Milk Protein Allergy!

Mzbr · November 2012

Ug! after all this trying to find the right formula and fussiness and skin rashes we have an answer! Doctor called today and said that one of them came back positive! So she had been diagnosed with a milk protein allergy. So now we are onto a hypoallergenic formula! I feel so awful that it took this long to figure it out and she suffered because of it! So we got a sample of nutramigen and the first bottle did not go well! She hates the taste! It says not to warm it because it may harm the probiotic in it. She was so hungry and upset that to get her to take it I ended up mixing in half an ounce of breast milk and warming it a tad. She took some but not all of that bottle. Called the pediatricians office to see what they suggest, Like if warning it is really that harmful to it etc. Nurse calls back and has no idea what she is talking about! So i requested the doctor call me tomorrow. Any of you ladies have experience with this formula and what was your experience? Happy to have and answer and ready to have a happier baby!

merricksmom · November 2012

Stella started Nutramigen her first week because we were at the ped's office, she pooped and there was blood in it. They tested it right there and that's how we found out. I was/am nursing but my supply is so low that I haven't had to cut out dairy. She doesn't mind the Nutramigen, but she's used to it. She's growing and rarely has any tummy trouble. Incidentally, my 8 year old has stomach issues and his gastroenterologist suspects he has a milk protein allergy as well. Good luck. I'm sure your lo will tolerate it eventually. One time I did heat the formula. It smelled like rotten alfredo sauce afterwards. Ugh.

KimnBen · November 2012

We just went through this. Did you try a Soy based formula? We tried the SImilac Allmentum (hypo-allergenic brand for Similac) and my LO would not take it because of the taste. I tasted it as well and it was pretty bad. We warmed ours though as we would any other bottle. I've never heard you shouldn't warm it.

mommietobeto3 · November 2012

We're on nutramigen also for milk allergy. I warm LO bottle by first microwaving the water for 25 sec then mixing in the formula. We've had no problems. Why did it take so long to get diagnosis? Our pedi diagnosed LO from his symptoms and excema type rash. He's been a different baby on nutramigen. Good luck!

Mzbr · November 2012

mommietobeto3:
We're on nutramigen also for milk allergy. I warm LO bottle by first microwaving the water for 25 sec then mixing in the formula. We've had no problems. Why did it take so long to get diagnosis? Our pedi diagnosed LO from his symptoms and excema type rash. He's been a different baby on nutramigen. Good luck!

She was EBF for the first 3 months with a decent amount of fussing and some dry skin on belly. When we started to transition to formula it got way worse! Very fussy and rash on face appeared etc. Truthfully I probably should have pushed harder for figuring this out. I felt like no one thought the fussing I described was a medical issue and she was just a "fussy" baby. But finally we have made it to here! Did pediatrician tell you that it was ok to warm? I read on the back of the can not to and I am waiting on the phone call from the pediatrician tomorrow.

Mzbr · November 2012

mommietobeto3:
We're on nutramigen also for milk allergy. I warm LO bottle by first microwaving the water for 25 sec then mixing in the formula. We've had no problems. Why did it take so long to get diagnosis? Our pedi diagnosed LO from his symptoms and excema type rash. He's been a different baby on nutramigen. Good luck!

She was EBF for the first 3 months with a decent amount of fussing and some dry skin on belly. When we started to transition to formula it got way worse! Very fussy and rash on face appeared etc. Truthfully I probably should have pushed harder for figuring this out. I felt like no one thought the fussing I described was a medical issue and she was just a "fussy" baby. But finally we have made it to here! Did pediatrician tell you that it was ok to warm? I read on the back of the can not to and I am waiting on the phone call from the pediatrician tomorrow.

Mzbr · November 2012

KimnBen:
We just went through this. Did you try a Soy based formula? We tried the SImilac Allmentum (hypo-allergenic brand for Similac) and my LO would not take it because of the taste. I tasted it as well and it was pretty bad. We warmed ours though as we would any other bottle. I've never heard you shouldn't warm it.

We did not try soy only because of the high chance that babies with milk protein allergies also have allergies to soy. We were given the option to try soy and if issues arose to move to the hypoallergenic issues. We decided to go to the hypoallergenic. The can of nutramigen says not to warm.

merricksmom · November 2012

The pediatrician told us to avoid soy because of milk protein cross contamination.

sdlaura · November 2012

Mzbr:
mommietobeto3:
We're on nutramigen also for milk allergy. I warm LO bottle by first microwaving the water for 25 sec then mixing in the formula. We've had no problems. Why did it take so long to get diagnosis? Our pedi diagnosed LO from his symptoms and excema type rash. He's been a different baby on nutramigen. Good luck!
She was EBF for the first 3 months with a decent amount of fussing and some dry skin on belly. When we started to transition to formula it got way worse! Very fussy and rash on face appeared etc. Truthfully I probably should have pushed harder for figuring this out. I felt like no one thought the fussing I described was a medical issue and she was just a "fussy" baby. But finally we have made it to here! Did pediatrician tell you that it was ok to warm? I read on the back of the can not to and I am waiting on the phone call from the pediatrician tomorrow.

DD was also EBF for 3 months until we figured out the milk protein allergy and I also felt terrible for not recognizing it sooner. She has done great on Alimentum and now that I've been off dairy and soy for 2 weeks we are trying to phase some BM back in.

JAWMIN · November 2012

What test did they run? I'm about 90% positive my son has a milk protein intolerance or allergy, but we haven't done any testing yet beside just eliminating the protein.

Mzbr · November 2012

JAWMIN:
What test did they run? I'm about 90 positive my son has a milk protein intolerance or allergy, but we haven't done any testing yet beside just eliminating the protein.nbsp;

They ran a fecal occult blood test. And with a positive result and her signs and symptoms they were able to diagnose. The test cards they sent home with me. For 3 days I picked one poopy diaper and smeared some in the card. Dropped it off at peds office and they did the rest. It test for blood in the stool . Even if you are not seeing it Italy still be there. Easy test!

Mzbr · November 2012

JAWMIN:
What test did they run? I'm about 90 positive my son has a milk protein intolerance or allergy, but we haven't done any testing yet beside just eliminating the protein.nbsp;

They ran a fecal occult blood test. And with a positive result and her signs and symptoms they were able to diagnose. The test cards they sent home with me. For 3 days I picked one poopy diaper and smeared some in the card. Dropped it off at peds office and they did the rest. It test for blood in the stool . Even if you are not seeing it Italy still be there. Easy test!

Mzbr · November 2012

merricksmom:
The pediatrician told us to avoid soy because of milk protein cross contamination.

We were told the same! And truthfully with the risk of it causing the same issues being so high I didn't even want to try it!

mandijmu · November 2012

ugh my heart breaks for you ladies - im not on here much anymore since going back to work (was always more of a lurker) but went through many of the same things and just thought i would mention my experience because what my daughter went through had me so down, frustrated, etc. history: she w as born on 8/3 and exclusively breastfed until about 9 weeks when i wanted to introduce some formula so that we could supplement when i would be going back to work and traveling for work. i have a two year old son who spoiled us rotten - he was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, and just a happy happy baby. well my poor girl was fussy - i wasnt convinced it was colick because it wasnt the same time every day and she could be consoled...just pretty fussy when she was awake

she was definitely experiencing reflux from the beginning between spitup and arching the back, misery during feeding, etc. so unfortunately, as my son experienced reflux too - we started zantac at 3 weeks...that didnt seem to do much and we continued to muscle through bc i was determined to bf - i had major supply issues when bfing my son (i had two breast reductions in my early 20's). by the time i was ending my maternity leave, i was exhausted from having a 2 year old that was lacking attention bc my newborn constantly had to be held, rocked, etc. as we tried formula, we tried with rice, to fight the reflux, tried nutramigen, nutramigen with rice, enfamil AR (rice in it) - we had ups and downs but no real success. fast forward to her being 14 weeks (and me being a wreck bc my girl was just a mess and i had to go back to work) and we had an appt with a pediatric gastroenteroligist. After reviewing her history, the GI said she wanted to try a new formula, one that was broken down even MORE than nutramigen, apparently nutramigen isnt completely broken down but obviously (and thankfully) does the trick for many kids - just not mine! (dollar signs started flashing in my head knowing how much nutramigen was and this was going to be MORE?! but hey when you're desparate for your baby to have relief, you'll make it work, right??) So the doc was suspecting a milk and soy protein allergy - which meant that all of the breastmilk that i had frozen couldnt be used yet (she said NOT to get ride of it, but if she had a true allergy she may not be able to have it

- 'basically if you're bfing, you'd have to have a complete elimination diet, yikes (milk and soy proteins are in almost everything!!) Since my Hadley didnt really respond to the nutramigen, she wanted to try Elecare - this is an elemental formula that you cant get at a store, you get it shipped to you from a specialty pharmacy - I was told that many insurances pay part of it...it could easily run 600-800 a month! At this point im panicking but again desparate! Well four weeks later, I am so thankful for that appt - my insurance is covering the formula one HUNDRED percent til she's at least a year old and shes a completely new baby. SO, my advice is hang in there - if you suspect this allergy (fussy baby, skin rashes, mucusy spit up, blood in stools, etc) ask your ped to refer you to a GI. Now I will say that I am looking for more answers at our one month GI follow up (baby girl is about to be 4 months) - her real symptoms were the fussiness/misery and mucusy spit up but im not convinced its a complete allergy - when i remember her mucusy spit up - it was when she had colds (tough part of having a toddler at home with a newborn - she had two colds by 9 weeks

Besides dry skin, she never had the rashes, bloody stools, etc BUT she is a new baby on this formula, combined with twice a day prevacid for her reflux. Hoping to get GI's opinion today, to see if she could have a sensitivity or could her little system just have matured more?? lots of unknowns but im hoping this info can help any of you mama's that have been experiencing this - it was so hard for me, ESPECIALLY after having such a happy/content baby with my son. Any questions feel free to email me - mandijmu@yahoo.com - its tough to go through so i'd love to help in anyway through my insight/experience with my baby girl! sorry so long

joi717 · November 2012

My 5 y/o DD was a piece of cake compared to DS (7/31) ! His eczema is horrific. Stool tests all came back negative and he was allergic to the Nutramigen w/ Lipil, to the point where his face swelled up around his eyes. I am not convinced it's a MPI in all of these babies..I truly believe some babies can't handle the fake DHA/ARA they are adding to all this formula. We found an organic formula (with safe rice, no arsenic) that is Dairy but w/out DHA/ARA. He has been on it for about 5 days, and just had the best, most normal looking peanut butter consistancy poop he's had in a LONG time. He skin is still a hot mess, but I am trying to be patient. I had stopped EBF at 8 weeks bc of going back to work and he was getting the patches, so I thought it was something I was eating. I was ready for formula bc I would know exactly what he was getting every day.

I tip my hat to the ladies who can do the elimination diet. My downfall is wanting instant gratification for his skin issues. Good luck!

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