milk sensitivity in bf baby?

[Serepta]

What are symptoms of a milk sensitivity in a baby who is bf-ing? The reason I'm asking is because my 5 week old DD has been getting "colicky" in the evenings, and seems to have bouts of gas at times during the day. Her bowel movements are usually yellowish but recently have been looking bright yellowish green. I usually eat some yogurt as a snack in the evenings, but last night I didn't, and low and behold, DD had no colic symptoms, slept great through the night, and her BM this morning was back to a yellow color. I think that's a little fast for all dairy to have left my breastmilk, but it still makes me wonder if something is going on there? Anyone have experience with this?

[sunnyside]

My baby's milk and soy protein sensitivity mostly was noticed as blood in the diaper or green runny poop but we didn't have it start until she was 4 months old.

It supposedly takes a few weeks for dairy to leave your body completely, but my girls symptoms mostly went away within a day or two of me cutting all dairy out. I learned that apparently the sensitivity can occur even with the tiniest amount of dairy or soy and that if your baby is sensitive, you may likely have to cut ALL of it out. I even cut out beef for a while because she was even sensitive to beef protein. My girl had the sensitivity from 4 months to about 9 months or so and then outgrew it. She is still nursing happily now two days from her first birthday and I am eating a normal diet with no restrictions.

Hope that helps and I hope that your baby is feeling better soon!

[scrooks]

Both my dc had milk sensitivity while i nursed them. DD developed it around 5 months olds. She had yucky very slightly bloody stools. I cut out milk for about 4-6 weeks and slowly reintroduced it. She did fine. The ped told us that around 6 months kids start outgrowing the intolerance. Which was very true for DD. What was odd with her was that it started so late.

With DS, his slightly bloody stools started around 6 weeks (more typical age for onset). I immediately knew what the problems was (unfortunately- it was really hard to go dairy free). He also had issues sleeping at night...he tended to grunt a lot and that seemed to stop when I gave up dairy. I was dairy free for about 3 months with him and we reintroduced. He also did fine by 6 months. Both dc had regular formula around 6-7 months and it wasnt an issue.

[lablover]

DD had eczema, gas pains, stomach discomfort, and symptoms of silent reflux.

[Katigre]

Sounds very familiar - both of my babies had this and I had to cut out all dairy (even trace amounts ) as well as all soy. It was nice for helping me lose weight post-partum, and it totally relieved their symptoms (green poop, diaper rash, gassy, sleeping poorly, and projectile spit-up). Whenever i'd cheat and have some the symptoms would return. They outgrew it in toddlerhood (we nursed until 2.5+ with each child).

[Serepta]

so, it looks like my suspicion was correct. DD began having blood in her stool yesterday. Of course, since it was Sunday we couldn't get to the Dr. and wound up in the emergency room since it was all that was open. After subjecting my poor baby to numerous blood tests and exams (DD handled it much bette than mommy, who was in tears every time they took her blood!) they confirmed it must be allergic colitis. The Dr. told me to cut out all dairy products (which I already had begun doing due to my previous suspicion) soy, nuts, and eggs for two weeks to see if the symptoms go away, and then slowly reintroduce one item at a time to determine what was causing the problem. In following up with the pediatrician today, she said it was likely dairy, since that's the usual culprit, although the other stuff could cause it too. Today I haven't noticed any blood in her stools, and no fussiness at all.

[Katigre]

FWIW, I wouldn't worry about cutting out eggs at this point. Just do dairy/soy since those two share protein similarities and see if that helps it.

[Mommy_Mea]

A timely post for me... DS2 is 3 weeks old and super gassy, grunting like a mad man. Twice I have splurged on a little too much ice cream, and both days he projectile spit up 6 hours later.

So I am looking to cut out dairy.

Dairy is a huge part of my diet, and what I rely on to fill me up, so it is a bit of a challenge...

Interesting to read these responses though, motivates me!

ETA: Found this post, I knew about a lot of the "hidden" dairy, but this spells it out well and gives me some good hints about how to find non-dairy snacks...

http://www.thefussybabysite.com/coping/non-dairy-diet-and-breastfeeding/

[AnnieW625]

So glad that you found out the cause. I tried eliminating dairy with DD2 and it didn't work, she kept spitting up. I wanted it to work because I knew less dairy would be more weight lost. As far as we know she just had silent reflux (and lots of spit up!) and now at 14 months she has no allergies:).

[BabbyO]

We went through this with DS. At 8 weeks old or so we were in the ER twice in 10 days because of massive amounts of blood in his stool. Dairy protein allergy was diagnosed. Our pediatrician (who's son had the same allergy) also recommended cutting soy since 25% of kids with a dairy protein allergy has or will develop a soy protein allergy.

My biggest challenge at this point was trying to figure out what the ingredient lists meant...what foods were safe and what were "hidden" other names for dairy and soy on ingredient lists. After a lot of searching I compiled the following list of ingredients to avoid. For the OP (and anyone else), I hope this list helps. I wish someone had given it to me. I won't say it is totally exhaustive...but I think its pretty close.

MILK FREE DIET- Avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:

artificial butter flavor
butter
butter fat
buttermilk
casein
caseinates (ammonia, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)
cheese
cottage cheese
curds
custard
half and half
hydrolysates (casein, milk protein, protein, whey, whey protein)
lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate
lactoglobulin
lactose
milk (derivative, protein, solids, malted, condensed, evaporated, dry, whole, low fat, non fat, skim)
nougat
pudding
rennet casein
sour cream, sour cream solids
sour milk solids
whey (delactosed, demineralized, protein concentrate)
yogurt
Ingredients that MAY indicate the presence of milk protein:

brown sugar flavoring
caramel flavoring
chocolate
high protein flour
margarine

natural flavoring
Simplesse A "D" on a product label next to a "K" or circled "U" may indicate the presence of milk protein.


The following ingredients do not contain milk protein and need not be restricted by someone avoiding milk:
Calcium Lactate
Lactic Acid (however, lactic acid started culture may contain milk)
Calcium Stearoyl lactylate
Oleoresin
Cocoa butter
Sodium lactate
Cream of Tarter
Sodium stearoyl lactylate


SOY FREE DIET - Avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:

miso
shoyu sauce
soy (flour, grits, nuts, milk, sprouts)
soybean (granules, curd)
soy protein (concentrate, isolate)
soy sauce
textured vegetable protein (TVP)
tofu
Edamame
Natto
Tamari
Tempeh

Ingredients that MAY indicate the presence of soy protein:
flavorings
hydrolyzed plant protein
hydrolyzed soy protein
hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
natural flavoring
vegetable broth
vegetable gum
MSG monosodium glutamate
vegetable starch Studies show that most soy allergic individuals may safely eat products containing soy lecithin and soy oil. (though I cut these out of my diet, too)

Brands that I found "safe" were:
Earth Balance - Dairy free/soy free buttery spread
Enjoy Life (I think all their foods are free of the top 8 allergens including milk & soy)
(Ok, there's lots of others...but these filled in the gaps for the most difficult foods for me to substitute)

Feel free to PM me with questions...I have lots of recipes and resources.

Oh, and both the ER docs and our pediatrician told us up to 14 days to completely eliminate dairy from your system...which is why DS had the second major episode 10 days after I started eliminating dairy.

[Serepta]

Thanks for the responses... I'm realizing how difficult it is to actually avoid all dairy and soy in my diet. I inadvertently ate a could of potato chips today and then realized that soy was listed in the ingredients! I have a question though - does anyone know if soybean oil is safe? It's in a surprising amount of foods. Before I got pregnant and had DD I ate a lot of whole foods and cooked a lot at home, but since having her I rarely have time to cook, and sadly have resorted to a lot of "convenience" foods, many of which have soybean oil listed in the ingredients. I know it's much healthier to eat the way I was before, but finding time to cook with a newborn is tough. Ironically, trying to plan ahead, I had DH watch the little one for a few hours over the weekend and made a week's worth of meals specifically so I wouldn't have to worry about cooking this week. And every one of those meals contains either dairy or soy, which now means I have a freezer full of food I can't eat!

[theriviera]

just wanted to give you :hug:and commisserate. i've been off dairy for 3 weeks. i've also cut out soy but have snuck in a bit here and there and haven't noticed much of a difference.

i have DD's 2 month WBV on Monday. I'm interested to see what the ped says (she is the one who suggested i give up dairy when Prevacid wasn't making much of a difference).

[BabbyO]

Thanks for the responses... I'm realizing how difficult it is to actually avoid all dairy and soy in my diet. I inadvertently ate a could of potato chips today and then realized that soy was listed in the ingredients! I have a question though - does anyone know if soybean oil is safe? It's in a surprising amount of foods. Before I got pregnant and had DD I ate a lot of whole foods and cooked a lot at home, but since having her I rarely have time to cook, and sadly have resorted to a lot of "convenience" foods, many of which have soybean oil listed in the ingredients. I know it's much healthier to eat the way I was before, but finding time to cook with a newborn is tough. Ironically, trying to plan ahead, I had DH watch the little one for a few hours over the weekend and made a week's worth of meals specifically so I wouldn't have to worry about cooking this week. And every one of those meals contains either dairy or soy, which now means I have a freezer full of food I can't eat!

There is actually a note about soybean oil in my ingredients list. Many sources state that people with soy sensitivities CAN eat soybean oil and soy lecithin. However, I found with my guy that I couldn't. You are right these two ingredients are in almost all foods.

Another thing to note is that "vegetable oil" as an ingredient can include soy, it doesn't always. I had to avoid it though.

I will commiserate with you, too. I remember breaking down in the bread aisle about 2 days after DS was diagnosed when I could not find a single loaf of bread that didn't have milk or soy in it. I WILL get better and you will come to know what foods/brands you can use.

It took us a few weeks to really get into the swing of things, too, but you will.

I ran out of time (and my last post was getting long). A hint about bread...a bread maker was my go to and I made my own bread, but when I didn't have time, Kangaroo brand pita pockets were my go to. They don't have dairy or soy. Neither do their pita chips (regular flavor). I also found that I had better luck finding bagels without dairy or soy (David's Deli - a Crystal Farms brand, if you can find them, has several options).

You will find yourself eating a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. Cooking ahead will become the norm again as you learn to alter your recipes and ingredients. As I said, feel free to PM me with any specific questions. I've also done TONS of research/contacting restaurants that have safe meal options.

[saboater]

My poor wife went from a gestational diabetic diet, had our son, then within 4 weeks we found the dairy allergy.
We tried and tried, but even with cutting dairy, our son had problems. One quick way to test, is to try Nutramagin formula(what our doctor put us on).

We kept pumping for several months afterwards, and have BM frozen, but we tried to reintroduce at 6 months and again at 9, and he got sick within 3-4 days with just one 4 oz bottle per day.

We are hoping the allergy is gone around the first of the year.

The formula method stinks, since we didn't want to use it at all, but even worse, the stuff we have to by if incredibly expensive.

My sister had the allergy with her son as well, but kelp feeding even though blood stayed in the stool.

We may have done the same thing, except for the obvious pain and discomfort we observed.

[BabbyO]

My poor wife went from a gestational diabetic diet, had our son, then within 4 weeks we found the dairy allergy.
We tried and tried, but even with cutting dairy, our son had problems. One quick way to test, is to try Nutramagin formula(what our doctor put us on).

We kept pumping for several months afterwards, and have BM frozen, but we tried to reintroduce at 6 months and again at 9, and he got sick within 3-4 days with just one 4 oz bottle per day.

We are hoping the allergy is gone around the first of the year.

The formula method stinks, since we didn't want to use it at all, but even worse, the stuff we have to by if incredibly expensive.

My sister had the allergy with her son as well, but kelp feeding even though blood stayed in the stool.

We may have done the same thing, except for the obvious pain and discomfort we observed.

We were also put on Nutramagin for the first 14 days...so that I could get the dairy out of my system. The pure cost of the formula (not to mention the swamp gas smell of dirty diapers) was enough to get me to stick to the dairy/soy free diet for 1 yr while I BF'ed. At 1 year, we switched to rice/oat milk for DS instead of the recommended whole milk. DS is still dairy free at 2 yo. We've been able to introduce Soy, but we avoid all dairy. His reactions are definitely less dramatic when he accidentally gets dairy (which to my knowledge hasn't happened in nearly 10 mo) but he still reacts. We're hoping its outgrown my age 3...though our pediatrician says he'll probably never enjoy dairy like DH and I.

[AngelaS]

My dd started crying/ fussing for 5 to 6 hours every evening starting at around 4 or 5 weeks old. I read a blurb in a magazine that suggested cutting out dairy and decided to try. Within two days, so was no longer crying all evening and she'd also stopped grunting/ fussing from 1 to 6 am. Oy.

At first i felt my diet was incredibly limited but in time it got much easier to eat. FTR, my pediatrician didn't think it would help, but it did! She started solids around 5.5 months and as she moved onto table foods a month or so later, I started feeding her food that had dairy in it. She did fine with it. By the time she was probably nine months old I had reintroduced small amounts of dairy into my diet with no problems.

[Serepta]

so, I'm in the 2nd week of a dairy, soy, nut, egg, and seafood free diet. Despite the frustrations of not finding stuff to eat, it is working, and my DD has had no more symptoms. I met with her ped. yesterday, and she said I might be able to try re-introducing nuts and seafood (not that I eat much seafood anyway) in another week because she doesn't think they are the culprits, and it would widen the selection of what I can eat a bit. She said that I would most likely have to stay away from dairy, soy, and eggs for a year, but in a few months I could try minimal amounts and see how DD does. I think soy is the most challenging to stay away from because it's in everything, and most dairy substitutes are made of soy. But, I'm willing to make the sacrifice in my diet if it means DD won't have to deal with tummy troubles! On the plus side, the ped. said she likely had a mild case of food sensitivities she would likely outgrow, since she's gaining weight fine, and hasn't had severe symptoms, such as throwing up, failure to put on weight, skin rashes, etc.