Does this Sound Like CMPA?

[MintGreenLife]

My DS is 3 months old and we are having W few issues. He’s never been particularly happy lying on his back for sleep (but fine when playing or on his changing mat) and for a while I suspected silent reflux. He is exclusively breastfed, so I cut dairy out of my diet just in case CMPA was causing the problems. Issues were…

• ‘fussing’ during feeding, latching on and off, scratching me and beating fits into my chest
• not happy on back for sleep
• straining, grunting and farting when on back
• coughing after feeds and frequent hiccups
• wanting to lean his head back when up on shoulder

Apart from wind, he’s never had any digestive issues with dirty nappies being normal.

I cut out dairy for 5 weeks, but didn’t think I had seen much improvement. He seemed to be burping less, have less wind, and wasn’t coughing/hiccuping as much, plus the grunting/straining at night got better, but I put this down to his digestive system maturing. The fussy feeding has carried on though and comes and goes - some days he will do it all day, sometimes just once or not at all.

Over the last week I’ve had a few dairy items to slowly reintroduce. He seems to have started his wanting to lean his head back again, is grunting/straining a bit more and is fussing while feeding (but like I said this never stopped).

Could this be CMPA? My understanding is the symptoms are a lot more severe? Such as diarrhoea, skin rash etc.

I’m endlessly trying to work out what’s going on and find a solution, but never quite get there. I should also say he’s generally sleeping better and better on his back since we started cosleeping, before this we just used to take it in turns to let him sleep on us.

Has been accessed by someone who is qualified to check to tongue tie? Most midwives and HV aren’t

Does he takes a bottle? If he does, try a small CMPA milk serving and see how he is x it won’t harm him!

Then you can go back to being dairy free. He won’t necessarily need to be FF

@Fallagain he had a slight tongue tie which was snipped about three weeks ago

@sunnytimes83 do you mean a cow’s milk free formula?

Hi OP, my LO (now 2) has CMPA, there are a very wide range of symptoms from IgE which can be an instant anaphylactic reaction with swelling and skin rash etc, to non-Ige where reactions can take a few days to appear and show in lots of different symptoms such as coughing, feeding issues such as vomiting, reflux and even in my LOs case blood in stool 😓. I found even after multiple visits the GP wasn't much use and didn't help much if at all with any useful advice.

I found a great website which has lots of advice dilanandme.com
And also a Facebook group 'Breastfeeding with CMPA and other allergies'.
It can take 6-8 weeks or longer for dairy to leave your system, also it can then take another few weeks for your LOs body to adjust after having to deal with dairy to recover and symptoms to clear up entirely.
If it has helped symptoms even a bit then I'd keep at excluding dairy for another few weeks and see how you go. 3 months is still very little.
Best of luck and I hope your LO keeps improving

@sunnytimes83 he’s a bit hit and miss with a bottle. Sometimes he will take it (only ever tired a few times with expressed milk) but most of the time he’s needed the breast before hand so he’s nice and sleep and calm x

@FamilyStrifeIsHard2Bear thanks for your reply. Do you think his symptoms would be enough for it to potentially be CMPA? Gosh I was told two weeks for dairy to leave my system. I figured that as it had been a lot longer than this and there wasn’t a dramatic difference then it would be fine to reintroduce. Do you think now I’ve had a few servings of dairy I’ll be right back to square one in terms of it taking some time to leave my system again?!

This list:
fussing’ during feeding, latching on and off, scratching me and beating fits into my chest

• not happy on back for sleep
• straining, grunting and farting when on back
• coughing after feeds and frequent hiccups
• wanting to lean his head back when up on shoulder

is just reflux and is getting better as your baby's system grows. Mine is the same. I'm EBF too. I got infant gaviscon and gave one sachet a night for a week or two but honestly baby just needed to grow. Can now tolerate being on her back a few hours instead of sleeping on us all the time.

My neice has CPMA and screams, has a rash and is violently sick - not normal posseting, all day after one tiny bit of milk.

Best advice is to read the website and group - the experience there is very wide ranging and sensible.
It may not be CMPA as others have said and just baby getting used to feeding etc, in which case there is a great guide on the website and group for reintroducing dairy slowly and safely to minimise any reaction if there is an allergy.

Again on the website and group there is also advice for excluding dairy from your diet having tried reintroduction, I think you aren't meant to reintroduce via you as it then takes time to come out of your system but I wouldn't worry and it sounds like you are doing your best! it can be difficult to know the right thing to do as we all just want the best for our LOs.
Do go and read the website and put up a post or read the FB group posts as there is lots of advice you can get to find the best way forward.

Don’t bother with formula. It takes 6 weeks for the cow milk to come out of your and his system if bf and then reaction can happen up to 72 having the allergen. If he has CMPA then it may also be allergic to other ingredients in formula so giving formula is not going to help you find out anything.

By the way soya protein is very similar to milk protein so often they can react to both so it might be worth cutting out that too.

@Flittingaboutagain can reflux improve and then come back again? We tried infant gaviscon but for one it was so difficult to administer when EBF and I found it didn’t really make any difference x

@Fallagain the six weeks thing is really disheartening- I was told 2 weeks by the GP. We just about reached 6 weeks and then I reintroduced it as thought I had given it plenty of time.

@FamilyStrifeIsHard2Bear thanks, I’ll have a look at the site and FB group. I’ve honestly tried everything and exhausted all possible causes and solutions, I just can’t workout what’s going on and seeing him so distressed is breaking my heart 😢

[quote MintGreenLife]@FamilyStrifeIsHard2Bear thanks, I’ll have a look at the site and FB group. I’ve honestly tried everything and exhausted all possible causes and solutions, I just can’t workout what’s going on and seeing him so distressed is breaking my heart 😢[/quote]
Those symptoms do sound like cmpa symptoms. My LO has it as well and it's taken weeks to get him settled. Infant feeding team advised me to express and throw it away for 6 weeks as that's how long it takes for cows milk to leave your system and also cut maybe soya out too. Apparently its a very similar protein to cows milk. He was put on formula straight away because of his weight and rather a lot of blood in his dirty nappies. Baby gaviscon didn't help at all and he was put on omeprezol as well. Unfortunately I only managed 3 weeks of express and throw. Felt like all I was doing was feeding him and expressing. There's a fb group called cmpa, it has been amazing for me. Lots of great information and support. Good luck x

@Tbird5 thanks for replying. Sorry to hear you’ve been through similar. Is he better now avoiding CMP? My DS has never had blood in his nappy, which seems to get mentioned quite a lot with CMPA, which makes me question if that’s what’s going on. Am so frustrated that everyone is saying it takes 6 weeks when I was told 2, so really thought I had given it plenty of time, but things were just starting to improve and so I do wonder if the fact that I’ve had a few portions of dairy over the last few days is causing everything to flare up again. Did you decide to start BF again after the three weeks? Or are you FF now instead? I’ll feel awful if it turns out he has CMPA all this time and I reintroduced dairy 😭 x

[quote MintGreenLife]@Tbird5 thanks for replying. Sorry to hear you’ve been through similar. Is he better now avoiding CMP? My DS has never had blood in his nappy, which seems to get mentioned quite a lot with CMPA, which makes me question if that’s what’s going on. Am so frustrated that everyone is saying it takes 6 weeks when I was told 2, so really thought I had given it plenty of time, but things were just starting to improve and so I do wonder if the fact that I’ve had a few portions of dairy over the last few days is causing everything to flare up again. Did you decide to start BF again after the three weeks? Or are you FF now instead? I’ll feel awful if it turns out he has CMPA all this time and I reintroduced dairy 😭 x[/quote]
My son has CMPA. He was diagnosed at 16 weeks.

His symptoms were;

Poor weight gain
Screaming and vomiting after formula
Eczema on his stomach.

He was fine with my milk but I had been dairy free for years before he was born.

Some of what you describe is quite normal newborn behaviour and him being 3 months old he might be coming out of that behaviour.

If dairy free is going ok for you, keep it up and when you wean you can see what happens.

I'm 7 weeks in to a milk elimination diet to test my 4.5 month old for CMPA. He's now EBF but used to get formula top ups til my supply improved.

He had the symptoms you listed and was being treated for reflux with omeprazole but still had most symptoms, plus he was doing usually 4 dirty nappies a day that smelled fishy and were liquidy and mucusy. He also had dry skin on his shins but not to the extent of eczema. He was a really sad baby, always crying, always needing held, didn't want to ever be set down day or night, and always wanted to be on the boob for comfort. He'd literally have stayed latched on all day every day if I'd let him. It was just as if he was always needing constant comforting.

After about 3 or 4 days elimination diet he was happier in general. Would go in his bouncer or sit down and let us dangle things for him.
After about 3.5 weeks he went on a dirty nappy strike for 2 days and when it returned the consistency and smell had changed to more what is described as 'normal'. Since then he's been able to lie on his mat and play without reflux bothering him. Then maybe 4-5 weeks his reflux improved massively and we noticed a huge reduction in what he brings up. I accidentally had milk 2 weeks ago and he went hoarse 2 days later and has been sicky again since, so hopefully that will soon subside again.

There are definitely different levels of intolerance and allergy to milk, and babies can have all different symptoms. Some only have a few, some have lots or more extreme.