Colic/Food Allergy Question

[Soulmate]

This is a really complicated question and hope someone can answer. DS is 2 weeks. I had to start supplementing breastmilk with formula because my supply was low and he was not gaining weight. Now it appears he has allergies to both milk and soy protiens (did not respond well to either formulas). He displays classic colic symptoms and has since he was just days old. It is most likely due to these allergies. I had him on Alimentum formula for the past 48 hours and all of his "colic" symptoms disappeared. He was a new baby! Then tonight we introduced back breast milk where I avoided dairy and soy. His symptoms returned in an hour and a half.

My question is, I read that colic disappears around 3 months or so. My assumption is that many people do not know about food allergies (my ped never said anything when I was telling her about his constant crying and deemed it "normal") and often classify them as colic. Does this mean when he gets older I can re-introduce breast milk?

I really do want to give him breast milk and do not want to dry up my supply if I can give it to him later. And I am not willing to do an elimination diet because I feel like I am torturing him everytime I give him breastmilk and do not want to experiment any further. Also, I do not want to keep pumping if it is useless to him, even later.

[moderngal]

Well, babies aren't allergic to mama's milk- you may need to alter your diet, but your baby was born to have breastmilk. IMO, trying an elimination diet is far better than stopping BFing all together. And although I am not 100% sure about this, I am pretty sure that a true elimination diet requires at least a week on the diet. Plenty of people know all about food allergies- I don't think colic can be attributed to that.
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T083301.asp

[Marisa]

And I am not willing to do an elimination diet because I feel like I am torturing him everytime I give him breastmilk and do not want to experiment any further.

Milk and soy protein are tenacious and can linger in your milk for up to two weeks after you eliminate them from your diet. You need to give it a proper trial period and see how he does.

Although the Alimentium is partially digested and much easier on him than conventional formula, the bottom line is that nothing would be better for him than your own milk, if you can eliminate the allergens.

You can pump and store the milk in freezer bags, at the back of the freezer, during the week or two that you're first eliminating dairy and soy. Mark it with the date; it can be stored for 3-6 months that way. If you find that your baby is outgrowing the sensitivities as time goes on, you can use any milk that has not 'expired' - that is less than 6 months old. (When my son was suffering from MSPI I 'tested' his readiness for dairy by adding a splash of milk to my tea, or using a tiny bit of butter on my toast, and watching for a reaction. By the time he was 7 months he didn't react to small amounts like this anymore, and by the time he was a year I was eating a full, normal diet again.)

[Sevilla]

Although my DS did not have classic colic symptoms, he is allergic/sensitive to both dairy and soy and I had to eliminate them both from my diet (he had a horrible diaper rash for weeks until i cut them out). What Marisa said is absolutely right - it takes awhile for it to fully exit your system. And there are a lot of hidden sources of both - it amazed me once i started reading all the labels.

if you want some specific testing at a young age you could look into MSA testing which is more alternative but I felt it was accurate for my DS. Breastfeeding was very important to me and if you would like to continue you'll have to press on through the difficulty. You should check out www.kellymom.com as well to see if they have further info and resources for you. Good luck and congrats on your son! :)