Newborn with Bad Gas, Possible Milk Intolerance?

I would definitley try to remove all dairy from her diet. My daughter had similar symptoms. I breast fed, so I removed all dairy from my diet and she improved dramaticaly. Only after we made this switch did I read that diary intolerance can be linked to skin rashes (which cleared up for my daughter when we made the switch.) I also learned that gas drops only help with gas in the stomach, so they don't help with the intestinal gas of milk intolerance and they can cause constipation. So by using gas drops to try to halep her, we were probably making the problem worse. As an infant she was a whole new baby without dairy in her system, and now at 17 months she is able to eat and drink dairy without an issue.

This response got from a website of a user of Enfamil Gentleease Parents beware - the first ingredient in this type of Enfamil is corn syrup solids! Our son had issues with gas, so our pediatrician recommended this formula. Three days after starting it, I read the ingredients and decided that since formula is the only thing a young baby is ingesting, corn syrup is not what we wanted for his main food source. We switched to regular Enfamil Lipil and he's been doing well on that. This has ingredients that if you have celiac would make it not a good choice. I would not be moving from one product to another. I did soy on my kids and now wish I hadn't because of some of their health issues. You need to find a good organic product and stay with it. ANd if necessary find a new doctor that will listen to you. I have four kids and my youngest was like that and it did eventually get better. The hardest the thing as a mother is to hear your child crying. My kids have problem with corn too. Good luck to you.

My first son had a milk intolerance when he was a baby. He exhibited the same screaming, stretching thing that you describe for the first 4 weeks. He passed gas quite often (it did not smell) and when I mentioned it to the doctor, he felt his stomach and my son passed gas as if right on cue. He suggested that I give up dairy (I was breastfeeding) and the problem went away almost immediately. After reading more information on this subject, I learned that there are many things that may cause discomfort like this in newborns so you just have to figure out what it might be. If you are not breastfeeding, then that helps you narrow it down as you do not need to worry about what you are eating. I would try a soy based formula and see if it makes a difference.

First...hang in there!! It took 11 months for our son, but "this too shall pass!" Second, I totally agree with MommyP's response. Gentlease didn't work for our son, either. Alimentum worked better for our boy than Nutramigen did. (Oh, and I was breastfeeding & our doc/nurses suggested I stop b/c some babies don't tolerate their mother's milk. First of many bad suggestions that I listened to before demanding a visit to Riley's for a good doctor's opinion.) Each child is different, but as my boy got older, he also had a lactose intolerance (not an allergy) and we had to buy lactose-free milk for him. He did out grow that and he's a strong, healthy, happy boy!

My best advice is to keep listening to advice, but follow your instincts. We ended up switching doctors (3 pediatricians in his first year) as well as seeing many specialists (allergy, dermatologist, etc.). We finally made it to Riley and it changed his/our life. I'm not suggesting that for you yet, but I do want to strongly encourage you to make the best decisions you can & to fight for the health & safety of your child. Our boy was put on MANY different medications and no one told us that the combination of the medications and his fevers would make his teeth develop incompletely. Most of his teeth are fine, but the enamal didn't have a chance to grow on his molars. He's 4 now and the dentist is saying that he'll have to have crowns on all 4 by next year. Again, each child is different, but I wanted to share what I knew with you.

Good luck! Try laying your little one across your lap & patting/rubbing her back. Sometimes that's more effective to get the gas out than when she's flat on your bed. Keep up the good work and get some rest!

My son is almost 3mos old and has since birth had SUPER stinky gas and only has bowel movements about once every 3 days (if we're lucky!) He also does the stiff body, but also lots of leg kicking, when he is crying, making it obvious that his tummy is hurting him. I now supplement breastfeeding him with a bit of fruit juice mixed with water (at suggestion of his Ped) to get his bowels moving and this seems to help with his gas (and his BMs, obviously). Also I rub his tummy in a clock-wise motion whenever I can to help his bowels and get the gas out. Gas drops for him, thankfully, also seem to help.

If she's having difficulty with the BMs I'd def try the fruit juice/water, just an ounce or two. Help get her little system moving! :) And lots of people think colic is actually immature bowels, so might be one and the same. Def keep an eye on her dry patches tho' because you are correct that eczema is a big sign of allergies (not intolerance tho.) Also keep in mind that lots of kids who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy (like my nephew!).

KF,
What you're describing sounds like classic food allergy symptoms. It can be milk, or to some other component of the formula.

I have several food intolerances. One reaction shuts my system down (constipation), another food gives me diarrhea.

The skin rash, which sounds like eczema, is definitely something to watch. Eczema is triggered by IgA response, which effects the gut and skin. Most allergy testing blood work that's done is IgE. My son has an IgA response to peanut butter (gives him eczema on his face) but negative IgE bloodwork results.

Untreated eczema can lead to the development of additional allergies, then ear infections, and finally you can end up with asthma. So it is critical to find out what the problem is and eliminate it.

In terms of what you can feed her, I would not try soy. Soy is one of the top 8 food allergens, along with milk. There's a formula (I think by Similac) called Alimentum. That's the only formula I would try with a baby with food allergies. It's what my local hospital gave us in the Level 3 NICU for my son (who we believed would inherit my gluten intolerance). He was able to tolerate it well--and just this week was diagnosed as a toddler with milk allergies.

Good luck!

Maybe it's milk! but keep in mind that newborns often get trapped with wind due to many reasons. Why don't you try babies magic tea.

Well, it could be a milk issue, but honestly (and sorry!) but it does sound more like colic. Is her gas really foul smelling...I mean like REALLY foul? If so then yes, that probably is a milk issue. Does she have a lot of mucus? That also points to milk intolerance. If she went back to her old ways after you switched formulas, it probably isn't that. The red patchy skin is a concern though. Is it baby acne or is it more like excema? Does it cover just one area or her whole body? We had this issue with my son and it was difficult and I understand your concerns. We finally figured it out at about 2 months for him...he was covered in excema, his cradle cap was really bad, he had very foul gas and had constant, thick mucus. Of course every case is different, but I would look for those signs before switching her to soy just yet.

Colic is a beast. It's not fun and it's heartbreaking for the parents. I would look up some of the soothing treatments for colic and see if any of those help your little one! Some of the ones I've heard work best are certain music, vacuum, and putting them on top of the dryer in their car seat. Good luck!

This sounds almost exactly like our situation with our 7 week old DD- even down to the big red patches. Our DD has patchy skin all over her body. The doc told us it was atopic dermatitis (body) and baby acne (face/chest only). She was also diagnosed with GER and colic. The doc gave her med for GER and switched us over to Nutramigen. The Nutramigen seems to be helping thus far (2 wks now). I would check with your doc about switching to Nutramigen. It is expensive but absolutely worth it when your DD no longer screams for hours on end and can actually get some real sleep rather than just giving in and dealing with the discomfort.

Good luck! Hope this helps. :-)

My daughter had this problem when she was younger. Our dr recommended we change her formula to Gentease and put her on Bio Gia. Bio Gia is a probiotic that was very helpful for her! He told us that she had colic as well, but she was about 2 1/2 months old when they diagnosed her with that. I feel that it was the formula we had her on. The Bio Gia and the Gentlease helped to really break things down for her so that she wasn't in pain anymore. She is almost a year old and has been off of the Bio Gia for about 4-5 months now. She does great. Maybe ask your dr about it and try that for your son! I really hope that you can get it figured out soon! I know how heartbreaking it is!!

C.