Can my newborn be allergic to breastmilk?

[Khalilsmama]

Hi,

My 6 week old has really bad bellyache after each feed. I’m exclusively breastfeeding at the moment. He recently got diagnosed with acid reflux (has gas, belly pain, congestion, mucus in his throat). Could he be allergic to my breastmilk?! I’m so confused.

He’s never satisfied and wakes every hour. Cycle is feed, burp (struggles to burp), change nappy after poo explosion, and then he wants to feed again and the cycle continues until he knocks himself out from exhaustion. I am EXHAUSTED.

I wanted to start introducing formula to ease some of the load as it’s worn me down but scared to introduce anything if he is already this bad and this is only breastmilk.

any advice would be a huge help xx

I would yes, they could be allergic to something you're eating or it could just be the acid re-flux on it's own.

I would try the formula to see if it makes a difference.

I found gripe water useful after 4 weeks. I used a sterilised infacol bottle and gave a dropper full before every feed. First time gave after a feed and there was an explosion. Much better before.

When I was breastfeeding and eating eggs my ds reacted similarly and gas eczema. We had him checked for a variety of allergies and he was allergic to eggs. I cut it out of my diet and he was fine then. Could you try eliminating some things for your diet like dairy/ eggs and see if that helps?

The most common allergy in babies is a cows milk protein allergy. If you eat dairy it can ho through you into your breastmilk. With those symptoms it sounds quite possible. Perhaps discuss it with your gp but in my experience they lack knowledge on it and I only got help once I got referred to pediatrics

I ended up just eliminating dairy from my diet.

Yes, it's possible but I don't believe it's particularly common (I think there's still some debate about exactly how common it is). As a PP mentioned, CMPA is a possibility. Or a different allergen that you're eating that is getting into the milk. A baby could also be allergic to lactose, but I think this is less common than CMPA (don't quote me on that!).

Have you spoken to your GP or health visitor? That would be the first step I think, though I know they are often not as clued-up on this stuff as you'd hope. Don't let them fob you off! It's worth looking into.

@Pearlygates yes I may introduce one bottle of formula at night and see how he gets on.

@newtb yes I tried gripe water before and projectile vomited everywhere. I may try it before this time.

@Shayisgreat @Coffeaddict @BubziOwl sorry forgot to mention that I have no dairy in my diet as I am intolerant myself so that’s been excluded already. I spoke to my GP and health visitor who both have just brushed this off as normal and said his digestive system is still adjusting and he will just grow out of it but omg I cant imagine another week like this.

Could it be soya if you still eat that? The proteins in milk and soya are similar and many babies who react to dairy react to soya. The nhs protocol for CMPA starts by cutting out dairy for 4 weeks and you then also cut out soya for two weeks if eliminating dairy alone doesn’t help. Soya is in most shop bought bread etc. It could obviously be something completely different though!

6 week olds are often at peak fussiness (some more so than others) and may be windy and uncomfortable even if there is no allergy.

I came back on here to say soya but I see @Circe7 beat me to it.

I just had a meeting with my dietician due to youngest DS allergy and she has suggested eliminating soya due to the simarity of the protein to cows milk proteins.

What alternative do you use in your diet? As others have mentioned soya is the next to remove for a minimum of 6weeks. Oat is the next best milk after soya for nutrition. Could still be reflux on top. DD is milk, soya, egg and wheat free in her diet bu also has reflux on top

DD2 was the same and I cut out dairy, onions, garlic and soya from my diet as they made her gassy and uncomfortable. It took a few days but the difference in her feeding/sleeping was noticeable.