Dairy/milk protein intolerance (baby).

Hello all,

I suspect that my twin 2 may have reflux and/or dairy intolerance. I was hoping that others who have been through this might be able to help me 'workshop' (for want of a better phrase) it a bit to see if I'm on the right track...

T2 is 11 weeks old, 6 weeks corrected. In the last two-three weeks she has become increasingly unsettled in the evenings. I know being unsettled in the evenings is normal behaviour for babies.

However - she seems to be in pain, not just grizzly/cluster feeding. She's quite chucky and this does seen to distress her a bit. She's settles easier on her tummy and gets unsettled on the breast.
It only seems to be from about 2pm onwards until about 9/10ish. Is this just normal hell hour(s) or do you think it sounds like dairy intolerance and/or reflux? Thoughts?

My DS is dairy (protein) intolerant. He was definitely more unsettled in the afternoon and evening and grunted and strained with wind all night. He did have periods of screaming in the mornings too but not as often. It wasn't the timing of the episodes that tipped me off as much as just having a strong sense that he was often in pain and always uncomfortable. He looked stressed. I tried eliminating dairy for about four days and saw no difference so concluded that that wasn't it. Then found out weeks later that it takes longer for all the protein to be out of your system and then a week or two for the inflammation in baby's gut to subside. Three weeks off dairy... I had a different baby. Still slept terribly, much to my disappointment, but would wake up and coo and talk to his hands instead of scream.

Not sure if that helps at all, but that's how we got to our 'diagnosis'. It was later confirmed for me by having a big meal of dairy. 48 hours later... Oh the screaming. Poor little love was in agony and did awful poos for days.

Congrats on your twinnies and all the best for getting to the bottom of your little one's tummy troubles. xo

Cow milk protein intolerant household here.

With me, it's runny noses and hayfever signs when I had cowmilk as a child - and if I overdo it now.

With DS, it's agonising stomach pains and eczema flare-ups with dairy. He would just be screaming in pain all night. He is starting to tolerate a little dairy, but I try to keep him away from cow milk as much as possible.

We use goat milk, which doesn't give us this problem. But does give us another in that DH really hates goat milk. But switching to goat for a trial won't hurt.

I was told that babies who are sensitive to casein are usually sensitive to goat and soy products, because the protein is similar.

What are her poos like? That was always the indicator for us. Green and mucousy. Like someone blew their nose in the nappy.

Sounds a bit like my refluxy bub. Have you tried the colic/reflux home remedies? (Infacol, infant's friend, I forget what they're all called) If she seems to get upset when chucking, this could well be it. But there's nothing to say she doesn't have both... However, a medicine like losec takes a few weeks to work too, cos the pain doesn't go away until their raw, inflamed esophageal lining heals.