Dairy free 9 month old - nappies

[Babababanana]

Hi there

Baby is 9 months old and has been dairy free since around 10 weeks on the advice of a GP (due to colic, reflux, mucousy nappies). We haven't challenged since then - he's been weaning dairy free and is on a mix of dairy free breast milk and Neocate.

We've been advised to start the milk ladder as it's been more than 6 months and we've never challenged, and his reactions were reasonably mild non-IGE ones (we were never quite convinced that going dairy free made the difference to his unsettledness and it wasn't just him growing up a bit).

However, we still have problems with nappies. They are very soft, sometimes liquidy, and often explosive. We've never had the slightly more formed nappies other weaning babies his age seem to have. He is a very dribbly baby and I've put it down to this but am worried he may still be reacting to something - would you be worried by nappies like this at this stage? Would you start the milk ladder or look at excluding anything else from his diet first?

Sorry for the long message, and thanks in advance for any thoughts - it's been hard getting support on this over the last few months and we don't really have any family experience of allergies so have been very unsure about everything!

Does he still have soya in his diet? It often goes hand in hand with milk allergy.
My ds's nappies were still horrendous with soya in his diet but are closer to normal now he is free of milk and soya. They still aren't "normal" though which the paediatrician suggested could just be from having immature bowels.

Sounds like the intolerance is still there. My daughter had a lactose plus dairy protein intolerance. When we had got rid of those she was much better but still not right. I pushed for more bloods, colonoscopy too As I thought there was still more problems. The colonoscopy came back clear and so did the bloods... I think she was intolerant to some preservatives in food which isn't uncommon in children. But narrowing it down would be a nightmare so we kept a food diary and that helped. X

@SprogletsMum ah I didn't know that about soya! We don't use soya alternative products to replace milk, but haven't been actively excluding it. Is soya listed in bold in ingredients lists like milk products are?

How long would we need to exclude soya to check whether it made a difference? Is it 6 weeks like dairy?

@cindersrella we haven't started the milk ladder yet so am wondering if he has an intolerance to something else instead / as well as this particular symptom has been present pretty much his whole life including when we've been dairy free

Thanks both!

Do you keep a food diary, I know it's a pain but it might help. You could do with seeing a specialist or a dietician if you haven't already. What is the milk ladder? X

Soya is listen in bold most of the time. What alternative to milk does little one have 😀

Ahh I just saw dairy free breast milk sorry...

Has the Allergy team ruled out coeliac disease?

You say non IgE reactions.. what were his overall IgE levels? Any IgG / IgA concerns though these are difficult to use in diagnosis and not hugely reliable.

Could be worth having his stools analysed as presence of Citrobacter and Kleibsiella could be an issue.

Personally, I wouldn't attempt the milk ladder untill you have ruled out any other issues...

Thanks all. Will start a food diary. It's just so difficult because I guess it's potentially something I'm eating too?

@ForgivenessIsDivine we went to an allergy group after the GP suggested we go dairy free and were just told his symptoms sounded like a non-IGE reaction. No testing or anything been done. We don't get any further appointments with the dietitians