Is it really a dairy intolerance??

[mjohnson33]

Please help me, I am really questioning my ability to mother right now.    I feel so helpless for my 8 month old little guy and I dont know what to do.  Up until late Friday he was on Enfamil Gentelease ready made formula.  He had 2 really good nights Thursday and Friday night.  My sitter told me she was concerned with the amount his has been spitting up lately and the fact that his eczema has flared up.  He has reflux and is on Famotidine for it and has also been battling constipation since 4 months old.  He has also been the WORST sleeper since birth.  And I thought it was all tied in together.  So I called his pedi and I had to suggest that he has a milk intolerance and he said maybe switch to soy and see if it helps.  So, I bought Prosobee and started it at 1am Saturday mornning.  Ever since then he has been very gassy and very restless sleeping.  His spitting up has decreased with the exception of this morning.  The sitter called me and told me he is spitting puddles today!!!  I am wondering if its not an intolerance at all and maybe something totally different.  I think the soy made it worse?? Is 3 days enough to know whether or not its an intolerance?  I am so worried about him and I think I am making things worse?? 

[deb]

It's not your mothering - we're all parenting as best we can but there's a lot of information that even the doctors don't know about or think to tell us about that isn't really common knowledge or practice. You're an awesome mother to go looking for answers! 

A lot of babies with milk allergy or intolerance also have issues with soy, as I think the proteins are similar enough to provoke similar responses. Neither of mine tolerate either dairy or soy well even now as older girls (6YO and 9YO), yogurt being an exception (culturing alters the milk sugars and proteins enough that we can tolerate dairy in that form).

The dairy sounds like an actual allergy if it was causing eczema. MSPI can totally look like reflux - see this thread for a start: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=189899.0

[mjohnson33]

Thanks so much for the kind words!!!
Well he has only had eczema flare ups once or twice since birth so I doubt its from the formula.  I would think it wouldnt get worse with the soy....and it did....

[deb]

Mine had issues with dairy but soy, WOW, let's just say the digestive consequences were....unpleasant. 

Let's see what else it might be.... What solids is he on?

[mjohnson33]

Ok, well it could be....my doctor suggested Nutramagin....they are leaving me samples at the office to pick up. 

He is on every solid except for bananas and carrots since they constipate.  I try to give him a large balance of fiber as well.  So he has a jar of fruits w/ oatmeal in the morning and at lunch he has 1 jar of veggies and for dinner its usually 1 jar of veggies and a few cookies....

[deb]

What's in the cookies? A grain intolerance doesn't usually manifest that way but there's always an outside chance, but there could easily be dairy and/or soy in the cookies, and it may be a matter of quantity - in other words he might be able to handle the dairy or soy in the formula OR the cookies but not both.

[mjohnson33]

Its arrowroot cookies but he doesnt have them every night....

[deb]

Hmmm.... must give that more thought.

Definitely try the Nutramigen. Many moms have lots of success with it. The hardest part is getting LO's to drink it, as the taste is apparently quire different from most formulas/milks. It often takes a lot of perseverance, and sometimes mixing the old and new in ever-increasing proportions of the Nutramigen to accustom them to it, but it has been done!

[mjohnson33]

Oh great!! So its horrible then?? Crap!!!

I thought for sure he would hate the soy and he actually liked it....so maybe he will like it??

I just know he is in agony from all the gas and he wasnt this way with the Gentelease so maybe I should go back to that.....

[deb]

Not all babies hate the stuff - just enough that I didn't want you to be surprised IF it happened to you guys! 

[~*~Louisa~*~]

at 8 months personally i would not try Nutramigen, Aptimil pepti might be a better start.

Nutramigen is FOUL! my pead said that at almost 3 months when Alyssa tried it she was almost too old to introduce it

I have tried every milk my babies have had, rangeing from breast (so i would know if the EBM was off) to normal formula, to soya then nutramigen and Neocate

Soya tastes hardly different to normal formula, Nutramigen omg!!! Neocate a bit blah but after Nutramigen very nice lol

[*Kara*]

I think she is in North America and we don't have Aptamil here.

[mjohnson33]

Yeah, we dont have that stuff here.   I tried the Nutramigen last night and he really didnt like it so I did 1/2 of that and 1/2 Gentelease and will slowly increase the Nutramigen and decrease the other until its all the HAF.  Hope it helps my poor little guy. 

[*Kara*]

ugh... My SIL used Nutramigen with two of her three and it took a couple of weeks for them to happily take it... there were good days and bad along the way, just like anything with a  baby really

[mjohnson33]

Thanks Kara, I also put a little splash of pear juice in it so it tasted a little better for him. LOL