Dairy free moms

[Shiv]

thanks for your reply.The symptoms my LO has seem less severe than others but I guess that doesn't mean it's not an issue.

Cora poos most days once or twice but sometimes misses a day. they are always mustard yellow but always mucousy. I thought she was struggling to poo bec.ause she wakes up thrashing about, grunting and groaning and has her knees up to her chest alot. however when she actually has a bowel movement she calm and content. I think her issue is with wind.

She has a permanantly stuffy nose and is still pretty spotty after having what I assumed was milk spots since about 4 weeks.

I dunno, my gut tells me something isn't quite right, she was an amazing sleeper up until about 4 weeks old when this all started happening. The doctor said not to worry but then I think a lot of people get fobbed off.

 

[TennisGal]

Gone from explosive and eggy to less explosive and sweet smelling...not of roses, but that inoffensive bf poo!

Still goes like a trooper, though, at least three a day

 

[TennisGal]

Shiv, those symptoms sound exactly like Ally was...the consultant was pretty sure it was dairy / egg as soon as I shared. He said if we saw no improvement, to add soya and wheat, but we saw a big difference. It can take time to 'clear out' of our system, though.

 

[DarlingMe]

Shiv all you can do is try! My LO had mild symptoms at 4 weeks and they just kept getting worse. I had no idea about the dairy problems at that time. And my ped too said, oh some babies are dramatic poopers" "lots of babies get acne" "that sounds like colic and there is nothing we can do". If you feel symptoms are mild maybe that means your LO will be able to tolerate you drinking/eating small amounts of dairy or maybe grow out of this earlier.

 

[summer rain]

a poo question!

Before you went dairy/soya free were your LO's pooping a lot or not often? And how has it changed since being dairy free?

With my little boy; he pooed out a great deal of the meconium 5 or 6 hours after birth (it couldn't be contained in his nappy and messed up the bed I was changing him on) but after that didn't poo for nearly 24 hours-which can be normal in the first 2 days but in the following days the most he would poo is twice, more often it was once, and despite him seeming to get rid of all the meconium his poo was still varied between a greenish dark mustard colour to a brownish tan colour. He also had some very angry looking 'baby acne'.

Then when he was in hospital with jaundice between 7-9 days old they insisted on giving him 90ml of cow and gate as part of his treatment (tried to argue with them but to no avail), he didn't poo for nearly 48 hours and the doctors said that was extremely strange as with the phototherapy and sugar drip he was on they'd expect him to poo more-he was very bloaty and gassy (really foul smelling farts!) but no poo. When he did poo it was very very dark green, and with tiny flecks of blood in, and mucus; the doctors and nurses in special care dismissed this as normal (!), when he got out of hospital, a week later he was still having this same time of poo and between 10 and 14 days old he only pooed once and appeared to be in extreme discomfort. Then he went back to pooing no more than twice daily and was still really bloated.

When I took him back in for his prolonged jaundice testing late on day 15 the nurse and doctor in A&E kept commenting on how distended his stomach was and kept asking if he had any underlying medical problem which would cause that, I said no. I had been advised to cut out dairy before then but it was only then that it clicked that dairy may be the issue, I decided to try it and the improvement was immediate; he started pooing 3-4 times a day and was a lot less gassy within 2-3 days, I think it took until he was about 5 weeks for the red rash on his face to go and for him to have improved 100%. I soon realised that for him to have been only pooing 1-2 times a day and skipping days was completely abnormal for him because once the dairy got out of his system, he would poo 10 times on an average day and up to 20 times on some days, nice yellow poo but lots of it. At 8 weeks he started having similar symptoms again which I figured out could have only been soya and I started reacting to soya myself as I had been having too many soya dairy replacements; so it was for my benefit as well as his that I cut out soya-and I still avoid it even now. If I have another baby I think I will be avoiding dairy and soya from day one because all of my children have had issues with dairy and/or soya. xx

 

[raisin]

Hi ladies

Do you mind if I join you? I have been dairy free for about 3 months now. Found the first few weeks a terrible challenge but now I don't mind it and it has made SUCH A BIG difference to how DS is feeling.

I do miss chocolate and cake but Tesco do an alright dairy free victoria sponge cake in their free from range. I think my teeth might be suffering though from all the sweets.

 

[summer rain]

^I blame my dairy-free days for putting on so much weight in the middle months of my son's first year! As my sister said I was 'comfort eating from all the other food groups' , and have you seen the fat and sugar levels in some of the free from stuff? xx

 

[raisin]

^I blame my dairy-free days for putting on so much weight in the middle months of my son's first year! As my sister said I was 'comfort eating from all the other food groups' , and have you seen the fat and sugar levels in some of the free from stuff? xx

Tbh, I haven't even looked at the fat contents! But it might explain why I have gained a bit of weight the last few months, when I assumed I should be loosing weight with not eating chocolates, etc.

I have no idea if cocoa powder is fattening but I am addicted to oat milk, warmed up with cocoa powder and sugar in it. I have at least 2 mugs of the stuff every day.

DS is being baptised in a few weeks and I even hunted down a lady that does a dairy and soya free baptism cake.

 

[summer rain]

cocoa powder is very low fat AFAIK but its probably the sugar xx

 

[Blzgak]

thanks for your reply.The symptoms my LO has seem less severe than others but I guess that doesn't mean it's not an issue.

Cora poos most days once or twice but sometimes misses a day. they are always mustard yellow but always mucousy. I thought she was struggling to poo bec.ause she wakes up thrashing about, grunting and groaning and has her knees up to her chest alot. however when she actually has a bowel movement she calm and content. I think her issue is with wind.

She has a permanantly stuffy nose and is still pretty spotty after having what I assumed was milk spots since about 4 weeks.

I dunno, my gut tells me something isn't quite right, she was an amazing sleeper up until about 4 weeks old when this all started happening. The doctor said not to worry but then I think a lot of people get fobbed off.

In response to the poo question. Up until about 3 weeks Amaya was doing great! Then she started crying from 6pm until 1am and nothing would make her feel better. I just chalked it up to colic and started giving her nightly massages to calm her tummy. Then as weeks went on she started getting worse. Her BMs went from the yellow mustard poo to a dark green poo with mucous. She also had a rash that covered her from head to toe. I took her to the doctor who told me it was probably due to sensitive skin. I asked her if it could be a dairy because every one of her symptoms pointed to an allergy. She said that she doubted that's what it could be and there was no point in me cutting out dairy because most babies outgrow it befor the two weeks are up. Ugh, yeah right! After two weeks of listening to that nonsense I decided to go dairy free and my LO is a million times better. Anyways, since then her poos have gone back and forth from being green and yellow.

I hope this long winded response helped.

 

[Blzgak]

I also have a question for you ladies. Did anyone of your LOs get a rash followed by horrible dry skin and scalp due to their milk allergy? Amaya got one from head to toe and since it's cleared up I've had a hard time keeping her skin hydrated despite creams and oatmeal baths every three days. Her head is so bad that she keeps scratching and it's causing her hair to fall out because it itches so much. I feel so bad for her and every time I bring it up to the doctor she makes a comment about how she has dry skin.

I feel like I'm in a losing battle and no matter how hard I try nothing seems to help her. It's hard not to feel defeated sometimes.

 

[raisin]

I also have a question for you ladies. Did anyone of your LOs get a rash followed by horrible dry skin and scalp due to their milk allergy? Amaya got one from head to toe and since it's cleared up I've had a hard time keeping her skin hydrated despite creams and oatmeal baths every three days. Her head is so bad that she keeps scratching and it's causing her hair to fall out because it itches so much. I feel so bad for her and every time I bring it up to the doctor she makes a comment about how she has dry skin.

I feel like I'm in a losing battle and no matter how hard I try nothing seems to help her. It's hard not to feel defeated sometimes.

Yep, exactly the same problem here. Doc prescribed us a cream called Diprobase and I smother LO in it several times a day. It really helps but he still scratches his head all the time. The allergy doctor told us it is eczema caused by the milk allergy. We also bathe LO every night in oilatum junior.

 

[DarlingMe]

I also have a question for you ladies. Did anyone of your LOs get a rash followed by horrible dry skin and scalp due to their milk allergy? Amaya got one from head to toe and since it's cleared up I've had a hard time keeping her skin hydrated despite creams and oatmeal baths every three days. Her head is so bad that she keeps scratching and it's causing her hair to fall out because it itches so much. I feel so bad for her and every time I bring it up to the doctor she makes a comment about how she has dry skin.

I feel like I'm in a losing battle and no matter how hard I try nothing seems to help her. It's hard not to feel defeated sometimes.

LO had this. I only do a tub bath or shower once or twice a week with very little soap. The other days I do a warm sponge bath with just water and lots of baby oil. I put the oil on a wet washcloth and wipe him down. Pat him dry just a bit. The oil soaks right in and his skin feels so much better! I tried the oatmeal baths and eczema creams and some helped (some made it worse) but didnt make it go away. The past couple weeks I have been doing this new regimen and he has no dry patches or reddened skin.

 

[summer rain]

Yes we did but thankfully once the dairy got out of his system he was left with a bit of dry flaky skin on his scalp and a couple of patches of cradle cap and nothing else; the cradle cap we sorted with a really nice organic hair and body wash made by little me organics-after washing his hair with that a few times it went away and didn't come back. Now all I use on him is a genuine pure olive oil and laurel soap from Syria or just plain water, he has no dry skin at all. My second eldest had 'cradle cap' over most of his body and the dry type of eczema in a few patches; it was quite awful, when the greasy flakes rubbed off from the cradle cap his skin would be red raw and sunburnt looking. I was prescribed various creams by the doctor including mild steroid creams but the two things that worked the best were conotrane which is a mild nappy rash cream with geranium in, and pure coconut oil-the coconut oil really massively improved things. By 12 months all he had was a red scaly patch of eczema on one cheek and by 13-14 months that was totally gone xx

 

[MrsHedgehog]

The spots are back! I've been dairy free for over 2 weeks now and LOs skin was almost completely clear but today she's got a whole load of new spots on her face. Either I've eaten something with hidden dairy or it wasn't dairy at all causing the spots. I'm wondering if she's maybe also intolerant to eggs. I had some cake yesterday that didn't have dairy but had eggs in.

 

[summer rain]

Could well be eggs; my second eldest who would have an anaphylactic reaction to dairy if he came directly into contact with it, was also very allergic to eggs xx

 

[TennisGal]

Mrs H, I was told to avoid eggs...as they, apparently, have the same protein structure as milk. Maybe worth avoiding them for a while? See if it makes a difference?

 

[babylove719]

Hi Ladies, I'd like to join you here if you don't mind.

My LO was diagnosed with GER (reflux) and given a prescription but in addition the Pedi advised me to go off "milk".
So I haven't eliminated all dairy from my diet but have cut way back. I am not drinking or eating Milk or anything with a significant amount of Milk in the ingredients. It has been about 9 days and it's hard!! I admit I'm having a hard time deciding how much "dairy" to avoid and what I cannot eat that I normally would!! I don't think we've seen a huge difference in my baby but we're still hoping things will get better.

Has anyone else here had any success by just eliminating milk and items with significant milk contents?
And WHAT am I going to be able to eat on Thanksgiving? I'm heartbroken I won't be able to eat my favorite cheesecakes!!! or have ice cream with my pie!

 

[babylove719]

Anyone know of an ice cream that I can eat? And if so what brand and where do I buy it (US)??? And is "lactose free" what I would look for? or does it need to say dairy free?
Thanks

 

[raisin]

Anyone know of an ice cream that I can eat? And if so what brand and where do I buy it (US)??? And is "lactose free" what I would look for? or does it need to say dairy free?
Thanks

I get this one:
https://www.worthenshaws-freedom.co.uk/product-range.html

I'm not sure if you can get it in USA though?

I always check the label for any milk protein (including casein and whey) and also try my very best to avoid soya. My doc said that lactose free is different to dairy free. Not sure if that helps.