Went for ds allergy testing today..

[Mum to F&A]

Well it confirmed what we thought and ds is allergic to milk. He didn't react to the soya and dr advised us to cook with the soya and add a few drops to his milk.

Interestingly though he said he would have stated straight from the history that ds had a milk allergy and that it shouldn't have even been considered as being a lactose intolerance. Apparently the rash is the clue and lactose intollerence is diarrhea!

[scarlettsmom]

Hey - I don't know how I missed this!  Sorry.

Oh wow, so it is confirmed.  Sorry that he has an allergy, but YAY that it is diagnosed AND he did ok with the soy.  How is he doing transitioning to that?

(((((hugs)))))), sorry that he was misdiagnosed at first.  But glad that you have a definite answer now.  Hope LO feels better soon.

[~ Vik ~]

I was waiting to see how your appointment went!  Sorry to hear that he is allergic, but like Tari said, at least now you know.  A milk allergy is so much easier to deal with when they're not also allergic to soy.  My ds is the same and there are so many soy substitutes for dairy that it makes food preparation much easier.

We transitioned ds from breast milk to soy milk for his day feeds a few months ago so if you want any tips let me know.  We did it quite gradually (over about 6 weeks) but you could certainly move more quickly than we did.

Hope that everything starts going smoothly for you now

[Mum to F&A]

Hi Vikki any advice on transitioning to Soy would be great thanks! Ds refused a daytime feed of anything (expressed and Soy) so we've ended up dropping those altogether. But my supply seems to be dwindling since doing this and I'm worried he's not getting enough milk now.

Would like to move morning and night feeds to soy if poss. He will take it on his cereal but that's about it. Spat the milk out at CM today and that was heavily diluted!

[~ Vik ~]

Will he take ebm at all? Is he just refusing it through the day or all the time? Do you offer it in a cup or bottle?

[Mum to F&A]

When he started going I sent ebm in a cup for him to have which he refused. Daddy had been trying for a couple of weeks to get him to take it and each time he refused. He's never taken to a bottle. When he was younger he took it but it was extremely hard work and he never settled into really accepting it. This was after 4weeks of trying! I guess in the end the BF became too easy! 

re, the soya he will eat it with his cereal and polished off a whole bowl today but he wont take it from a cup. He only wants water and will spit the milk out from the cup. I've been told to offer it to him really diluted, which we're doing at lunchtimes but there just seems to be no fooling this child!

Should I perhaps be offering it to him at bedtime and topping up with a BF?

[~ Vik ~]

Hi, sorry I'm just getting back now.  Things have been crazy with work over here

I actually just posted on another thread about how I got Dylan to take a bottle of ebm around 10mo old, and how we transitioned from the ebm to soy.  I'll copy and paste everything here, and let me know if you have any questions

So, what we did.  We had experimented with different bottles and nipples also, trying to find one that he liked.  Of course, he rejected all of them.  I was in a bit of a panic, as I was returning to work in less than 2 months and he *had* to be drinking something other than me!  We went to see his doctor, and he said to pick a bottle and stick with it for a while, at least a week if not longer.  He said that bottle feeding is so foreign to breastfed babies that changing bottles every couple of days (which was what I was doing) was really counter productive as it didn't allow my ds time to get used to any one - so of course he was rejecting them all!  So we chose the playtex drop ins for a couple of reasons:
- it was the bottle he had rejected the least (if that makes any sense)
- the nipples were wider and slightly more like bfing as pp said
- the nipples were available in a variable flow (very important for us, even slow flow nipples allow milk to just drip into ds' mouth and he didn't like that, with variable flow the harder he sucked the more he got, but if he didn't suck he didn't get anything - like bfing)
- they had a collapsible bag which created a vacuum so there was always milk in the nipple, you never had to hold it the *right* way (this was also very important, as ds did NOT want me to hold a bottle for him, the vacuum allowed him to hold it himself in any position he wanted, even while crawling)

The other piece of advice my doctor gave was to choose one feeding to replace at a time.  Once he was taking one feeding well from the bottle/cup, then drop the next.  At the time, ds was nursing at 7, 11, 2/230 (before 2nd nap because of long A times) and before bed.  We started with the 11am feed.  I put him in his bouncy chair (did NOT want me to hold him in the early days) in front of the TV (baby einstein, he did a bit better when distracted) and gave him a small bottle (about 3/4oz) of ebm.  (We had tried formula and he rejected it outright, so I pumped).  I would let him play with the bottle, chew on the nipple, etc - as long as he wasn't upset, I left him to it.  I would stroke his head or rub his legs too.  If he dropped the bottle, I would hand it back casually and if he didn't want it that was fine.  If he got fussy I would take him out of his chair and let him play.  I continued to casually offer the bottle (just handing it to him while he was playing), but with no pressure.  I fed him his normal lunch around 1230, and tried the bouncy chair/TV bottle one more time around 1/130.  Once he refused it then, I didn't offer it any more and breastfed at our normal time.  The first day I think he took a couple of sips, but over the next couple of weeks he started taking an oz, then two, then drinking the whole bottle!  Once he was drinking well (about 4/5oz consistently) we moved to the 2pm feed.  This one went much more quickly as he was already drinking well from the bottle.

Then we made the transition to soy milk for his day feed (much later, we didn't do this until about 15mo, I just kept pumping for bottles of ebm) and I did it gradually too:
Week 1: 4oz ebm, 1oz soy
Week 2: 3oz ebm, 2oz soy
Week 3: 2.5oz ebm, 2.5oz soy
Week 4: 2oz ebm, 3oz soy
Week 5: 1oz ebm, 4oz soy
Week 6: all soy
We didn't have any problems with rejection along the way, so this worked quite well for us   You could go more quickly if you needed to, or more gradually if you encounter rejection so this is a nice way to transition.

[Mum to F&A]

Thank You for the reply! We're going to try an gradually replace ds's evening feed first. Just a couple of questions first.

Did you dilute the milk to start of with? I've been advised by the ped to dilute his milk so that he gradually gets used to the taste of it. dh tried him with is again today he drank it until he realised what it was and then spat it all out. He then kept swatting the cup away again. He will happily drink water out of the cup and drinks approx. 2cups of water during the day. He never really refused this so I wondering if it is simply about the taste? I don't think he really tastes it when I put it in his cereal.

Also we've been told hi he point blank refuses to drink it after a week we can add the milk to milkshake instead? Have you heard of this happening? I thought it would then be pure sugar?!

As I'm still bfing in the evening should I be offering him the expressed milk instead? I am worried that he will get worked up and start using the BF as a comfort IKWIM?

THank You!

[~ Vik ~]

Did you dilute the milk to start of with?

When we first got him on the bottle we did straight ebm.  My reasoning was that he was already getting used to one new thing (the bottle) so at least what was in it was familiar.  I had initially tried with straight formula and he rejected it outright.  When we were transitioning to soy milk for day feeds I tried straight soy and he rejected that too, so that's when we started the gradual ebm to soy transition.  I don't see why the same reasoning wouldn't work with water and his milk though.  If he drinks water from a cup well, then you could always try it.  Maybe try a 50/50 dilution first and see if he'll take it.  If he does, fantastic!  You could keep him on the 50/50 for a few days and then gradually decrease the water.  If he rejects the 50/50 then try it even more diluted (60/40 or even 70/30 if you have to) until he does accept it and use that as a starting point. 

Also we've been told hi he point blank refuses to drink it after a week we can add the milk to milkshake instead? Have you heard of this happening? I thought it would then be pure sugar?!

I have heard of using the milk to make smoothies - you would use milk/formula/yogourt and a favourite fruit(s) to sweeten it.  I know that Martina Rae makes smoothies for her ds and she swears by watermelon as it's nice and sweet and a good texture.  But really you could use any fruit puree and it could work!

As I'm still bfing in the evening should I be offering him the expressed milk instead? I am worried that he will get worked up and start using the BF as a comfort IKWIM?

TBH, that's entirely up to you!  When we made the transition to bottles for the day I kept bfing morning and night, and same when we were transitioning to soy milk.  I never stopped bfing.  I wonder if the evening feed is the best one to replace?  If it's the one that he's least interested in then go for it, but I wonder if the morning one might work better?  He would be hungry, so more likely to accept what you're offering...  Or a middle of the day one?  Ds' doctor said to start with the feed that Dylan was least interested in and associated the least with comfort or routine or settling for sleep - that's why I chose the 11am one.  But really, that's a very personal decision and only you know what will work best for you and your ds

HTH!

[Mum to F&A]

Hey, as ds has given up his daytime feeds he seems completely uninterested in taking anything but water from the cup during the day. We've decided to start with the morning feed as he can usually wait a little in the morning before having a feed so hopefull we'l get somewhere!

Just one question completely unrelated to the milk problem. Have you heard of lo's reacting to milk spilt on the floor but not ingested. Only I had to rush out of work 2day because my CM rang me up saying ds was vomiting everywhere! I suspected he'd had a reaction to something but he's only eaten the food I provided for him and he was vomiting several hours after (usually within 20mins that he reacts)  The CM was positive he hadn't got anything from anyone else. He went to a group today and I was wondering if he'd crawled around in some milk or something IKYIM?

When I saw him he was covered in a rash on his chest, - the vomiting is unusual though he's onlg vomited with the goats milk before.

[firsttimemummy]

Just skimmed the post and not sure age of your DS but could you use rice milk instead of soya milk? We are avoiding cows milk and have used both soya and rice milk.  DS will drink both but adores rice milk - if he has soya he will drink a little bit (enough to quench his thirst) but if he has rice milk he gulps it down and keeps asking for more, so it must taste nice!! Not tried it myself though.  I posted earlier on today about my DS as we are waiting to see dietician and just wondering what they do and how you go about getting intolerence/allergy tests, etc ...

[Mum to F&A]

Hi, I haven't tried rice milk no. at the moment we're getting soya on prescription. ds will have it if its mixed in his foods and I was thinking about pureeing some fruit and mixing it with the soya.

ds is almost 12months. I was under the impression that you couldn't rely solely on replacing feeds with rice milk? Or am I wrong? Where did you get rice milk from? Do you have to go to a health food shop such as Holland and Barrett?

we haven't seen a dietician yet we're waiting for a appoinment to come through but we did see a ped at our hospital for ds to have  the prick tests. Our GP referred us there and I didn't actually realise they were going to do the tests there and then! What they did was put a small amount of milk, soya and a control on his arms and legs and then make a small prick through them.

Ds reacted strongly to milk but no reaction to soya. would your GP refer you for the tests? I had to go back maybe four times before they would eventually refer us to the peds for the test and TBH he seemed quite annoyed with GP's not referring correctly for allergy tests. Maybe if you ask the dietician for a referral they may do it?

HTH!

[scarlettsmom]

Rebecca - regarding your question about reacting to milk that was on the floor, but not ingested.  Yes, you can have a contact allergy - but I don't think it's typical to vomit from that.  More hives/rashes you know?  However, if he did crawl through some, it is very possible he ingested some - through getting it on his hands, sucking on his shirt, that kind of thing.  Hope he is feeling better!

Firsttimemummy - if you are replacing rice milk for cow's milk you will definitely need to find something to supplement it with to get more fat/calories/nutrients.  Soy is good, oat milk, lots of mama's use coconut milk in conjunction w/the rice milk.  I replied to your other thread...hope you get seen by an allergist soon!

[firsttimemummy]

Thanks - DS eats lots and there isn't any food he wont take so he gets a good balanced diet.  It is only recently that he stopped breastfeeding/formula.  The rice milk we buy has added calcium, vitamins, etc and we get it in the supermarket (its £1 in Asda at the moment, called Rice Dream)

[~ Vik ~]

Just checking in, but Tari has all your questions covered   Hope things are still going well, Rebecca!  And hope you get to see someone soon, firsttimemummy.