Milk and soy allergies

Michelle - posted on 12/20/2009

Quoting Stephanie:

My first and second child (born in April 09) both began projectile vomiting their bottles within a week or two of coming home from the hospital. I was unable to breastfeed my first baby due to medical reasons and I pumped what little I could get and mixed it with formula for my 2nd child. I too had to put both of them on hypoallergenic formula (Nutramigen). It is soooo expensive! My new baby had months of diarhea and after numerous stool tests we still could not determine what was wrong. She used to get horrible stomach cramps too. I'm glad to say that just a few weeks ago we switched her from Nutramigen to Prosobee (Soy) and she's doing really well. I never noticed blood in her stool and I wonder if your baby is having firmer stools, perhaps he is straining and it's causing him to bleed a little. I would certainly get a 2nd opinion though. You don't want to mess around with blood in the stool. Good luck!

Nutramigen is the one we used that made my son throw up.  It was the one with casein in it.  We eventually ended up with Elecare, which is insane to have to buy outright.  I'm glad we don't have to use it now.  The good news is that if kids test low, they usually outgrow soy allergy pretty quickly.  The same with milk.  A lot of kids outgrow it by 5.

Michelle - posted on 12/20/2009

Quoting Michelle:

My son went through the same thing we tried normal formula first and it was fine for about a month, then he started to have problems with it so we switched to soy which again was fine but didn't last very long. After awhile we tried goats milk and then finally I tried rice milk and that was the only one he could drink until he was almost 4 years old. I would talk to your health unit I ended up making my own formula and that really helped maybe they have a formula for you to use as I can't remember it and we have not had this problem with my newest addition

We use rice milk now & soy milk b/c that's what WIC gives us (& he was cleared of the soy allergy).  I'd rather the rice milk though b/c of all the estrogen in soy.  He actually did really well on goat's milk, but the first allergist we saw told us to stop all animal milk.  This allergist we have now said that once we test him again in April we'll see.  If he's cleared for milk, great, but if not he might have us try the goat's milk again b/c it worked well before.

Stephanie - posted on 12/19/2009

My first and second child (born in April 09) both began projectile vomiting their bottles within a week or two of coming home from the hospital. I was unable to breastfeed my first baby due to medical reasons and I pumped what little I could get and mixed it with formula for my 2nd child. I too had to put both of them on hypoallergenic formula (Nutramigen). It is soooo expensive! My new baby had months of diarhea and after numerous stool tests we still could not determine what was wrong. She used to get horrible stomach cramps too. I'm glad to say that just a few weeks ago we switched her from Nutramigen to Prosobee (Soy) and she's doing really well. I never noticed blood in her stool and I wonder if your baby is having firmer stools, perhaps he is straining and it's causing him to bleed a little. I would certainly get a 2nd opinion though. You don't want to mess around with blood in the stool. Good luck!

Michelle - posted on 12/19/2009

My son went through the same thing we tried normal formula first and it was fine for about a month, then he started to have problems with it so we switched to soy which again was fine but didn't last very long. After awhile we tried goats milk and then finally I tried rice milk and that was the only one he could drink until he was almost 4 years old. I would talk to your health unit I ended up making my own formula and that really helped maybe they have a formula for you to use as I can't remember it and we have not had this problem with my newest addition

Michelle - posted on 12/19/2009

My first son had milk & soy allergies. He outgrew the soy by 2 years, thankfully b/c just about everything has soy in it. We found out with testing. Anytime after 6 months you can have allergy testing done. Either have your pediatrician order blood tests or seek out an allergist & have either the blood (RAST) testing or the skin tests done. That should clear things up. If the test can't find anything, I'd find a good GI doc. BTW, I supplemented with soy formula from 7-12 months, which he seemed to tolerate before we found the soy allergy. The hypoallergenic formula made him projectile vomit b/c even though it was hypoallergenic, it still had casein in it & that's what most people with milk allergy are allergic to.

Heather - posted on 12/19/2009

Theres two different kinds of protien in milk, and one of those kinds is also found in soy milk, my most family has an intolerance to the canis protien in milk (I can't remeber what the other on is called, So some babies who are allergic to milked based formulas are also allergic to soy, you could maybe try a different type of hypoallergenic formula, I know you can get a persciption for them, my niece had a heart transplant when she was young and is now on the Enfamil Hyper allergenic formula but cause all formulas are made a little bit differently it might just be finding the one he likes best. I was told that hyperallergenic formulas tend to be a bit bitter, because of the processing to break down all the protiens so your son doesn't have to and can there for absorb them. I'd ask your pedi for some tips. Or maybe try using sterilzed water if your not using it already, when my second born was in the hospital we used the sterilized bottle water from the hospital and our own formula and he seemed to really like it, before that we were using bioled water, I'm not sure if theres much of a difference but it helped him sleep longer and was a little less fussy I think.

Tegen - posted on 12/19/2009

My daughter had the same problem. I also started with breast feeding but was not making enought like you i was only making one oz per twenty minute sitting. I then was giving her formula and she consistantly screamed after i fed her. I talked to a nutritionist and she had basicly yelled at me for taking her off of breast milk. So I didn't really talk to her after that . My doctor had told me to give her soy because she may be allergic to milk protien. Ever since I have been giving her soy formula she has been a very happy baby although she is still spitting up at eight months. I have just recently called her pedi about this and he has said if it is not bothering her than he has no concerns. As long as she is gaining wieght and going to the bathroom and is willing to eat. I was wondering if maybe you can consult a gasto enterologist for advice? I hope your son feels better soon. Hang in there :)

Trish - posted on 12/18/2009

if you're still concerned i think i'd consider getting your gp to refer you to a gasto specialist before things get any worse, just for a second opion. or talk to your baby health nurse.