can you explain diff b/w MSPI and allergy

[Anonymous]

At 11 weeks old my breastfed daughter began having unexplained nasal congestion and was fussing at every feeding and her stools were green and foamy. By 12 weeks she was refusing to breastfeed altogether and I was giving her expressed milk in a bottle. After several trips to the pedi and an upper GI, they finally diagnosed her with milk/soy allergy. The upper GI revealed damage to her duodenum so they put her on 15mg prevacid solutab. I immediately started the elimination diet and have been on it for almost a month. She is getting better and is back on the breast with the occasional bottle in the evening when she doesn’t want to eat. Her poops are less green, but they vary from day to day. Yesterday was more yellow and typical BF poop, but today it was more green and a little slimy.

My question is–based on her symptoms and the results of cutting out dairy/soy and basically everything else does she have a protein allergy or intolerance? What is the real difference when dealing with a breastfed infant?

I’m asking my question here because everyone seems so knowledgeable about these conditions and now I know why. The medical community is also confused and you can’t get the same answer from two diff docs. The pedi GI said to just stop BFing and put her on Nutramigen. I don’t see why I should do that if she’s getting better.

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you can help us understand what we are dealing with.

I should add she’s never had blood in her stool and she’s never had a rash.

[Anonymous]

Duh! I just found the post where the diff is explained! If anyone has any personal experience with breastfeeding I’d still love to hear it.

Thanks,
Mandy

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome! Here is a very good explanation between the 2.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/foods-allergy-intolerance

I would check out http://www.marci-kids.com for information on Prevacid dosing. Most of the mommas around here (including myself) have found that it take a pretty high dose of these meds for our little ones to be comfortable.

My son has MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance). He is currently on Elecare which is an elemental formula (amino-acid based). We did try Nutramigen first, but my son did not tolerate it well. Hypo-allergenic formulas like Nutramigen and Alimentum still have milk proteins in them , they are just really broken down. Many babies with intolerances can do well on these hypo formulas. Also, has there never been any visible blood in her stool or have you had it tested? My ds never had visible blood, but his fecal hemoccult test was positive for blood.

Many moms on this forum have breastfed babies with intolerances. Hopefully the breastfeeding mommas will chime in with their suggestions in that area.

[Anonymous]

i’m a little confused about your test results. an upper gi can’t diagnose damage in the duodenum. damage in the duodenum would have to be diagnosed with a scope and lab tests. usually, damage in the duodenum would point to celiac disease, although milk problems have been known to cause similar damage. they say that a child cannot develop celiac until they have consumed gluten, but they also feel that it is possible that gluten can be passed through breast milk.

[Anonymous]

What they saw was spasming of the duodenum. My pedi consulted a pedi GI specialist (we don’t have one in my town) and he said it was most likely a protein allergy/intolerance that caused it. I have wondered about celiac myself but have read that it usually starts after exposure to gluten directly. There’s not much info about breastfeeding and celiac. I am on the elimination diet so I don’t know if she’ll react to gluten. Perhaps I should eat some flour.

Do you have any more information about spasms in the duodenum?

[Anonymous]

i don’t, but i can try and remember to ask our ped gi. the girls have an appt. with him next week—just follow up for their celiac.

[Author]

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