Cutting dairy -how long before you see the effect?

[ENMS]

So my doctor asked me to cut dairy and feed my DS Alimentum. He's 9 weeks old, has controlled reflux, but was still choking and being generally fussy while feeding. He is bottle-fed about 85% EBM and 15% formula (Enfamil A+)

Wednesday morning I was seeing an improvement and then I saw the doctor Wed PM. I cut dairy as of Wed night. He doesn't like the taste of Alimentum so yesterday he had two feeds which were 50/50 Enfamil A+ and Alimentum.

It's been getting better and better... Today he hasn't been fussy at all while feeding.  But, it seems too quick for dairy to really be the issue here, especially that he's been having some Enfamil A+ yesterday so he's not really completely dairy free.  He was already getting better on Wed before I cut dairy.

One thing I realized is that Wednesday was exactly 2 weeks after we started the 15mg dose of Prevacid which controlled his reflux. I'm wondering if the improvement I am seeing is that after two weeks we can see the full effect of his reflux being controlled? Doctor did not think so but I'm not so sure.

Is it too soon to see an improvement from cutting dairy?  My understanding was that it could take a good week before all the milk protein were removed from his system.

What I was thinking was to stay dairy free for one full week, but continuing to supplement with 50/50 of Enfamil and Alimentum. Then after one week, I would either 1) add back dairy slowly in my diet or,  2) stop mixing Enfamil and Alimentum and just give him Enfamil, and see how it goes.  Is that a good plan?

[clazzat]

For us the difference was almost immediate - I know that it can take up to 2 weeks for the dairy to clear the system properly, but the initial improvement was within 24 hours. My ds is sensitive to dairy but not horrendously so - if I avoid milk, cheese, yoghurt and chocolate we do fine. I got to the point where I thought that it wasn't the issue and I trialled having cheese and ice cream and he screamed non-stop for 2 days, and then after one day when I didn't have dairy he was much closer to being back to normal.

I don't know for sure if your ds has an issue with milk, but I wouldn't discount it merely because he has improved quickly. Your best bet would be to do a trial and see what he can tolerate -  I can have butter and don't have to check ingredients for milk proteins, but when I get too relaxed and have some chocolate I know about it pretty quickly.

[ENMS]

Thanks Clazzat.

What about the fact that he is still getting some Enfamil though?

The symptoms he had just don't look the same as what I'm reading here and on the internet overall... he was basically choking while feeding and being generally fussy during feeding only.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part... I really hope MPI is not the issue here... 

[clazzat]

If the symptoms don't fit then it is definitely worth looking at something else - we didn't have major problems with feeding, but he spent the day screaming and arching his back so it was obvious that his tummy was the issue. It does seem that the only way you are going to be sure is to eliminate it for a week and then add it back to see if it makes a difference. However, if he is better even with the formula then it suggests that it might not be dairy that is the problem - as you say, it could just be the reflux meds settling in and doing their job properly.

[Khalam's Mama]

It is hard to know for sure when more than one thing is changing. I would either stop the dairy free completely if you really doubt it or keep going a few weeks cutting out the dairy formula too. Either way you can see how he goes and then add the dairy back in and see if he reacts or see if he is ok anyway without cutting anything now the meds have kicked in.
We also saw a difference in a day or 2. We then had a couple bad days and I realised there was dairy in some meat I was eating instead of cheese! I keep doubting the dairy but anytime I slip up he reacts.
If you do continue with the fairy free formula try some brown sugar in it rather than mixing with dairy. We did that to get rid of the dairy adap and were able to reduce it very quickly once he got used to it. Not ideal but imo better than dairy if it is upsetting him.
Hth.