Think I found dairy allergy... Now also soy?

[Calliope84]

This really baffles me. My 6 week old DD had all the symptoms of "colic." 6 days ago I stopped dairy, leaving some whey and casein in (like having small amounts of non dairy creamer, etc.) By day 2 of this, the crying completey stopped. This is the first time since about week 2 or 3 that it stopped like that. She's always been pretty fussy, never ever wants to be on her back and always wants to be moving. She acted a lot less fussy and her behavior and sleep got better and better.

Then, the night before last I ate some cheese puffs and all night long she was wiggling around making noise and she pooped 5 times or so in the morning. Before I ate those things, the day had been the best yet- she even fell asleep in cradle hold which was unheard of before this. But I ate them any way, thinking maybe they wouldn't bug her. The morning after I ate the cheese puffs, she acted fussy and wouldn't allow us to really place her on her back again. I completely removed dairy yesterday (none at all) and today and yet today she has had mucus in her poop twice! I don't remember seeing any mucus before. She is sleeping a lot today and had a few reflux episodes and hiccups that made her fussy, but other than that she has been happy and alert when up.

To confuse this issue, I have had an overactive letdown and I used to have oversupply (I think my supply is almost regulated, but it still seems to overwhelm her at times.) She also has the symptoms of reflux, pulling on and off the nipple, acting frustrated and fussy, spitting up a lot and hiccuping - so I thought it was reflux until I finally decided to remove dairy because of the colic every evening.

I started drinking soy milk instead of milk last week but the last two days I've been having a bit more. Maybe she is allergic to soy, too?

She seems happier now, so should I just do 2-3 more weeks without dairy and see where we are at and if she still has any issues try removing soy, too? I've read that 50% of babies allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy, so...

[KoalaMommy]

first of all, if she really has a dairy allergy, you need to remove ALL dairy and give it 2 weeks to get out of your system before evaluating (and to be really thorough another 2 weeks to get completely out of her system).  That she's responding already is great, but it could just be she's sensitive to the other dairy remaining in your diet, you don't know until you remove it all, and I mean butter too.  Once it's out, you can experiment with how much you can add back in before getting a reaction, but you need to space additions at least 4 days apart.   

But yes, soy protein is very similar to dairy, and if dairy bothers her, there's a good chance soy will too.  I drink almond and coconut milks instead and use coconut based creamer in my coffee. 

You can see initial improvement with the major allergen removed but then see additional symptoms due to remaining traces of that allergen or other allergens.  It took me fully 6 months to pinpoint DS's other allergy after milk, partly because he responded so well just to the removal of milk, but then his symptoms would return.

[Calliope84]

Originally Posted by KoalaMommy 

first of all, if she really has a dairy allergy, you need to remove ALL dairy and give it 2 weeks to get out of your system before evaluating (and to be really thorough another 2 weeks to get completely out of her system).  That she's responding already is great, but it could just be she's sensitive to the other dairy remaining in your diet, you don't know until you remove it all, and I mean butter too.  Once it's out, you can experiment with how much you can add back in before getting a reaction, but you need to space additions at least 4 days apart.   

But yes, soy protein is very similar to dairy, and if dairy bothers her, there's a good chance soy will too.  I drink almond and coconut milks instead and use coconut based creamer in my coffee. 

You can see initial improvement with the major allergen removed but then see additional symptoms due to remaining traces of that allergen or other allergens.  It took me fully 6 months to pinpoint DS's other allergy after milk, partly because he responded so well just to the removal of milk, but then his symptoms would return.

I removed all "major" dairy and had stuff with traces like a small amount of non dairy creamer and a few chocolate chips. She reacted badly when I went and ate cheese puffs. Stupid of me. But the two days she had a lot of mucus in her stool and then the "colic" returned I seriously upped my intake of soy milk and soy protein those days and took away all dairy, casein, etc. You are right, though, I know it takes awhile for it to be out of our systems. I don't want to hear her scream again like all last night, though, if it is soy. ;(

What creamer do you use with coconut?

[KoalaMommy]

I get So Delicious coconut creamer at my local health food store in the dairy section.  I have to be completely dairy free, though, like you, in the beginning, just getting the major stuff out really made a difference.  I think partly it's because their immune systems are so young, they don't react as strongly or to small doses at first. 

I also shop in the kosher section of the grocery store. Since meat and milk can't be served together in a kosher meal, anything that doesn't have a "dairy" stamp on it in the kosher section (it will say either "meat" or "parve") has been certified to be dairy free.  And to give an example, most hot dogs contain dairy, however kosher hot dogs don't.  I also looked up on PETA's website lists of vegan foods, since anything vegan will also be dairy free.  It takes a lot of work and research to eat without diary, so I used the resources that were already widely available to help me figure it out. 

For now, I'd say go totally dairy-free for a few more weeks.  Then you can try removing the soy.  If you take that out and it's still not better then move on to wheat and then eggs.  With diary it needs a long time but the others you can go at a rate of removing one a week.  I had to get to the point of being dairy, wheat, soy, egg, and peanut free before we got the reactions to stop.  Probably just because I had to get to the point where I was making everything from scratch to really get it all out of my diet.  And from there I was able to pinpoint that wheat (most likely gluten) was actually the other problem.  I removed everything one at a time, ate that way for a couple of months and then put things back in one at a time, waiting a week between each addition.