Milk Protein Allergy?

mommaderby

Sorry in advance for the long post, I need some advice from some other moms here! 

To start off, little one has been on formulas as I am not medically able to breastfeed him. For the first month of his life any formula he was on made him extremely constipated and fussy. Finally after almost two months we found that nutramigen is the only formula that doesn't constipate our little guy. 

Within the last month he has also developed acid reflux which is horrible when he his not medicated. Zantac was not strong enough and now he is on prilosec. We are waiting for that to really kick in and help us. 

What I'm wondering is if he has a milk protein or milk allergy or intolerence? Symptoms are: 

- He cries often right after or in the middle of the feed

-fussy most of the day

-he always sounds congested

-spits up a ton if not medicated 

- has red ring around his rectum

-any formula other than nutramigen has constipated 

- chokes on spitup often now 

TIA!

mommaderby

we are waiting for an appointment with a pediatric GI -- dr had to refer us so its going to take some time. 

shotzie

Has his poop been tested for blood? That's usually a strong indication of a milk protein intolerance. A lot of milk protein intolerant babies are also intolerant to soy protein.

The only symptom that doesn't sound like classic MSPI + reflux, is the constipation. Normally MSPI babies will have green, mucousy poop, with or without blood in it. But babies can have MSPI to varying degrees, so they don't always have the same symptoms.

Could the crying during/after feedings be due to gas?

As for the reflux, give the Prilosec some time. Make sure you give it to him about 30 min before a feeding. DD2 had terrible reflux (and MSPI). We tried Zantac, Prilosec, and Prevacid. Prevacid finally did the trick.

Have you tried an elemental formula like Elecare or Neocate?

I hope you can get in to the GI soon, and they can help get to the bottom of this. It's so hard not knowing what the culprit is.

=Lee=B

My 8 month old is MPI and has reflux.  For the MPI the main symptom was extremely explosive, watery, green, mucousy poops.   She was pooping in great quantities 10-15x a day until I cut milk out.  Some times she pooped during a diaper change...it would come out like brown water, other times it would shoot 3-4feet across the room.  She always had a diaper rash it went away once milk was cut.  She's EBF.

For the reflux the symptom list was long.  Zantac has done wonders.  The specialist switched her to prevacid when she was about 4-5months old.  After a week I switched her back to Zantac.  The prevacid turned her into a lethargic, spaced out baby that stopped smiling and interacting...it was disturbing.  The zantac does wonders though in the early weeks we had to go in for a new prescription/dose every 2 weeks.

If I slip up and eat something with dairy within 12 hours she starts pooping frequently and it takes a good 3-5 days to clear her system. 

Not sure this helps any...I believe it is more common for MPI babies to have loose, mucousy, green poops frequently than to be constipated.  I don't know if some react like yours.  I do know that a lot of babies get constipated from formula itself not to the milk.  It's possible your baby just reacts less to the dairy free formula because of the difference in the way the formula is made (pre-broken down) and not to it being milk-free.  Not sure how you would determine that though!

 

 

Stillharbor

Our gastroenterologist tried to put LO on Alimentum, a formula for LOs with dairy allergies, but she wouldn't take it. My LO had stomach and intestinal pains and she was crazy constipated. You never knew when she was going to throw up. She's on Prevacid and a dairy free diet. It took a while for the dairy allergy to clear up. I think it was two weeks before we started to see a real improvement. You have to keep in mind... If it really is a dairy allergy, the milk protein creates sores in their intestinal track. So first you eliminate the dairy and then the sores have to heal. Also, feed LO in a semi up right position and after feedings we had to make sure LO sat up for about 20 minutes. That also helps with the reflux.

edaire

We were on nutramigen for a little while. He broke out in a horrible rash on his face and diaper rash. Pedi immediately knew it was a milk protein allergy and changed his formula to Elecare. He also had an upper GI which showed he has "reflux on steroids". He is on Levsin drops and Zantac every 12 hrs.