Formula to Milk.... allergies?

[workjw]

We have recently gone from formula to whole milk in our 1 yr old dd. She has had terrible diarrhea ever since. We tried to go back to formula, but she is refusing it. I now mix 50/50 and she doesn't like it, but she will drink it. Still with the crazy bowels. She has always had bowel probs (due to abx) but I am wondering if this could be an allergy. She has never had any food allergies before.... she'll eat anything!! Any ideas or suggestions?

[nalo]

The combo of the abx hx plus formula (cow milk base I assume) then straight cow's milk absolutely could mean she is intollerant to dairy (abx made her gut susceptible and consuming cow milk products could have done damage). The way to find out is to ellimate 100% of dairy from her diet (including hidden ingredients) for a few weeks and see if she gets better. It takes a while for all dairy to leave the body so you may not see a difference right away. You could also start her on a non-dairy probiotic to help heal her gut (check out Kirkman and Genestra/HMF). This would be a very good idea for her. If she needs to take a bottle to fall asleep or something you can research how to make your own non-dairy formula - there are healthy/safe recipes out there. You can also increase the fat in her diet while she is off whole milk by increasing foods like avocado and using coconut oil and milk for cooking. If it turns out she is intollerant to dairy you may want to consult a nutritionist or doc (holistic, hopefully) to help guide in the milk replacement (in regards to calories, fat and protein). Or better yet...keep posting here - the mom's here are collectively much more knowledgeable than any one provider you would go to see.

[workjw]

Thank you so much for the suggestions. We are going to start tomorrow by cutting out the dairy and see what happens. I can't say I'm looking forward to it... the girl loves cheese, but I'm very hopeful it will curb the upset belly, at least some.

I have a couple of questions about probiotics. We started her on a probiotic (udo infants from whole foods) and both of our dr's recommended that we take her off. One dr said it was basically pointless since she is on daily abx. The other said he didn't suggest giving her a live bacteria, good or bad, b/c she is so prone to infections, and he didn't feel it would be helpful, and adding bacteria might cause risks?!?! Does any of that make sense? We quit giving it to her, but have considered giving it to her again.

Anyone know any good web site links about probiotics and there use w/ daily abx?

[nalo]

Oh my. I didn't realize she is currently on daily abx. What are they for and when will she be off them? Has this been a long term thing? Our ND's also recommend that probiotics during abx are pointless because the abx will just kill them off before they can populate the gut at all. However, another mama on here suggests probiotics should still have some effect if taken 2 hours away from the abx. In any case - I STRONGLY disagree with the doc who told you she should not get probiotics at all. They are crucial to her gut healing and one of the reasons she is currently so susceptible is because she has no good bacteria left in her little system. I would also suggest you start her on cod liver oil - which you could start right away.

[workjw]

I don't guess I've heard of the cod liver oil benefit. I'm glad to have something else to try.

She has taken daily abx since she was 6 wks old for grade 5 kidney reflux (she just turned 1yr). We may have to be on them for years, but we are working on getting a second opinion.

I guess we will start out by cutting the dairy and adding some cod liver oil. Hopefully that will help at least to calm her little bowels down. I'll be sure and let you know how things go... I'll probably have a thousand questions!!

[nalo]

Wow. That sounds awful. I do not know anything about this disease at all but are there ANY other treatment options to try? (I would absolutely be seeking care from a naturopath to see if they can guide you towards a less damaging treatment). If abx are the only option then they're the only option but I find that hard to believe. I don't want to sound horrible if she absolutely MUST be on them but they really are going to have quite a negative impact on her overall health (as you have seen). At the very least, an ND can help guide you to use as many gut healing techniques as are appropriate - regardless of whether or not the abx continue. Things likes glutamine, zinc, S. Boulardii (a type of probiotic)...
I also wanted to mention that you might want to keep your mind open to the possibility of other food intollerances given her compromised gut for most of her life. Good luck with all of this.