Looks like we do have a dairy allergy (and other eating issues)

[lmintzer]

Joshua, 11 1/2 months, drinks exclusively bm. I nurse him when I'm home, and he drinks pumped milk when I'm at work (3 days/week). He never has loved the bottle so only drinks about 10-12 oz. while I'm gone.

However, I'm having trouble keeping up with even that reasonably small quantity. I only have 1 bag of frozen bm left (4 oz). We can maybe make it through this week with this on top of what I can pump. But that's it. I posted here and got a lot of good suggestions about how to increase supply. I replaced my valves and mebranes. I tried drinking more. I'm thinking about renting a hospital grade pump for a month. But I need to have SOMETHING that he can drink if/when I don't have enough. I feel a little bad about this, but I am so close to making it to my year goal of bm only. We'll literally be a week away from his birthday, so I'm trying not to feel too badly).

With most babies this age, you'd probably supplement with cow's milk (since we're only talking parts of 3 days/week). But, Joshua seems to have a milk protein allergy. He reacted to yogurt at 9 mos., and then today, I tried a little bit of whole milk in a sippy, and he broke out around his mouth. I'm attaching pictures of the rash. I'm assuming this qualifies as a allergy. It wasn't a systemic reaction, and nor did he have diarreaha.

My peds. office hasn't been much help. A nurse said "start him on soy milk, and you can talk to the doctor at his 1 year checkup". I know from talking to a pediatric nutritionist that there is a 40% overlap between milk protein allergy and soy allergy. And also, even if he doesn't have a reaction to the soy, if there is a high probability that they will switch him to something else, I don't want to go through all the effort to get him used to one new thing only to have to start over.

I'm curious what others with babes with this problem have done.

Also, to add to the mix, ds is almost completely on baby food strike. All he'll eat (right now) is Earth's Best sweet potato and Earth's Best pear. We're not doing so well on table foods, although that's what he really wants to do--self feed. So far, he adores Cheerios (he'd literally eat the whole box if you didn't stop him), can eat tiny soft chunks of peach, pear, plumb, slightly smashed peas, and toast (in small pieces), crackers, and that's pretty much it. He also got a rash in response to egg yolk. And he's rejected chicken pieces, turkey pieces, tofu (I have no idea what to do with tofu--grandma tried this), and avocado.

TIA for any stories or recommendations. I am SO glad this child still nurses. I can at least feel reassured that he won't starve!

BTW, the rash looked more blotchy (red) IRL.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/16184.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/16185.jpg

[Momof3Labs]

Lisa, try going to www.askdrsears.com and see what it says about milk allergies (he has a pretty good write-up). His site seems to be down at the moment, otherwise I'd post a link for you.

[westchicagomom]

Yup - looks like the beginnings of the rash my DD has had on her face since we began supplementing w/ formula.

I suspected when she was in the womb that milk had an effect on her and then w/ BF she had digestive issues when I drank milk. When we began weaning at 6-7 months and started giving her formula (Good-Start because I suspected that would be easier to digest if she did have a milk protein allergy) the rash/eczema got a bit worse and was worst when she was completely on formula about 10 months (my 10-week pregnancy this summer dried up what was left of my milk). Her main reaction to the milk proteins in formula as of the last 3-4 months has been the eczema, not digestive issues.

While this allergy has not been confirmed by an allergist or my treat-the-symptoms- ped, she had a definite reaction to yogurt at 9 months (face swelled up) so I am almost sure that is what it is.

Because DH's family has a history of food allergies (including the dreaded peanut allergy) and since DD has shown symptoms of having a food allergy (having one allergy likely means there are others), I have been ***very*** cautious about introducing foods that are highly allergenic. Soy was not an option for us since there appears to be some evidence that it may activate the peanut allergy and I don't want to take any chances. We have also not yet introduced wheat, eggs, corn, chocolate, nuts or any other soy products.

It truly is a major PITA to deal w/ food allergies and it has definitely stressed me out as she was turning one. I am not a big fan of whole milk, but it does conveniently provide fat, protein and calcium that their growing bodies definitely need.

Since she loves her bottle still and adequate amounts of calcium are difficult to get from things toddlers like to eat, I have been giving her rice milk and potato milk with a touch of formula till she gets used to the taste change.

Since those drinks have little to no fat/protein, I try to make sure she gets those from other sources. She loves meat (much to the chagrin of her veggie mom) so we fry up lots of it in a cast iron skillet (good iron source too). I also use coconut oil (all saturated fat) to fry other things in like veggies, etc. So I am hoping she is getting all the fat, protein, calcium and other things she would be getting from whole milk, although I need to log it all for a few days to make sure.

As for you, since you are still bf, I think the potato milk/rice milk option would probably be best if you can't/don't want to increase your supply. If there is some other option for large amounts of calcium for toddlers, I would love to know. Calcium fortified OJ also might be an option, but not for us as DD *hates* juice.

In terms of his other problems, DD insisted on self feeding about 10 months or so. We can usually get a few spoonfuls of something into her, but that's about it. Did you offer the rejected meats multiple times? It usually takes her 3 to 4 days to warm up to particular foods. Tofu is soy-based, so if you worry about that allergy, I wouldn't bother w/ it.

Some finger food DD eats:
1. MEAT! (loves steak, hamburger, chicken, bacon - I worry about hormones, etc so these are from TJ's or Whole Foods)
2. Wheat-free rye bread strips fried in oil
3. Fruit - loves it, especially dried cranberries, apricots, mangos, raisins (unsulfured and organic when possible)
4. WF Morning O's - the only vitamin fortified, wheat-free version of cheerios I could find
5. Carrots - raw or cooked in beef or chicken broth
6. Brocoli, green beans and other veggies sometimes (she's not a big fan)
7. Oatmeal made w/ applesauce not water (thickened to be a finger food)
8. Baked potato/sweet potato chunks
9 Rice crackers w/ fruit jellies
10. Beans - just plain out of the can warmed
11. Rice pasta - tastes like the wheat version - she loves this

I am slowly adding new fruits and other foods that we waited until a year to introduce.

Sorry this was long, but I have been meaning to post some of this anyway and this seemed like a good place to do so.

http://www.allergygrocer.com/
focuses a lot on people w/ wheat allergies, but also sells foods/provides info for those w/ most food allergies. I ordered a bunch of stuff from them when I was trying to figure out how to make her birthday smash cake w/o eggs, traditional fats, wheat flour, etc. It was definitely a challenge, but I did it. Anyway, take a look at that site's links, etc and they may be of help.

And good luck - hopefully it is not an allergic reaction and you can be one of those lucky moms who can feed your one year old whatever you want.....