GI appointment and dairy trial

[Anonymous]

Well, we just had a really good GI appointment, although it could mean for an interesting next few weeks. Owen had gained a couple of pounds since he was last there so he’s just one ounce shy of 24 pounds. She thought he looked great and when we told her how he’s been eating and sleeping she decided that it’s time to us to try a dairy trial. Scary! So we’re going to start with cheese and/or yogurt, and if that goes ok then we’ll be on to whole milk. I’m a little nervous but also really excited. We’ve noticed lately that he’s been getting hidden dairy in stuff like veggie sausages, soy cheese, etc. – stuff that we thought was safe until I looked at the ingredients the other day and nearly fell over when I saw milk listed! But he’s been ok with it which is a really good sign. Anyway, if he does ok with that then we’ll be weaning from Prevacid.

Exciting! But super scary. Does anyone have any advice for us who has gone through this before? I think we’re going to start with some reduced fat cheddar cheese, and only because we have that at home but it’s probably not as difficult for him to digest as other stuff, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

my advice is not to be discouraged if you notice some funky changes poop and gas wise at first. the best way to combat this is to go super slow in introducing dairy in small amounts. what we did was an ounce of yogurt/ cheese daily for a week, then two for the next week and so on until we got to 4 oz a day. once we were sure that this was tolerated, we started milk, as slowly as we did the processed dairy. the other suggestion i have is to use a probiotic. i think that the added cultures were extremely beneficial in digesting milk proteins.

also, drinking yogurt is a wonderful balance between milk (if they aren’t ready for whole milk yet) and a food. what i mean is, you can give him a little in his cup and not necessarily spoil his appetite for other things. to this day, hannah doesn’t drink very much milk. she prefers danimals vanilla or banana and will drink this right along with a meal.

good luck. it is very exciting and opens up endless possibilities of feeding an energetic toddler.

[Anonymous]

oops, i forgot one thing: laura had a great suggestion that we followed which helped us wean from bottles at the same time that we introduced dairy. gradually provide a dairy-based (or calcium enriched) snack at the same time that you would have given a bottle. worked extremely well here, and dareisay hannah hasn’t missed her bottle.

[Anonymous]

That is great Laura! Please keep us posted how it goes.

[Anonymous]

This kind of advice cracks me up – he’s doing great so challenge him some more. I would go super slow. Becky’s advice is good about what to start with, this worked well for us. We did hidden dairy (which you’ve already done that’s great), cheese next and yogurt after that. We never made it to milk on the first trial (other than I did cook with it). We also never had much luck with Yo baby yogurt, this caused lots of gas and stool issues for Hailey. It could have been coincidental though because it was at a year that her loose stool issue started, coincidentally with this introduction of milk.

Right now, she’s drinking 4-6 oz of chocolate milk a day and 2-3 Danimals! OMG, we LOVE those things!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Hey again. I was just wondering if you have tried any dairy yet? I made Seth a grilled cheese last night with the safe margarine and bread and low fat American cheese. The good news is he gobbled it up but woke up screaming. So, I am guessing he is not ready yet. He still seems to have issues with soy as well. I think it is a very good sign that Owen is eating soy so I was just curious how it was going. Mom2Seth2006-3-1 13:7:24

[Anonymous]

Oh no!! That stinks – I’m so sorry. I was really hopeful that he would be ok with it for you.

We did try dairy. He had a little bit of low-fat cheddar cheese on Monday night and did fine with it, so last night I actually gave him 2 ozs of whole milk with his snack. I know, it sounds like a crazy idea (and after I did it I realized it really was crazy because Pat was away for the night in VT so I was home alone with Owen for the night). But the good news was that he had no trouble at all, at least yet anyway! He had the milk around 4:30, ate dinner, had a little snack with me, had a bottle before bed, and slept right from 7:15 – 6:30am which is the latest he’d slept in a week!

The only weird thing was that he didn’t poop this morning – and he ALWAYS poops in the morning, so I guess we could worry about constipation but it’s way too early for that. He probably pooped at day care I would imagine but I’ll have to ask. But anyway, the shorter answer to your question is so far, so good, but I’m afraid to be excited just yet.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this but Owen’s cousin (my sister’s daughter) also was MSPI with reflux and had severe blood in her poop when she was an infant so she was on Neocate until her first birthday. She had no problems at all with transitioning to dairy and was on whole milk by the time she was 13 months old and cheese is totally her favorite food. I think I’ve had it in the back of my head that Owen might take after her but the jury is still out. I’ll keep you posted!

[Anonymous]

OMG- whole milk? That was brave! It sounds like he is doing great. I hope things continue to go well…. Funny thing, Seth did not poop this morning either. He always goes before we leave. I bet though it is just their systems trying to process something new.

On a side note, I have actually made an appt. with an allergist for Seth. I just want to rule out we are not dealing with an allergy vs. an intolerance since he does have some allergy symptoms at times. After last night, DH and decided we will just hold off on trying anything else new until we have our consultation.

Mom2Seth2006-3-1 13:6:22

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