At Little P’s 9-month well check, his nurse practitioner confirmed my long-held suspicion that he likely had a milk protein allergy. Starting around 2 weeks, I noticed things about Little P’s feedings that seemed off — mainly that he was very fussy after eating yet he always seemed hungry. He also often projectile vomited and had rashes and explosive diarrhea. It was a cruel cycle of cry, eat, spit up, scream, eat again, scream louder, projectile vomit, refuse to sleep, finally fall asleep, then wake up screaming/ vomiting/ covered in diarrhea.
Around 4 weeks I insisted on bringing him to talk to the pediatrician about a possible milk allergy. Unfortunately we got assigned to our least favorite pediatrician in the practice who told me all babies spit up and that it was very unlikely Little Pea was allergic to dairy (although “if I was really worried about it, I could try eliminating dairy from my diet to ease my mind”). I should have just gone with my gut, but instead I trusted his advice.
Finally after 5 more months of suffering, I took matters into my own hand and tried a sensitive formula. Almost immediately Little P seemed happier. He guzzled his bottles, slept peacefully, and didn’t vomit. Unfortunately a few days later the cruel cycle started again. Thankfully he had his 9-month well check that week, so I came ready to defend my belief that he may be allergic to dairy. And this time our health care provider agreed.
His nurse practitioner suggested trying soy formula and gave us a few samples to take home. I had read online that babies with a cow’s milk protein allergy are also sensitive to soy. But again I trusted our provider and tried soy. At first, the results seemed miraculous. Little P was like a different baby, a happier one that slept and barely fussed! But a few days later the cruel cycle started again.
After a furious middle-of-the-night googling session one night as poor Little P wailed in my arms, I vividly remember sending Mr. P on a mission to find any 24-hour store with Similac Alimentum or Nutramigen in stock. He found one with Similac Alimentum, so we tried that next. It worked great for about a week and then, you guessed it, the cycle of fuss-eat-vomit-cry started again. At that point we were desperate. I reached out to a friend who seems to know everything about babies and their GI tracts, who reached out to an old colleague that graciously advised us to try an amino acid-based, hypoallergenic formula. We tried that and it worked. And kept working!
- Babies are rarely lactose intolerant. If they are sensitive to milk, they likely have an allergy to the cow’s milk protein. The only solution is remove all dairy from their diet completely (and from yours if you’re breastfeeding – we had so many issues feeding Little P that sadly my milk supply had plummeted by the time we figured this out. I actually tried re-lactating but it didn’t work out, so we were left to navigate the world of hypoallergenic formulas).
- Some babies with milk protein allergies can tolerate soy. But many, including Little P, cannot.
- Some babies with milk protein allergies can tolerate a hydrosolate, hypoallergenic formula like Similar Alimentum, which breaks down (or hydrolyzes) the milk protein so that the baby’s immune system may not detect the tiny pieces of proteins as being an allergen. I think this tricked Little P’s immune system for a few days but ultimately didn’t worked.
- Most babies with milk protein allergies can tolerate an amino-acid based, hypoallergenic formula like Neocate or Elacare, which are milk-free and made up of non allergenic amino acids. Little P thankfully did great on Elacare.
- Most babies outgrow milk protein allergies between 9 months and 2 years. After Little P’s 1st birthday, we gradually started to re-introduce dairy into his diet. We had a few failed attempts but around 13 months he seemed totally fine with dairy. We also re-introduced soy around that time and again he seemed totally fine with it.
- Hypoallergenic formula is very expensive and hard to find (we could only find Elacare in certain Walgreens or online). In some states (not ours unfortunately), you can get reimbursed by your health insurance provider for the cost, which retails around $50.00 for a 14 oz can. My babies are heavy milk drinkers, so we were literally spending almost $100.00 a week on formula. I am very thankful our family could absorb the cost but have a heightened awareness of the struggles many families face when their little ones have health conditions that require special diets or medication.
- A lot of babies have milk protein allergies. I know of at least 2 friends with babies close in age to Little P who had same allergy and have since heard from many others who struggled with the same problem. If your baby is very fussy or irritable (especially after feeding), projectile vomits, has diarrhea, breaks out into hives or rashes, is extremely gassy, has blood in his stool, and/or wheezes, he could potentially have a milk protein allergy. Obviously these symptoms can be caused by a lot of things, but it’s worth looking into further and talking to your pediatrician (and keep talking about it if needed).
Ultimately we figured out what was wrong with Little P and fixed it. I am so glad we did because almost immediately he was happier, slept better, ate more, and basically never cried (except when we told him no ha!).
Have you dealt with a similar, frustrating problem trying to figure out what is wrong with your baby? Any other mamas out there with babies that have or had milk protein allergies? Please share your stories!
guest
According to our doc, if there is a milk issue a lot of times they can have wheat issues as well (so that might be something to be aware of). Also depending on soy sensitivity I know Nutramigen has soy and we were told it probably was fine because it’s so little or some processed thing, I’m pretty sure our son had issues with that little bit of soy (was doing better overall so we weren’t going to switch him at that time). Now at 15 months he’s outgrown dairy and wheat, but still has major soy sensitivities (which is in everything!!).
blogger / honeydew / 7081 posts
We dealt with this! Baby Oats is a year old, -!: I’ve had all dairy (even tiny amounts of modified milk ingredients) cut out of my diet for the last 10 months, and we used Alimentum occasionally to supplement (though I’ve heard it can cause problems too). Soy wasn’t our friend either!
Now that he’s one, our pediatrician wants us to trial some dairy. He’s had probiotic yogurt for the last 4 days with NO reaction, so I’m cautiously hopeful that there is a giant cheese pizza in my future.
cherry / 141 posts
I’m intolerant to milk so I had a inkling that my son might be. We had a allergy test done before we started solids. We found that he’s allergic to cow’s milk and egg whites. I’ve removed cow’s milk and eggs from diet now. I’m thankful we did the allergy test-he has eczema so we knew it was a possibility. My first had no issues with food allergies or other allergies at all so it’s been a big surprise for us.
apricot / 317 posts
Also, for those who do struggle financially, WIC can cover costs of these types of formulas. Unfortunately, they DO have to have a be prescription first, and it can be a challenge to get one.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
I know this is old, but this sounds more like MSPI, not an allergy. MSPI (Milk-Soy Protein Intolerance) is actually pretty common in babies and they do outgrow it usually by the time they turn 1. An actually milk ALLERGY is highly unlikely to be outgrown so quickly and affects much more than the digestive system. My oldest had an anaphylactic allergy to milk, but actually could consume it through my breast milk with little issues (whereas babies with MSPI cannot seem to tolerate it through breast milk).
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@Adira: Yes that’s a much more precise definition, although lots of people and websites (and our pediatrician) just commonly refer to it as a milk protein allergy (even the formula companies use that terminology: https://elecare.com/food-allergy-formula-products). I made sure not to call it a simple milk allergy which is much different as you point out! Also interestingly my youngest son does have a milk protein intolerance/ allergy but can handle soy just fine.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@Mrs. Peas: Thanks for the clarification! I wasn’t aware that it was commonly referred to as a milk protein allergy, even though it’s more of an intolerance! That’s interesting and confusing, haha! No wonder my sister-in-law was telling me her son also was allergic to milk as a baby when he actually had the same thing, if that’s how everyone refers to it!! And it also explains why so many people seem to think my kid just has an intolerance when I tell them he has a milk allergy.