Any babies with reflux and lactose intolerance/milk protein allergy?

[Bonnie11]

Hi girls

My LO is 6 weeks old. In the beginning she was an absolute angel, placid as anything and ate and slept like clockwork. About 2 weeks ago she started to get really fussy with her feeding and just wasn't herself, had a few projectile vomits, terrible wind and stomach gurgling and choking on her milk (she is ff) etc. Got worse and worse till she started refusing to eat and gp diagnosed reflux and either lactose intolerance or milk protein allergy.

She has started on infant gaviscon which has made a world of difference, and she is on a reduced lactose formula now. They both seem to be helping and she is much more like her old self but I'm sure the milk isn't agreeing with her still. She is constipated and has eczema, very dry skin, congestion and still hicupping lots.

Any of you had experience with this?, I'm back at the doctors this week for him to see her again and I would like to go armed with some knowledge! The symptoms seem so similar between intolerance and milk allergy I don't know which one it could be. I know true lactose intolerance in babies is rare but my husband is lactose intolerant and I don't eat dairy and I know it can be genetic. The thing with lactose intolerance is that it also causes diarrhoea but she is often constipated which is more a milk allergy symptom... She seems to have some symptoms from each... I'm so confused!

 

[Noo]

Yes, but we are BFing so I'm not sure about formula. Hope you get sorted xx

 

[vegazbaby]

mine has silent reflux and when we went to ff he was constipated, and then at 6 weeks we notices him crawling and fighting us, fretting at the bottle, his legs were permamently pulled into his body, couldnt wind him, and i had to massage his stomach to get him to go to the toilet, we tried comfort milk, then gaviscon, then ready made normal milk, ranitadine, then domperidone, we have success on neocate milk and his wind just comes out dont even have to pat him,just sit him up and wait, hes is also on omeprazole. and i got a loving cuddly giggling baby

mention a posible trial of neocate for your bubba and i would request a referal to a paedicatrican if your gp is unfamiliar with this area i got turned about 6 times by my gp and i ended up having to waste time at a and e to get him looked at

 

[rihanna]

Sounds like my lo who has cows milk protein intolerance . We use althera - prescription only tho x

 

[4 boys]

My son is lactose intolerance and is on neocate lcp and used gaviscon all the symptoms going but it takes time to get a full definite diagnosis..
It's stressful as all us mums want to do is protect and help our babies but push your doctor for test..

Hope things get better after visit

 

[felix555]

Ask for a prescription for Neocate LCP when you are next at the GP.

 

[Bonnie11]

Thanks girls, luckily my gp is really helpful, and she said there are lots of things we could try but it's just so hard to narrow it down from what is colic or reflux or intolerance or allergy!!
Did any of you have an allergy test done? I don't know if it's a common thing that they do to test what is wrong, I hate to see my baby so upset!

 

[kanga]

I second requesting neocate on prescription as a starting point.

 

[crysttal]

My baby has something but we don't know what exactly it is. He had all the symptoms your baby has and you''re right when you say it's hard to tell the difference between true intolerance and cmpi.
We got the Dr to prescribe Nutramigen on trial. He was willing without doing a test because ny husband has some form of lactose intolerance. He sent us off with 2 cans and he was like a different baby.

We're due to give him full fat cow milk next week to see if wthis will trigger any reaction, he's stared weaning and we don't want to restrict his diet unnecessarily. If he does react to it, we will have an allergy test done to know what exactly he has.

You can ask your Dr for nutramigen if he's not willing to give you neocate cos it's very expensive.

I know how worrying this can be. Just keep stressing your Dr till you get what you want. It's so hard to see them in pain and not be able to help.

 

[felix555]

Thanks girls, luckily my gp is really helpful, and she said there are lots of things we could try but it's just so hard to narrow it down from what is colic or reflux or intolerance or allergy!!
Did any of you have an allergy test done? I don't know if it's a common thing that they do to test what is wrong, I hate to see my baby so upset!

It depends on the GP/Paediatrician but our Paediatrician doesn't do allergy tests they just eliminate what they think is causing the allergy (in our case both lactose and cow milk protein which is why he's on Neocate)

 

[crysttal]

Thanks girls, luckily my gp is really helpful, and she said there are lots of things we could try but it's just so hard to narrow it down from what is colic or reflux or intolerance or allergy!!
Did any of you have an allergy test done? I don't know if it's a common thing that they do to test what is wrong, I hate to see my baby so upset!

It depends on the GP/Paediatrician but our Paediatrician doesn't do allergy tests they just eliminate what they think is causing the allergy (in our case both lactose and cow milk protein which is why he's on Neocate)

Sorry to hijack your post.

Felix, have you had a subsequent test or elimination now that he's weaned? Or do you just keep his diet free of lactose and cmp?

 

[Bonnie11]

Thanks guys. I'm sure I will have a battle on my hands to get the neocate as I know it's very pricey but I will try! We are on a reduced lactose formula now but she still has her symptoms. My husband has lactose intolerance which makes me think that it's more likely for her to have it. Can you have lactose intolerance and cmpa? If so I expect she has both!!

 

[crysttal]

Thanks guys. I'm sure I will have a battle on my hands to get the neocate as I know it's very pricey but I will try! We are on a reduced lactose formula now but she still has her symptoms. My husband has lactose intolerance which makes me think that it's more likely for her to have it. Can you have lactose intolerance and cmpa? If so I expect she has both!!

I suggest you look up NICE guidelines for suspected allergies in infants/ babies. Print it out and be ready to show it to your Dr if he's giving you a hard time.

 

[felix555]

Thanks girls, luckily my gp is really helpful, and she said there are lots of things we could try but it's just so hard to narrow it down from what is colic or reflux or intolerance or allergy!!
Did any of you have an allergy test done? I don't know if it's a common thing that they do to test what is wrong, I hate to see my baby so upset!

It depends on the GP/Paediatrician but our Paediatrician doesn't do allergy tests they just eliminate what they think is causing the allergy (in our case both lactose and cow milk protein which is why he's on Neocate)

Sorry to hijack your post.

Felix, have you had a subsequent test or elimination now that he's weaned? Or do you just keep his diet free of lactose and cmp?

No but I have an appointment with the paediatrician tomorrow so will see what they say.

I keep trying him with things but a few weeks ago I gave him lactose free yogurt and he had a rash on his back for a week. I had CMPI as a baby and outgrew it by the time I was 1 so I am hoping it's the same with my little guy.

 

[felix555]

Thanks guys. I'm sure I will have a battle on my hands to get the neocate as I know it's very pricey but I will try! We are on a reduced lactose formula now but she still has her symptoms. My husband has lactose intolerance which makes me think that it's more likely for her to have it. Can you have lactose intolerance and cmpa? If so I expect she has both!!

You could read up on the NICE guidelines if you want to "convince" your GP your LO needs a completely lactose and dairy free formula. This is what I did ... just talked circles around them and walked out with a referral to the Paediatrician and a prescription for special formula

https://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/12164/50202/50202.pdf

 

[Bonnie11]

Thanks for your help ladies, I have no experience with any of this stuff and didn't even know where to start! I never really knew this kind of stuff could happen and I just want to make sure the dr takes me seriously as I'm not being neurotic and I know something is wrong!
Seeing him Tuesday so will go armed with all my knowledge, thanks ladies

 

[ladybrock]

Good luck my gl prescribed neutramagin lipil on advice of hv but this wasnt enough and i the end we saw a peadiatrician who prescribed neocate, my boy didnt like this so now hes on neutramagin AA amino acid formula x

 

[clever_blond]

My dd had the exact same symptoms only she also screamed for 15 hours a day between weeks 3 and 10. She is now 16 weeks. We use Colief in her (ordinary) formula milk, its a lactase enzyme which does the work of breaking down the lactose in the milk before she drinks it. She is like a different baby! Made a difference in about a week. We tried reduced lactose formulas and they didnt work. Colief is expensive but I get it on prescription and its slightly cheaper then the other formulas and for me worked like a miracle and the screaming and constipation stopped. Only thing she does now is sick up slightly after feeds which I can live with. Hope you find a solution that works soon. Xx

 

[nicksi27]

Hello my baby was prescribed Nutramigen AA (same as neocate) at 14 weeks and the chage in him was instant it was a godsend. And i get it free on prescription which helps financially. Charlie is 8 months now and ive started slowly introducing dairy and so far so good, so fingers crossed hes growing out of his CMPI

 

[Nela]

My son has CMPI so cow milk protein intolerance. I suspect he just has an overall sensitive digestive system so he needs things easy to digest at the moment and one his system matures more he'll be able to handle things better. He also got constipated, exactly because his body couldn't digest his formula and it made him terribly unwell with reflux and gas. I now have him on a mix of Pepti (protein is extensively broken down) and Omneo Comfort (protein is partially broken down). The Comfort allows his body to get used to having to digest the protein so I didn't want to eliminate it completely since he is not allergic. At least, I am assuming he isn't allergic... Docs also initially told me he wasn't intolerant but they changed their tune after the dramatic results of changing his formula against their wishes (Not that I am recommending that btw, just, sometimes you have to trust your instincts!)