Possible lactose issue??

[19lizzie82]

My daughter is three weeks old, currently awaiting results from stool samples, shes purely breastfed, but is struggling with loose watery and mucus runny poo which is usually bring orange/yellow, she screams in pain and drags her knees up, so tummy cramps. She is gaining weight slowly, but just sortve looking for advice, my myself and my son are both lactose intolerant, but its been a while since ive been in this situation, just wondered what people's thoughts were re maybe trying formula, if so which one or persevering?
Thank you, open to any suggestions xxx

You could try colief drops as they will break down the lactose in your milk.

Otherwise you do get lactose free cows milk based formula or dairy free formula which would be lactose free too (lactose is the sugar in the milk). You'd likely need to get them prescribed as they are expensive to buy.

Lactose would be an issue in formula too. It's more likely to be cow milk protein allergy, and for her to be reacting to what you eat. Do you eat dairy and/or soy? If so try cutting both out your diet completely for three weeks. Check labels, they're hidden in a lot of foods.

Whilst altering your diet is a pain, managing a child with CMPA is really hard with formula.

The majority of children that react to CMPA also react to soy as the proteins are similar.

You can get lactose free formula.

While lactose intolerance is rare in babies when it does happen it’s normal when a parent or close relative is also lactose intolerant from birth or as a young child.

Are you currently BF or FF?

I used colief with my son, I'd totally forgotten, thank you, super helpful x

The only dairy I eat is small amount of cheese but its not very often, ive cut everything out for the last two weeks. But it doesn't seem to be helping and she seems only to be getting worse.
She's clearly just really struggling. I'm wondering if its worth may trying formula, if I can find on or get one prescribed that's not got soy or cmp in, my son wasn't as bad so this is all new territory to me x

The only dairy I eat is small amount of cheese but its not very often, ive cut everything out for the last two weeks. But it doesn't seem to be helping and she seems only to be getting worse.
She's clearly just really struggling. I'm wondering if its worth may trying formula, if I can find on or get one prescribed that's not got soy or cmp in, my son wasn't as bad so this is all new territory to me x

Exclusively breastfeeding atm , any thoughts on half feeding half formula, in terms of at least reducing symptoms a little? Xx

Sma and aptamil have lactose free milks you can buy. They are still cows milk based with the lactose broke down

If you want dairy free then they'd likely need to be prescribed by a gp

Exclusively breastfeeding atm , any thoughts on half feeding half formula, in terms of at least reducing symptoms a little? Xx

Thank you, amazingly helpful xx

Breastmilk is much more easily digested, and many breastfed babies have some kind of tummy upset when they switch to formula. I wouldn't think formula is the first point of call at all. Lactose intolerance is extremely rare in newborns. And breastmilk is great for their gut health.

Dairy and soy allergy are more common but still not that common.

My baby does have CMPA and even a small amount of butter used in cooking set him off. If you are convinced that something is wrong, beyond the normal newborn discomfort, you have to cut ALL dairy and soy. Dairy builds in the system for weeks and stays there so a bit of cheese here and there will absolutely cause a reaction. No ghee in curry, no bit of cheese, no butter, no shop bought gravy and NO takeaways whatsoever. Every restaurant uses soy in cooking. Try that for a few weeks. I did that and my baby was absolutely transformed. But if you don't see a difference within a couple of weeks, stop as it's a pretty tough way to live.

Try a lactose free formula. If symptoms improve then you’ve got your answer. If no improvement then it’s probably CMPA and you’ll either need to get a prescribed formula or severely restrict your diet even further to continue to breastfeed.

My niece was born lactose intolerant. Significant family history of it. Despite this my SIL was encouraged to continue breastfeeding even though the baby was clearly having gastrointestinal issues. Baby ended up in hospital. She was immediately switched to lactose free formula in hospital and recovered but was left with severe reflux throughout her childhood because of the damage that had been done to her digestion. Next baby was put on lactose free formula from day one. She was also born lactose intolerant.

What’s more important to you? Your baby’s health or your desire to breastfeed?

Use a breast pump and express milk while you give LF formula a go. That way your supply will be maintained in case you switch back to breastfeeding.

Thank you, amazingly helpful , feel like i have an avenue to at least try now xx

Lactose intolerance is rare but given your family history and the fact you are having symptoms and tests early in your circumstances I think I would be investigating it. You could try some lactose free formula.

Do you have much soya? About half of babies are allergic to soya proteins as well as dairy proteins so if you were to investigate cmpa you'd probably want to remove soya from your diet as well

Who's running the stool samples? It might be worth speaking to them about options. If you were to look into dairy free formulas the first line of treatments are dairy based but the proteins are partially broken down. This is enough for some babies to not recognise it as dairy, if it is lactose intolerance they would still react to these formulas as they will have the milk sugar in them. You can also get amino acids formulas that are completely dairy free and are for sensitive babies. As far as I'm aware these are lactose free too. The most commonly prescribed formulas are alfamino and neocate.

The GP is running them, im also going to request they look at cmpa testing. It took GPS months to help my son and he still struggles 10 years on.
Brilliant, thank you so much for the advice, really appreciated x

There's not a test as such for cmpa. There's two varieties delayed and immediate. Delayed allergies do not show up on testing and the it's hit and miss if the immediate allergies show up in babies and you children. Cmpa usually is diagnosed using observations... If dairy is removed so symptoms improve, if dairy is reintroduced do they return

Don’t buy lactose free formula, it’s likely to be cmpa which is a mile protein allergy. This requires dairy free formula which is prescription only.