Cows Milk Intolerance - will it go?

[Sade49]

Hey,

My son is 5 weeks old, always had frequent poops and wet - normal for him. He always had bad nappy rash sores too unfortunately, but we've been told it's from the amount of poops and it actually being abnormal!

He was on Kendamil and breast milk. We've been in a&e this morning as symptoms point towards a cows milk protein intolerance - colic, straining, rumbling tummy, grunting during and after feed, watery poop, sores on bum which won't go away despite creams etc. etc.

My issue now is my son HATES the taste of the Aptimal Peptide! He cries, spits out etc.

We are now going to get reviewed in a few weeks to see how he gets on.

Anyone else experience this?

Does it go?

Will he get worse?

It might go away but not likely to be soon I'm sorry.

There are a couple of things you can do though.

If you're BFing at all you should stop eating all dairy. You can talk to a BFC about increasing the amount you BF, if you want to, or read this from Kellymom.

And try alcohol free vanilla essence or Nesquik on the formula to make it more appealing.

Don't worry about giving him a sweet tooth, the BM is super sweet so he's likely to already have that

We had this issue with ours. Grew out of it and now eats/ drinks cows milk, cheese etc with no symptoms at all. We were given a prescription of neocate. It's very gentle and easy on their stomach.

Thanks both. I've heard a lot of stories since about babies outgrowing it and reintroducing dairy etc.

Did yours have bad nappy rash sores too? Ours is because his nappy is constantly dirty. We've been given a steroid cream and it's day 2 but it's hard when his poops are so frequent! X

We had to go to AE because at 6 weeks our DC had blood in their stools, they diagnosed a milk intolerance. Other symptoms were a red bum, cramps and lots of poops.

The hospital prescribed nutramagin and we used that for six weeks DC was EFF.

After six weeks we did the rechanllenge with cow and gate and it was successful

All the symptoms, except for the very smelly farts, disappeared within a week of starting nutramagin and didn't reappear after the rechanllenge.

We're just not really seeing any improvements but it has only been since last Friday eve... some say it takes at least 2 weeks.

His stools are more solid and not watery but frequency is the same. Bum is still sore looking and the steroid cream was started on Sunday evening - again probably not enough time to tell!

He's okay in himself but I'm just praying something kicks in soon. The evenings are the worse for the colic - constant crying even though we're doing everything we can to settle/release wind etc xx

How is he being fed now? Are you BFing some of the feeds or is he FF now?

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto mostly formula (Aptimal Peptide) and in between/top ups on breast x

So are you on a DF diet too?

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto yes I am ☺️

It's also entirely normal at 5 weeks old for a baby to be having many many bowel
movements a day. This normally settles down closer to 6 or 7 weeks and falls into a more regular pattern.

I assume you’re bottle feeding ( no criticism I bottle fed all mine ) my DIL breast fed and her now 1 yr old was the same symptoms. She had to go on a dairy free diet and the baby is now a year old and is fine. They introduced a little dairy first into mums diet and once weaning into baby’s, bad response until baby was about 9 months and now she’s fine, drinks cows milk etc. so there’s hope in the future, they told us it was 50/50 and we had to just keep trying.

as for the steroid cream, I had to use this for one of my babies, I know it was 20 years ago but, I was worried about the long term effects of steroids on my baby so I use to take a little steroid cream on one finger and normal baby cream on the other and mix together before applying. I don’t know if I was being overly sensitive but it worked just as well and fir my piece of mind 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Mummumgem yes we're formula feeding and breast and I've gone dairy free too (or at least stripped back!).

We're layering the steroid cream on and then a barrier or Vaseline to stop the wet and poop on it.

I just hope the poops become less frequent (we never just have a wet nappy) and the sores go asap! 🤞🏼🥹

yes we're formula feeding and breast and I've gone dairy free too (or at least stripped back!).

If you've only stripped back you'll need to be completely DF. It can feel overwhelming at first but you'll soon get used to reading labels and you'll quickly build up a knowledge of meals and snacks you can have

My first baby had this. He did grow out of it but I could not have dairy while feeding him. He was on breast milk (no formula) until 12 months, then soya based formula to 18 months then lactaid milk to 24 months so it was a slow process. He was fine on dairy from then.

Make sure you are leaving at least 30 mins between applying the steroid and the vaseline or any other barrier/ moisturiser otherwise it won't be effective.

And yes you also need to be completely dairy free. My son progressed through the milk and soya ladders from 18 - 24 months ish and now successfully has both in his diet

My youngest had this too and I had to stop breastfeeding and put him on neocate as he had lost so much weight there wasn’t time for me to go completely dairy free. He dropped from the 98th centile to the 2nd centile in 6 weeks however and had about 30 bad nappies a day!

For the sore bum we were advised to only use cotton wool and medical grade olive oil to clean him. No water and definitely no wet wipes. We had two creams and used both every time we changed him. One was metanium and I can’t remember what the other was now.

He did grow out of it in time but we are advised not to try him on cows milk products until he was 12 months and we then did the milk ladder. He’s now a strapping teen and loves his cheese and ice cream!

Sorry you’re dealing with this. DS1 was cows milk intolerant - it lasted until he was just under 2, but the good news for you is that that means I’ve heard lots of doctors tell me how uncommon this is! In the (I think vast?) majority of cases it goes away by 12 months. In the minority that remain, most will grow out of it by 5.

Mine also really hated the lactose free formula. It was disgusting to be fair. But he ate it when hungry, with lots of encouragement, and didn’t fail to thrive - he grew in line with his birth centile.

The advice we got when we asked his doctor about the fact he hated it was that we could look to wean him early. We started weaning at 4.5 months and it was a great success - he took to solids really well. Maybe one to ask your doctor about.

DS1 is now just over 2 and the intolerance has gone. However the intolerance - even though treated from early on - has led to him continuing to have problems with his bowel movements. If I was to do it all again, I would push for regular examinations by a GP, paediatrician or gastroenterologist - rather than just dietician phone consultations - to quickly identify and eliminate problems.

I hope that’s helpful - just being honest.

My DD outgrew it but not until around age 7 years.

I BF and went dairy free myself.

If you introduce the dairy free formula early enough the baby generally gets used to it. Unofficially a spoon of Nesquik powder in it can help improve the taste.

Some of the advice on here is great, some please be careful of. Allergy management changes constantly so please be wary of doing what someone did whose child is now a teenager or adult. It is best for you to get professional advice as if your child has cmpa you will need to be mindful of allergy introduction and continuous exposure to tolerated allergens

Everything I've eaten since we were told, has been dairy free so we're good there. The paediatrician actually said there was no need for me to go completely dairy free as not exclusively BF, and just restrict but I disagree so I've cut out completely.

He doesn't have an allergy, he has an intolerance so they're slightly different.

With the sore bum, I find it hard to leave sufficient between the steroid cream and barrier as he poos so frequent so then I have to clean and start again...

Speak to your midwife first of all whilst your baby is so little.
Long term - One of mine is lactose intolerant. I ebf then subsidised with goat milk as time progressed. They kind of outgrew the lactose intolerance by the time of 2yo, but then at 11yo the intolerance came back with a vengeance. (Gluten can also be a problem, but probiotics and digestive enzymes help when there is a flare up). They are on lactose free milk now as an older teen, and take lactase enzymes with them if they are out and about for the occasional icecream or milkshake. Obviously I am saying all of this to give you a one off case longer term view.

This is an allergy. The use of intolerance is outdated language for a non-iGE cows milk protein allergy. Suggest you check the info on the allergy uk website.

The 3 doctors and one neonatal nurse said intolerance is specifically different to an allergy?

Lactose intolerance is a carbohydrate intolerance caused by the body's inability to digest lactose, whereas cow's milk allergy is an immune reaction to the proteins found in milk.

A true milk allergy differs from milk protein intolerance and lactose intolerance. Unlike milk allergy, intolerance doesn't involve the immune system.