Cow's milk intolerance? Infasoy.

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I am thinking my dd has a cow's milk intolerance as when I have a lot of dairy she is sick, very uncomfortable and unsettled. On the odd occasion I've given her formula she does not take it well and then we get the sickness etc. I don't want to bf for much longer so was wondering about trying infasoy. She is under a Paed for another problem but we haven't actually seen her yet. Dd also has lots of reflux symptoms so I'm wondering if I just wait until our Paed appointment to discuss everything!! What would you do?!

How old is she? I have heard you shouldn't give soy milk to babies as it can cause fertility issues in girls.
I think it would be best to wait til you see the paed and keep the formula to a minimum for now. Or try the lactose free stuff, rather than soy?

DD went on to soya formula at 11 months to see if it improved her reflux. We knew she could not tolerate cows milk on cereal, but she had seemed OK on ordinary formula, but then her reflux became much worse. So we decided to give the soya formula a go. It did not make any difference.

You will probably find a lot of people will warn you against using soya formula because there are some concerns about phyto-oestrogens. This is more of a problem for boys.

How old is your DD? It might be better to persuade the Paed to prescribe Nutramigen or Neocate instead.

She's almost 10 weeks. Fertility issues?! That doesn't help with the guilt of stopping bf!! She isn't having any formula at the moment. I thought about the comfort milk but it does seem to be the cow's milk that's the problem as she is still ill despite colief when I eat dairy. I don't really want to spend out on a tub of formula that I might no be able to use!

GP put DS3 (13 weeks) on Wysoy formula 2 weeks ago, luckily we saw the paed for a seperate issue 5 days later and she immediately changed it. Babies under 6 months shouldnt have soy milk because it can cause more allergies and infertility in boys (not sure about girls) as there is a lot of eustrogen (sp) in it. Soy milk actually still contains cows milk protein the paed told me last week and she prescribed nutramigen for him and so far, fingers crossed its working!

Are they likely to do any allergy screening? I was gluten intolerant as a child so it's likely I could pass it on and that tends to go hand in hand with cow's milk intolerance.

DS2 was on infasoy. He had 4-6oz a day from 17w. We were told it wasnt a problem for him to have soya as 1) he wasnt having it as his only source and 2) he wasnt a newborn.

Then I stopped breastfeeding at 10.5m and he went onto soya solely. Soya yogurts, milk etc. Paed and dieticians both said this wasnt a problem - the main issues with young boys and soya are apparently when they are under 6m and they have it as their only formula. I did some research on the web and he is still on soya now at 3y.

If you have a paed appointment coming up, I would wait until then - especially if he has reflux issues too.

Definitely won't be buying infasoy then! Shall take my long list of concerns to Paed! Just hope she hasn't got too many others in clinic that day!

Consultant told me they tend not to do screening for it unless it carries on after 12-18 months. Most parentsdecline it anyway as it involved starving baby for hours.

She just asked me his symptoms and put that together with the fact he has spent the last 13 weeks losing or not gaining weight very well.

DS's symptoms were

• Rash - quite often on his belly, neck and cheeks.
• Consitpation followed by two days of diorreah
• Reflux
• constantly irritable andnot settling for very long.

We have had a hellish few weeks if im honest and it got to the point where i was just crying with him cos I couldnt do anything to help him! He's still only tiny but im hoping now hes on hypoallergenic milk he will start gaining.

oh DS also has infant gaviscon :) We are getting there slowly...

DS2 has never been tested for lactose or milk protein intolerance. and he's 3. They tend not to bother now - they change milks and remove things from diet, see if that works, and if so say carry on.

Re. cow's milk - yes, it does sound like it's that that's the issue. Cow's milk protein intolerance can cause almost identical symptoms to reflux and it is sometimes quite hard to distinguish the two. Soy isn't suitable for most with a cow's milk allergy - the formula doesn't contain milk but babies sensitive to the proteins in milk also have a greater tendency to be sensitive to the proteins in soy.

You may wish to ask the paed to prescribe something like Aptamil Pepti if you do need to introduce formula for some reason. IME it is more palatable than nutramigen or neocate, which are both vile and my son wouldn't touch them. The pepti he will tolerate with banana nesquik added - in my defence, this is on dietician's advice.

All things being equal, I think if I were in your situation I would stay well away from any formula at all if possible. It's such a hassle finding a hypo one they'll drink willingly!

DS3 didnt like it at first, in fact for th first week he would only tolerate 2ozs each feed. It is getting more though he takes 4ozs now (been on nutramigen for about 10 days)

On the testing issue, they can do a blood test (called RAST test I think) for an IgA mediated allergy - e.g., anaphylaxis type - but that would still be negative in the presence of a non-IgA (delayed, intolerance) allergy.

We tried gaviscon but it made her vomit her feed! It's so hard to give when breast feeding.

I know it's selfish but I'm getting fed up of breast feeding as I can eat so little of the things I like. Ive cut right down on dairy, wheat and caffeine. I love cake, pizza, cream, dr pepper etc!! It is also causing some jealousy issues with dd1. I don't really enjoy breast feeding - I do it because I feel I should.