Blood on baby's stool, should I assume cow milk allergy?

[Oonah]

It was one time, a streak of light red blood in my 6 week old exclusively breastfed baby. No allergies in our families, including our two older children.

My pediatrician says he's nearly 100% sure it's a cow milk allergy, I am hoping hoping hoping it's just a fissure.

I eliminated dairy from my diet 2 days ago. How long should I wait to reintroduce dairy to test her? Pedi says 1 weeks but I've read 2 even 3 weeks is best.

One more question....I have been pumping to build up a stash to prepare for when I return to work in 6 weeks. If dd does have a milk allergy when can I be sure the allergens are out of my milk so I can pump and freeze again?


thanks!

[nalo]

I saw your question in the other person's post as well. I think it generally takes half as long to leave the mother's body....so if dairy turns out to be the culprit unfortunately you'll only be able to use pumped milk that you start pumping about 2-3 weeks from now. So sad, I know.

I also strongly disagree with your ped's info but you could do one of two things here I think. Either consume lots of dairy right now for a few days and test the theory - see if poop is bad, any impact on sleep, fussiness, gassiness, etc. If you seem to notice that dairy is having a negative effect then you remove dairy (and possibly soy since there would be a 50% chance of soy intollerance as well) for many months. An offending food should not be attempted to be reintroduced for at least 6 months and since your babe is so tiny still I probably wouldn't attempt reintroduction (I'm talking about through you/your breastmilk) until she is a year old. OR you can assume dairy is the culprit now and skip the step where you consume lots of dairy to test the theory. You may not have as clear an answer but you may prevent any further gut damage as well. Hard decisions aren't they. I would suggest you get yourself and your LO on a good probiotic that is not in a lactose base as well as cod liver oil to help gut healing. If you can ever get around to reading the Healing Your Gut thread you will learn that EBF babes have reactions to foods when their mamas have leaky guts and are not digesting certain proteins fully. Therefore it is important to heal your gut as well (even though you probably feel fine and don't realize you have a leaky gut). So much to learn it can feel overwhelming but feel free to come post more questions often! And...maybe it is a fissure in which case it just needs time to heal. However, I know nothing about these or how they are diagnosed. Good luck!!

[kjbrown92]

For me, the milk was out of my system, 96 hours after I ingested it (my son would react exactly 24 hours after I ingested it, and then for the next 3 days). I ended up dumping all the milk that I'd pumped the first two weeks, because of it (no milk banks in CT at the time). I think peds see more milk intolerance than anything else so it probably is milk. But could be any other food as well, and milk and soy intolerances are often found together (in case you decide to replace milk with soy). Does anyone in your family have seasonal allergies? My DH and I have seasonal allergies, and the GI doc said that was enough to give the kids food intolerances, that they were just more prone to it.

[Oonah]

Originally Posted by DoulaMary

I would suggest you get yourself and your LO on a good probiotic that is not in a lactose base as well as cod liver oil to help gut healing. If you can ever get around to reading the Healing Your Gut thread you will learn that EBF babes have reactions to foods when their mamas have leaky guts and are not digesting certain proteins fully.

oh goodness...I started to dig in and research more and tackle the healing your gut thread...this is overwhelming :

[Oonah]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I think peds see more milk intolerance than anything else so it probably is milk.

The little reading I have done on this so far says its pretty rare for a breastfed babe to have this allergy...that said...I am starting to come to terms with the fact that the allergy is the most likely cause.

Does anyone in your family have seasonal allergies?

Not any that stick out in my mind. DS did have some mild seasonal allergies his first two years...but none since.

is milk intolerance the same as lactose intolerance?

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by Oonah

The little reading I have done on this so far says its pretty rare for a breastfed babe to have this allergy...that said...I am starting to come to terms with the fact that the allergy is the most likely cause.

is milk intolerance the same as lactose intolerance?

Being allergic to human (mama's) milk is very rare, but a cow's milk allergy in an infant is really not so rare. But for some reason, not many peds know much about it. : I think a lot of babies with milk allergies/intolerances just get written off as having colic or reflux.

Milk intolerance is a completely different thing than lactose intolerance. I can't explain why... but I know it is. I'm sure another mama can give the technical details.

[leerypolyp]

Because the allergic babe is sensitive to casein (the protein in cow's milk), not lactose (the sugar).

I would give a LONG time before I was sure dairy had cleared out of my system -- one week is not nearly enough. (But don't dump the milk until you're sure you have to!)

That said, this was a one-time thing? How's the baby's poop otherwise? Is there anything else that would make you or your ped think it was the allergy? I mean, you're right, it could be just a fissure, and probably healed by now.

[Oonah]

Originally Posted by leerypolyp

That said, this was a one-time thing? How's the baby's poop otherwise? Is there anything else that would make you or your ped think it was the allergy? I mean, you're right, it could be just a fissure, and probably healed by now.

this was a one time streak of blood...baby's poop is the usual seedy mustard poop...3-5 times a day. No rashes, excema, vomiting, arching...some occasional fussiness. The one time streak of blood in the poop is the basis of his diagnosis.

are there other signs related to her poop that would point to an allergy? I think I may have read somewhere about green poop or diarrea, but I don't know how one could tell if a 6 week old had diarrea.

[changingseasons]

Frequent green poo with mucus or blood, colic symptoms (restless sleeping, screaming at the end of the day), spitting up, eczema/cradle cap, allergy "ring" (rash/raw spot around the anus).

[leerypolyp]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

Frequent green poo with mucus or blood, colic symptoms (restless sleeping, screaming at the end of the day), spitting up, eczema/cradle cap, allergy "ring" (rash/raw spot around the anus).

Yeah, that.

Hmm. One-time deal, huh? All I'm saying is, I wouldn't start throwing your milk away just yet...