Dairy Allergy??? - Somerville,NJ

My son has a very bad dairy allergy and I have met many others whose children also have true dairy allergies, so it is certainly possible that this is the problem.

However, allergies don't typically manifest themselves as behavioral. Allergies usually have a rash/hives, vomiting/diarrhea, and possibly symptoms such as swelling of the lips/tongue/throat and/or an excessively runny nose.

Stomach pain is more likely to be lactose intolerance than an allergy. That said, cutting dairy could still make things better, since diary does pass through breast milk.

There are some decent soy products out there, though it takes some adjusting when you're used to the real thing. My son drinks soy milk and we have found pizza, mac & cheese (ok, mac and cheeze) and other products he can eat.

How old is he? It could just be a wonder week period. They do just wake up screaming at different times in development -such much is going on, they are scared, etc.

They also wake up after every damn sleep cycle until we teach them how to self-sooth.

It might literally be as simple as "perfectly normal."

I had dairy allergies as a baby. Giving up dairy is not that hard. They make soy or coconut ice cream and soy cheese. They even make non dairy cream cheese and sour cream. You can drink almond milk instead of reg milk. Your baby did not choose to have a dairy allergy so please dont feel resentful for a possible medical condition. You can also stop brest feeding and give your baby soy formula.

Both of my daughters had a milk protein allergy and I had to give up dairy. My oldest wasn't super sensitive so I could get away with eating yogurt and non-dairy creamer. But my youngest was so sensitive if I just looked at something with casein in it she would get diarreha. We live in Switzerland which is the land of dairy so giving up dairy was really hard. The plus side to giving up dairy was that I lost a ton of weight! I didn't end up resenting her, don't get me wrong it was really hard, but I didn't want to give up BF her. I have friends who have been through the same thing and one of them ended up weaning because it was just too hard for her. you could start just giving up the main dairy things, things with obvious dairy and see if that helps. If your son still isn't better you might want to try reading labels and cutting even the slightest bit of dairy out. No one in my family or my husband's family has any history of food allergies either. Just a freak thing I guess! good luck and I hope he feels better soon!

Honestly, you're gonna hate what I have to say, but if you feel like you "can't give it up" there's a really good chance that you (and the baby) have a problem with it. Seriously--- dairy (and wheat) are addictive (google casomorphin addiction: dairy addiction) and are hard for a lot of people to give up even though they are causing them harm (even if it is "just" dry skin or minor eczema). It is much easier for people who truly have no problem with dairy to give it up. If your husband (who knows your eating habits and probably sees some of the effects of food) has also suggested it, I'd suggest giving it a try. It is difficult, but if you can get over the withdrawl period, then you'll probably notice a difference in how you feel (and how the baby is reacting).

Secondly, what do you consider a "true allergy" Do you mean IgE (ie allergies that can cause anaphylaxis--then you may be right, but many babies are affected negatively by foods. Reflux is a symptom often caused by food problems (dairy, gluten/wheat, soy . . . ), oversupply is another :-/ Screaming at night means the child is troubled, if he sounds like he's in pain, I would guess it is in his tummy, you can ease his symptoms, but until you find what is causing the problem, he will probably continue to be uncomfortable.

If you decide that you want to give a serious attempt at giving up dairy for your son, PM me and I'll hook you up with a support group of MANY mothers who have gone through it and in some cases are still struggling with it ;)

**reading your earlier posts, your son sounds EXACTLY like my daughter did around that age--turns out she had a soy "allergy" (and to make it worse I have dairy problems :/ that were causing oversupply.) Cut both out of my diet and it was a totally different child (as a plus her BMs got better, she was less gassy and I could actually make some dinner for myself and sleep for more than 6 hours.)

(A previous poster said that allergies don't manifest themselves as behavioral, but in reality they DO. People seriously go off for no reason if their stomach is bothering them. Chemical imbalances can throw off perception and comprehension. etc. Borrow "Is This Your Child" for a overview on some ways allergies can affect behavior.)

milk protein allergies (actually sensitivities) are not uncommon. my son had a severe sensitivity issue whereas when i was breastfeeding, if i ate a cookie or cake made with milk even listed as the last ingredient -he would wake up frequently that night crying, get a rash, diarreah, the works. the day i stopped eating diary, he slept through the night. i had to be very careful with everything i ate. milk, casein, whey, and any other milk products could not be in any ingredients of anything i ate. i was hard but you got to do what you got to do to protect your child's well being. when i stopped breast feeding at 11 months i had to special order baby formula (elecare), because all brands sold in the stores contain trace elements of broken down milk protein, even nutramigen.
eventually most babies outgrow it. my son is 2 1/2 now and he is a lot less sensitive. i think he's (slowly) outgrowing the problem.
also- many kids with dairy sensitivity also have problems with soy- as my son did. thats why i had to special order elecare which is not dairy or soy based- it's an amino acid based formula.

this is exactly what happened with my son. The doctor said it was a milk intolerance (not an allergy exactly and he'd grow out of it - same as what your doctor means when he says allergy.) I believed it was reflux. I hate giving my son the zantac but i have had to and he's been getting it since he was 9 days old and is now almost 4 months. He wasnt gaining weight and was also spitting up bright yellow. So i cut out dairy (and that was way hard!) for like 2 weeks and gave him the zantac. He got better and I reintroduced dairy and there was no change so reflux it was (just like i said). If you believe its reflux then go for the zantac. If you would rather not have him on it try cutting dairy. Its 6 one way, half a dozen the other. Go with your gut. But dont worry, if it is dairy, he should grow out of it.

Oh and one lady told me she was having the reflux symptoms with her daughter and the lactation consultant said she was getting a gulp of air during "let down" and to just express past the let down point and then she was fine.

I also give my son little tummies gripe water when he screams and screams for no apparent reason and it works great! I recommend it. good luck and let us know what happens

First of all, I sympathize with your love of dairy. I'm allergic to a lot of things -- tree fruit, fish, and shell fish plus the regular environmental allergies -- and I always said that if I found out I was allergic to dairy, you might as well just shoot me. It would be the last straw.

I would definitely try doing one thing at a time, so you know exactly what you did that relieved your son's pain. And if you do have to eliminate dairy from your diet, it won't be forever. You won't be bf forever, and dairy is a common childhood allergy that adults grow out of. My mom was allergic to milk as a child, and now she has ice cream at the end of almost every dinner. :)

Try the Zantac first before cutting out dairy. If you do them both at once you won't know what worked.

Dairy allergy is the most common among young children. My 2 year old son has allergies to 8 foods (allergy not intolerance) including dairy, wheat, peanuts, etc. I did not eliminate dairy from my diet while nursing because he did not have symptoms unless he ingested it himself, but I know other moms that had to.

We have no history of food allergies in our family either, but food allergies have been increasing dramatically among children in the last few years.

I feel the same as you about cutting out dairy :)
even if you did eliminate it, it would take months to have an effect on him. Could he be teething? My son also screams all night if his ears hurt.

My daughter was borderline colicky...not like horror stories I've heard, but cried way more than my son. I nursed exclusively. I eliminated milk from my diet (not all dairy, just milk...I would drink 3 glasses a day). She got a lot better! Granted, she was also 4 mo. old & that seems to be the magic age where colic goes away. I was sure she had a lactose or dairy intolerance. Dr. disagreed, but I eliminated milk anyway. When I had a glass...voila, she was really upset again. She is almost 2 years old now, drinks regular milk fine. I think she had a temporary dairy issue & outgrew it. I was told it takes 15 days for the milk proteins to get out of your body & your breastmilk...so you can't stop for 3 days & see how the baby is. Your trial period would have to be more like 2 weeks. Is he teething? My daughter also hated teething...she didn't sleep through the night 'til 18 months when all 20 teeth were in (yes,she was a very early teether). Good luck.

My son was taken off of dairy products at the age of 2 (after he was treated for reflux and was considered a failure to thrive baby starting at 2 months of age) and within a month was growing and gaining weight. He never tested positive for a dairy allergy, but our GI explained that he had more of an intestinal allergy. I would suggest going off dairy. Two years later we are trying dairy out - if my son continues to gain weight he will be able to have dairy in his diet.

dairy allergies are VERY common in young babies. I couldn't drink milk for the first 3 months without my DD having HORRIBLE gas pains... after that she grew out of the issues and was fine. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be... I only cut out milk, and as long as I didn't overindulge with cheese and yogurt she was fine. Almond milk was a decent replacement. :)

So easy for Dr. to prescribe meds and blame our diets. Sensitivities are common but I would look into oversupply. Kellymom.com has a ton of information as well as La Leche League. How is his poop? That usually is a pretty good indication of whats going on. I had a huge oversupply and my little guy was gulping down foremilk (which is mostly "sugar water"), spitting up a tong and then screaming an hour later from quickly and painfully trying to digest it. He never got to the hindmilk that has all the fat and satisfying staying power. My case was so bad that it did cause reflux and Prevacid (stronger and different class of GI drugs) was needed to control the damage that had been done to the esophagus.

You have gotten a ton of good answers. My daughter was diagnosed with milk and soy protein intolerance (MSPI) at a month old. Today she still is allergic to milk. Although it is not an IgE allergy, it is an allergy. It can cause a variety of symptoms from rashes to blood in stools. It is not uncommon in infants and it absolutely can cause behavioral issues. If a one month old is in pain, you are going to see restlessness, irritability and trouble sleeping. They certainly can't tell you that it hurts any other way.

I would suggest giving the reflux medicine time to work. You want to know what is going on and not treat a bunch of things at once. If you do cut out dairy, you have to do it 100% for several weeks to know if it works. You have no idea how sensitive your kid is. While some kids can tolerate yogurt, you'll never know unless you cut out everything which means reading every label. At first it is hard but once you get used to it, it gets easier. Also most people who cut out dairy are told to cut out soy. A very high % of kids are allergic to both. It takes several weeks for the dairy to get out of your system and his but you should see some changes after a week. It might also take a while for his sytem to heal and get back to normal.

I ended up cutting out milk, soy, fish, eggs and nuts for several months but my daughter was reacting to other things in my diet. She ended up on Elecare. To me, there was no question about it. I was willing to do anything I could to breastfeed. If you truly feel that you can't eliminate dairy, try Nutramigen for a few weeks and continue to pump to keep up your supply. Your child may be happier and healthier on formula if you aren't willing to cut out foods.

You should also look into oversupply and hind/foremilk imbalance. There are a lot of good resources on block feeding. Try La Leche League. Also, I don't have experience with reflux but I know certain foods can trigger it. You may want to look into cutting them out of your diet. Is your son sleeping on an incline? Do you keep him upright after feeding?

Good luck!

it really could be. My friend has a 12 week old baby and that is what she has. Like you she wasn't sure it was dairy but she gave it a shot just to see what would happen. I guess you only have to do the no dairy for about a week to tell if that is the problem. If your baby is allergic you will see a change right away but if it's not then you won't. I would at least give it a try for a week. My friend said she actually saw a change in her baby the first day and she just keep getting better from then on. It is hard cause so many things have dairy but once you got used to it it wouldn't be so bad. I have tried the soy milks....like the vanilla silk and it's really not that bad. Like in a bowl of cereal you really can't tell too much of a difference. I know it would be hard but to give you a happy, healthy baby I say it's worth a shot.