Lactose Intolerance?

[2bluefish]

I know lactose intolerance is rare in infants (and caucasians), but I think my baby might actually be one of the few. He was in the NICU for 2 weeks due to not breathing at birth, so at first he was fed lipids etc. through an IV. Then he was given pumped bm through gavage and then through bottle, then we nursed. I noticed right away that he pooped alot - I would change a poopy diaper before a meal and after a meal, and sometimes during the meal. The nurses were a little surprised, but no body thought anything of it. When I brought him home, he continued having all those stools. They raised their eyebrows at the ped. but said nothing about it. Shortly after I brought him home, he started fussing about nursing and started to refuse to nurse. I chocked it up to nipple confusion since I had to supplement with bottles due to low milk supply, and eventually decided to just bottlefeed because we were both too distressed. Then he started refusing to bottlefeed. He was extremely colicky at feeds - arched back after a few minutes and started screaming and would refuse to continue. So I changed him to Alimentum - which I understand is lactose free but still cow's milk based so still has the proteins but they are predigested - and started freezing the pumped bm so I could try to narrow things down. The Alimentum worked almost immediately. Today I have a cold and wanted him to get the immunities, so I tried to add back some bm with his formula, and he started colicking within just a few minutes and would not finish his bottle, and then was hard to settle afterwards. Doesn't that sound like lactose is the problem? I guess it could be because I have cow's milk proteins in my milk that are not predigested... Just trying to see if I can pin it on lactose or not, cause there are lactose free formulas that are much cheaper than Alimentum... Any insights?

[kjbrown92]

I doubt that it's lactose intolerance, because as you said it is rare in infants. It sounds like a milk intolerance to me. And if you drink milk, the baby is getting it through your breast milk and that's why he's refusing it. If you still want to try to breastfeed, which I would encourage, don't consume any dairy. Then you have to pump and dump for probably a week (you could see about donating milk to a milk bank somewhere, but I don't know the restrictions) - to keep your milk production up, but not give him the milk because it will have milk residuals in it. Then try breastfeeding again and see if he'll take it. Just a thought.
Kathy

[2bluefish]

Just got back from another feeding - I thought of something else. The situation has been so complex... he has reflux and has been on Zantac for 1 week. I'm also wondering if he isn't on the right medicine. He may be refusing and fussing because he's still having reflux pain. DH suggested I just keep freezing my milk until we get the reflux and formula issues pinned down, and then we can try adding bm back to the diet. I only get 6 oz a day pumping and he refuses the breast, so being exclusively breastfed is not an option unfortunately. If he can't tolerate my milk as is then I'll just feed it to #2 in his sippy cup, cause I really need to keep things in my life as simple as possible, there's just too much on my plate. *sigh*

[JaneS]

Antibiotics? Even just formula can upset the balance of good bacteria causing colic. The root causes of allergies and reflux are usually gut flora.

I would start a good baby probiotic, bifidobacterium dominent to seal up his gut. All babies are born with leaky guts and the proper gut flora seals it up.

I would strive to get him on breastmilk...you might try going dairy free. You have no idea what you might be facing down the road such as asthma and anaphylaxis.

[tallanvor]

The alimentum is hypoallergenic. Babies with milk allergies can drink it. Perhaps not all babies, but it was designed for babied with milk allergies. A milk allergy is when you can't process the proteins. If the proteins are broken down to where your body doesn't have to do it, then, in theory, you can drink or eat whatever milk product that is. (someone please correct me if I'm wrong, that's just how I understand things) If it is just lactose, there are formulas (Similac Sensitive, for instance) that is lactose free, but doesn't have the proteins broken down. My son was on it. My youngest, too, but I noticed other symptoms and when she is switched to the hypoallergenic formula the issues go away, so suspect an actual allergy with her. My son has been diagnosed with a milk sensitivity, but not an actual allergy. And his infancy was so stressful, I honestly don't remember if he was truly symptom free on the lactose free or not.

But I would definitely suggest cutting dairy out of your diet and getting him breastfed. It is also possible the reflux is caused by the dairy. Wouldn't be the first time I've heard of that happening. Good luck!

[JaneSmith1010]

From what I know cow's milk is really hard on young babies digestive systems b/c the protiens are not what they are supposed to be getting and may be too large for them. Going to formula, though I understand why you tried it, is probably not a good idea in the least. You should first try cutting ALL dairy out of your diet and this should help. My baby was exactly like this and when I cut out dairy he got much better. However, my baby is also celiac and reacts to ALL grains, so he still had upset until I cut out grains as well. Keep searching, sorry for your hard times.

[thepeach80]

A baby w/ true LI is very sick as their body starts to shut down form the LI, it's not normal LI like you see in adults. I've known one baby who had it (galactosemia) and he was extremely thin (weight loss instead of gain), covered in a full body rash, and his liver and stuff was shutting down and this was w/ being diagnosed at about 2wks old! What you're describing can be secondary LI from abx use, but I'd say probably not. All 3 of mine have been milk, soy, and egg protein intolerant w/ the last 2 having more issues. If you have to use formula your choices are soy if he can handle that or something like Alimentum. My last 2 couldn't even tolerate that and needed rx formula, Neocate.