MSPI/Allergy..FTT... and prevacid...
DS went on Alimentum around 2 months old because we thought he was MSPI and had sever reflux. Well fast forward to now, he is almost 8 months, and he is FTT and hasn't gained weight in 3 months. He is slowly eating less and less from the bottle and even when he was eating "enough" (in my pedi's eyes) he still was not gaining. We have seen GI's and are having a feeding study done next week and have an appointment set up with an allergist as well. Well to get extra calories the nutritionist recommended putting oil or whey protien powder in his baby food. We did the whey and he took one bite and his lips and cheeks swelled up and he broke out in a rash. So now they think its an allergy rather than an intolerance.
I am obviously more worried as the days drag on because he is refusing to eat/drink and I know he is not getting enough calories. He has been on prevacid since he was 6 months old and I am reading online that some kids with severe dairy allergies can react to the lactose in prevacid.
Does anyone else have experience with this?
Re: MSPI/Allergy..FTT... and prevacid...
We never got the FTT dx (in hindsight- had our pedi given us that dx we could have possibly gotten help much sooner than we did- J wasn't even on the charts for months on end and wasn't gaining at all) however, I'd go with your gut on the milk issue. And it sounds like you are set up with enough dr. appts that you'll be able to get some answers soon.
Allimentium isn't dairy free. I'd talk to your pedi about switching to neocate/ellecare asap and trying another med instead of the prevacid. IMO both of those switches certainly can't hurt him at this point.
If you find that he tolerates the ellecare/neocate well- you can add extra scoops of formula powder to make his bottles more calorie dense (we did this for our son when we were having weight struggles). When we finally met with a nutritionist after we had our allergy dx she was super helpful in explaining how his little body wasn't absorbing any of the nutrients he needed because his system was working so hard to fight off the allergens. I know there's a protein powder available that's whey free but you have to order it on-line. I can't remember the name though- sorry!
If you want/need more ideas on calorie boosting ideas let me know- we worked really hard to get J back on track with his growth/weight.
Yes, we are making the switch to Elecare this weekend, as soon as our shipment arrives! The GI wants us to see if the upped dosage of Prevacid works before we switch, but she is the same one who told us he is most likely allergic to milk...so I am not sure why she would say that then prescribe more medicine with milk in it...so I think I will forgo her advice and start on the elecare before 2 weeks on the prevacid is up.
I would love more ideas on calorie boosting. PM me if/when you have time. Thank you so much!
you've got a pm
I was just writing this in the above post about prevacid - all these meds suppress stomach acid production and we need sufficient stomach acid to digest our food properly and to eliminate pathogens. We can all eat a perfect diet but if it's not broken down properly our bodies won't be able to absorb all of the nutrients.
With FTT, I would definitely ask if *too much* stomach acid is really the issue or if it's something else...was there a physiological problem earlier and is it still present, are there still undetected allergies/sensitivities? Does the stomach/digestion need to recover from the long term usage of PPI's? There are tests available for assessing digestion - is it effective/rates of nutrient absorption.
The tricky part is weaning of the meds. I understand there's a rebound effect if they're not gradually withdrawn. I would also ask what is the doc's idea for the long term since H2 blockers and PPI's are really only meant for short term usage.