With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

DS has been on Similac Advanced since birth (he's 2 months now). At his one month appt, I told the ped that he was having some projectile vomiting (not every feeding and not everyday) and that he was VERY gassy. She said she was not concerned about the vomiting as she was happy with is weight gain and that she recommended mylicon for the gas. Well I have been giving him the mylicon for the past month and while it has helped with preventing him from screaming in pain, he is still filled with gas. Quite honestly he farts ALL day long. While he occassionally has a projectile vomiting issue, it has turned into spitting up after every feeding. During the day he is a very happy baby but come the night time, he fusses constantly as if he is uncomfortable. He does not want to lay down (which he does during the day) and the only way he will go to sleep is sitting up in the boppy or in his swing. Also, I have noticed that he only poops once a day. How much should he be going? He is drinking about 4oz evry 3 hours. I'm still getting the hang of this whole mommy thing and dont even know if 24ozs a day is the right amount (at his one month he weighed 6lbs, 7ozs. I dont know if the ped took my concerns seriously at my last appt and I want to try and be more assertive this time as I KNOW that something is bothering my little boy DH and I plan on refusing the peds recommended HepB shot and I am afraid I'm going to already put her off when I tell her this. What formula alternatives are there? Does this sound like a milk allergy or just maybe a bit of a lactose intolerant issues (so as not to eliminate milk completely) or am I completely off base? Any insight is greatly appreciated

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

my son is 3 weeks old and was also on similac advance. He is very gassy and after he would eat he would move around a lot and pass gas and could not get comfortable and it seemed to be much worse at night. He was not spitting up but when he would eat I could hear the formula in his tummy and it sounded like it was not digesting. I called doctor again and he was tested and he is positive for milk/protein allergy and just swicthed to Simliac Alimentum. He has only been on it for 24 hours but i do see a small difference so far. They say it takes 48 hrs to kick in. If you think he might have an allergy trust your gut and call doctor. My DH thought I was nuts but I was right. Good luck!

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

Posted by Domino

Posted by Melis2700

my son is 3 weeks old and was also on similac advance. He is very gassy and after he would eat he would move around a lot and pass gas and could not get comfortable and it seemed to be much worse at night. He was not spitting up but when he would eat I could hear the formula in his tummy and it sounded like it was not digesting. I called doctor again and he was tested and he is positive for milk/protein allergy and just swicthed to Simliac Alimentum. He has only been on it for 24 hours but i do see a small difference so far. They say it takes 48 hrs to kick in. If you think he might have an allergy trust your gut and call doctor. My DH thought I was nuts but I was right. Good luck!

Thank you for your response! Here's ANOTHER question...how do they test for a milk/protein allergy? Is it some sort of scratch test? Blood test? I'm so exhausted...when does this get easier

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

DS has had so many issues with his milk protein/soy allergy. He was on Gentlease, then Nutramigen, then Alimentum. None of them worked. He was finally put on Elecare. It seems to help a lot. Except now he spits up more. (Because the formula is very thin) He seems much happier and more comfortable now. He still has some gas issues, but nothing like he had before. He was doing ok on the Nutramigen. But when the dr checked his last stool sample it had more blood in it then before. So he switched him to Alimentum. He had a really bad reaction to it. SO he was then switched to Elecare. It has been a week now and he is less fussy. He is still quite the farter, but he doesn't seem to be in pain with it like before. They will test his stool again in one week. They told me it takes 2 weeks for the blood to disappear from his stool. Once that happens, we know the formula is definitely working.

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

My daughter has a milk protein allergy and feeding her was a complete nightmare. She would scream and cry for 2 hr"s after every bottle, and sometimes during...She had a lot of blood in her stool as well.

IMO It doesnt sound like a milk allergy, they tend to show severe signs, some babies are just really gassy. If you think the gas is too much, I would ask the Ped about trying Similac sensitive or Gentlease, they are partially digested and easier on the stomach.

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

That sounds more like reflux than a milk allergy. My DD has/ had a milk allergy I say had bc she is starting to outgrow it). With a milk allergy, they poop alot and it is very watery, green, and mucousy.

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

My DS has a milk/soy allergy. Uncomfortable spitting up and hard to pass gas were both symptoms. He lived on Mylicon drops which helped a little. He would only sleep in the swing or on me and would squirm, grunt and cry when in his crib. He is BF so I'm not sure if it is the same with formula fed babies, but he had green, mucousy poop that smelled terrible. There were tiny specks of blood that you would never notice unless you were examining the poop (the things we do now that we are mothers!). Now that I eliminated dairy and soy from my diet he's much more comfortable.

Ask your doctor to check his stool. It's such a simple test and will give you a quick answer. I had to keep brining my concerns to my doctor before they took it seriously. I think they thought I was "one of those" 1st time moms because DS was gaining weight and not super fussy (as long as he was held ALL the time). I feel terrible that I didn't go with my gut feeling earlier and DS was uncomfortable for several months before we figured it out.

Message edited 12/12/2009 11:21:49 AM.

Re: With all this talk of reflux and milk allergies, I have some questions

Presentation of a true milk allergy:

Blood or mucous in stool
wheezing
runny nose
pulling knees into chest
eczema
excessive crying

It sounds like silent reflux to me, which is why your LO has trouble sleeping on his back.
You can try either Gentlease or Enfamil AR. Gentlease seems to work for a lot of babies with this problem b/c the proteins are partially hydrolyzed and it has increased gastric emptying to help with reflux. Enfamil AR is a formula with added rice starch that thickens in babys belly to keep formula down.

Spit up is not a good predictor of reflux. Many babies have pain from the acid that comes up from their gut but don't necessarily have spit up.

HTH!