Sunday, April 3, 2016

Our Struggle with Milk Protein Intolerance

As I’m sure I will talk about enough here in the future someday. Trust your mommy instincts. If something isn’t right…. First review your common issues. As a wise doctor once told my anxiety riddled self… common things happen commonly. That’s to say USUALLY your baby is NOT the anomaly… “Dr. Google” would have you believe that is it happening to you and you are going to die yesterday…. Good news is… your still here. ;)
But when Avah was born I had a feeling. Not a rush her to the ER immediately feeling, but that mommy/nurse instinct. Cradle cap. Normal. Dry skin. Normal. Oozing crusty eczema….. Probably worth checking out the causes. Avah was maybe 3 weeks old when I noticed a constantly reoccurring bought of crusty goop ( I know technical medical lingo.. lol) between her eyes. Smack dab in the middle of her face.
Now as a word about me.. I’m a picker…. Bad. Scrapes, cuts, itchy skin… just can’t do it. I’m compelled to touch it WAY more than my medical training tells me to.
Avah’s crusty goop was no different. I obsessed about it being there. This was my first sign of her milk issue. I had done some hunting on the internet about skin issues…. Reputable sources here folks not the dr. google variety. And I discovered one common thing between many inflammatory issues…. Milk intolerance. Now as I have had to explain too many many many people about milk protein intolerance and lactose intolerance. They ARE NOT the same thing.

WE NOW TAKE A PAUSE IN YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING FOR SOME BREAKING NEWS

Protein Issue


Quick medical lesson here. Everyone knows about the main benefit of breastfeeding, the amazing ability to be able to lend mum’s immune system to baby until they can develop their own. This ‘head start’ if you will in the world of immunity to the common cold. Now everyone also knows about macro nutrients – carbohydrates, fats (lipids) and proteins. Immunity is passed through the breast milk into the baby through a protein… this protein is a microscopic swirl of amino acids (the things that form proteins) and these different amino acids make up ALL proteins. EVERY one of them. Now your thinking where the heck am I taking this goose chase. Well. The small intestine has the job of breaking down these proteins into amino acids and as an adult these only the amino acids (the simplest form of proteins) are passed through the wall of the intestine into the blood.  

Now that you’ve likely jumped to the next section because you feel lost and are losing faith in this article…. Babies are super-duper special. And this super duperness is what gets them in trouble. Sometimes. Babies gain immunity through letting these strands of ‘immunity’ pass through the intestine into the blood stream and give babies their immunity blueprints if you will for their future. Its call a permeable gut, ALL babies are born with this permeable gut, and babies typically lose the ability between 9 months and a year according to current knowledge. Babies with a milk protein intolerance have bodies that are confused about the strands. The immunity strand passes into the blood and the body goes “OH CRAP AN INVADER ATTACK!!!!” this signal is what gives your baby symptoms.

Lactose Issue 

According to kids health (link at bottom) infants and toddlers rarely have a lactose issue. Lactose is made up of two types of sugars. Glucose and Galactose. Galactose is the sugar that comes from animal milk. We generally see this in cow’s due to our cultures copious cow’s milk consumption. The body of a lactose intolerant person does not have the ability or a poor ability to break down this sugar into its simple forms. Therefor the body is then reacting to the sugar (i.e. carbohydrate) portion of milk…. Not the protein portion of milk.

BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

Anyone still following….. Now with Avah … she was a slow reactor…. Then as with repeated exposure to an allergen…. The reaction time sped up. We didn’t notice it until Christmas… in a big way.

We had given Avah formula for the first time in November. She was 3 months old and Glen and I wanted to have her used to formula in case my milk ran out or we just wanted a night to ourselves for a movie. We began with your normal floundering in the formula aisle of the local grocery store. SO many options, sizes, varities. Sooooo many toting the label “as close to real breastmilk as possible”…. Which made choosing formulas difficult. If you’re a concerned parent about the sugars and chemicals in your food…. Don’t read a formula can…..WARNED YOU!. Anyways we began we her first bottle! She looooooved it, so much so we got a little crazy and gave her a second… she kept eating… she must be hungry. Wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Lol vomit vomit everywhere. She ate herself to vomiting. Lol poor girl. Anyways. We didn’t notice symptoms right away. And really even doing it again we proboably still wouldn’t. She was getting a cow’s milk based formula every two ish weeks… maybe and only for a feeding or two. We couldn’t ever for sure say she was fussy.

For all of you with a baby over six months or multiple kids... try telling me that the common slow reactions to milk aren’t just “babies being babies”. They are (according to kids health) loose stools (possibly containing blood), vomiting, gagging, refusing food, irritability or colic, and skin rashes, like eczema. AM I RIGHT OR WHAT!?!?! We had no idea. I had a gut feeling this was her issue. I have other family members with milk issues on both sides. It was easily likely. So I cut out milk from my diet because it’s HIGHLY recommended as you can be giving her cow’s milk protein through the breast milk when you consume foods with dairy. (Think of it in the same way you can upset HER stomach by YOU eating broccoli).

Her eczema had gotten better but still not great or gone so I was really doubting the whole milk thing about a month in. I hadn’t seen a lot of improvement in her skin. So we made a decision to abandon the milk free thing and OOOOHHHH MAN did I feast like a KING! (about 15 pounds to my butt cheeks worth too). It was Christmas time and with the time of year it means many boozy drinks and visits. LOTS of visits. So avah was getting formula or breast milk in a bottle probably once every other day (please don’t judge! Lol). We had noticed she was starting to spit up more though and all of a sudden her eczema was back to her cheeks, but this time no oozing just really really dry skin.


One particular night visiting Avah’s grandparents, she started to refuse her bottle kept turning away and even spit up a bit. She hadn’t eaten in four hours and she was acting hungry so with persistence we got it down. We attributed it to maybe a little seasonal flu or illness since she had come in contact with sooo many people and places.

Then the final straw. We had Christmas with my family at home. The wine flowed as it always does so out came the bottle. She was starving so she took it like a champ. Then we got our confirmation. About 30 minutes after she ate she began dry heaving and then the vomit comet arrived. Poor thing was like 12 lbs and she vomited for three hours straight. Straight. It was horrendous.

We contemplated many things…. Was it the formula brand? Maybe we should try something else. Everyone has a story of their baby not doing well on a certain formula. Was our formula old? Nope expiry good and only open a week. Then it hit me. Milk. The formula had milk. And she had a lot of it. I immediately cut milk again we threw out the formula and got another brand just to be sure. Vomit and garbagio to that one as well. We had confirmed it. She was never a spitter till she got formula. It made so much sense. Her fussiness which we attributed to a cold was likely the formula in the beginning. AND If it wasn’t comfirmed for us enough when she stopped getting formula and I cut milk. Boom. Skin of a baby. No dry skin no oozing and the perfect little baby who never ever fussed was found! As a further (totally accidental) re confirmation at six months we gave her a just add water barley cereal and boy did she gobble it down. Scary thing is we put her to bed a happy baby and at 3 am she was crying and we found her in a pool of partially dried vomit….. We had the monitor with us all night and never heard her… I neurotically check on her lots now.
You easily forget how little they were at one point. 


THE DIET

Let me tell you… the struggle of prenatal heartburn makes cookie eating tough… was so excited to eat cookies after she was born…. Guess was like all cookies have L milk, butter, cheese, sour cream…. Yup. I know right. And milk is one tricky lady. Since it is a major food group, let me tell you… it’s in EVERYTHING L. (FYI. Still on stupid diet. Still no reasonable dairy free recipe for shortbread which is primarily flour, butter and sugar (health food, am I right?)…. SUPER SAD FACE! Lol).
The thing with it also being a major food group is this issue. Food companies take milk products and either divide them into their individual milk products or modify them in some way. What happens is even the lactose-free spread…. You guessed it…. has modified milk products. Chocolate…. Modified milk products. I’ve even found salt and vinegar potato chips with milk products in it. I know right? UGH! But with breastfeeding moms trying to eliminate cow’s milk for their babies, it’s recommened to remove ALL milk and milk products from your diet, including those not only from cow’s but also other ‘milk givers’ like goats and sheep’s milk, as these animals have milk protein very similar to cow’s.

LIST OF INGREDIENTS THAT IS ACTUALLY A MILK/ MILK PRODUCT

Reading your labels makes grocery shopping sooo much longer. And health wise I have no reaped the benefit of no milk or milk fat in my diet. And the worst is eating out HA! Good luck. Our current health trends make gluten free restaurant eating easy peasy. Dairy issues on the other hand are highly unrecognized and because butter is fatty, salty and scrumptious you’d be surprise what gets a dolup of butter. Some babies react REALLY strongly to milk products and there for mothers  have to avoid it at all costs, and just like with peanuts, that means also not eating any products labelled as MAY contain milk or milk products. I pray for you if you’re that unfortunate.  For a list of other words for milk or milk products click here

FOR AVAH

Everything I do in a day is for Avah. We were really healthy before and we want her to follow our eating habits as well. For us that means we no longer can eat out because well milk. She very rarely gets commercially bought baby food (tune in another time for my stories and insights by being a baby puree masta!). lol. I always always read labels. And my amazing partner supports me in ways I never thought was possible. He too has now cut milk out for about 95% of his diet. He will go out with the work people for lunch and have a cheeseburger (bugger) but he never talks about his meals nor does he ever suggest going to a restaurant we aren’t sure I can eat in and he knows never to brag about eating cheese in front of me. I make jokes but truly I am blessed with him. We are a team and we cook together and parent together to make this work.

THE DOCTOR VISITS


Avah is regularly assessed by our family doctor and she is gaining remarkably well. She as healthy 15lbs as of today and she eats solid foods so well I already wonder if she has a hollow leg. The doctor has zero concerns at this time with us being dairy free. She’s still breast fed and will be breastfed until she is ready for the switch.. which sadly may be sooner for her than me. We have discussed future ramifications of her diary allergy as well. He doesn’t recommend poking and prodding at her for milk allergy testing as babies can grow out of protein allergies between the age of 9 months and 5 years. When It comes to when she should be switched to cow’s milk she will remain on breast milk and formula meant for a year old and up and she will be assessed at that time. We will reintroduce milk through its various forms when we feel it is possible she is less allergic. AND if she continues to be pass 18 months she will then be referred to a pediatric doctor for future follow up and testing. 

As much as I miss cookies, it's just a sacrifice I have to make to continue breastfeeding which I am MORE than willing to do. If Avah continues to be allergic then we as a family will continue to be dairy free to support one another. All's we can do is take it one step at a time as a family with love and joy and know we are blessed no matter the challenges we face.