Poor Baby

(And poor Mommy and Daddy.)

The week after we increased Robby's reflux meds, all of his symptoms started getting worse again.  It was then we realized the Zantac just wasn't working for him anymore (it's common for Zantac to stop working).  I brought him into the doctor to make sure nothing else was going on as he just screams so much of the day and won't sleep at night.  The doctor decided to have us try Prevacid (the solutabs that dissolve in his mouth).  We tried it for a few days... but Robby just kept getting worse and worse.  He was screaming so frequently and forcefully... he was clearly in pain.  After doing some research, I realied that the form of Prevacid we were using has an inactive ingredient derived from MILK.  Robby has a dairy allergy.  So he was reacting horribly to the meds.  We stopped the meds and after all this, have come to realize his dairy allergy is more than just straight dairy- he has milk protein intolerance.  This is the inability to digest the proteins found in cow's milk- for Robby, it causes reflux, fussiness while eating, rash on his cheeks (and now tummy), colic-like behavior, mucousy poop, and horrible sleeping habits.

Our options from here are for me to completely eliminate all milk protein (and possibly soy protein as well, many babies that don't tolerate milk proteins also can't tolerate soy proteins.  so far I haven't noticed anything with soy for Robby, but I haven't had much of it).  This means totally changing my diet as most foods have milk proteins.  Not only would that be difficult for me (but if it's what he will do best with then that of course isn't an issue), but if I accidentally eat something with the allergens in it he will react to that (not as badly as he is now though). 

Or we can try a hypo-allergenic formula that has the proteins already partially broken down so it's not so hard on his GI system- this would be consistent with no chance of him accidentally getting allergens in his system.  The problem here is that there is no guarantee he'll do well on the formula because it does still contain traces of milk proteins (they're just partially broken down), it's CRAZY expensive, and many babies have a hard time taking it because it has an awful taste.

Unfortunately, there is no way to know which is best for Robby.  Some babies do better with the breast milk from the altered diet, and some do better going onto the formula.  And it would take a couple weeks to even see the effects from either as the proteins have to leave both mine and Robby's systems.

For now, I plan to alter my diet and continue breastfeeding Robby and see how he does with that.  In the meantime, I may have to supplement with some formula as my supply has significantly decreased from the stress and lack of sleep.

Wish us luck!
Carrie