Is this milk intolerance / CMPA or just newborn fuss

[Hannouck]

I have a 4 weeks old daughter who's very unsettled and cries a lot.

Since she was 1 week old she had all the symptoms of reflux (cried straight after feeding, vomiting, hiccup etc.).

It got worse and worse and she spent days screaming (at this point she did seem in pain, arching her back etc).

We ended up in A&E has she once vomited a huge amount of milk and we got worried. The paediatrician prescribed Omeprazole and told us to space her feed and control it more so we don't over feed her.

We did see a difference for a few days, but since a couple of days we're back to square 1...

She's very unsettled, she's rarely awake without screaming, she's vomiting or spitting up after each feed and sometimes 3/4 times even 2 hours after the feed, and doesn't sleep well. She would sleep 20 min then wake up scrunching, grunting, arching her back, spitting up... And she does that all day (she's a bit better at night until 4am, then it's worst)!

The only moment she sleeps well is if she's in a prone position on my chest or out of exhaustion in her bed. Since she's two weeks old she just cannot be on her back without screaming (putting her on a play mat is impossible for example).

We tried:

• Keeping her upright for at least 20-30 min after each feed
• Tons of massages techniques
• Elevating her bed (the paediatrician recommended it)
• Infacol and dentinox
• Omeprazole 5mg
• Feeding her every 3 hours and being mindful to not over feed her (FF)

At this point I'm really wondering if she's not intolerant to milk (her dad is intolerant to milk and she has a cousin who was the same) or if it's just newborn colic and it will be solved with time...

We contacted the paediatrician who just said to give a go to Neocate. I was more thinking Nutramigen for now, maybe just order one box and see how she reacts after one feed. But not sure...

I just want her to feel better and be the happy baby that she can be when not in pain!

It does sound like an allergy to milk so I'd switch to non dairy and see how it goes. I switched mine at 3 weeks and the change was amazing.

Definitely worth trying the dairy free formula, my little girl was like this and was like a different baby dairy free. The nutrimigen still has dairy so baby may still react, in which case you might not know if switching has made a difference, whereas the neonate definitely should cause an improvement if it’s cows milk that’s the issue.

If you are going to try a dairy free milk, you might as well try one that is also soya free as most babies that are allergic to one are allergic to both. Also, if you go the whole way and try something that is hydrolysed then there are no allergens left at all, so its a clean slate so to speak. You can buy them on amazon and try a week. Then if it helps you can go to the GP and ask for an ongoing prescription.

it does sound likely that there is an allergy or intolerance going on

This is pretty much what my DD was like. She's 9 now and still has CMPA.
Definitely worth speaking with your GP; they should prescribe an extensively hydrolysed formula first (this is best to trial first as if it does work, it's a lot easier to then re-introduce dairy later). If symptoms continue they then should prescribe an amino-acid formula.

These are the NICE guidelines FYI. They also state extensively hydrolysed formula is to be trialled first. https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/cows-milk-allergy-in-children/management/suspected-cows-milk-allergy/

Yes I would echo PP and say try an extensively hydrolysed formula first. My LO has CMPA and got on really well with pepti 1. What's her poo like? That can also be an indicator

That's the thing, her nappies have always been good. They look absolutely normal! So not sure if this is an allergy.

We tried the anti-reflux formula from HIP this morning after two horrible days. And she is much more settled, I even have been able to put her on her back without screaming which didn't happen for a very long time.

But not sure if this is just burying the real cause of if or if it will do the trick until her digestive system grows. She was born 2 weeks early as well...

Mucous in poo was a big sign of allergy for mine but I'm no expert! It's so hard when you know there is something making them uncomfortable but you can't work out what. If the anti reflux formula is helping it might be worth sticking with that for now and monitoring how she gets on.

Can I ask what the outcome of this was please? My LO is the exact same and we’ve been put onto gaviscon by the GP but thinking of trying a non dairy milk instead

She is dairy intolerant, after trying many different things we ended up finding a great paediatrician who told us to stop every medication and put her on Neocate. It changed our life! She was a completely different baby…

She did have some spots flaring up when she was drinking milk so that’s also what made the paediatrician think it might be dairy.

They tend to recommend the lactose free milk before because it could just be the lactose. For us it didn’t work! Neocate was the answer :)

Good luck! It’s a tough time 🙏🏼