Desperate--please Help

If his personality is different - take him to the doctor! You are the mommy and if you think something isn't just right, you take him in. Mommy's intuition is a wonderful thing.

How old is he? Most children do not outgrow a milk allergy until they are 2 or 3. Three is more common. Have you taken him to the pediatrician? Has he been tested for celiac? This sounds like a malabsorption (spelling?) issue, so I would pursue this. If his doctor blows you off, get another doctor.

J.: First I would like to say I know how stressful dietary issues can be with a child. I would first advise to take Jayden to a digestive dr. I lived with watching my daughter have agonizing pain, sleeplessness and lack of ability to gain weight the first 8 months of her life. I literally took her to the physicians 28 accounted for times trying to figure out just what was wrong. Found out she had Celiac Disease and on top of it the little ones can have other food allergies once you work with a physician and isolate additional foods. There is a blood test that can be performed and it will rule out the Celiac Disease (allergy to wheat, gluten, rye) etc. You just do not realize how much their little lives will improve once you find what is causing the issue. As for the formula (unfortunately it costs more) but for our babies anything is worth it right? I switched to Nutramigen. It comes in an orange can and hypoallergenic so until her testing was complete we kept her on that and she was a totally different baby. Then, once we gradually transitioned over to milk we only do organic and were truly careful on the transition over. I am talking like less than an ounce of organic to her formula and it took about a year to fully transition her. It costs more but she now can gain weight, is happy, no blood in her stools etc. There seems to be symptoms indicating something gastro is going on and I would recommend looking up Gastro Specialist in the SAT area. Not naming names there are only a few Pedi-Gastro specialists and they are good. If you need anything else please reach out. I can share stories and the peace of mind you will get once you find out what is causing all of this will truly help. The big question is to figure out what other products are in his diet. The blood is what concerns me and rang true to what we experienced w/our daughter. We even found she had reflux and would spit up blood even if it was hard to detect by the human eye. It was just by chance I saw a little pink or what I thought was pink, they scoped her and found she had tears in her esophogus as well from GERD or Gastro-Reflux Disease. I think you are doing the best thing by reaching out and I wish you only the best on your journey to find relief!

Fellow Parent who can definitely understand the worry.

You definitely need to get him to his pediatrician and get to the root of his problem. No child changes that much without there being a problem. Your pediatrician should be able to give you more information on his milk allergies if that is all there is to it. But truthfully, I have never known any child with a milk allergy/intolerance to have blood in his stool. This should definitely be checked out.

I'm so sorry to read you're going through this. I would definitely take him into the doc. Any changes in personality mean there is something wrong, and if that's what your instincts are telling you, then you need to follow them. NEVER doubt those little intuitions. Fight anyone who tells you you're crazy or wrong or whatever. And if your pedi doesn't listen to your concerns, find a new one immediately!

I woke up in the middle of the night when our son was about 4 mos old just knowing something was wrong. My hubby thought I was crazy, but it turned out he was severely dehydrated. When we got him into the ER, we found out he had severe pneumonia- no coughing, congestion, or any other symptoms to warn us. We spent a week in the hospital. He was very sick the whole first 4 months of his life- very lethargic, loved to snuggle for the comfort, always very quiet. Once he was feeling better, he became a whole different child- in a good way, mostly ;o) He is no longer our little "snuggle bug" unless he is sick, but he definitely now has the energy that you say your little man had before this.

I definitely recommend getting that baby into the doc as soon as you can. I hope he's feeling better soon!

I happen to be allergic to corn. It was masked for years....until I was 39 yo and tested for allergies. I was told then that you NEVER outgrow food allergies. You may tolerate them because your body adjust....but you never "outgrow" them. Is there a reason you cannot put your son back on the alternate milk source? Two of my children were allergic to milk and that was before soy was offered in the dairy section. I personally would not mess with a food allergy. I'd put my child on a soy product...if he wasn't allergic to that. If you are concerned about the calcium, there are many foods fortified with calcium now days. P.S. My allergy to corn DEFINITELY affects my behavior. It always has! My children will readily express their opinion if you were to offer me a corn product. Of course, knowing the culprit, I can control it better now...but it certainly does something to my disposition.

I am not sure if this will help, but my son was LI til he was 2. He could eat small amounts of yougurt and cheese without having a problem, but not cow's milk or fomula made from it. The DR said that if they are going to grow out of it, they usually do by 2 or 3, and reccomended that I didn't introduce straight milk til then. Hope that helps. Good luck.
And my son had cramping plus lots of loose stools on milk..

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I would take him off of anything he was once allergic to and do not give it to him until he is tested and you get a result that says he is not allergic to it. Does your pedi know you are giving him milk and ice cream before the age of 1? Normally that is not recommended until after age 1. If it was already doing things to his system previously, I would not give it to him once again or anything with milk in it.

Our son has numerous food allergies and before we knew he was allergic he was the calmest, and quietest baby around (aside from major eczema)...after getting all those things out of his system he is a normal little boy...into everything! Our doctor explained it to us that his body was trying to fight off what the allergy was doing and that took all of his energy. Once that was removed from his system and he had time to recoup his energy was able to be expressed in ways that other children do.

I would highly recommend you getting testing done to see exactly what he is allergic to and then avoid those things at all costs until he is retested and you know that it is safe. There is a blood test that can be done initially and any doctor can order it. We currently are under the care of a pediatric allergist in Austin and have been so pleased! I have seen first hand how food allergies or even intolerance's can affect one's life. They both can cause some serious damage if not taken seriously; whether it be externally, internally, or even mentally.

My daughter is allergic to cows milk proteins (which is not the same as being lactose intolerant; that is a life long allergy). However, her symptoms were subtle... nothing like blood in stools, etc. She developed constant congestion to the point of suffering chronic sinus infections... I was told by both her pediatrician and her pediatric allergist that my daughter should be able to tolerate cows milk however it probably will not happen until she's around the age of 4-6. (FYI: I choose to switch her to goat milk and goat milk products (butter, yogurt) and radically eliminate all food sources that contain cows milk or cow diary ingredients; it has worked for her however I have met other families whose child is allergic to cows milk and could not tolerate goat milk either... I'm not a fan of soy--and how it mimics the hormone estrogen--but for some children, soy is their only alternative.)

Personally, if I was in your shoes, I would not introduce cows milk or cows milk dairy products to him when he is only 10 months especially if there was a verified pre-existing allergy. The allergy can manifest in subtle reactions. The blood that you once saw in his stools is because the milk proteins caused his intestinal walls to bleed. However, even if his intestinal tissues are now stronger and more mature (and thus no longer bleeding when in contact with milk), I would suspect that there is still an absorption issue, meaning his intestines can not absorb cows milk or its nutrients, which would explain why he appears lethargic.

This link mentions that reintroduction of cows milk too early may result in iron deficiency (again, because the nutrients can't be absorbed): http://www.parentsofallergicchildren.org/cow's.htm

This link advises to avoid cows milk completely between age 1-3 in order to give the child a chance to outgrow the allergy in the shortest amount of time; otherwise, you may unintentionally make the allergy persistent: http://www.nutricia.com.au/infant/faq_infant.aspx
"Babies, who have a milk allergy, need to avoid even small amounts of milk, and all foods must be milk free. Reactions can occur from even a small amount of milk or product containing milk. By totally avoiding whole cows' milk proteins the baby will have the best chance to outgrow their allergy. Most children outgrow their milk allergy between 1-3 years of age."

I've been there... Ping me if you need additional info or emotional support.

You really need to take him to the doctors. ALso, it will ease your mind.