Update on Milk Trial – Gas Pains?

[Anonymous]

So we started whole milk this weekend and over the course of a few days

switched Marisa over (she’d been on regular Enfamil for about 3 months

prior to this) – starting first in the morning only, then morning and

afternoon and then adding in her bedtime bottle (which is her only bottle

of the day).

Taste doesn’t really seem to be an issue, although I do still have to warm

the milk. No rashes so far, mood seems fine, etc. However, Tuesday

night, the first night her bedtime bottle (6 ounces) was whole milk she

woke crying hard about one hour or a little more after going to bed for

the night. We thought teeth at first (cutting eye teeth) and went to get

Motrin. After I gave it to her I held her for a few minutes and she let out

some crazy gas and then went back to sleep – not another peep until

6:15 am. Last night I gave her 5 ounces in that bottle instead of 6. Once

again, at 8:45pm (about an hour after she had gone to bed) she woke

crying hard. No gas was released this time but she had multiple crying

spells until about 10 minutes after I gave her some Mylanta for gas and

bicycled her legs. Again, no peep after that until 6am or so.

Should we assume this is gas/trapped gas from the milk? If so, how long

until her body adjusts and should we do anything until then? It doesn’t

happen during the day – but she doesn’t drink as much as once at any

given time either except for at night – she’ll have 2-3 ounces from her

cup many times throughout the day, often right before a nap and have no

problems.

Any thoughts? I guess it could also be teeth and/or the fact that she’s

close to walking (muscle aches?) but it seems too coincidental with the

start of milk.

[Anonymous]

I am lactose intolerant and I can tell you that it HURTS badly. That’s what it sounds like to me, but it’s odd that she could handle Enfamil. Maybe whole milk contains more lactose than formula. I really don’t know much about lactose intolerance in children, but for me there’s not an adjustment period….I’m just intolerant. I think it’s something they outgrow, but not something they can adjust to. I’m not sure though. Sorry, I know that doesn’t help much.

I hope you get it figured out. Maybe try some lactaid milk for a while. Then you’ll know if it’s the lactose or something else.

[Anonymous]

I guess that’s possible, Christine, it’s just odd that she would be able to

drink a 6 ounce bottle of Enfamil and sleep just fine. And she’s been fine

with cheese for some time now as well. It’s so confusing. We are calling the

Ped today at 11 or 11:30 to see what he thinks – because otherwise she

seems fine – it doesn’t bother her from 3-4 ounces at a time throughout the

day so it’s kind of strange.

Thais – were you the one who said that Matthew also has an adjustment

period to new foods with gas pains?

[Anonymous]

Matthew always goes through adjustments – they take 2 weeks. She seems to be having some mild reaction but if she wakes up once I would really not do anything about it. Seems like she is sleeping really well and lots of things are going on. Give it 2 weeks, which is what my ped said and then you can make a decision.

We are going through teh exact same thing with Matthew – it is with bananas. We gave them to him a couple of days ago and he has been refluxing and not napping. But his 8th teeth is finally out and that with an adj period for the bananas is prob the cause of everything. We are continuing to give the bananas and if things don’t get better in 10 days, then we will stop them but he has always been worse when starting new foods!!

Hope teh ped can help…also, the milk is so much thinner than the enfamil, she could be swallowing a lot of air with the bottle and she may need to adjust her swallowing too??

[Anonymous]

I would doubt that it’s lactose intolerance since she’s been tolerating other forms of dairy and formula. But it might just be her body trying to adjust to the composition of the milk itself… it could also be the volume, or like Thais said, her suck on the bottle. Could you try giving her a bit of mylanta before the bottle and see if that helps to sort of prevent the wakeup situation? If it’s just one wakeup, and seh otherwise seems fine, I might think it has something to do with taking in a large volume of milk, and then going to bed after, causing the gas. I would think if it was a more serious issue, she’d have more wakeups, and that she’d probably be producing some nasty diapers. Hope she gets better with it soon.

[Anonymous]

karen,

my guys are all lactose intolerant. their reactions (diarrhea, gas pains, ect.) all start within 1/2 hour of eating dairy.

also some foods- like hard cheeses contain more of the lactase enyzme naturally- making them easier to digest than whole milk. both our gi and ped tell me that it is not very common for small children to be lactose intolerant. but speaking as a mom who has 3 kids who are- i’d think it might be worth a shot to try lactose free whole milk and see.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I spoke with the Ped earlier and he said to give it

another 7-10 days – saying it’s likely intestinal gas from her body

adjusting. Like many of you are saying, he said it isn’t uncommon and he

feels if it were a milk intolerance/allergy we’d see other signs

(congestion, rashes, ongoing crankiness) or a lactose intolerance we’d

have diarrhea and the gas pains wouldn’t only happen once at night and

would happen within 40 minutes of drinking the bottle instead of 1.5

hours later.

Thais and Lori – good thought also about the milk being so much thinner.

She’s used to thin liquids from her straw because she’s long had water

and juice from there, as well as formula. But she only ever had formula in

her bottle. Maybe I should try a #2 nipple (currently #3) until we switch

that one to a cup too?

I think tonight I’ll try a bit of Mylanta before bottle and a #2 nipple and

see what happens.

Thanks also Christine and Laurie for your thougths on lactose intolerance.

I’m sure if things don’t improve in a week or so I’ll have a bunch more

questions for you on that!

[Anonymous]

Good news update, knock wood. I gave Marisa .6 ml Mylicon before her

bottle and used the #3 nipple. She’s been asleep for nearly 2 hours now

without a peep and looks much more restful! Thanks everyone!

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

I agree Lori. And that should have read that I used the #2 nipple instead of

the #3. Went so much slower but between that and the Mylicon it seems to

have done the trick (again, knock wood and anti-jinx dance)! Oh and I also

gave her probiotics to her at night instead of afternoon – not sure if that

made a difference or not.knb182006-9-8 7:28:27

[Anonymous]

Terrific! I hope the whole milk trial goes without a hitch now.

[Author]

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