Attachment Parenting
Food allergy ?
We found out today that my son is allergic to cow's milk (so am I, so I'm not super surprised- but it's a little weird because he has been on a milk based formula for 6 months and he never had a problem).
He also had a reaction (a skin reaction) to soy (formula) a few weeks ago, so that's out too.
My only other idea is goat's milk... is there anything I'm not thinking of to consider? My pedi said that since he's OK with milk based formula to just go on to a toddler formula but I'm not as wild about that idea.
Can any of you offer any other suggestions? Thanks to anyone who can throw any ideas at me!
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Re: Food allergy ?
It's possible he's only allergic to part of the cow's milk protein.
DS is pretty intolerant to casein. He can handle enfamil infant and goodstart toddler formula only. The milk proteins are so broken down that the casein (especially in the goodstart) is nonexistant.
He and whole milk do not get along.
Coconut and hemp milk are two of the best milk alternatives in the way of calories and good fats/oils. DS can tolerate milk or cheese cooked into things, but drinking a cup of milk is bad news. We give him coconut milk. When I was BFing and on a restricted diet for DS I drank goat's milk, but at like $16 a gallon it was just crazy.
We do NAET with our chiropractor and it seems to be helping a lot, along with DS getting older and his intestines maturing, so he has outgrown most of his allergies. Like I said, he can't have milk directly, and we're still avoiding nuts and fish, but it's way better than having to avoid the top 8 allergens and corn, which we did for a long time.
Thanks for the responses!
I've never heard of NAET so I will definitely look into it, thank you!
Theres actually a family friend who has a farm near our house who I spoke to last night about the goat's milk. She can supply it to us for much cheaper than most carry it for. She's dropping off a quart today for us to try. - I didn't know it's that similar to cow's milk though
I guess we'll try a small amount and see if he can tolerate it.
He wasn't actually tested, but within a day of us introducing cow's milk he started screaming and crying when he would have a BM (though the stool wasn't hard or anything) and the next morning he started having blood in it. The Dr said these are classic signs of the allergy and since I'm also allergic she wouldn't bother testing because the blood test isn't as accurate and he isn't able to get the more accurate test done yet (I guess the one where they stick the panels in your arms is what she was talking about?)
I hadn't considered coconut milk- that's a great suggestion too.
Thanks so much!
Yes, bloody stool is when his intestines are so irritated that they're literally injured. It could be that he's mildly reacting to the formula and the actual milk just intensified it. Since it does have similar proteins, I would hold off on the goat's milk for a couple days and use an alternative like coconut milk (rice milk is pretty weak nutritionally speaking) and try and heal his gut first. Bananas and papayas are mild, anti-inflammatory foods that will soothe and heal his intestines. Has he had mucousy stools on the formula? Mucous is like the precursor to blood in the way of irritated digestive tracts.
Good luck, it's so hard and frustrating to see your baby dealing with this
DS was allergic to goat as well as cow, and we were worried about soy being an issue because dairy and soy issues often go hand in hand. We started him on occasional almond milk at one, and he has been on pretty much all the different nut milks (chocolate hazelnut makes amazing coffee, btw) and coconut milk.
Everyone has a different opinion, but I've heard the ones closest to what they need nutrient/fat/calcium/etc-wise is either almond milk, coconut milk, or coconut water (which DS also loves).