Cow protein allergy? help please

[yummymummy345]

I am hoping someone can shed some light on this allergy whislt bf as doctors/HV have given me conflicting info. Basically I believe ds (5 weeks old) has allergy/intollerance to cows milk, im topping him up with formula at night and before changing to nutramegin he had rash/runny poo/ excess wind and genearrly irritated at night (2 hrs after giving him formula). These problems are still there apart from rash but to a lesser degree. Did anyone else have to cut out dairy from their diet whlst bf as none of the proffessionals seem to know. This is so frustrating as im up with him every hour from 3am and want to help him but I could be barking up wrong tree- perhaps he is not intollernt after all and its some other problem. (I have also tried lactose free - didnt make any diff) helping you can help..................

hoping you can help!

DS is milk protein intollerant and I am breast-feeding him. I have cut all dairy from my diet and check ingredients of everything before I eat. Milk is in some strange places - for example Walkers Salt & Vinegar crisps have milk in - so check ingredients for milk, whey, casein etc etc.

Soy formula is not recommended until after six months as it has high hormone levels in, and other formula has milk in so I would exclusively breastfeed if you can.

It's not too bad when you get used to it. One major bonus is that now my cheese addiction has been put on hold I've lost a ton of weight. :)

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer what I can.

Also, ask your GP for a referral to a dietician for additional support.

I'm doing a total exclusion diet to try to sort out DD2's reflux. So I'm only eating about 10 things, then after 2 weeks I will bring things back slowly. It it very hard to work out what is due to my diet and what is just something about DD2. I started it because a hospital consultant said that I should cut out tomatoes when she saw DD2's poo. I just thought I might as well see if anything else affects her.

From my reading, it seems to take about 4-6 hours for food eaten by the mum to get into the breastmilk to affect the baby. There is quite a bit of information about this sort of thing on the web.

Thank you for the advice, useful to know the 4-6 hour info and that milk seems to be in quite a few strange places. As for bf exclusively though Im just being a bit lazy really as im knackered as it is, (falling alseep whilst trying to play with DS1) finding im bf for hours as it is, if I have to watch what I eat aswell will prob think the best thing is to give Nutragenin full time to DS2.....

Can you express? If I'm really knackered (which is often) I express a bottle and DH gives it to DS at 11pm - I then get a few hours unbroken sleep before the 3am feed.

Sorry - that sounded a bit like I was trying to tell you what to do. You really must do whatever works best for you and your family. Good luck with whatever you decide. :)

Thanks guys, really dont want to give up bf at the moment if I can help it. But I will also really struggle with chocolate! so will look at alternatives ...

You need a dairy free chocolate fix?
Lots of brands of chocolate Bourbon biscuits are dairy free.
And those bars of Frys chocolate 'may contain milk' so you could probably have those. My dairy intolerant child is ok with those.
Alot of plain chocolate bars are dairy free.

And as you tired/ knackered craving a chocolate fix - you can get a Betty Crocker Chocolate brownie mix that's dairy free. We take them on hols so my youngest can have a treat but I'm not spending my holiday baking.

Just keep telling the MW,HV and Dr you want a referral to a dietician and consultant.

I'd definitely agree with getting your GP to refer you to a dietician, if you are cutting out dairy from your diet you need advice on calcium replacement etc. Esp if you are still bfing. Best think would be to be referred to your local allergy clinic, they tend to have great dieticians. Dairy free stuff is becoming more available in supermarkets, but choice can be limited. I think there are a few online shops where u might be able to get your choccy fix! Seem to remember one called goodness direct or something like that (hope allowed to post that, promise I don't work for them!).
Dairy def comes through in breast milk, have experience of bad eczema getting much better when bfing mums went dairy free and also much less tummy trouble. Hope you can find someone local to support you, and it will get better as most kids grow out of it eventually!

My ds1 had a cmp allergy as a baby but I did not have to cut dairy out from my diet as whatever part of the protein he was allergic to didn't get through in my breastmilk (he reacted to formula when I mixed fed).

Can you lose the formula top up and see how he does before altering your diet? You may not need to. And find another GP if the one you have got is not sympathetic.

Sorry this is related to going fairy only. You can choc from supermarkets (in free-from range, co-op and sainsbury's are clearly labelled) and holland and barrett (loads of choice).

i remember bournville (sp?) as not being vegan so you should check that, I think it's butterfat. Most commercial plain choc isn't vegan.

Soy milk will be fine for you (unless you think soy might be an allergy)

Don't worry about the calcium, or just take a BF vitamin. It's one extra thing to stress about atm (unless it's easy for you to sort out) and most people overrate it.

Nice biscuits are normally also vegan as are strudels. Swedish Glace ice-cream (sold in most supermarkets is also vegan). Soy and sunflower margarine spreads are easily available.

Also post on the allergy board

fairy dairy of course

(it's late here but I'm stuck in a Matrix marathon)

great will try all of these things out. I would love to bf exclusively but really struggle with the day already (with demandng 3 yr old) but mainy at night with supply- feed DS2 for hour then half hour later still hungry etc

Thanks loopy, I am managing to bf til 11 pm ish then formula feed the last 2 bottles, so I know I can supply in the end but getting there im bloody knacked! even if I let him feed all evening- which I do as DS1 in bed so not such a problem, he still doesnt sleep for a good chunk. I express aswell to help out in evenings. I was just wondering whether I need to also watch what I eat no milk etc, but from your posts seems as though I do. Least I will lose the baby weight I guess

My DS1 has a severe dairy allergy and I did cut out milk while breastfeeding - we didn't know he was allergic at that stage, but he had bad colic and it disappeared virtually overnight when I cut out dairy.

I'd second the dietician advice too... I did lose a lot of weight but got very run down as I wasn't replacing the calories properly - did it again for DS2
but with dietician and it was much better.

You might like to post on the allergy section of Mumsnet - there are lots of people there with dairy allergic/intolerant children who can probably answer some of your questions.

Will post on allergy section for advice, I think u all did brilliantly to give up dairy, not sure im that selfless! trying now but am hungry! thanks again