Help please - MSPI

scherpha

I don't know what to do at this point. DD was diagnosed with MSPI late June. I went milk and soy free immediately since I EBF and want to continue badly! She has been rechecked twice since the diagnosis and both times her stool still has blood in it. The pedi (who diagnosed her) said to be very strict for four more weeks and retest since it may just need a little more time to get out of our systems. I also think she has been a happier baby too.

Fast forward to today. My mom watched her for a couple hours while I ran some errands. When I got there DD was hysterical. My mom said that she had another nasty diaper and was upset due to gas. I was sure she was upset because she was overtired but my mom is convinced it was gas. I did mention that I had eaten a Wendy's hamburger over the weekend and that maybe the bun wasn't safe. My mom also jumped on my diet again - she thinks we should go to formula.

I am wondering if I should try the formula. I could continue pumping in case there is not an improvement over where we are now (meaning it could be something else). What I don't know and am hoping someone here does, if I do go to the formula (pedi recommended Nutrigemin sp?) how long could it take to see an improvement?

Also, any thoughts or words of encouragement welcome. Thanks!!

Rachel*Neocate

You can do it!  Good job for working so hard on your diet.  

My son has multiple food protein intolerance.  (MFPI rather than MSPI)  When he was 7 wks old I went on an elimination diet removing dairy and soy from my diet, after about two weeks he was better but still had mucousy diapers so that's when I went on a total elimination diet or TED.  It's basically when you eat only a core group of foods until your LO is symptom free and then slowly start add things back in and wait for a reaction.  This is how we determined my son also cannot handle eggs or tomatoes.

I have been avoiding dairy, soy, eggs, tomatoes, and nuts (just to be sure) since my LO was 7+ wks old and he's turning 1 tomorrow.  I'm not gonig to lie, it's been tough at times (especially during the holidays!) but we've pulled through, he's still BFing and doing great.  He was 21 lbs at his last doctor's appointment! 

When I first went on my elimination diet I used godairyfree.org, kellymom.com, and infantreflux.org... they were all very helpful with ingredient lists and information.  infantreflux.org actually has a section of their forum dedicated to TED, you should check it out.

So long story short, your LO may be reacting to something else in your diet in addition to dairy and soy.  You could try cutting out all or some of the the top 8 allergens (milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat) and see what that gets you.  Just bear in mind that it takes some time for the proteins to get out of your system, his system, and for his insides to heal, so if you don't see improvement right away don't give up... try to give it about two weeks to see a difference. 

Also, just a side note, Nutramigen (the formula recommended by your ped) may help things, but it's not a guarentee... Nutramigen is a hydrolysate formula, meaning that it still contains milk protein chains, just broken down to help your LO digest it better.  So if your LO is really sensitive (like mine) you may end up on an elemental formula like Neocate or EleCare, which are made up of free amino acids (the building blocks of protein).  Just food for thought when making your decision!

Good luck!  Let me know if I can do anything to help I know how tough it is