Cows milk intolerance

[OhGood]

Does anyone have a baby who has been diagnosed as being intolerant or allergic to cows milk? What were the symptoms? How old was your DC when you worked out what was wrong?

Hi my ds had this finally diagnosed at 4 months when the doc finally after about 8 appointments agreed to test a stool sample for the lactose, he was the most miserable grumpy baby, screamed and screamed, he would have a few sips and go rigid screaming due to the tummy cramps, he would be really windy and explosive nappies that would go all the way upto his neck!!! And I can only describe is smelt of sulphur, like matches! He was prescribed sma lactose free which within a few days he was a different baby, we slowly weaned him off it and onto cows milk from 12 months and he is now 5 and totally fine.

When I had dd she started to show similar symptoms and they prescribed her the same milk and she is now 2 and fine and drinks gallons of milk.

You can buy a little bottle of stuff from the chemist that takes the lactose out of milk I can't remember the name is a but awkward to use and about £10 a bottle but you could try and see if there is an improvement so you are more armed when you see the doc, they seem to be v reluctant to test or prescribe for it I demanded in the end!

Was the worst 4 months of my life so good luck hope you get it sorted soon

he has been ebf, just had his first formula feed on hv advice as he is not sleeping and seems to have made him worse waking screaming

neverlookback sorry, that was a pretty brusque response - as you can see I am a bit beside myself. I am sorry your LO had such a bad time of it and very glad you are through it.

My dd had incredibly dry skin.bgunky eyes and a blocked nose for weeks. She also grunted a lot , was never settled lying on her back she strained and strained all the time as if she was constipated but when she went it was runny grainy green nappies that absolutely stank. They smelt acidic and her little bum was red raw even though she was changes straight away. She cried a lot too.

It was never officially confirmed but all symptoms vanishes when she was given aptamil pepti. She was a completely different baby.

She would also stop after a few mouthfuls into the feed and start grunting and straining and fussing. It was very hard to get her to drink the bottle.

4 months old at diagnosis (by me, the medics were useless)
Symptoms were not even slightly silent silent reflux, poor growth and poor weight gain, mucussy poo, abdominal pain, red ring around anus.
He's not lactose intolerant though - true lactose intolerance is extremely rare in babies - he was cows milk protein and soya protein intolerant.

The book "Colic Solved" by Dr Bryan Vartebedian, is despite the stupid title extremely helpful on this subject.

Thanks both. Sounds awful and these symptoms are definitely far more intense than DCs. He has mucussy green poo, and fusses a lot at the breast, but nothing like the screaming and discomfort you describe.

As with everything, there are degrees of being affected. 2-3% of children are CMPI, only 0.5% are sensitive enough to react to traces of CMP in breastmilk, so for the others it will only become apparent when first given formula or dairy solids.

bakingtins if you are still around - gave DH his first formula feeds - he has had 3 now, at 7pm. Resulted in huge explosive green poo at 3am. He hasn't done a poo at night for weeks. What do you reckon?

Thanks for the recommendation - will buy the book.

Sounds like CMP to me. It took about 4 hours from exposure for us to get symptoms. If it's a true allergy it's likely to be immediate signs, but the intolerance tends to give slower onset and less dramatic symptoms.

oh bloody HELL baking now he has tiny streaks of blood and strings of mucus, plus one nappy of clear jelly-like substance with tiny streaks of poo. Obvs did not give him any formula today and docs tomorrow.

Thanks for your support.

He'll be ok. At least you worked out what is causing him a problem pretty quickly. Good luck with the GP.

Our son was diagnosed at 8 weeks while I was EBF'ing - symptoms were constant crying, fussy when feeding - screaming for more, then screaming when feeding - choking on milk, projectile vomiting, 8-10 liquid poos per day, poor weight gain (from 75th to 25th), wouldn't lie flat, constant gasping, coughing, congestion after feeding, hives on chest and forehead, cradle cap covering whole head.

I cut out dairy and soya and symptoms started to improve after 4-6 weeks, but didn't really improve fully until we put him on Neocate, probably because he has since tested positive for egg and peanut as well, so may have still been getting traces of them through my milk.

By the way, it's not as clear-cut as saying that if it's an immediate reaction then it's an allergy and if it's delayed it's an intolerance. Our son has a delayed onset allergy to dairy and soya, but an immediate allergy to egg and peanut. A delayed-onset allergy is just that - it doesn't mean he can tolerate dairy, the immune system will respond to the allergen in the same way as someone who has an immediate reaction, it just means the reaction itself (upset stomach, eczema, hives, vomiting, all of which would get worse with more exposure) might not happen for anything up to 3 days afterwards.

Its taken a lot of visits to gps, HV etc to be listened to. I have been laughed at, simply overtired, not coping etc! Deep down I knew something was very wrong.

In the process of getting it confirmed but symptoms were colic from day one. Fussy eating, terrible painful wind, green mucous poo either constipated or 4-5 poos a day. Really unsettled, poor weight gain, clingy, very dry skin progressing to sore rash, sore red bum , dropping feeds, hungry but refusing to eat.

She is 5 months, has been on prescribed formula for about 3 weeks and it has made a big difference. It's been doubly confirmed after a bad teething week progressively getting worse and it turns out the powders have lactose in them. Stumbled across this today but would explain the arched back, screaming, hunger, tiredness and increased clingyness.