Cows Milk Protein Allergy

[soloula]

DD1 has CMPA and although she is nearly two and now fully on dairy with no issues, the first few weeks when we brought her home were incredibly hard. I breastfed and the dairy in my system was upsetting her no end - severe colic (crying for 10-12 hours solid every night), rashes etc. Throw in cluster feeding and comfort feeding and it was a nightmare tbh - every time I fed her I was just upsetting her wee tummy even more. I cut dairy from my diet after some desperate googling (Drs and HV weren't much help tbh) and it was only about a month later once the dairy was out my system that we started seeing an improvement.

I'm now 33 weeks with DD2 and am worried about those first few weeks again as a repeat of that would probably break me (no exaggeration). It was tough enough with just one wee baby but I'm worried about coping with it all and having to deal with a toddler.

I've done a bit of research and I know there is a very high likelihood of baby having CMPA too. So what I'm wondering is basically what have others in this position done? I'm thinking of cutting dairy from 37/38 weeks so that it should be pretty much out my system by the time she's born and then I can try slowly reintroducing.

I've spoken to my gp and she's given me calcium tablets but was a bit non-committal about whether they're ok to take when pregnant and suggested starting them as soon as baby is here. I've spoken to my midwife and she said to make sure I was getting enough calcium while I was still pregnant but (again) not very clear if calcium tablets were ok for me.

Any advice would be really appreciated! :)

I have a ds with cmpa (he's 9, and has various others, but he's had cmpa since birth), we had the same experience as you for the first 6 months or so.
My next dc (twins, now 21 months), I cut out dairy just before they were born, after taking advice from ds's allergy doctor.
I then introduced dairy slowly, following the milk ladder, just in case. Both dts are fine though, with no allergies.

Ds has calcium tablets, there are no warnings on them that I remember (he's at a friends with his meds tonight, so I can't check them), but a pharmacist should be able to help more than gp/midwife there.

How about some of the alternative milks though? Ds has koko coconut milk, 120mg calcium per 100ml milk, but there's plenty of others out there. Just remember goat and sheep's Milk aren't recommended for cmpa as the proteins are too similar.

I had a similar experience with DS2 (after DD and DS1 had no allergy), then DS3 was allergy free too - hopefully you will too.

Regarding going dairy free, don't forget you could get your rda of calcium through non dairy sources (beans, leafy greens, some fish, fortified cereals, etc) plus a pregnancy safe multivitamin (my Asda's own version of pregnacare has 15% rda of calcium). Not sure if the GP is concerned about the supplement being pregnancy safe whether it's suitable for whilst bf?

Good luck - hope you get off as lightly as I did!

My friend had the same, took weeks to diagnose DD1 she cried constantly i was horrid, as soon as she started cutting out dairy in mums diet DD1 improved and was fairly quickly fine. When pg with DD2 she cut out dairy from her diet from about 36 weeks, and DD2 never had any issues. When they started weaning they tried her with petits filous - instant problems. The girls are now 4 and 7 and are both eating dairy fine.

im nowhere near trying for #2 and have already decided ill be cutting out dairy, soya and egg (ds' allergens) from 37 weeks after being in a&e with a very ill 3w old due to cmpa. There are as pp said other calcium sources, but you do need more when pregnant- i get supplements on prescription while im bfing and i believe in india theyre given as standard throughout pregnancy. Your pharmacist would probably know best though

Leafy green veg- bok choi, spinach, broccoli etc are all really high in calcium and most milk alternatives are enriched too.

My 4yo has cmpi, is slowly growing out of it, the first 2 months was awful, failure to thrive, really difficult establishing breastfeeding. I ended up dairy free for a year.

I have an 8 week old dd.i spoke to the GP and her thoughts were that with the new allergy advice that exposure to allergens in the womb can help prevent allergies (like the advice no longer to avoid peanuts) it was better to continue having dairy in pregnancy.

She felt that I would be much quicker to identify any issues and the first thing I would do is go dairy free if there were any issues unlike last time.

I've had no problems with my baby she's not cmpi and breastfeed has been a breeze.

Good luck!

My daughters dietician suggested cutting out dairy 2 weeks prior to my sons birth, and reintroducing it after 4 weeks post birth. Luckily he was not cmpi like his sister but it was peace of mind knowing that none of the tears or comic were caused by dairy x

Thanks for all the replies. It sounds like cutting out dairy for a couple of weeks before due date is the way to go then right enough. I've looked into the likelihood of exacerbating any allergies by cutting out like you've been warned StoryOfMyLife but it seems to be that it doesn't make that much difference that late on in pregnancy. I suppose as it takes a good few weeks for dairy to leave your system then baby is still getting the benefit, albeit more gradual, in those last few weeks of pregnancy?

Going to bend my friend's ear about calcium supplements etc. She's a pharmacist and I always forget to take advantage of her knowledge.

Good to know quite a few of you had no issues with later babies. That's my hope as it really was a hellish time for us. DH and I end up taking shifts to try and get some rest - DH used to go to bed early evening leaving me to deal with the crying and cluster feeds till about 2am then I went to bed and he stayed up the rest of the night, trying to nap when he could and bringing Dd to me to feed as needed.

I know everyone says that babies get colic and it's just one of these things but I found the whole thing so upsetting as I knew there was something wrong but felt like I was banging my head against a a brick wall with GP and HV. Think they thought I was a neurotic first time mum but you know when something's not right. At least this time round I'll be a bit more prepared!