Need advice.. MILK PROTEIN ALLERGY

[mum to 2 angels]

My son has been to the paediatrician because he has a milk protein allergy. He is 7 months and weighs 7kgs. He is constantly throwing up. Apparently he cant be tested yet to find out exactly what protein it is. There are over 100 possibile different proteins in milk. 40% of these are in soy milk too. He is breast fed and im not brave enough to even try soy milk. His allergy test is at 13 months (6months away). So I will feed him till atleast 2 years.I wanted to know if anyone has been through this. What did u feed ur kids. It seems so hard.No yoghurt,custard, cheese, milk, chocolate ect....

[Areca]

Yep DD is allergic to milk protein, eggs, nuts, barley, kiwi fruit, and maybe fish. Sorry but it's bs that you can't get allergy tested for another 6 months. Babies can be tested from 6 months and yes they are busy but if your doctor makes a phone call you will be fast tracked! I had a long wait too when I rang with a referal but my doc rang and was there within the month.

There is nutellex which is dairy free butter and tastes pretty close to the real thing.
The best soy milks IMO are the smooth white brand and the vitasoy brands. Vitasoy was my first choice (I bf DD until she was 14 months old) but it contains barley so I switched to the smooth white. I hate soy milk but these brands are pretty good! Start with using it in your cooking. You can't taste the difference but it allows your taste buds to get used to it. Now I can easily have it on my cereal and not notice a difference. DD has been weaned for a month but I am not changing cause I really like the soy milk!
There is dairy free chocolate...sweet williams make a milk chocolate and there is another brand that makes a dark chocolate. Both are much better than I thought they'd be!
Soy yoghurt is horrible (IMO and DD's) but I have a friend whose DD loves her soy yoghurt. Just be careful if you introduce that incase your DS is allergic to soy too.
There is a book out there that is full of nut free/dairy free and egg free recipes for babies and toddler's. My friend photocopied it for me so I don't know the name of it but your ped should.
It's not that hard. It seems very overwhelming in the beginning but knowing you can't have it makes a big difference! You just learn to substitute (eg. instead of cheese sauce substitue the cheese with pureed asparagus...it really does work as a cheese sauce but it doesn't re-heat well!).
DD's birthday cake was made on egg replacer, nutellex and soy milk and not one person at the party (over 30 people) guessed...everyone said it was delicious!
Be careful, only a small percentage of kids that are allergic to milk protein only have that allergy. Most are also allergic to either nuts or eggs, or both. Be careful with what you eat and what your DS is fed. I'd really be pushing that allergy testing!

[TreeFrog]

Hi there!

Yep, my son also has Cow's Milk (and Soy) Protein Allergy (or CMA). I breastfed him for 12 months, of which the latter half of that I went Dairy Free (and later soy free) after we discovered his allergy. I managed to do this okay. I actually ate a more healthy diet to be honest, as I had to avoid a lot of processed and convienece foods.

My DS's allergy was discovered through very wakeful behaviour (he would wake up screaming regularly at night with a pain in his tummy or gut) and bowel motions. He had a stool sample test taken that checked for certain proteins and sure enough there it was. He is also allergic to soy protein as well. He also has Silent Reflux.

I drank lots of rice milk (which is quite nice when you get used to it and less blaoting than cow's milk anyway) and adapted various recipes etc whilst breastfeeding and all that kit and kaboodle.

We have our appointment with an Allergist next month and wil have waited 4 months for it. His milk protein allergy was pretty easy to diagnose. Can your Paeditrician do a stool sample test to make sure that this is the problem? Maybe ask. We will of course have further testing for the CMA as well as others, but the stool sample is a pretty good indicator for a start and my son improved dramatically on our new diet. Also, bear in mind that it takes about 6 weeks to notice a proper change. So, you have to give the new diet time. But it is so worth it :)

At 13 months, he is now on Pepti Jnr which is only available on prescription/Dr's authority. It is a Hypo allergenic milk.

Alos, when breastfeediong I avoided nuits etc as well. I have kept most allergens at bay until further testing. Just as well he likes fruit. He is a fruit bat my boy :)

[aardvark]

I kept DD#1 off all dairy until she was at least 2 because I was told that it would possibly protect her from developing eczema.

It wasn't that hard. Nuttelex or Omega Gold spreads have no dairy and are OK to cook with.

Low GI apple juice (wild about fruit) would be OK on some cereal if you need something other than breastmilk.

As for chocolate, you can get dairy free dark chocolate.

There are ways and means around it, you need to cook most things yourself, though.

[mum to 2 angels]

Thanks so much. I didnt think that far into it. I guess i have alot of research to do.

[becstar]

My son also has milk protein allergy (he is 3 and was diagnosed between 5-7 months). We had him tested at 7 months......we go to RPA allergy centre. They are fantastic, they have paediatricians who deal only with allergies and you see a dietician as well. I notice you live in WOllongong. I think it would be worth the trip in to go to RPA if you can. We travel in from the Central coast.

Yes, it is very hard to find food for them to eat...my son is a very fussy eater as a result. However, you can cook a lot of things with rice milk instead of cows milk.......PM me if you are having trouble, I can give you some ideas and hints and just be a shoulder to lean on (I know it can be so hard and its hard to get good information, GPs dont know much about allergies)

Bec
xx