Milk sensitivity

[Mc12eb]

My daughter is 3 weeks old and today had some red blood in her stool. Her stool is still yellow, her last diaper looked yellow and seedy but then had some bloody mucus. I plan on cutting out dairy to see if that is it but this is the first time it happened do I need to cut out all dairy or just obvious dairy? She also is gassy a lot and her belly obviously hurts her does that with the blood sound like it's dairy. I do have an over active letdown but I don't know if that would cause this.

 

[MommyJogger]

Overactive letdown will not cause blood in the stool. The blood is usually caused by a diet intolerance, dairy and soy being the most common ones. The most efficient way of figuring out whether it's dairy is to cut out all dairy. After 4-6 weeks of a completely dairy-free diet, the blood in the stool should be gone if dairy is the culprit. Then you can introduce the non-obvious sources and make sure those don't give a reaction and work your way up to see just how much dairy you can have without it bothering her. If you only cut out obvious sources and she still has bloody stool in 4-6 weeks, you won't know whether it's not actually the dairy causing the blood or whether you just need to also cut out the non-obvious sources, which would add another 4-6 weeks to figuring out what her intolerance is.
I would also make a trip to her doctor to have her checked out just in case. It could be an infection, which can be ruled out by the doctor taking a stool sample.
Good luck, mama! Two weeks ago I had my first pat of butter in a year and I'm going to have a small piece of cheese tomorrow. It seemed really difficult at the time, but looking back now it wasn't that hard. Just something you deal with and get on with things as best you can. And it was 100% completely worth it.

 

[Darlin65]

It is not "dairy" exactly since eggs are considered dairy. You will just need to cut out all milk based products and it can take a week or more to leave yours an babies system. I had this exact problem with DS. It is caused by a milk allergy that can be temporary. DS now can have milk products again at a yr old. If you switch to formula you will need special formula too. Not all babies need the soy formula but instead they make some called allamentum by similac. Good luck! It is very tough but you'll make it. I know I could sneak a small treat about once a week and eat occasional lactaid products like ice cream and he was fine.

A visit to the pediatrician is still probably a good idea gas drops are great in the mean time if LO is fussy. I know for us he wouldn't latch because he knew it would lead to an upset tummy. He figured it out before we did

 

[BunnyN]

How long has there been blood and mucus in her stool? If it is only a couple of days it could well just be irritation from a bit of a bug. For us there were weeks of mucus and various shades of poo before little specks of blood appeared. It took just over a week of the diet to see mayjor differences. I have read that if you see what looks like currant jelly you should go straight to the docs because it can be an intestinal blockage causing that.

 

[summer rain]

Overactive let down can cause blood in the stool, it's not common but it can-as it causes forceful bowel movements that can cause tiny tears around the anus. It does sound that this may be a milk sensitivity though-if it is cutting dairy from your diet is far better than switching to a specialist formula. It's probably best to cut out all dairy including hidden dairy, so things like caseinates. Lactose isn't the allergenic part of the milk contrary to popular belief, though rarely a lactose allergy does occur. It is still best to avoid any lactose derived ingredients though as the main problem with lactose and lactose derived ingredients is they can be contaminated with tiny amounts of milk protein xx

 

[MommyJogger]

Overactive let down can cause blood in the stool, it's not common but it can-as it causes forceful bowel movements that can cause tiny tears around the anus. It does sound that this may be a milk sensitivity though-if it is cutting dairy from your diet is far better than switching to a specialist formula. It's probably best to cut out all dairy including hidden dairy, so things like caseinates. Lactose isn't the allergenic part of the milk contrary to popular belief, though rarely a lactose allergy does occur. It is still best to avoid any lactose derived ingredients though as the main problem with lactose and lactose derived ingredients is they can be contaminated with tiny amounts of milk protein xx

Holy cow, thanks, SR! Do you happen to know anything about the mechanism by which oal --> forceful bowel movements? Is it a gas thing or a bowel muscle reflex caused by stomach muscle stretching?