Dairy and wheat intolerance in a BF baby

[boobiesagogo]

Hi - I posted this in breast and bottle feeding earlier, but another poster advised me to post here also - TIA

Hi

I wondered if anyone had any experience of this?

My 4 month old has had a dairy and wheat sensitivity since birth - on the advice of the HV, I cut out dairy at first, but she was still windy, didn't sleep well, rumbly tummy, green poos, general discomfort and small red rash behind her ears. When I cut the dairy out it marginally improved, so I cut out wheat as well, and since then she has become a lot calmer, more content, sleeps slightly longer at night, windy still but brings it up better and no explosive poos....

Anyway yesterday I ate some chips which had wheat flour in them (don't ask) and she was up nearly every hour from two am, wriggling around in discomfort, windy and not settling.

As we are getting closer to weaning her at 6 months, I was wondering do I need to investigate this any further or will it sort itself out?

TIA

Hi - definitely get it investigated further. My son is lactose intolerant and has coeliac disease - he had to move onto to lacto-free formula because breast milk has lactose in it! Also if you are going to start weaning soon then you will need dietary advice about wheat/dairy free products you can introduce. Luckily there is a lot more choice available these days - see your GP and ask for a referral to have your baby tested for coeliac disease. The two problems usually go hand in hand.

Definitely keep off the wheat and diary and be very careful when weaning. My son was awful with dreadful colic as a baby. It was only when we started weaning that we realised he had wheat and dairy allergies. I felt awful as it must have been me that was making his worse as I was eating wheat and dairy.

You need to speak to the gp as a first port of call and get advice before weaning. My son doesn't have coeliacs but does have a severe wheat allergy. He was allergic to dairy (and egg and nuts also). He has largley outgrown the egg and dairy (hes 4) but they say is unlikely to outgrow the nuts or wheat.

Thanks, I will do.

It was amazing the difference, the night before last she was unsettled and in pain, and all through yesterday she was windy and didn't settle well.

Then last night, she slept from 10 - 4 (I was very careful with what I ate yesterday) and has been asleep now for fourty minutes (very unlike her).

I will speak to the GP then and get some advice.

Just out of interest - when she was a newborn and before I cut out wheat and dairy, she was always uncomfortable, didn't like being put down, couldn't sleep on her back, would be incredibly windy at night, especially at around 5 am, vomiting alot. The GP prescribed her ranitidine, but I cut out wheat and it made a huge difference to the vomiting and discomfort (she'd cry and then through up. This all happened around 13 weeks, so I'm trying to work out if it was just an age thing? Were those symptoms and the ones I mentioned earlier similar to yours?

From reading on here it doesn't seem to be so severe as other babies, but I'm pretty sure it affects her.

Do they tend to grow out of it?

Thanks

My dd1 was the same. We were referred to the gastro who just kept tabs on how food challenges were going, and got to chat to a dietician. Dd1's symptoms were like yours, delayed allergy type (see the webchat with the lactofree guy). We weaned on baby rice with ebm or prescribed Pepti and purees. There is no test for delayed type allergies and they were reluctant to test for coeliac until after 2 because they said it wasn't very reliable before then. We did a dairy challenge shortly after starting weaning with yoghurt, one spoon at a time, day by day. It worked out ok but straight dairy was a no and still is at age 4. We tried wheat at 2, can't remember why we waited so long - perhaps it was because if the dramatic improvement in her when off it. It was absolutely fine.

We are going through the same thing with dd2 with a longer list of challenges to do. Good luck, and get advice from a dietician through your gp.

I'm not sure, mine was just as you described but he never really stopped being a 'difficult' baby until he stopped being a baby really. But there was a definite improvement at about 6 months when we started weaning, realised he was allergic and I cut out wheast and dairy so I'm sure it was related rather than just his age iyswim

my ds is dairy, egg and wheat allergic so far (waiting for testing to confirm exactly what else if anything).

he had severe eczema, bad poos, v. unsettled and like you much of it seems to be just newborn baby stuff which can be explained away (and will be by most hv and gps in my experience) I cut out dairy, saw a consultant and got prescribed piriton for ds for his nighttime itching and it was like having a new baby! Now he doesn't need piriton (unless we have contact with an allergen)

nice guidelines say that you should see a dietician to help balance your diet if you are cutting out dairy (i.e. you may need calcium supplements to protect yourself in later life) and also for help with weaning.

I believe statistics show most do outgrow these allergies.

Get the ball rolling with your GP it has taken me ages to get appointments and at 7mos still no testing (only know about the wheat since weaning and he reacted to it very badly, it's a bit like playing russian roulette in this household at the moment).

Good luck and go with your instinct until you know differently.