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I’m new to the forum and the whole MSPI thing, and confused – sorry this turned out so long! DS is 10 weeks, EBF, and has had reflux since birth – never particularly severe, moderate amount of spit-up and occasional crying/arching of back after feeds, didn’t like to be lying flat, also had nasal congestion since birth that’s worse in the mornings, but usually clears up during the day and with some saline solution. He’s been gaining weight and fine otherwise so dr said this type of reflux is normal and to just wait it out. From about 5 weeks it seems to have been getting better – less spitting up, less fussiness. He then had a cold at 6 weeks with congestion lasting about a week and a half, but during this time he’s practically stopped spitting up. And then at 8 weeks, all of a sudden his poops went from textbook yellow and seedy “cottage cheese” consistency, to much runnier with a a bit of mucusy green mixed in. Right in the next two days his reflux suddenly also returned full force – he became much fussier, in pain, and was spitting up loads of thick, mucusy spit-up. I freaked and started googling, which is how I found out about MSPI – silly me, I’ve been watching things like chocolate and nuts in my diet, but for some reason have never heard of dairy being allergenic and was eating lots of it. I have since spoken to three drs and my midwife and they all told me that it’s not likely to be an intolerance issue, and that especially processed things like cheese, yogurt and dairy in baked foods should be fine. Their main criteria was that he was behaving fine, gaining well, and didn’t display obvious symptoms or distress.
After those first two days his reflux and fussiness started getting better again; I’ve cut out milk but kept eating a bit of my favorite full-fat organic plain yogurt that a real staple for me, as well as a little bit of cheese (1/2 slice a day). The greenish poop stayed for about a week, then, a couple of days after cutting out the milk, changed back to mostly yellow, but still runny, with much fewer ‘seeds’, and somewhat mucusy. In the last two days though he’s had a couple of small poops that were mainly green, although my diet hasn’t changed. Again, neither dr recommended a dairy-free diet for me based on the stool alone, but I’ve requested an occult blood test and am now waiting for the results hoping for negative.
Other than the poop, he’s pretty happy, content, has not been refluxing much at all lately – a major difference from the first few weeks when he was spitting up every feed – has never been particularly gassy, and is not very fussy at all, usually just crying when he’s tired or needs a burp, and always calms down at the breast. He’s got a few spots of baby acne that pop up and cradle cap, and his butt is a bit red but not like a bright ring, I don’t think – don’t know if any of this is related at all since they all seem very common baby issues.
So I guess my question is, based on the mucusy poop alone as a symptom, does this sound like MSPI? It’s not like big globs of mucus or anything either, it’s just a bit stringy and runnier than it used to be, like the texture of, mm, cream soup? (TMI I know
). Also, not sure why it’s changing color from green to yellow and now back to green? Would his reflux be getting better if he’s indeed intolerant? Also, would you expect an MSPI baby to be a lot more obviously fussy/colicky? My midwife said babies with these issues are usually miserable, crying non-stop, vomiting up A LOT, etc. and that he didn’t seem to fit the profile. I know the only accurate way to test is to go dairy-free, but to be honest I really don’t want to put myself through it if I don’t have to, esp. with everyone telling me it’s not likely. I’m a picky eater with digestive issues myself (can’t handle raw fruit or veggies or beans, not a big meat eater, etc.), and I’m afraid of my nutrition suffering and compromising my supply . I’ll obviously do it if I need to, just don’t want to go through it needlessly, kwim? Can it be enough to just eliminate unprocessed milk if it’s just a mild intolerance or is it all-or-nothing? Also, if the occult blood test comes back negative, would it mean we’re pretty much in the clear or could it still show up later?
I’m just a bit lost since all online sources seem to just repeat the same list of symptoms without addressing nuances…any feedback from experienced parents would be much appreciated!Cookie 2010-03-25 00:04:07 Thanks for the advice ladies!
I’ve been kind of keeping a food journal in my head…but I’m really having trouble pinpointing anything. Esp. with dairy, since I’ve been more careful with it, I only eat about the same amount each day (like a small portion of plain yogurt), yet DS acts differently on different days. If we are looking at a 4-hour or so time period, then I really can’t tie it down to anything at all, since if he’s having a worse day it usually starts off in the morning – after it’s been at least 12 hrs or so since I’ve eaten anything at all, and having fed him 2-3 times during the night with no issues. His level of happiness or discomfort/reflux will then usually remain about the same throughout the day.
His BMs tend to stay pretty much consistent, whether he is more or less refluxy – doesn’t seem related. They are not actually green – were slightly greenish for a week or so total, but been back to bright yellow for a couple of weeks now. The mucus is there sometimes but not every diaper – maybe every second or third, and never a lot. I’d say the biggest difference between his poops now and before is that they’re runnier and more ‘shiny’, the closest description I would say is like thin paint – whether before they were more like the texture of scrambled eggs.
Sheesh – never thought I’d be typing up such detailed descriptions of poop on message boards, lolThe thing is that if it wasn’t for the internet and finding out all that stuff about intolerances, I probably wouldn’t have been worried about him at all, since no symptoms in him really suggest anything out of the ordinary. I know several moms with reflux babies who eventually grew out of it with no food elimination necessary. In the ‘good ol’ days’ before the internet I would’ve just taken a diaper to the ped, got a stool test done, and would calm down once told that everything’s ok. But by reading up about it I keep looking for other symptoms in him and worrying.
I guess my biggest concern is that I’m worried that if I keep eating something he’s intolerant to, it may be setting him up for more serious allergies later on? Is that true, or is it just an immature digestion thing that he’ll grow out of?
I’m just finding this really frustrating too ’cause it seems this whole intolerance thing is like a secret society or something – none of the medical/BF sources talk about this at all, most say that babies are normally gassy/fussy/refluxy, have acne/cradle cap/eczema, etc. unrelated to mother’s diet, yet when you start reading people’s actual experiences on msg boards it sounds like so many breastfed babies have food issues. On the other hand, it makes me wonder how many of these cases really go undiagnosed, hence prob. not ending up causing serious issues in the future…or maybe they do and these are the kids that end up allergic to a whole bunch of stuff later on? Ugh…sorry for the rant, just wish this whole thing was a bit more straightforward and there was more info out there and some clear-cut answers…and it seems there really aren’t…
Cookie2010-03-30 17:40:37
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