Does no3 have intolerances too?

[rinajack]

Hi everyone

DD1 is dairy and wheat free. She went dairy free at about 10 weeks old, reintroduced at 1 yr old, then lost weight had lots of eating issues, removed dairy again at 2.5 yrs old, then wheat at 3 years old.  DS is dairy wheat and soy free, dairy identified as a baby, reintroduced at about 9 months old, removed all 3 at 10 months old due to severe abnormal for age behaviour problems.  He also had reflux and is still on medication at almost 3 years old after many failed attempts without it. 

DD2 is a great baby, sleeps great, feeds great, gaining weight etc and is BF only. 

About a week ago she got a rash on her face - face, ears, it gets very angry and red looking at times, other times is pink, it makes her skin really rough, almost scaly, feels dry.  Looks very sore to me, although her behaviour hasn't really changed much. She spits up ALOT - and it is really vomity smelling, and often really thick like cottage cheese.  Again, she isn't particularly bothered, although it does wake her sometimes.  She is tummy sleeping and I thought laying this may have caused the rash, but have taken steps (putting down a cloth nappy to absorb, and moving her off wet spots when I check on her) but it is getting worse not better.  She has loads of wind, but again, mostly isn't too bothered if given a little assistance to bring it up, or push it out - and can usually do this when tummy sleeping on her own, after which she goes right back to sleep.  When she is awake, she rarely lets us put her down, but is not unsettled in our arms for the most part, so I can't tell if it is discomfort or personality. (Although I do think that her fussiness when awake is increasing, but she is still no real trouble and rarely cries, but she grunts LOTS)  She does not have mucuous in her poo, but her poos are like yellow milk - they absorb straight into the nappy they are so runny - although this is possibly within the realms of normal for a BF baby?

What do you alll think?  Should I be eliminating milk?  I *think* she spits up worse, is a little more unsettled when I have lots of milk, but she is SUCH a good baby (especially after the last 2 screamers) that I just don't know, and feel I can't make a decision either way.

Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[scarlettsmom]

Hi Rina,

Congrats on your new LO, she is beautiful!  

Regarding her intolerances - first off it is VERY reassuring to hear nothing seems to be really bothering her.

Not quite sure what the rash on her face is, but might be as simple as laundry detergent?  perfume/soap? something environmental?  I think baby acne (I forget the technical name for it) starts around this time?  My DD1 had it and has no food allergies/intolerances, we just put some hydrocortisone on to make sure it wasn't itchy.   Stools don't sound too concerning, but something to keep an eye on - again, very reassuring that there is no mucous, and doesn't bother her to pass them.

That being said, it sounds like she is an angel baby (yay!!), and might be able to deal with it better than other babies if there is indeed a problem.  Honestly, I would not cut anything out right now, milk protein is hard for everyone to digest at first, and she could just be adjusting to the tiny amount coming through your BM.  If you notice that she seems to struggle a bit when you eat loads, then perhaps for the next couple of weeks don't drastically change things, just don't overload on the dairy.  Since your other two do have food allergies/intolerances, it does increase Bree's chances, but is not definitive.

Hope this helps a little - it really will just boil down to her behavior and any symptoms down the road.  

((hugs))) I hope she's allergy/intolerance free!!!  If not, we're here to help!!  

[rinajack]

I have made a Dr's appt about her rash today, it is even on her eyelids!

I forgot to mention that she has had a very snotty nose for about 6.5 weeks now (and she is 7 weeks old).  It is definitely not getting better, there have been no temps, no cough etc and is certainly isn't getting worse either.

If she was fussy, I would be certain, but she isn't fussy and that is what is creating my doubt.

My DH wants me to cut all dairy, after the other two he doesn't want things to go bad iykwim. They were such difficult babies! But are also difficult personalities - one is spirited,the other touchy/spirited.  And yes, Bree does seem to be an angel baby.

Thanks for you input, I will report back after the Dr appt.

[scarlettsmom]

  about the congestion/runny nose too.  It does all seem to point in the MPI direction. 

I completely get what your DH is talking about.  It was torture for us w/DD2 and I would be terrified to touch dairy again if I had another bub (actually still kind of am and I'm not even breastfeeding anymore! that's a whole other story....).

Wow on the rash on her eyelids now, poor thing!  She sure is a trooper. 

Yes, please post back on the dr appointment.  Good luck.

[rinajack]

Well, Dr says the rash is NOT allergy related - it is quite normal for babies except that Bree has it quite badly, and has instructed me to put some prescription cream on it for a couple of days.

With all of the other symptoms though, he thinks there is certainly no harm in excluding milk from my diet to assess the impact of that.  However, since the other two kids are also wheat free, he thought that if the milk exclusion was not successful, I should also exclude wheat to assess the impact of that before I decide that it is not food intolerance related.

I finally got myself a baby that sleeps and doesn't cry all the time.  I think I will go with excluding milk so that if there IS an issue, I can catch it before she heads in the direction the other two did.  Also, with my other two, thinks became markedly worse when they were getting most of their nutrition from food directly, rather than breastmilk - they both fell through the charts around the age of one, and with DD1 since it took longer to work it out, she actually got so bad that she lost weight - about 2kg!

So, I am thinking to exclude dairy only for 1 month, before I make any other dietary changes...does this sound OK?

[EloysH]

Personally, I think it is a good diea to eliminate dairy for one month, there are only up sides.  Esp given the family history. It may clear up the rash, you may see and improvement with the spitting up.  You may even be avoiding future MPI symptoms from appearing, maybe the build up is yet to peak in her system KWIM?   

 If there is no change for the better, well, you can just get back on the milk 

[scarlettsmom]

I finally got myself a baby that sleeps and doesn't cry all the time.  I think I will go with excluding milk so that if there IS an issue, I can catch it before she heads in the direction the other two did.  Also, with my other two, thinks became markedly worse when they were getting most of their nutrition from food directly, rather than breastmilk - they both fell through the charts around the age of one, and with DD1 since it took longer to work it out, she actually got so bad that she lost weight - about 2kg!

So, I am thinking to exclude dairy only for 1 month, before I make any other dietary changes...does this sound OK?

I think that sounds like a great plan Rina.  If there are still issues then think about wheat (or soy).

Make sure you have a calcium supplement though.  You can get milk free ones.

Let us know how it goes.   

[rinajack]

This will be the 3rd time I have tried to respond on here, pretty frustrating!

Anyway, things are going well.  There is a lot less vomit (quantity wise, not frequency) - and it is sometimes "fresh" milk, sometimes more like curdled milk, but no more cottage cheese.  Her poos are increasing in frequency, and the consistency is becoming more substantial, more like a smoothie now, rather than watery.  She is happier too.

Still having loads of trouble with wind though, and many of her spitups come up with her wind...not sure if this is just newborn stuff (although saw a baby yesterday that did not have any wind or spitups in over 2 hours that I saw him) or wether I need to wait and see, or wether I should be cutting wheat.

She is going to bed late now, that is due to the timing of her poos LOL.  But is then giving me a good 9 hour stretch with no feeds, which I am definitely not complaining about. Last night - fed at 9ishpm, and then not again until 6am.  She definitely had some serious wind in the first our or so of that, but worked it out on her own, then went back to sleep - so does that mean it is ok, or should I make any changes - the reality is, she just is NOT a cry baby iykwim, she hardly cries at all - not even when DS is too rough with her, so I don't know if she will let me know there is a problem unless it is really bad.

[scarlettsmom]

Hi Rina,

Wonderful news on Bree's progress!  And wow - on the 9 hr stretches at night, that's heavenly! 

So, I personally think you should continue doing what you're doing.  It hasn't been that long and already there are good signs coming of it.  Stick to your original plan and then reassess about the wheat.  The wind could just be she's still working out stuff from the remaining milk protein, kwim?

Keep us posted.

[rinajack]

Thanks.  Good point about the wind.  It is very bad at present but I have oversupply due to the dropped feed overnight - now her poos are green LOL. But that happened when my milk came in too, so not too worried.

Had a little milk set back though - I went out for dinner with some friends last night, and ordered without consulting the menu (been there lots of times before) - forgot they had a new menu, so the grilled fish came with risotto instead of with salad and fries - it was delicious but VERY creamy.  Then the other girls were having dessert, and since I already had some dairy, I had dessert too - so things will probably not be too great for a couple of days.

Anyway, I will do a month of no dairy from now, then decide about the wheat I think - that will take it til after my birthday, and cutting wheat is such a big thing for me that I need that much time to psych myself up to it if it needs to be done I think.

Thanks again.

[scarlettsmom]

The gas could be from the oversupply too.  We had that too, evened out after about a week with some block nursing (although you probably don't need that at this stage since it's due to the overnight feed being dropped). 

Slip ups are going to happen, I think it's great you're getting out and going on with your life.  I literally holed up for months on end because I was terrified (Gwyneth was not like Bree, and didn't work it out on her own, she would get miserable and scream and scream, I never wanted to get back there!!).  Once red wine was safe I would finally go out and just drink a couple of glasses with friends while they ate, lol, but that was about 9 months in!

Good luck, hope she doesn't react to the small amount of dairy, and I really really hope you don't have to drop wheat.  If so, there are so many great gluten free options out there (as you probably know already because of your other LOs) and it will all work out. 

xo

[rinajack]

The dairy last night has definitely impacted - she has cried out a few times from the tummy pains...but she still isn't really crying iykwim...and because it hurts she does want to  be held.  I will have to be more careful, but she isn't unmanageable when I do slip up.

Re still getting out - that is just me.  I think I am a pretty strong person, and I take most things in my stride and just get on with it.  Plus I have done really really hard work babies 2x before, and I know that no matter how hard, you always come out the other end eventually - with those two, I ended up putting my own sanity before all else, so if that meant we went out, off we went!

[scarlettsmom]

Hi Rina - just checking in to see how it's going? 

[rinajack]

Thanks for checking on us!  Bree has been going great, have even had a few nights where she slept 11 hours without waking for a feed! It seems to be somewhere between 9 and 11 hours that she goes overnight which is fantastic.

Because she is such a good baby, I find it harder to be really strict on the no dairy - I had a cappucino today.  It is the first dairy I had in a week though. She isn't napping all that long today, but is waking happy, and is putting herself to sleep in her cot, so she is still wonderful. (we haven't even worked on independant sleep - we are out for so many of her naps that some are in the car, some in the pram, some feed to sleep, some rock to sleep, some independant sleep in the cot....whatever works, and she isn't hard work at any of the methods!

The additional progress is that she is no longer snuffly and blocked up in the nose. Oh, and my supply has settled quite a bit, and she is no where near as windy, so for now, I will leave it with just the dairy eliminated.

[scarlettsmom]

WONDERFUL news!!!      Yay that her stuffy nose is gone, your supply has settled and she is doing great!  Sounds like everything is falling into place.

Wow on the 9-11 hrs at night, that's amazing!

Enjoy your little angel!