Constipation as symptom of intolerance of CMP?

[Gurke]

I know there are some very clued-up allergy experts here. May I tap your brains for a minute? I'm trying to work out whether my DS might have a CMPI.

Background: he is now 12 months (but was 3 months prem). He is still breastfeeding. I actually went off dairy for 5 months at the start, and I think it made a difference to his reflux (more on that in a sec), but to be honest I'm not 100% sure, there are just too many variables... He is also eating solids alright (well, sometimes he is - we're doing BLW so he sometimes eats nothing).

He's had reflux symptoms ever since he come home from hospital aged 2 months. Even now he's still going through phases of throwing up every day, but then sometimes doesn't for a few weeks. But even in vomit-free times he often seems to have stomach pain, esp. When going to sleep, and painful trapped wind (and is impossible to burp), never-ending hiccups, etc etc. I know all of this is classic reflux - the pediatrician agreed but always put off giving him drugs because he seems to be following his weight centile, and I agreed its best to avoid drugs if at all possible. Might have to get some meds now though.

Anyway, long story short: I'm noticing more and more phases where he is really quite constipated (no bowel movement for 4 or 5 days, and when he finally does poo it's small, hard and apparently very painful). I'm already not feeding him obvious constipating foods (eggs, bananas, sweet potato, etc) and trying to feed him prunes and so on. Is this kind of thing common for babies with CMPI?

There are a lot of allergies etc in both my and DP's families, incl eczema, hayfever, asthma, and I haven't drunk cows milk since I was a baby myself (apparently just didn't ever drink it, and can't tolerate it now), but am ok with cheese & yoghurt.

Sorry about the essay. But do your reckon he might have some issues with cows milk protein, as well as the reflux? How would I go about confirming this, and what should I do next? I hate seeing him in so much pain.

Thanks for any advice!

[gretagrape]

That's the opposite of my son - he was having between 6-10 liquid poos a day before I went dairy free, so not sure if it can cause constipation or not.

Do you keep a food/drink diary for him so you can build up a detailed picture of when symptoms are worse and whether that coincides with having eaten dairy?

Our 6mo is having his first appointment at the allergy clinic today but we have already been told that any tests they do won't be definitive because of the immaturity of his immune system so you can end up with false positives and false negatives, and the dietician said the most reliable way of determining whether he is allergic to something is going to be by keeping a record of everything he eats and how he reacts to things when eaten several times over a prolonged period.

[tutu100]

My ds2 was dairy intolerant which we had suspected for a while but was finally proved when he stopped breastfeeding at 11 months and we gave him formula a few times which he spectacularly projectile vomited an hour later. Before we cut out all dairy products he would swing between coinstipation and diahorrea which our consultant said was an indication of dairy intolerance.

Ds2 was completely dairy free until he was 3, when we were advise to start gradually introducing dairy products (we were given a schedule to work to). He is now nearly 5 and can tolerate things like biscuits and cakes with dairy in, the occaissional yoghurt, but drinking milk still causes him problems.

With hindsight ds2 suffered alot with stomach ache in his first year. I think that was caused by the dairy intolerance as virtually as soon as we put him on a dairy free diet the stomach ache stopped and he started sleeping better through the night.

We were under the care of a consultant anyway as my son had an immature bowel so we discussed the issue with him. We cut out all dairy (bit of a nightmare as it's amazing what products have dairy in that you wouldn't expect to). When we went and saw the consultant 3 months later the change in ds2 was quite remarkable, he'd stopped vomitiing, was pooing normally and sleeping better so the consultant felt it was clear case of dairy intolerance. He felt though it was an intolerance to cow's milk protein and not lactose as Ds2 had tolerated breastfeeding (although I'd debate that!).

[Gurke]

Thanks Tutu, that's really helpful. The more I read about dairy allergies & intolerances the more I am convinced that DS has something like that going on.

Thanks Greta - yes I've kept food diaries for myself & DS, but am frustrated that it is impossible to disentangle the many things that are going on (e.g. DS' prematurity, reflux, possible TT, growth spurts, and possible CMPI). He's clearly not seriously allergic because he hasn't had continued violent reactions to eating dairy, but his ongoing digestive discomfort really makes me wonder what is going on...