Dairy allergy in 5mo - can I have really seen such quick results?

[JudysDreamHorse]

My DS was 5 months last week and has always had issues with sleeping. Around 3 months we finally realised he had silent reflux and he has been on infant gaviscon since which has managed the symptoms. He has also had eczema which we are managing through regular moisturisation and hydrocortisone when starting to look bad.
More and more people had been suggesting to me that I try going dairy free to see if it made a difference (he is EBF) but I thought it was so unlikely I resisted. However for the last 6 or 7 weeks he has been waking every hour through the night and I finally decided to give it a go.
I stopped taking dairy at lunchtime on Wednesday and that evening he slept from about 9pm to 11.30pm - the first time he'd got past the first sleep cycle before midnight in weeks. He still woke 3 or 4 more times after that but seemed to be sleeping in 2 hour blocks rather than 1 hour as before. Thursday, Friday and Saturday night were all similiar with him stretching to some 2.5 hour blocks through the night as well. I also saw a change in his poo which had been frequently dark and/or greenish before.
I couldn't believe I would have seen a result so quickly so decided to have dairy again yesterday (Sunday). I thought it would be better to do this now rather than wait until the 2-3 weeks as if it did have a negative effect it would be less of a setback than if I had totally eliminated dairy from our systems. Last night his sleep went back to how it was before with him waking every 45 mins before middnight and every hour after that. His last poo of the day was also very green with mucous.
Can stopping and starting dairy really have made a difference so quickly? Do you think this indicates that he can tolerate low levels of dairy? Am obviously going to go properly dairy free for the next few weeks but would it be sensible to reintroduce small amounts after that and see if it is ok (i.e. not being so vigilant in looking for hidden dairy when out and about)? I'm willing to be strict if I need to be but if it's not necessary it would be lot easier. Thanks.

DS1 (now 7) has a severe dairy allergy and had a lot of colic as a small baby. I stopped having dairy when he was 6 weeks old and the colic stopped almost overnight. So I do think it can make a difference very quickly in some cases.

Not sure what to say about reintroducing dairy into your diet, though I did at 3 months and it was ok (until he had actual dairy products as solids at 7 months and had an anaphylactic reaction - no idea whether this would have been different if I had kept off dairy myself for longer, but I doubt it). But I would be very very careful when you do start putting dairy into his diet...

I noticed a difference almost immediately with my DS. He went from screaming at every feed to being a lot happier and having good long feeds the day after I cut out dairy.

When we started weaning him we found he was very sensitive to dairy, to the point of not being able to sit next to another child drinking milk without going red. I often wonder if I had made the allergy connection sooner and cut out dairy earlier whether he wouldn't have been quite so sensitive.

Personally I would stat well clear of dairy.

With dd1 I noticed an immediate difference she was a shouty screaming demon baby until I stopped dairy, and became much easier and calmer and a better sleeper (we'd been down the infant gaviscon route by that point too).

She's 5 now and although we tried to reintroduce dairy a couple of times she sufferes really abdly with abdo pains and constipation. We had until last week been using goat milk and cheese but her tummy aches have increased recently (every eveningand some daytime) so we are having a rest from all dairy and will review in a weeks time or so to see if her sleep has improved.

Good luck

Amazing Judysdreamhorse, your sleep issues sound exactly the same as our DS, does yours seem happy enough in the day? Nights just seem to be getting worse and worse, over the last five weeks i don't think i have slept more than 3 hrs a night and i'm seriously beginning to stop functioning!

I already have an appointment with GP as he's formula fed so will need to change what we're giving him but can't believe it can make that much of a difference that quickly!

DD was so unwell with an undiagnosed dairy intolerance that she was passing blood in her stools. Her symptoms disappeared almost overnight once we put her on a dairy free diet, so it is possible to see very quick results.
Hope your baby continues to go well.

Thanks for the comments. Am curious as to what tonight will bring but even if his sleep is still really bad I am going to keep going with the dairy free. Hope it's not the problem but best to find out and then deal with it. Bit scared about the repercussions for weaning him.
natters86 - I started a thread in the breast and bottle feeding section last week called "Going dairy free" when I was considering it and I went into quite a lot of detail about our symptoms in the first post. My DS does seem happy in the day though it's still a struggle to get him to sleep. Have a look in the sleep section for ideas and support.

nottirednow - did you mean here as in MN or was there meant to be a link in your post? Sorry if being stupid! DS went back to sleeping in the evening last night after me stopping dairy again. Did a 3 hour stretch before midnight. Thanks again for all the help.