Grown out of dairy intolerance?

[Miamamma]

My DS has had mild reflux since two weeks old. At 4 weeks old I eliminated dairy from my diet and this seemed to help the spitting up significantly. Now at 7 months, the spitting up is minimal and I want to supplement BF with formula as going back to work soon. I wanted to check his diary intolerance has gone so that I could use regular formula. Yesterday I have him a bit of yoghurt and have been eating dairy myself (chocolate, with wild abandon!  ). I have been waiting for a reaction but not sure exactly what I'm looking for.
Last night he was pretty unsettled but he's been happy during the day and spitting up hasn't increased at all. His BM have always been pretty loose and 'up the backers' are fairly common, so no changes there. No mucous or anything. So...are we in the clear? The bad night could well be down to teething as we have been waiting a while for the front top teeth and he's taken to batting himself across the head /ear when trying to settle to sleep. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks 

[Buntybear]

Hi, I think it is worth giving a good week to see if any reactions build up. I guess you would be looking for unsettledness esp if it came with wind or gripy pains, changes in BM, mucous, rashes etc.

I totally understand why you want to add dairy back in and I hope he is OK with it. If not then at least you can go to the GP and say you have tried it and get some hypo-allergenic milk.

[Skadiver13]

When we have trialed milk each time (ds is 22 months now) it's taken at least 10 days to get full on bad diapers etc. The first week everything has always looked good then it started to go down hill. I would give it a good week to 2 weeks.

[Miamamma]

Oh, so too early to celebrate just yet then. We've had two unsettled nights now where he has woken frequently. I've been able to settle him very quickly though so he couldn't be too uncomfortable? Day times are fine. He actually had the longest nap ever yesterday (1.75 hrs...he's always been a short napper).
Should I continue to eat dairy during the next week or so, or just leave it as one day? He had a bit of veggie mash with butter in yesterday....
His BM have always been loose but usually only 1-2 a day. Would it only be diarrhea if it was more frequent?

[Skadiver13]

hi hun you may be introducing things too quickly. Even now my DS cant do butter at 22 months as it gives him an upset stomache. I would stick to letting him get milk through you for a week and then see what happens.

[Miamamma]

Right, ok. I will stick to milk in my diet for the moment. I'm wondering if his night wakings are due to tummy pain, but I just don't know. On waking, he slams his feet down and starts to cry. When I go in and place my hand on him, he stops crying straight away and nuzzles into my hand to go back to sleep. Does this sound like it could be pain or something else?

[Skadiver13]

It could be especially if he didn't do it before. My son kicked his legs a lot when he had stomach pain especially at that age. Just give it some time.

[Miamamma]

You're right. I need to be patient. I just desperately want him to have grown out of it. I go back to work in less than two months now and I'm stressing about him having the right formula in place in time.

[Miamamma]

So now I'm convinced dairy is still a problem. He was up a lot last night with tummy pains and I could hear his tummy rumbling. Bit gutted but at least I know where we are at now. I'll go to the doctors to get suitable formula and cut all dairy in my diet again. My next question then is, how long till I can expect things to settle down again? Thanks for all your help by the way. I don't know what id do without this forum. Far more knowledge here than at either the GPs or HV...worryingly.

[Buntybear]

Sorry it hasn't worked out but he is still so little. His tummy is still getting used to solids! Maybe wait till he is a year old but if he has reacted like this then it may be a little longer till he grows out if it.

[Miamamma]

Hi, back again. The doctors have said that they can't prescribe the special formula without a letter confirming his allergy from the allergist clinic. Therefore they have referred him to the allergists for tests etc. I have no idea how long this will take and I am going back to work in less than two months. I think it's possible to buy the formula online but not sure whether this is a good idea or not? The two I have read about are Nutramigen and Neocate. It appears both can make things worse if the baby doesn't get on with them, so I'm nervous to start using them without expert advise. Should I just wait for the referral and if necessary express when I go back to work? I hate expressing and would really like to wean him by 12 months but things aren't exactly going as I had planned when he was born...
Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Skadiver13]

Hopefully someone from the UK can help here as I'm in the US and it's different here. What you are looking for is an elemental formula form (also known as amino acid based) what I understand here there are 2. Elecare, neocate. Take a look at this link

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=140&

I had heard nutramagin came out with one but not sure what it is called.  If you can afford to buy the formula while waiting I would.  Unfortunately my son turned out negative for the allergy because it's an intolerance not an allergy so he still needed the elemental formula. Theonly indication of intolerance was skin and blood in his stool. Can you get a different doctor, one who specializes in gastroenterology?

My son started out on necoate and ended up doing better on elecare because the neocate was corn based I think? I don't remember why and we never looked back. Most babies do just fine on ether. I've never heard of a baby doing worse on an amino acid formula.

[Lolly]

Check with a pharmacy about the neocate, they will be able to order it for you too. Have you tried your health visitor, some will try and help if they can. You could trial it for a few weeks and record what's happening, you should see improvement in couple of weeks which is evidence you can present to the Dr.

I will say though that in my experience what will and will not be prescribes by the Dr varies hugely. I know mums here who have had PPIs prescribed by the GP, I had to see the paediatrician to get a reflux formula prescribed. The Paed wasn't impressed with the GP as a change in formula is a standard step in reflux treatment.

Have a look at this link, these are the NHS NICE guidelines http://cks.nice.org.uk/gord-in-children#!scenariorecommendation:2

Laura

[Miamamma]

Thank you ladies. I will try the health visitor to see if they can help and chat to the pharmacist about getting hold if the Neocate, which does appear to be the best bet. I think the sooner I can start offering him a safe alternative to breast milk, the better, as I don't know how he will take to a bottle etc.

[<Catherine>]

Wow, we were prescribed a months trial of nutramigen lipil 2 by the gp without too much asking at all.

I don't know why I'm surprised you've had problems as I was never taken seriously by the gp with DS1 who's reflux and milk intolerance went undiagnosed.