After Abby was born, she was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy. I’m not going to go into great detail because I wrote a post about it here: Our Insurance is paying for baby formula. So she spent her first year on a prescription baby formula design for babies with this allergy and it was a miracle for us.
Well, now that she is 1, the doctor is having us try cow’s milk. I am not happy about it because I would rather wait another 6 months but the process to extend the insurance coverage pretty much dictates we try the cow’s milk first. Yesterday and today we gave Abby just 2 ounces of 1% cow’s milk. First of all, she did not like it but she did eventually drink it because I didn’t give her anything else. Second, all around her mouth turned red after she drank it and third she had the foulest diarrhea yesterday. Today so far her mouth turned red…time will tell about the diarrhea. She also woke up last night crying which she hasn’t done for months except when she was sick, so I am afraid she has a tummy ache.
I hope I am wrong and that she will be fine with the cow’s milk because frankly it will be easier, but I am afraid I will have to say “I told you so” to the Doctor next week.
Don’t mess with a mother’s intuition!
I tried to take a picture of Abby’s red mouth but all she wanted to do was show me her chewed up Cheerios.
Oh and check out what is in her hand. A SIPPY CUP! She learned to use it the other day. She can’t figure out the hard spout ones yet, but she’s a pro with the soft spout ones we bought at Wal-Mart.
Does anyone else have any experience with milk allergies? I wonder if these symptoms will disappear once she has had cows milk for a week or if they are just the beginning and by next week she will be miserable.
About Kim
Poor baby :(
My daughter doesn’t have a milk allergy but she has a disease called galactosemia which doesn’t allow her to have lactose.
I know all too well what you are going through. You will figure something out for her. I promise.
Kaylee loves her rice milk too, but its the original not vanilla. The sugar makes her tummy upset.
Hang in there, Kim!
Poor sweet baby :( As a mom, I would go with your instincts.
You have given her dairy in small amounts in the past. Ed puts sour cream in the potatoes and you have given her some ice cream. She may be OK with small amounts but the protein in the milk must be stronger and more concentrated.
Poor baby. Like someone else said, if that’s what’s going on on the outside, imagine the inside. Does she have eczema too? That’s a precursor to allergies.
We mostly have an intolerance here. My oldest was on soy formula and now drinks soy milk. They didn’t have that stuff when I was growing up, so I just take a calcium pill. Soy milk tastes like liquid chalk to me, but it’s ok to him because it’s all he’s ever known. Hang in there!
I know far too well what it’s like to have a milk allergy and I can’t say it’s fun. While the symptoms have lessened as I age, it’s not something that will go away. If her face is breaking out like that, just image how the inside feels. If she’s already getting the diarrhea then I can guarantee she’s experiencing painful gas as well. I wouldn’t push it too much.
My 2 year old daughter is allergic to milk too. And soy. So right now she is on rice milk and she enjoys it! She gets very bad diahrhea too if she has anything with milk in it. Almost everything has milk in it so its so hard to avoid! Good luck.
And believe me, I know what you mean by foul poo smell. It is always obvious when she has had too much dairy by that unmistakable foul poo smell when I change her diaper. And it burns her butt on contact. We’re talking blisters and the poo is only on there for about 5 mins before changing.
My daughter had a milk allergy as well. We had to read labels and learn exactly the things that dairy was in (so much stuff).
After avoiding all dairy and dairy proteins and giving her a vegan probiotic pill every day in her soy milk, Bella can now tolerate a little bit of dairy here and there. She can’t drink cows milk yet, but I don’t have to read the lables as much anymore and it’s more or less how much she can have in a day. If she has a slice of cheese, I don’t give her any other sort of dairy (like cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc) that day.
Good luck.
Well that is just no fun for sure! Poor baby! Poor Mama!