Milk/milk protein allergy 11 Month old still does not sleep through the night!

[germanator]

My son is 11 months old and still does not sleep through the night! He has severe milk/milk protein allergy. This allergy runs on my husbands side. Colton does not sleep through the night he wakes up 2-3 times before 6 am and I put him down around 10 pm. I need sleep I run a daycare during the day and I am going crazy with very little sleep at night. My husband can not help by taking turns because he has to get up at 2:30 am for work. He has never slept peacefully at night.  We use noise makers for him and it makes no difference because he sleeps the same with or with out it. I dress him comfortably for sleep and even give him a blanket for comfort. I am so tired of him not sleeping though the night our first child slept through the night by 5 weeks old. But he also does not have a milk allergy. I just don't know what to do about this because he is getting ready for a transition from Neocate Formula(Milk free and milk protein free formula) to I don't know because he can't have milk! Anyone having this same problem??? I am desperate for some sleep!!! Doctors say they grow out of it just like they grow out of puking all day after they eat but I don't think this is the case not with puking and an allergy on top of it all! Please help me, I know that 1 in 4 children have an allergic reaction to milk.
Thanks in advance!!!
Shawn

[elmarie]

Welcome to BW

Moving this to food allergies for you...

[Spectra]

Does your son wake up to feed or is he just upset and hard to put back down?

[Peek-a-boo]

A few questions . . .

1)  You mention that your LO is on a hypoallergenic formula.  Is he also eating solids?  If so, is there any chance he's getting small amounts of dairy in the solids that he's eating?  If so, that could be disrupting your nights and the solution would be to eliminate those small amounts of dairy.  There's a sticky at the top of this forum with a list of all the goofy names to look for on package labels that indicate they contain some form of dairy.  If your LO is NOT getting any dairy from any source, then I don't think you can attribute the night wakings to the milk allergy . . . if you see what I mean.  The allergy should only be an issue if your LO is being exposed to milk proteins.

2)  Second thought to consider, is it possible that your LO has an allergy to something else?  Many LOs who are allergic to dairy are also sensitive to soy which is in everything under the sun.  What sorts of solids is he eating?  Have you noticed any change in NW relating to introductions of solids.

3)  Finally, how does your son fall asleep at the beginning of the night?  Is he falling asleep independently?  Are you in the room or out?  Touching him?  Making any noise (shushing, singing, etc)?   If he's not having any dairy and there isn't another allergy, then the night wakings may simply be a plain ol' sleep issue. 

[momtoandrewandthomas]

Good questions Bethany.
Hugs.  I can sympathize.  Thomas did lnot sleep through the night well until 18 months and still gets up a few times a week at the 4-5:30 time slot.  You will survive, however hard it is.  I did not think a person could go on such little sleep, but we did.  I basically slept in a chair for a year when I held him.  The good thing is you have a diagnosis of sorts and looking at the thread about hidden dairy should help any issues there.

I would also keep a very careful diary of foods, poop, naps, sleep, NWs, spit up and all the rest.   A clear pattern should emerge after a week.  You may be able to tie some things together and find the trigger.  When I kept one for a month, I was amazed at the tiniest thing that set our lives on fire.  I also did not link his runny noses and sneezing to foods prior to it either.  If he is milk protein intol, I would consider elim of soy as well.  Thomas did better with the elim of milk, but the kicker was the soy.  peace began to settle in our house.  The diet is hard, but it is worth it.

Also, why does he have to wean from the Neocate?  I would keep it as long as he will drink it.  It is so hard (trust me I know first hand, as we are losing pounds and ounces while still getting taller) to ensure good nutrition without that as a supplement.
 

[germanator]

Melanie: Colton does wake up and I feed him and change him and he goes back to sleep. But lately he gets up around 6 am for good! I get up around 6 to get ready for daycare children to arrive so I can see why he is adapting to me when I get up, but this business of waking 2-3 or even 4 times in one night has got to stop sooner or later!

Bethany: Colton does eat solids and lots of them! We are very careful about not giving him dairy at all. One of my daycare children turned 1 a few weeks back and I gave him a cupcake with no frosting thinking that it would be fine and all I got was a puking infant all night long! There maybe some hidden dairy somewhere I suppose I usually only give him jarred baby food or homemade canned goods which I know do not contain dairy. Maybe he has a wheat/gluten problem too that does run in the family as well. I will do some research on the Soy as well I do know that its very possible he is allergic to that too (also runs in the family too). Colton can eat anything and loves to eat! He gets infant cereal, veggies and fruits. I still believe that Neocate has some soy in it but I am not certain I don't understand all the big words on the back of the can. Colton had severe reflux and I was feeding him all the time to maintain his weight. We were finally referred to a specialist when he turned 7 months after begging and pleading with our doctor that something was wrong with him.

Lastly Colton goes to bed with a bottle usually but he goes down when I put him in the crib. Which is awesome I do not have to struggle with him at nap time or bed. What if he has a habit now of waking up??? How do I break that? Right now he is in our room because the basement is being finished so the kids are upstairs. We only have a one bedroom home right now (really sucks) Bretton is in the living room and Colton is in with us (he sleeps in the crib) until their room is finished.

Jen: I would love to keep Colton on Neocate but its 200 dollars a case of 4-14 oz cans! There is a next step the doctor has been thinking about putting him on. I do not wish to keep lugging around cans of really expensive junk to feed him. The main ingredient is Corn Syrup Solids! Yuck! Second ingredient is Vegetable Oil the list goes on. Formula is not really good for the kids especially with that garbage in it. My husband was thinking of eliminating dairy completely from our diet for our health and my poor Colton's health. I do not wish to keep buying this formula and would love to see how he does on goats milk because I put him on it before and he seemed fine its just the medical doctors said that he won't get good nutrition and end up in the hospital because of low iron. Well, the naturalist said he would be just fine with goats milk just add some black strap molasses to the milk and a little squirt of olive oil.  I am not sure what is going to happen I just know that there has to be a cheaper alternative to a supplement for his allergy and a way for him and I to get some sleep!

Thanks for the replies!!!! I really appreciate all of them!!!

[Spectra]

Neocate doesn't have any diary/soy in it.  My son cannot tolerate any dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, oats, beef, barley and Neocate is the ONLY formula he can have.  My son would also wake up several times a night to eat.  He is 13 months now and still wakes up sometimes once a night, and only to eat a little bit.  I tried Goats milk but I found out he couldn't handle that either.  Rice milk worked well with him, it is awesome stuff, but lacks in certain nutritional areas like fat and protein, that's why I keep him on the Neocate for now.  However you can add fat and protein to rice milk.

But there is so many hidden soy, dairy, and gluten in SOOO many foods.  I would look into the foods you are giving him as well.

[kate585]

marking...will reply later   

[germanator]

Melanie! Thank YOU!!! I will try rice milk and see what happens I just can not keep him on this formula forever! I could use the Neocate next step when we are away and Rice Milk when we are home!!!

[Spectra]

There is a sticky on this board on ways to increase fat in rice milk.  Also some rice milks do have more protein than others, so investigate to find the best one in your area.  You'll probably find it in your organic section of your grocery store, or a health/organic store.  And what is really neat is some of them have different flavours like vanilla and chocolate, which is cool.  Actually there are a few stickies on this board about rice milk, if you haven't read them yet.  I spoke with a Pediatric Dietitian at my hospital, who got in contact with the leading children's hospital of Canada, and they looked at the nutritional information on the rice milk I was using, Rice Dream, and the 1 ounce of coconut milk I was adding for fat and the Rice Protein powder I was adding for protein and they said it was great fine stuff.  And if your child eats lots of other foods rich in protein I wouldn't worry over adding more protein into the milk, especially at his age where he'll be drinking less over the next year and eating more solids.

May I ask where you are located?  What country are you from?

[momtoandrewandthomas]

I know the cost of the Neocate is astronomical, but I wish my Thomas had taken to it from the start and I had something to fall back on.  He will not take any rice milk, almond milk, hemp milk or anything else.  He basically drinks juice and water.  Not good.  He has burned out of all calcium supplements they make that are dairy and soy free and now he is becoming less tolerance of foods once tolerated.  I agree that formulas are not the best, but to guarantee that nutrition is had daily is less of a worry.  I have nothing to think of but his poor bones and muscles and such that are not and never have gotten the fat, protein and calcium that they need.  So far, he is on track, but we are not gaining any weight over the last 6 months and most likely longer than that, I refuse to look.  I am seeing a dietician tomorrow to get some help.

I would highly recommend the food diary- it was a sanity and life-saver for me.  I feel your pain.  Hang in there. Thomas is an AWESOME sleeper now.  Once his diet was in check, all was way better than good.  Sleep is overrated anyway.  I still wake up at his wake up times even if he does not!!

[Spectra]

Jen wow, I didn't realize he wasn't drinking any of that stuff.  Poor you, that must weigh heavy on your mind.  Hopefully the dietitian will be able to help.

[hrk]

Super hugs for you and your lo.  I saw you posted about reflux.  Any chance that is the culprit, still?  We were on a low dose for 4 mo and still had silent reflux, as he was no longer spitting up.  Finally went from 15 mg prevacid to 45 mg prevacid and sttn at 9 mo.  Perhaps I missed this info.  Sorry for a repeat if it is... 

[momtoandrewandthomas]

They have never upped Thomas's medicine.  He still takes 15 mg of Prevacid daily and we have weaned off the Zantac at least a year ago.  I have asked if he needs more, but he will now be scoped in Nov because he is not gaining (go figure with our restricted diet and a 2 year old's fickle appetite) and he is still refluxing.  She is looking for damage to his GI tract.  I suppose if it come  back negative (biopsies included) then she will medicate him differently (I hope).  He is just hanging on by his teeth as far as nutrition.  I am looking forward to meeting with the dietician today.

[momtoandrewandthomas]

Thanks for all the support girls and I will keep you updated as far as our visit goes.  All new ideas will be shared with you all!!