Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance - MSPI - READ HERE!!!

[First Time Mom]

I have to stay away from all cheese . Had feta twice and dd had blood in her poop again . Didn't even try the goat's cheese, just threw away both. In dd's case the blood takes a long time to clear up. This is my dilema- I either make a mistake or try something and she has problems again which takes so long to clear up. I'm giving it another week and if she's not clear I'm going back to the hospital to see if there's possibly something else like the soy milk I have in my Starbucks. It's so depressing that her system can't seem to clear up 100%, at least she's not in any pain over it.

[sharlie]

Hi Gracekellysmum.  I found your site last night I was hoping to get some feedback if you had a chance or from any other mums out there.
My daughter is 13 weeks old and we suspect she may be multi protein intolerant.  She has been slow to gain weight and her poos come out full of bubbles like shaken champagne.
She has been tested for lactose intolerance which was clear and then was put on Zantac for reflux and at the same time I went on a dairy and soy free diet.  This seemed to stop the bubbly poo but the Zantac made her gag terribly so I stopped it.  I have continued with the diet (2 weeks now) but her poos are still a bit frothy.  Someone suggested this might have been baked beans or nuts or sunflower seeds or even fruit. 
My questions are, is the frothy poo a normal sign of MSPI?  Is it generally the case that all type of beans cause a reaction or just soy?  Do nuts and seeds also cause a reaction generally?  Is there a test we can do to see if she is MSPI?  I had heard that only actual allergy can be tested for not intolerance.http://

[GraceKellysmom]

Sharlie, I agree that only a true allergy can be tested, however often an intolerance will show up as occult (hidden, not visible) blood in the stool.

The frothy poop you describe sounds like it is something else she is ingesting. Does she get any formula, any water, meds of any kind (gas meds, tylenol)? My ds had very frothy poops after he started on prevacid. Prior to that they were disgusting - looked like someone had blown their nose in his diaper, long strings of brown/green mucus.

Some babies are intolerant to nuts/seeds. Some babies are intolerant to certain kinds of fruit, citrus fruit is the big one (pineapple, oranges, strawberries, etc - my MIL is allergic to citrus). I generally do not believe that babies will be gassy from gassy foods that we eat, although if you have an intolerance to something (lets say onions) then your immune system could produce something into your milk that may make her react.

With such a sensitive baby like this I encourage you to keep nursing!! Do not wean to formula ... it will be much worse than what you have now.

Check into a different reflux med if you think the reflux is still bothering her. There are ones that are administered differently, like prevacid. Zantac will not heal damage of the esophogas, it just changes the balance of acids in the tummy.

An lastly, if she does not seem upset by the poops and doesn't have a rash, then you don't need to be too concerned about the color/consistency at her age. Make sure to delay solids until at least 6 months with her sensitive tummy.

[First Time Mom]

Sharlie, my dd gets blood in her stool and it also is frothy and sometimes greenish if I ingest milk products (by mistake). When I fully eliminate milk products it does take up to 4 weeks for her system to return to normal (no blood, no froth, no green). This is after the TINIEST amount of milk product. Up until recently she did not take anything other than breast milk (just started solids). So, from my experience, it can take some time for their bm's to go back to normal.

[Cassie]

Hi guys!  Long time no talk!!!

Prior to that they were disgusting - looked like someone had blown their nose in his diaper, long strings of brown/green mucus.

Stacey did I read this right? PRIOR to starting the Prevacid the poop looked like this??  So the poops got better after starting the Prevacid? Sometimes Palmer's poops are exactly like that and I have always assumed it is something I am eating or the Prevacid.

Palmer is still very sensitive to milk... I can't have regular bread or even a speck of dairy or he freaks out for a day (his behavior is his main symptom).  I can have a little soy, but if I over do it he gets very crabby.

[GraceKellysmom]

The MSPI poops were full of mucus. We never had visual blood, just mucus. He went on Prevacid when I went soy free, and then the poops were very different, kind of frothy and sometimes like a thick paste or very wet clay. They weren't the typical breastfeeding poops, yellow and seedy.

Sorry he's still so sensitive! I'm so glad you're nursing him, it is a sacrifice, but it is so short. My kids seem so grown up way too fast. Today I ate milk on my cereal, whatever I wanted at lunch. Max has been weaned for almost 6 months. (Ps, yep I moved to Portland!)

[Cassie]

Well he is getting better... so I can't complain.  And he is such a happy little guy as long as I stay away from milk.  No biggie I guess.  I do miss eating out though.

[sharlie]

Thanks for the reply, helpful I think.  This whole thing is quite confusing.  Before I stopped dairy and soy my daughters poos were bubbly, mucous and smelt terrible.  The smell has gone since I stopped dairy/soy, they are not always mucous now and it's not as much and now only sometimes bubbly.  I think stopping dairy/soy has helped but not as dramatically as I had hoped so I'm not sure if it's something else as well.  It's hard to pinpoint.  She does not seem to be in a lot of pain but I notice she is much more unsettled feeding at the same time as her poos have mucous and bubbles.  I'm sure it's not supposed to look like that and even though she's not in pain I'm worried that it might be causing her some kind of longer term problem.  Any thoughts or advice would be great.
Sharlie

[sharlie]

Sharlie again,  Forgot to ask.  With the soy protein intolerance is there generally a problem with all beans? 

[MGardner]

I'm pretty sure my LO has MSPI, but I'm not completely sure. I don't think he is unusually gassy (most babies have gas right?) but he vomits after every feed, sometimes projectile, sometimes just spit up. so the pediatrician said to cut out dairy. I haven't been able to get a full week without it yet, i try and try but i can't cut it out completely. I get frustrated when I cut it out for 3 days and see no difference, so I start back up on dairy again. But then I do notice if I have a hefty dairy day his vomits are a lot worse. it's sad to say that cutting out dairy has been one of the hardest things i have ever had to do!!! Does it sound like he is MSPI or something else?

[GraceKellysmom]

The bean question, sorry! I haven't seen very many (if any) babies who were soy intolerant that their moms also had to cut other types of beans. I think I read that somewhere when I was first starting off on no-soy, but found that Max didn't have problems with beans, and they are a great source of protein.

To MGardner, I would really try to commit to one week of absolutely no dairy. Just meal plan for the week, and tell yourself it is just for this week. Re-evaluate at the end of the week and see if the spitting up is better. I can say that Max didn't spit up hardly at all when I went no soy, but he was also on meds for reflux. You could be dealing with a little bit of that too. Dairy and/or soy can really aggravate some babies reflux. And yep, all babies have gas.

[hayleysmum]

MGardner - definitely be resilient and ditch the dairy (and soya if you can manage it).  DD stopped vomiting within a week when I cut it out completely.

For those that have started your LOs on solids how are you able to tell if they are intolerant to something?  We've just begun and I've thus-far followed the dietician's advice of introducing a new food no sooner than 3 days.  We've done the low allergen fruits and veggies - carrot, swede, parsnip, sweet potato, rice, apple and pear.  DDs poop firmed up a fair amount and she went from one BM every two days to 2 BMs per day - the consistency, colour, etc was pretty constant.  Then I gave her butternut squash and the next day she had a really foul-smelling BM with what looked like stringy strands of mozzerella (for lack of a better description) in it.  Hasn't happened since so I don't know if I should take it as a sign of intolerance to the squash or is that just "normal"? 

Would appreciate anyone else's experience and what to look for if there is an intolerance. 

[GraceKellysmom]

I would consider the consistency and note if you think it is strings of squash or strings of mucus. The former, chalk it up to eating solids (wait until you see the little raisins that come out whole, lol), the latter, well maybe hold off on the squash and try again in a few months. Also consider preparation, unless you made it yourself you know it doesn't have butter on it.

[hayleysmum]

Thanks Gracekellysmom

Because of the MSPI I'm making all her food myself - so far it's just been steamed veggies and fruit with nothing added other than the occasional bit of pure organic baby rice.  I did consider that it could be strands of squash but it's pretty finely pureed when I serve it to her - can it reform into strands?    It was really odd as it didn't look mucousy (it really did look like mozzarella - consistency and colour wise!)

FIgure that I'll hold off for a couple days until BMs return to normal and then try the squash again to see if the same thing happens.  What is the general rule of thumb for how long you should wait to challenge them on a food after they've shown a possible reaction?

Thanks for the help!

[GraceKellysmom]

I think it depends on the type of reaction for reintroducing. In your case, I completely agree with trying it again after the bms clear up. That seems like a pretty mild reaction, and it's good you are sensitive to it! If it happens again, maybe take the squash off the list for a couple of months.

Now, if a child had a hive-type rash, or even a rash on the face, I would not give the food again for at least 6 months and definately discuss it with their doctor.