When you give birth to your baby you think they are the most perfect little being that ever entered the world. Now I am not saying my children aren’t perfect, of course in my eyes they are. However, both my girls have a milk allergy of some sort. Little G is lactose intolerant and Baby L is milk intolerant. Both lasted about 3 weeks in their perfect little bubble and then it hit us. Suddenly they were screaming in pain and we didn’t know what to do to help them.
I had 3 months of hell with Little G before I finally realised what was wrong but luckily I was more aware when Baby L started showing signs.
Trust your instincts! I knew something was wrong with both of mine even though I had people telling me they were perfectly fine. In the end I did my own research and tried out things until I found a solution!
Lactose intolerance- Little G would never nap and would feed for hours at a time. She would cry for no apparent reason and in the end we had to co-sleep for either of us to get any sleep at all. I must have got through about 4 outfits a day as she would have explosive green frothy poos and no nappy would hold it!! After 3 months I was exhausted and miserable. After much googling I decided to cut out dairy. Suddenly she slept! I couldn’t believe it!! She was so much happier and finally slept in the day for the first time in 3 months! Her poos returned to normal colour and I nolonger needed to do 100 washes a day!! She is now 2 and drinks Lactofree milk and is fine. She has the odd bit of dairy as the doctor said better to allow in small quantities than risk making intolerance worse by avoiding it all together.
Milk intolerance- Baby L started showing similar symptoms to Little G at around 3 weeks old. I thought it was lactose but when I cut out lactose by drinking lactofree milk it didn’t stop the symptoms. At 7 weeks my milk dried up due to stress her having tongue tie and so I was forced to go onto formula. Little G had always been fine on Comfort milk but this wasn’t working for Baby L. She would cry and cry after every bottle, her stomach was always bloated, her poos were mucousy and like her sister she wouldn’t sleep in the day. She also had ‘cold like’ symptoms. The doctor recommended trying Soya milk and it was like a miracle! After one feed she was smiling and happy for the first time in 7 weeks. After researching Soya I found that it isn’t recommended for babies under 6 months old so I went back to the doctor and demanded they give something. She is now on Nutramigen and is the happiest baby in the world!
If you think something is wrong with your baby- mum knows best! Remember that and fight your corner!Does your child have an allergy? Come on over to my FB page and share your experience!
Isabel O'Brien
Saturday 21st of March 2015
I had severe milk intolerance as a baby, well dairy in general actually. I was put on soya replacement back when they still let any age baby have it. I still drink soya now! But when my little brother was showing signs of this back in 2001 the doctor had a go at my mum for even asking about soya. :/ I'm glad people are talking more about milk allergy anyway, it can cause a lot of misery. I saw there's a TV advert about it now too.
Katy
Saturday 21st of March 2015
Oh I haven't seen the tv ad- will have to keep an eye out. Milk allergy is so common now so there is much more help around- although doctors are still none the wiser what to do! x