Thanks for checking out our blog! My name is April Romano and I am a nutrition specialist for Nutricia North America.
Everyday I get calls from worried parents asking about allergies that affect babies and kids. A lot of the time the pediatrician has told the mom or dad that their baby has “colic.” The baby is usually restless, agitated and it is crying and crying for hours on end with no apparent reason.
No one knows the true “cause of colic.” But many times the baby actually has a milk allergy and that is what is causing her misery. Too often this is overlooked. But when you look at the symptoms you can understand why – many really look like just typical bumps on the road of baby-hood.
You can click here for a list of the eight most common symptoms:
If you have a “colicky” baby and some symptoms look familiar, talk to the pediatrician.
In the meantime, here’s some info on milk allergy:
Babies with a milk allergy can’t process the milk protein chains found in milk-based baby formula, which can cause gastrointestinal, skin and/or respiratory symptoms. To make the baby feel better, you can either eliminate all milk proteins from your diet if you are a nursing or replace her regular milk-based formula with an amino acid-based formula.
So, anybody out there been through this? How did you get your baby’s milk allergy diagnosed? Any lessons learned for other parents in the same boat?
I’d love to hear from you.
Take care,
April
7 Responses to ““Colic” or a Milk Allergy?”
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January 10th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
April, as the parent of a 2-year-old with a milk allergy, I welcome the blog and wish you the best of luck.
By the way, not to nitpick, but your statement that a milk allergy is when a baby “can’t process” milk is ambiguous and imprecise.
As you probably know, an allergic response is an immune system response to a protein in which the body for some reason considers the protein harmful and reacts to it by releasing chemicals in the body that cause the allergic reaction.
The reason I bring this up is only because a LOT of people confuse lactose intolerance (which IS about “processing”) with a milk allergy.
It is important to educate people on the differences between “intolerances” and “sensitivities” and severe allergies.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:26 am
My sister has a dairy allergy and was severely colicy as a baby. She seemed to never stop crying.
The dairy allergy wasn’t diagnosed until last year when my sister was 29 years old!
She has avoided certain dairy products since her teens due to it causing projectile vomiting and other fun allergic reactions.
She now has an inhallant food allergy reaction to certain cheeses. Just inhalling the fumes of Parmessian cheese will trigger the Projectile Vomiting and the rest of her allergic reactions.
I too have food allergies. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 26 years old, but I have had mine active since I was at least 4 years old. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches made me very sick and adults refused to listen to me when I told them that. They just thought I was being “picky”.
I have also developed an inhallant food allergy. Mine is to Popcorn and it causes Anaphalyctic Shock. I am trapped at home due to the severity of this food allergy.
I am happy that kids these days are at least getting their food allergies diagnosed at a young age. Hopefully they can avoid the problems of “ignoring” their food allergies until they grow into something deadly dangerous.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:43 am
To pffft-
Thanks for checking out our blog. You make a good point that an allergic reaction is in fact an immune system response. In an effort to simplify, I was probably too general. You’re also correct that the difference between lactose intolerance and food allergy is an important distinction to make. Might make a good blog entry coming soon…
-April
January 26th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I am a parent of a 5 week old that supposedly has a milk allergy or sensitivity. It has been a tough 5 weeks because of this and sometimes I still wonder if something more isn’t wrong. I’ve been to 3 doctors that say everything else is right with my son but for some reason I feel differently. Here is a brief run down of my situation.
My son was brought to the ER 1 week after he was born because of bloody stool. That is when that doctor put him on Soy formula because of this allergy. She told me to follow up with my own doctor the following day. I did feed my son the soy formula for about 20 hours but he would PROJECTILE vomit and wouldn’t nearly drink any of it. The following day I called my doctor to get in with her but she was gone so they sent me to a different doctor to get my son seen. That doctor told me to STOP the soy formula since soy and milk proteins are similar. She told me to put him on nutramigen and that would help. I fed him the nutramigen for 2 weeks until our next check up with my son’s regular doctor. Well, when we went in, he had lost 6 oz (on his only 6 lb body) and so she said to put him back on his regular milk based formula to really determine if it was an allergy. So, for one more week we fed him the regular formula. We noticed mucous in his stool but he seemed happier until once again, the blood showed up in his stool. We called the doctor the next day and she said to put him on nutramigen, that it in fact was a milk allergy. 2 weeks after that date, we brought him back in and he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. We were SOOOO happy to see that he had gained weight and that we’ve finally figured this allergy out. Now we’ve noticed since the switch back to nutramigen, he has been extremely EXTREMELY fussy. We know that he is very gassy and give him gas-x drops every day numerous times. We’ve tried to do massage, we’ve tried to burp him alot, we’ve tried to do everything that we know how to stop the gas pains. He screams for hours and hours on end but nothing seems to help. I just wonder if it is truly just “colic” or if it is something else. Has anyone ever noticed there baby spitting up, make like a chewing motion, swallow and then scream? I wonder if he has acid reflux. I don’t know. I’m just one of those paranoid mothers. My doctors have been ZERO help and am currently trying to find one that is. Please help me and tell me about your stories!
February 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Michelle,
This sounds like our first daughter! It does sound like a true milk protein allergy may be the problem. However, be aware that Nutramigen still has some milk protein in it (some doctors do not realize this, or think that the trace amounts will not be harmful. Our daughter’s pediatric GI and allergist were the ones who told us otherwise). My daughter improved with Nutamigen at first, then the symptoms returned. She simply could not tolerate any amount of milk protein. We finally ended up on Neocate, which was incredibly expensive but absolutely worth it. (Fortunately, our health insurance did cover part of the cost.) When we used Neocate, it required a prescription, so check with your doctor. Good luck and hang in there!
Stephanie, TX
April 25th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
We have been told that my 9wk old son Harry has a milk protein allergy as well. They first diagnosed him as having Reflux but after being on Pepcid and Prilosec with out any improvement they have determined that it is a milk allergy. They found blood in his stool so they out us on Alimentum. He has been on this for 2 days now and doesn’t seem to be getting any better. He is really fussy and seems very uncomfortable. The bloody stools have gone but he has stopped napping the way he was and just seems different. Does anyone have any suggestions? My friend told me about Neocate, I am wondering if this would help and does anyone know the difference between Neocate and the other hypoallergenic formulas?
Thanks.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hello – I’m sorry your son is having such a tough time. Many children with milk protein allergy do require Neocate. This amino acid-based formula contains protein broken down into its simplest form, which makes it easier to digest, and it is manufactured in a 100% milk-free facility so you don’t have to worry about contamination. If you give me a call at 1-800-Neocate (636-2283), I can give you a helpful parent guide and some more information that you can share with your son’s healthcare provider. Hang in there. -April