Any BFers dairy and soy free?

IU_baby · July 2011

We found out 2.5 weeks ago that DD has a milk protein allergy. Her GI doctor also suggested I give up soy because over half of babies that have milk protein allergies also have soy protein allergies and/or intolerance.

Anyone else out there?

ToBeMrsC6907 · July 2011

I am cutting out dairy and soy right now because I suspect some type of sensitivity/intolerance. DD has dark green, mucousy stools; a skin rash; and is gassy/fussy with disturbed sleep (she used to sleep 4-5 hours, now is up every 2). The pedi dismissed the skin rash as a contact allergy and "isn't concerned" about the stools because she is gaining well and has no other symptoms (ie fever, vomitting). My sister is a PA and suggested we see a pediatric gastroenterologist...I'm not sure what to do. I am going to give going dairy and soy free a try though.

What were your DD's symptoms? How did you come to the diagnosis, if you don't mind my asking?? (ie tests done, etc)

IU_baby · July 2011

Her biggest initial symptom was a hard, distended belly. She also had some other symptoms, like lots of gas, constipation, what looked like baby acne and peeling skin. Most of those symptoms can be something else or nothing at all. I also realized later that she had mucousy stools, once someone explained what that looked like. She was also diagnosed with reflux at 2w old, so there was a lot of initial focus on her reflux symptoms. She never had any obvious blood in her stool either.

She has had 2 Upper GIs, a Lower GI, a stool sample and a rectal biopsy. The original suspicion was Hirschsprung's Disease (which she does not have, thank goodness), but the biopsy and stool sample revealed the allergy.

The pediatric GI suggested I pump and freeze my milk while we started her on Alimentum to get her feeling better quickly. I was amazed at how soon she started showing improvement, within 12 hours of starting the Alimentum. She's back on breastmilk, but she reacted to something I ate so I'm trying to figure that out. I think it's soy lecithin, which I was told that only a small percentage of soy protein intolerant people react to. I'm hoping she grows out of it and can use all of the milk I have pumped and frozen.

This was so foreign to us. Our son has never had any food allergies and is so healthy. We have no history of food allergies in our family.

Good luck to you!

rainfallki · July 2011

I cut out dairy, including hidden dairy. Gabe was so gassy that it was painful for him.

I went about it in a very specific way, though. I cut my diet back to pears, turkey, rice and potato only. I did that until his symptoms (screaming in pain until he passes some gas - terrible to listen to) subsided and then I started slowly introducing other things, one at a time. He seems to be fine with beef, but chicken does not agree with him. I am still trying to figure out if he's ok with pork or tomatoes. Unfortunately, I introduced them both at the same time so now I need to separate them out and see how he does.

I have a soy allergy, but never had any reaction to soy lecithin. If it ends up not being the pork or tomato that upset him, then I think it was probably soy lecithin. I had some pretzels yesterday.

It's like being a detective, but it did make my life easier to cut my diet back to those 4 items and slowly add in other ingredients.

Good luck!

ToBeMrsC6907 · July 2011

Wow, your poor DD- all that she's been through, poor little thing! And Mom and Dad, too- must not have been easy. I'm glad she is feeling better though and it is a manageable condition that she may grow out of.

We also never had any issues with DS- he was such a content, happy, healthy baby. We'll see what happens with DD. I also initially thought her rash was baby acne until it became much worse. Again pedi says it's atypical eczema and most likely due to a contact allergy but I have no clue what she could have come into contact with to cause it, and of course I wash all of her clothes, bedding, towels, etc in free and clear detergent, use Aveeno wash and no lotions. And this still doesn't explain the frequent, mucousy stools (which I wasn't sure if they were until she had a blow out and I felt it while rinsing it out of her clothes- it has the consistency and feel/thickness of mucous). It's just frustrating because my gut instinct says there's something else going on. *sigh* We'll see.

Thanks so much for the info, really appreciate it, and I hope your DD continues to do well and feel better!

MrsD1 · July 2011

I cut out dairy and have noticed a huge difference. It's almost like we have a new, happy baby.

I haven't cut out soy because she seems to be fine with it.

LuvTrav · July 2011

ToBeMrsC6907:
Wow, your poor DD- all that she's been through, poor little thing! And Mom and Dad, too- must not have been easy. I'm glad she is feeling better though and it is a manageable condition that she may grow out of.
We also never had any issues with DS- he was such a content, happy, healthy baby. We'll see what happens with DD. I also initially thought her rash was baby acne until it became much worse. Again pedi says it's atypical eczema and most likely due to a contact allergy but I have no clue what she could have come into contact with to cause it, and of course I wash all of her clothes, bedding, towels, etc in free and clear detergent, use Aveeno wash and no lotions. And this still doesn't explain the frequent, mucousy stools (which I wasn't sure if they were until she had a blow out and I felt it while rinsing it out of her clothes- it has the consistency and feel/thickness of mucous). It's just frustrating because my gut instinct says there's something else going on. *sigh* We'll see.
Thanks so much for the info, really appreciate it, and I hope your DD continues to do well and feel better!

Just a suggestion for you. I had a similar issue with the green mucousy stools and Lila was terribly gassy and fussy during that time too. It turned out to be a hindmilk/foremilk imbalance due to an overproduction milk. You can look into it on kellymom.com

I followed the suggested steps to correct and within 2 days her poops are back to yellow and she is much happier in general. You may have already looked into but I thought it might be worth it to mention. HTH

IU_baby · July 2011

ToBeMrsC6907:

Wow, your poor DD- all that she's been through, poor little thing! And Mom and Dad, too- must not have been easy. I'm glad she is feeling better though and it is a manageable condition that she may grow out of.

We also never had any issues with DS- he was such a content, happy, healthy baby. We'll see what happens with DD. I also initially thought her rash was baby acne until it became much worse. Again pedi says it's atypical eczema and most likely due to a contact allergy but I have no clue what she could have come into contact with to cause it, and of course I wash all of her clothes, bedding, towels, etc in free and clear detergent, use Aveeno wash and no lotions. And this still doesn't explain the frequent, mucousy stools (which I wasn't sure if they were until she had a blow out and I felt it while rinsing it out of her clothes- it has the consistency and feel/thickness of mucous). It's just frustrating because my gut instinct says there's something else going on. *sigh* We'll see.

Thanks so much for the info, really appreciate it, and I hope your DD continues to do well and feel better!

It was definitely rough for those several weeks when she was going through all of that testing. We were just grateful to find out that it was just an allergy. If you suspect it, it's probably worth it to eliminate the dairy and soy for a while and just see how she does. The dietician at our GI's office told me that it takes up to 10 days to completely remove all of the allergens from your body and breastmilk, so don't give up if you don't see a difference right away.

Good luck!

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