Possible allergies in 2 month old - what should I be cutting out?

[SleepForTheWeek]

My DD is 9 weeks and from birth was extremely windy, she would go 4 days without pooing and be very unsettled because of it, she also had extremely smelly wind.

I cut out dairy from my diet when she was 2/3 weeks old and saw an improvement with her bowel movements, and no more smelly wind! She is still quite windy though, and is particularly bothered with it during the night which is a pain for all involved!!

I tried a day with some dairy a week ago and she ended up with a short lived rash on her face and we ended up having a terrible night with her.

But, how do I know it's actually a dairy intolerance and it's not just been coincidence so far? Are there other things she could also be intolerant too? Eggs? (she's been unsettled after me eating eggs - again could this just be coincidence?), soya?

I don't eat meat and ate a lot of dairy. I'm finding it hard to prepare easy, quick and nutritious meals which have no meat or dairy. It's all getting a bit repetitive.

I miss cheese!

HV has put me forward for an appointment with a dietician - how do they assess an intolerance?

Sorry for the long post!

I have had two dc diagnosed with cows milk protein allergy, both breast fed past a year. Both grew out of it at 2 years of age. My dc2 has awful eczema so they thought it might be my dairy intake causing it.

It takes 8 weeks of avoiding dairy to really know: 4 weeks to leave your system and technically if you breastfed on that last day then 4 weeks to be out of your baby's system.

I would see a dietician first though before attempting that though as you need to keep your calcium etc up.

It's normal for breastfed babies to not poo for up to 10 days so that's fine. Make sure you throw them over your shoulder after a feed and do a good hard pat and rub on the back until a nice burp comes out, don't be gentle about it!

She's not bad at bringing up wind after a feed, but it seems to accumulate in her stomach and cause discomfort coming out the other end!

Didn't realise how long it took to leave your system!

Great advice from appleyumyum.

Just speaking from personal experience of 2 with CMPA, after I cut out dairy if I reintroduced it to my diet (say by eating a cheese sandwich for example) then about 2/3 hours later I'd see a return of symptoms. Symptoms would lessen after 3-4 day however as previously mentioned it can take weeks to leave both your systems.

Egg allergy often goes hand in hand with Milk, and soya is very similar to milk so some babies who can't have cows milk also struggle with soya. For my 2, they were properly allergic to cows milk but only intolerant to soya and we managed to reintroduce soya gradually into their diets.

If I was you I'd cut out soya and egg then reintroduce them as a test and see what happens, a bit like you did with dairy. Your dietician should be helpful there too. You can also ask for a 'weaning screening' - the dietician/allergy nurse could do skin prick tests before you start weaning to see if your baby is allergic (swelling, hives soon after eating) or has a delayed reaction (digestive issues, bad skin). So maybe ask about that.

It's hard to adapt your own diet, i know, but after a while you get to know the foods you can and can't have, plus a few nice meals, and it's not forever. Jacket potatoes & beans became my staple (I'm a veggie too) or vegetable tarts made with puff pastry and Mediterranean roasted veg and caramilsed onions.

There's a few FB groups you can join for support as lots of mums going through the same or have older children and can give you tips, just search CMPA support - there's groups for breastfeeding, weaning, and local groups.

Good luck, it gets easier I promise. And Orio cookies don't contain milk, which is my favourite top tip

Thanks jo, it just seems like I'm guessing at the moment. Although this is my second child I don't know what is 'normal' in terms of windyness snd unsettledness. Maybe I'm imagining a problem and cutting out food groups for no reason! X

I totally get what you mean Sleep - I felt like that with my second even though I knew it was a possibility with our family history. I think it's wise to have your atttitide and not go cutting foods out of your diet recklessly as that would do more harm than good.
For me, I found that it wasn't when I cut the item out of my diet that I was convinced, it was when I tried to reintroduce the item I trusted my instincts.
With the wind, for my second child I'd describe it as the noise of a grown ups wind, if that makes sense. And a real farmyard smell which stopped after I modified the diet. Also she wriggled around between feeds and couldn't settle.
No experience of the constipation, it was more the opposite problem for my 2 if anything.
It is hard and a bit like guess work with CMPA. I think though, if it really is an allergy or intolerance, it gets to the point that your babies symptoms are so unbearable when you have dairy that you can't bear to eat it.
How happy is your baby at feed times? My first one comfort fed loads, esp at night, my second screamed at my boobs and refused feeds until she was really hungry. So I think that can be different between babies too.

It's hit or miss with feeds - she'll often writhe and wriggle but more often than not uses feeds to fall asleep so definitely for comfort.

I'm also getting her assessed for tongue tie as I think she could be taking in far too much air when she feeds which could well be the cause of the windyness.

It's such a minefield!!