cream cheese is reasonable, pure cream cheese is vile. There is no good substitute fir hard cheese though.

March is so long away in baby/feeding terms - don't worry about it right now, there's a good chance it will all have sorted itself out by then. Hope you manage to get some more help from your GP if you need it though.

Thanks for posting the thread - I never knew sainsbury's jaffa cakes were dairy free. DD1 will be ecstatic!

Oh March - that's eons away. DOn't even worry about it until....the end of Feb at the earliest . No point heaping stress on yourself.

Oat milk, yum. All the others were grim, imo. That makes lovely porridge though, which I guess it would, oats and oats! Soak it overnight, quick heat up in the morning, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon...mmmmmmmmm. It's a useful subsitute overall.
You will probably find you and your dd have an amazing homemade diet as nearly all baby foods have dairy in. Although yyou may cook heaps anyway, but if not this can be a great time for getting into the groove.

Nearly all the processed foods you try to buy [soup, sauces, deserts] wll have dairy in. I was gobsmacked. Chicken nuggets fgs! SO if you don't cook, then you might want to start thinking through a few fail safe things you can attempt and sling in the freezer.

We use less processed, less dairy and gluten dependant processed items that have a 2 year shelf life. So we have had a positive side effect. DD stil uses her prescrption formula for drinks, bottles, and cereals. She has Cow&Gate 'Pepti Junior', the 'pepti' was not hydrolised enough. I found the book Optimum Nutrition for Babies a help, it kept me motivated. By Lucy Burney, I think. Although some of the 'advice' around breastfeeding is a little I found the ideas for food very good.

Hi, my 6 week old DS who is breast fed has been extra fussy and crying today and not interacting so much with me.
Basically I was wondering if me eating a bit of dairy yesterday may have affected him negatively today.
I decided to give up dairy a week ago and he had seemed more settled, alert and sleeping more. Up until then he had been super fussy at the breast: writhing around, biting nipple, angry also has been projectile vomiting and gurgling if I lie him flat too soon after a feed. I now sit him up for 30 mins after a feed. Evenings he would cry and cry with no consoling.
Gp suggested i start giving him Infacol before feeds a week ago and he is farting/burping lots which means that trapped wind is not the culprit.
So today I Also noticed his poo has green bits in and for a week has been a healthy brown/yellow colour. ? Due to dairy

Am I looking into this too much as I know he's at the age where they are unsettled and cry a lot.

What are your experiences of dairy intolerance at that age and could one slip up yesterday affect his behaviour today??

Also to note I have a dairy intolerance myself but haven't been following a fully dairy free diet during pregnancy/after birth.

Sorry for the essay.