I think my baby might have a milk allergy

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My 5 week old baby has been really unsettled since about 2 weeks old and I thought she had constipation at that time (I still do think she is a constipated baby) but doctors assured me she isn’t constipated and babies can go sometimes 48hrs without pooing, and it’s normal for formula fed babies at least once a day she has episodes where she becomes inconsolable, (sometimes during these episodes she looks like she is straining for a poo but not always) and every day she is unsettled she has 1-2 good sleeps per day and is awake the rest of the day whinging, crying, tensing her body up, she sleeps very briefly maybe 5 minutes before she wakes whinging again and crying, she was diagnosed with reflux but I am starting to think this is the wrong diagnosis because the meds aren’t working or settling her, and are making her constipation 10x worse she also has diarrhoea along with the constipation?? which has no texture which I’m starting to think is probably overflow? I helped her poo last night with Vaseline and a Q-tip after doing some Googling on how to relieve infant constipation and afterwards it was the most settled she’d ever been in a long time, despite this she still does have symptoms of silent reflux like gagging, sometimes projectile vomiting, and acting like their is a sour taste in her mouth, she is not losing weight, and is growing on the 75th centile, drs have her on infant gaviscon and lansoprazole which I stopped due to her constipation, dr doesn’t think milk allergy as she’s not losing weight, doesn’t have a rash, and doesn’t have green or bloody poo, she only has one symptom which is mucus in the poo but dr doesn’t think that’s enough to diagnose, she also seems to have excessive gas she farts all the time she also pulls her own hair and screams which I googled and it said it can be a sign of stress :( I have to keep her swaddled to stop her from pulling her hair as the baby mittens don’t stay on

I also forgot to mention she drinks some bottles very well and other bottles she gets about 1-2 ounces in and becomes very distressed, she acts like she wants the bottle , she’s clearly hungry but when I give it to her she cry’s, and cry’s more when I take it away just really want to fix my baby I’m tears as I’m writing this I’m a ft mum I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing wrong? I burp her every ounce so I don’t think it’s wind

I don't have experience with this specifically but read a lot about it on here. It does sound possible. One option might be trying an alternative milk yourself that shes ok with and then you can prove to the doctor that there is an allergy and get the milk on prescription.

Dairy can take at least 2 weeks to work its way out of the system though. Also can take a week or two to build up which might be why you didn't have the problem at first.

Definitely sounds like CMPA to me. I have had 2 allergy babies. I would see a different dr and request a trial of a hydrolysed formula where the milk proteins are broken down. If symptoms remain you may need an amino acid formula which has no milk protein at all

Sounds like my son, with the hair pulling and playing about with the bottles.

Hes now on amino acid formula and omeprazole, deffo done the trick!

my health visitor got in touch with the doctors for me (seemed to listen more to her) and they changed it right away.
We started on lactose free then hydrolysed but amino acid was the only one he fully settled on.

Sounds exactly like my baby. Had the same experience with the doctor, they refused to prescribe formula. I got in touch with my HV and ended up buying aptimil pepti one myself from the pharmacy it’s very expensive. After the HV got in contact with the go and me putting in a complaint he now has it prescribed. After one day of milk change his diarrhoea stopped and
within a week all symptoms went. I would urge you not to do anything with vaseline and cotton bud, I know at times we can get desperate but we can also do more harm than good.

Hi OP. This sounds like 10 wo DS. He's had similar symptoms for quite a few weeks but have become progressively worse since maybe 5/6 weeks, especially the reflux, projectile vomiting and painful gas after every feed. It's becoming increasingly difficult to take him out anywhere because he feeds often, is in pain after each feed and is sick all the time! He's been prescribed omeprazole for reflux which sort of works after first taking it but is less effective as the day goes on and we're still getting sick and sore tummies.

I've read that reflux is a symptom of something else and whilst you can treat acid production, it won't stop vomiting or wind so I started to look in to other things and thought his symptoms sounded like CMPI. DS is breastfed so I decided to go dairy free this weekend and despite it being only day two, we've not had any projectile vomit since and his tummy has been far more settled with considerably less wind. I know it will take a while for the dairy to leave my system completely so it's still early days (and it's possibly a big coincidence) but the overnight change in him is day and night so I'm going to persevere for now. It's horrible seeing him in so much distress so worth a shot.

OP, that does sound like CMPA to me, my youngest had it. To this day she can't have cow's milk, she's 2. We tried a ton of prescription milks and ended up on Kendamil goat. It's super expensive but the only thing she could tolerate. Most kids with CMPA are also allergic to goat milk mind you, we were very lucky.
You are allowed a trial run of prescription formula, GPs don't like to give it to you because of budget, but you are definitely entitled to it, so push for a prescription.
Good luck OP, it's bloody hard.