Reflux, ranitidine and dairy

[Fellka]

Hello, first post on here and hoping for some advice.

My LO is 10 weeks old and has quite bad reflux. On advice, 3 weeks ago I eliminated dairy from my diet as a trial. He's also had been on ranitidine for just over 2 weeks. For the last week or so, he has been much happier both after feeds and in general which has been lovely, like a different baby!

However, I wasn't sure what caused it...dairy free or meds...so I reintroduced dairy yesterday (made up for lost time with half a tub of Ben and Jerry's! ) He's been very refluxy for the last few hours in his cot and seemed in discomfort. Horrible to think it could be down to what I ate, though he does still have the odd unsettled night so thinking I may have a little dairy today and observe over the next few days to make sure. If dairy does turn out to be the culprit, will it take another 2-3 weeks for it to leave our systems or (hopefully) will it be quicker if I've only been eating it for a couple of days? Thanks in advance

My DTSs are both suspected as having CMPI (cows milk protein intolerance) - they don't diagnose it as such in little babies, just suspect. One of them is on Ranitidine as they wanted to cover all bases, and I have been dairy free now for around 7 weeks. They were showing signs of pain still until I realised I was accidentally eating soy flour in the bread I was having; since stopping all sources of dairy and soy they have both been very happy, so much so that if I have forgotten to administer the ranitidine they haven't shown signs of discomfort, leading me to believe it is CMPI bot reflux they have.

As you have only just eliminated dairy I think you need to give it longer (it takes 2/3 weeks to leave your system, then up to a further 2 weeks to leave the baby's) before doing a dairy trial, and if you did want to do a trial, I would go slow with little amounts of cooked dairy first so you have broken the protein down a bit, rather than lots of cheese/ice cream/fresh milk. Have you seen the Dr since stopping dairy/starting the ranitidine?

*not

Thanks for your input and glad to hear your sons are much happier.

I've seen our GP since but it was so rushed he just seemed to want to write another prescription and us be on our way with little discussion.

Sounds a good idea to eliminate it for longer. I read when you reintroduce to have quite a bit of dairy so you can be sure of any marked difference being attributed to the dairy (I did think it sounded harsh at the time).

Not sure, we aren't at that stage yet (& having noticed a marked difference following stopping that source of soy as well I am reasonably sure CMPI is what we are dealing with). Might be best to get referred to the paediatric dietician and see what they say - we're waiting on our referral still, but going back to the GP to see if we can stop the ranitidine as I don't think they have reflux even though they are both liable to bring up their feeds; certainly no less since being on it and no signs of painful stomach acid. It's a minefield!

Sorry to pose an additional question on this, but I'm in same position with CMPI and ranitidine. When eliminating soya, what do I need to be aware of? No soya in bread, no soy sauce, but is it in many other things? So sorry to be a bit thick but I remember dairy being a minefield with the casein and whey powder!!

Thanks both of you

It is more than you think! A lot of fake chocolate items have soy in, and some cakes etc. Non-dairy creams/yoghurts/spreads can have them in, so you need to make sure you check the back of packets a lot. Also many biscuits and cakes, even in the "free-from" ranges.

I basically avoid all breads except ciabattas, bagels and part-baked rolls, but that is mainly because we shop in Aldi so choice is limited; there may be brands of "normal" bread that don't use soya flour. I am starting to make my own snacks etc as the "free-from" ranges in Sainsbury's etc are so expensive in comparison to the non-free-from ranges.

Thanks everyone for their input- it is indeed a minefield. I haven't actually given up soya too so sorry I can't help too much with that one - is that recommended if dairy could be a problem? My diet already feels quite limited, though I know it's easier if I cook things from scratch (little one has been keeping us on our toes so often meals are a bung in the oven job!) If it's likely to help though, of course I'd give it a go.

Ps. I was pleased to find that hot cross buns from Tesco were dairy free!

It is recommended to eliminate dairy and soy together initially as the proteins are similar and around 40% of babies that are cmpa will also be allergic to soy. Then reintroduce separately and watch for symptoms.

DS is allergic to both and it was tricky in the beginning with a restricted diet but in all honesty you get used to it and get to know what you can and can't have.

I agree with introducing small amounts first. The Milk Ladder is useful as a guide to tolerance and I used this when bfing and doing a challenge. I made the big mistake of having a soy latte and poor DS really paid for it and we didn't sleep for weeks.