Your baby is fussy, even after you’ve ruled out dirty diapers and hunger. He doesn’t ever seem to sleep more than 20 minutes at a time, sometimes he screams and arches as if in pain and his diaper can be full of greenish loose stools.
If so, your baby might have a milk protein allergy. Read on to find out what it is, how to tell if your baby might be suffering from it and what you can do about it.
What Is It?
A milk protein allergy is an allergy to the specific protein in milk and dairy products, which causes injury to the stomach and intestines. This allergy is often confused with lactose intolerance, as the two issues have some similar digestive symptoms. A breastfed baby can suffer from this if her mother consumes dairy products; the cow milk proteins pass through into the breast milk.
If your baby has this allergy, she may be unusually fussy for no apparent reason, excessively gassy or have frequent loose stools — greenish or not. It is the most common food allergy in babies and can be the cause of symptoms of the digestive tract (upset tummy, diarrhea with or without blood in the stool, colic and vomiting), the respiratory system (runny nose, coughing, wheezing), and the skin (eczema, hives, swelling of the lips and eyelids). According to Dr. Praveen S. Goday, a professor of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at the Medical College of Wisconsin, “Milk protein allergy can also cause severe symptoms such as anaphylaxis, where a baby is unable to breathe and experiences a significant drop in blood pressure.” If your baby stops breathing or seems unresponsive, call 911. But most milk allergies don’t cause such severe symptoms.
How Is It Different From Lactose Intolerance?
Primary lactose intolerance is the inability to metabolize lactose and “is rare in infants, as it normally happens as the enzyme lactase decreases in the gut later in childhood (generally after 4 or 5 years old),” says Diana West, an international board-certified lactation consultant and a breastfeeding author with La Leche League International. Lactose intolerance, though quite uncommon in young infants, can occur temporarily at any age, particularly following an episode of gastroenteritis — which you’d likely notice as diarrhea and irritability caused by abdominal discomfort — but only causes symptoms pertaining to the digestive system and not respiratory or skin.
How Are Babies Tested For and Diagnosed With It?
The most effective way to test for this allergy is by eliminating all dairy from your baby’s diet (and your own, if you’re breastfeeding) for two to three weeks, as it takes that long for milk proteins to leave your baby’s system (and yours, too). If your little one’s symptoms improve significantly during this time, a milk protein allergy is likely. “When a baby has a skin symptom due to milk protein allergy, or anaphylaxis, then either a skin-prick allergy test or a blood test may be helpful,” adds Dr. Goday. Contact your child’s doctor before trying an elimination diet or to arrange for allergy tests.
What Is the Treatment for Babies With This Allergy?
Treatment is continued elimination of all dairy from your baby’s diet. If you are a nursing mom, this means not only removing all dairy from your own diet, but also diligently reading food labels to ensure nothing you eat contains casein or whey, the proteins found in milk. Formula-fed babies should be switched to a hypoallergenic formula, either extensively hydrolyzed or amino acid-based. Extensively hydrolyzed formulas break down the protein casein into tiny pieces, and most infants with a milk protein intolerance or allergy tolerate this type of formula. Amino acid-based formulas are made from individual amino acids and are a suitable option for those babies with a more extreme allergy who are not able to tolerate the extensively hydrolyzed formulas.
What Else Can You Do to Help Treat Your Baby?
“It’s important to heal baby’s gut once it’s been irritated by allergens,” says West. “Probiotics can be instrumental in helping the gut to heal.” She suggests finding a brand that requires refrigeration for the most active cultures. A baby can be given a probiotic by letting the baby suck on a wet finger that has been dipped in probiotic powder or by letting him nurse on a nipple dampened with breast milk and probiotic powder.
Be sure to consult your pediatrician if you suspect your baby has a milk protein allergy. She will review your baby’s specific symptoms and will advise on what steps should be taken to determine if there is an allergy and what the treatment should be going forward. If your baby is diagnosed with it, don’t despair — many children outgrow the allergy by the time they turn five.
And be sure to read Dealing With Baby Allergic Reactions.
Suzanne Burke is a lifestyle writer specializing in family/parenting topics and three of her four children have a milk protein allergy. Although it was upsetting when they were first diagnosed, she was thankful for how effective the elimination diet was in helping to ease her children’s symptoms.
* This article is for general informational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be providing medical advice and is not a substitute for such advice. The reader should always consult a health care provider concerning any medical condition or treatment plan. Neither Care.com nor the author assumes any responsibility or liability with respect to use of any information contained herein.
