Could her sleep issues be caused by a food allergy?

[Twolilbeans]

I have a thread going in the sleep section and was told I might get some help here. I don't know for sure if DD has a food allergy, but I'll explain what has been going on so far. She's a few days shy of 7 months old.

DD is constipated all the time, to the point where the doctor has prescribed a daily stool softener and fruit juice and has me staying away from anything that would cause any kind of solidity in her stools. From day 1 she's had symptoms of reflux and was even being watched for pyloric stenosis because of her frequent projectile vomiting. Her stool is completely solid, hard as a rock, and only happens every two days if she's off the prune juice. Her poopy diapers usually go like this, hard stool "plug" with some soft stool. She'll often have another poopy diaper a few hours after that with watery and sometimes very mucousy stool.

I've looked at the thread that lists the symptoms and so far this is what I've seen:

Severe constipation
Occasional mucousy stools
Tummy troubles, gas
Inability to settle (this has just recently started within the last few weeks)
Crying, fussiness, colic
She had some issues with a rash that wouldn't go away, but the doctor said it was probably just allergies to our detergent
She eats small meals every few hours (formula fed with occasional fruit solids). I thought I created this habit by letting her snack, but after trying to fix it things never changed or improved
Reflux symptoms that have improved from about 4 months old

If she does have an allergy would the symptoms have been around all this time? She just recently started being impossible to settle, I can tell she's exhausted (it might be OT, I'm trying to work it out right now) but she just won't fall asleep. She wants me to hold her all the time. We did go through a bit of her refusing to eat, but I thought it might have been from reflux. When I try to put her down for her nap or bedtime she arches her back, wiggles, and cries. She's cried herself to sleep on several occasions, with me holding her. When I hold her she always wants to stand up and will kick her legs and arch her back until I do so.

She is currently on generic similac advanced formula and will eat squashed up fruits. She gets a bottle of organic pear juice every day (2 oz or less). Is there a formula that would work better for her tummy problems? I use kirkland brand formula to save money, my DH just switched jobs and took a pay cut so I have to cut costs wherever I can. If it is her formula I'll do whatever I have to to make her feel better, despite the cost. My pediatrician is out of town for two weeks so I can't get any help from him right now.

Does this sound like a food allergy or something I need to have tested? I'm so exhaused with her night waking and inability to settle lately.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Does this sound like a food allergy or something I need to have tested?

To me it sounds more like an intolerance of some sort...I take it the formula she is on is milk based?  Milk protein intolerance can cause constipation, it was the main symptom my DD2 had.  Which I didn't figure out was from me eating things that contained milk even though I had cut out obvious dairy, because I put her on soy formula when I weaned and she was suddenly having regular bm's.

[Twolilbeans]

I've heard really bad things about soy formula so I'm a little scared to try that with her, is there anything else out there besides soy?

[Shiv52]

My DD2 is intolerant to dairy and had much the same symptoms and her sleep is very unsettled, more so at night though.  there are are hypoallergenic formulas you can get so you don't have to use soy products but they are expensive.  I know here we can get them on prescription here so not sure that is an option for you from your paed?

The mucousy poos were a big sign of intolerance here in the early days and then constipation became much more common and as you say once she passed the harder poo the rest that came was mucousy. 

[deria]

My son is dairy intolerant, and his pediatrician kept telling us that he had reflux. He used to spot up a lot and couldn't sleep laying down. He also would wake up every hour.  I hated giving him medicine all the time, so I did some research and suspected dairy intolerance. I cut out dairy from my diet and he improved in a few days, and was a much better sleeper after two weeks. If she's been intolerant this whole time, it probably got worse over time. You might wanna try dairy-free formulas for at least two weeks to see if there's any improvement. Also, it's better to catch it sooner than later, because it might escalate over time.

Good luck with it, I know how heart breaking it can be..

[Twolilbeans]

I've switched to a formula that has broken down proteins and things have slightly improved. I think I may end up trying soy to see if things improve 100% If I can get her constipation problem to improve or go away all together I'll deal with the soy formula.

[mjohnson33]

I thought my son had MSPI allergy too.  He has all the same symptoms you are having minus the muscosy poops.  But his were exactly as you describe....he wasnt really fussy per say but hard to settle and very restless at night.  I first tried soy and he got worse with gassiness and fussing.  I tried Nutramigen HAF formula, he hated it but was on it for 10 days and I saw NO IMPROVEMENT, so I switched to Gerber Good Start and started a Bio Gaia probiotic.  I do give him miralax everyday for consitpation but it is slowly improving with the probiotic and some days I do not need as much.  I have also noticed his spitup is less. 

Also, could she be teething??

[Twolilbeans]

I thought she was, but her gums aren't swollen and she's not drooling at all. The Gerber goodstart has seemed to make a difference, she's been easier to put down and finally had a normal poop without any juice or stool softeners. I'm hoping things stay this way, it seems like switching formula helps for about a week and then it goes back to the way it was. I'm crossing my fingers it stays normal this time!

[mjohnson33]

good luck, keep us posted!!