Bloody stool, MSPI?

BKD1386

I'm hoping I can get a little advice on this... I'm EBF my little guy who will be 2 weeks old tomorrow.  Two days ago I noticed a little bit of bright red blood in his stool.  It hasn't been present in every poopy diaper since then, but it has happened multiple times.  We saw the pedi yesterday and he pretty much said he prob has an allergy and that I need to put him on Nutramigen.  They took a stool sample to check but I haven't heard anything back yet.  After the pedi appt I started doing some research because I really don't want to put him on formula.  I am eliminating milk from my diet to start to see if it will help (I know it can take weeks for his stool to return to normal).  It just seems like from what I've read that there are usually other symptoms with MSPI.  The blood in his stool has been the only problem we've had.  He's not fussy, colicky or gassy, no vomiting, no reflux, no constipation, very little spit-up, great sleeper and when he's awake he's generally a very happy baby.  He's also back to his hospital discharge weight.  I'm trying to patiently wait for the lab results... just feel like I'm being pushed right to formula very quickly.  Any suggestions would be appreciated, thank you!!    Sorry for the novel!

chknma

There are lots of ladies with much more experience then I have to offer, but I will say that both of my DDs have had MSPI and were/are happy babies

DD1 - our first clue was blood in her stool around 11 weeks, I wasn't knowledgeable enough or supported enough by pedi and after only about 3 weeks switched to formula.

DD2 - stared with slimy poo @ 3 weeks and I immediately cut dairy/soy, had her first bloody bm a week later and intermittently since. Now only 3 weeks into the elimination and planning to ride out the full 6 or so weeks unless her symptoms worsen. I will push back with pedi about continuing to BF over FF this time

I've been reading the MSPI blog that is listed on the check-in to gain some insight from other moms... Below on the board

Good luck!!

BKD1386

Thank you ladies!  

sschwege

Do not switch to formula unless that's what you want to do!  DS's pedi fully supported BFing even though he had bloody stools, she asked me to eliminate dairy and soy and gave me the name of a formula if I wanted to switch, but was nothing but supportive of us continuing with BFing.  

DS did not have much in the way of symptoms other than the bloody stool, the only other thing was spitting up, he spit up a ton!  Though he still spit up a lot even after I eliminated dairy/soy, though not as much.  But he was the happiest little guy, never had tummy issues, exceeded his birth weight by his 2w appointment, was really doing great other than his poop.  

I wouldn't hope that the lab results will give you much in the way of information, I don't think there's anyway of them determining what is causing it, they are probably just testing for blood in the stool, which you have already seen.  That's all they did for DS anyway.

As far as the diet goes, check labels, there are a lot of things that contain hidden dairy and soy, even things like vitamins.  Also most babies react to the protein in the d/s, not the fat.  So typically even the most sensitive babies (DS was extremely sensitive) can tolerate Soybean Oil and Soy lecithin since it's just fat.  So like Oreo cookies are OK because they are dairy free and contain only soy lecithin.  Here's a great website:

https://www.mspimama.com/

Good luck mama!  You are doing the right thing by questioning what this pedi is telling you!  

Oh and DS grew out of his intolerance at 9-10 months.

CLLDLL

You've gotten some great advice above. Just wanted to add that www.godairyfree.org is a great resource for info about avoiding dairy and reading labels to identify hidden dairy.

Also it's really common for kids with dairy sensitivities to also be sensitive to soy. So if you're sure you've eliminated all dairy and you're still seeing symptoms after waiting 4-6 weeks for it to clear your symptoms, it could be soy causing the symptoms.

Good luck!!

[Deleted User]

Is his poop mucousy, runny, or green? Did the pedi check for anal fissures? Is he testing the stool for viruses or just blood? There are a few other things that can cause blood in the stool aside from MSPI. Could you have an oversupply? This can also cause the poop to be frothy and green.

You definitely do not need to switch to formula if it's just a speck of blood here and there. I would consider getting a second opinion if your pedi is so quick to diagnose milk allergy and prescribe formula.

BKD1386

His poop was yellow and seedy, and now it's more green, still seedy not frothy at all.  Yes, pedi checked for anal fissures and didn't find any.  They never told me what they were going to test his stool for, and I haven't heard back from them so I'm going to call today.  I definitely feel like I've had a bit more foremilk than hindmilk over the last few days, and I have a pretty fast let down.