Lactose intolerence baby??

[stressed8132]

Just looking for a little advice.
At 5 days old my midwife suggest fed we put our little one in comfort formula. Baby had colic symptoms and was constipated. The comfort milk was a little help more with the constipation. We tried Infacol and gripe water to ease the wind. Health visitor assured me he would grow out of it by the time he was 4 months. Around 4 months he started with bronchitis, 2 lots of anti biotics later no improvement. GP prescribed an inhailor and it took us 2 months to get it under control. My baby is 7 months now- he cries sooooo much. He always has hiccups, he wakes in the night screaming in pain upto 15 times a night. His trumps are disgusting !!! His poo is always green- he isnt constipated infact its quite loose but if he is doing a poo he screams the house down. He cries because he wants a bottle but when im feeding him he sounds like he is choking on it and he cries in pain and hits the bottle pushes it out of is mouth. He eats 3 meals a day breakfast, lunch,and dinner and snacks inbetween- health visitor said weaning would help it didnt. He is on medication for reflux. I have 6 children.Two of them are lactose intolerent but they both had different symptoms one had eczema asthma and diarreha second child had constant diarrhea and projectile vomitting. Health visitor has wrote a letter to gp asking for my son to be refered to a pediatrician.There is no soothing him at my wits end with the crying and even the neighbours are complaining. Any ideas on what I can do in the meantime till referal comes through
thanks

You could buy lactose free formula and try him on that? Its not cheap but it might be worth a try.
How come you're being referred to a paediatrician rather than a dietitian? Is the lactose intolerance part of something else?

Not a clue- the health visitor wants him to see a peadiatrician. When my other two had issues GP prescribed soya ( eldest is 13) and nutramigin for my 5 year old. Might just be how they do things where i live now. Where do i buy Lactose free formula?
Ive seen wysoy on the shelves but not Lactose free.

Colic/reflux/wind/hiccups/green poo/choking on bottle make me wonder about tongue tie. Has he ever been checked for it?

How does he manage eating the solids? Did you try to breastfeed? (no judging, just that many tied babies can't manage it)

article here list of symptoms further down

Pretty sure they checked for it at his check before leaving hospital. I didnt breastfeed as I had preeclampsia, was poorly and milk supply was disrupted. He was only 5lb 4 at full term -all my other babies have been 8lb plus, one was even 10lbs 2

He loves his food. He eats a large bowl of porridge in the morning. Toast as a snack later in the morning. I tend to use jars at lunch he eats a savoury and a sweet jar, the larger 7 month ones. Mid afternoon he eats a rusk. Dinner he eats what we are eating mashed up. We used to eat at 7pm as partner finishes work late. I thought this was an issue so I now feed him at 5.30 instead. Hasnt made a difference. Tongue tie article was interesting. He is 17lbs 4 now and on 25th percentile up from 2nd at birth- he feeds a lot though.

Lactose intolerance is pretty rare in babies. Has cows milk protein allergy been suggested?

My DS is allergic to dairy & soy which can go together. He had all those symptoms. Green poo, farty, screaming, poor sleeper (really bad), reflux, a bad chest....the list goes on.

It's surprised me the effect it's had tbh.

Well over the weekend we have tried soya and no food with milk in and there has been no improvement. He has several episodes of screaming a day he does a wierd wriggle too. He is also stiff when he is in pain. I really dont know what to do.

I would say he has been as bad on the soya :-/ if not worse

its quite common for babies who react to cows milk to react to soya too. I have seen SMA LF (lactose free) and Aptamil LF in Boots and a Lloyds pharmacy but the tins are smaller and more expensive.

if it is an issue with milk proteins then he should have a non-dairy formula prescribed for him

My doctor really isnt helping. He has been useless. Health visitor has helped he hasnt. I feel like my son is missing out now. I never get to sit and play with him and he wont entertain himself because he is always crying and grizzly. Going to try lactose free tomorrow.

I would go back to the GP and tell them how bad it. See a different one if you have to. Explain the toll it is taking in you, the sleep deprivation, the crying, that you have other DC's to look after. I ended up with pnd due to it all. It's a big deal.

Ask to try neonate and don't leave without it. It's a hydrolysed formula that's dairy & soy free. You really need to give the dairy/soy free a go for at least 2-3 weeks to see improvements.

I'm really sorry you are going through this, it's awful when they are in pain.

Hi stressed8132
Sounds stressful right enough! My two girls are both allergic to dairy and second one is also allergic to soya. Process we went through was referral by gp to dietician who prescribed special dairy free formula. We have never seen a paediatrician.

Sounds very like our experience of dairy allergy but also like symptoms of acid reflux. Mind you I have heard acid reflux is v often caused by dairy allergy. My daughters had a lot of the same symptoms before being diagnosed: green poo, wind, writhing when feeding, hiccups. Runny nose (rhinitis) is another allergy symptom. Screaming while pooing sounds like he is having acidic poos. Does he have nappy rash or a stingy bum too? Screaming during night sounds like acid reflux, as does going rigid etc. Maybe his med for this is not working?

it might be worth asking Gp for hypoallergenic formula -either neocate or nutramigen in the meantime. You need a prescription for these and they are expensive so Gp might need dietician prescription or whatever. But if you insist they may agree - they are nutritionally complete and I cant see they would do yr son any harm, while they may help him. You can buy wysoy off the shelf but maybe not good idea to just just give your son soya as he may be allergic to it too. Lactose free milk unlikely to help as it's more likely to be milk protein causing the problem.

Maybe also try to cut out the sweet jar at lunchtime and swap with a banana? That way he is still getting fruit but less acidic and more bulky and perhaps easier on the tummy?

If it is a dairy allergy rest assured that when he gets the right milk it will all sort itself out pretty quickly and he won't remember any of this stress! Hopefully some good sleep will help you get over it too. Hope things improve soon.

In our area the GPs now don't initiate baby milk prescribing just on symptoms and often refer to a paediatrician.

More and more areas are bringing in guidelines for GPs and restricting prescribing of milks

You know, I've been thinking about this all morning. If I were you I thnk I would just go for wysoy soya formula, which you can buy for about £9 a tin. If the issues your son is having are allergy-related then the chances are that switching to soya and cutting out all dairy from his diet will cure the problems. About one in ten children who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soya, but even if he is unlucky in this way, he probably won't be any worse than he is now. Both my dairy allergic girls were given the go ahead to try soya by our dietician once they were six months old. It worked for one but not the other. Worth a shot while you are waiting to be referred?

We are in Scotland and here the process seems to be that if there is a suspected allergy, we go straight to a dietician and then if things aren't solved,, on to a paediatrician. Skin prick testing doesn't seem to be done much here, in my area, anyway, because they say it is not as reliable as elimination diets and food challenging as a means of determining an allergy.

Anyway, that's my tuppence worth, hope it might be helpful!