After I’ve heard that so many Hellobees are having issues with milk protein intolerance, I thought I’d share our family’s experience.

When Little Jacks was 4 months old, I got a call one day at work from a frantic Mr. Jacks, “She’s pooping blood!”  My heart sank because I knew in all likelihood exactly what it meant.  She had been increasingly fussy despite reaching the outer ages for experiencing colic. I asked some more questions to figure out if it really was milk protein intolerance or something else.  Was she constipated?  Did she have a little anal fissure from pushing out a hard poop?  Did she have a bloody nose?  With all those questions out of the way, the next step was an evaluation by the pediatrician.  Our pediatrician said what I already suspected.  It was time for me to start an elimination diet for milk/soy protein intolerance.  For some folks, expensive hydrolyzed formulas can be an option, but our daughter wouldn’t drink any formula.  There was no way we were going to get her to drink Neocate!

Milk/soy protein intolerance or MSPI, as it is frequently referred to, is where food proteins can act as antigens (substances that induce an immune response in the body) in humans.  The resulting inflammation can cause pain, gas, bloating, bloody stool, rash, runny nose and respiratory symptoms.  If you’ve got a really fussy baby and have ruled out all other causes, it’s worth at least thinking about the possibility of MSPI.

However, the elimination diet for breastfeeding moms is not to be undertaken lightly.  It’s a difficult pursuit and involves eliminating all milk and soy protein.  Some people say you can leave soy lecithin in, but our daughter was sensitive to that too!

General Guidelines for MSPI:

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1. Get used to reading labels!  There is hidden milk in almost everything.  I remember trying desperately to try and find a loaf of bread that didn’t have some milk product in it!

Here’s a comprehensive list of milk products that I had to avoid.

  • artificial butter flavor
  • butter, butter fat
  • casein
  • caseinates (ammonium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)
  • cheese, cottage cheese, curds
  • cream
  • custard, pudding
  • ghee
  • Half and Half
  • hydrolysates (casein, milk protein, protein, whey, whey protein)
  • lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate
  • lactoglobulin
  • lactose
  • milk (derivative, protein, solids, malted, condensed, evaporated, dry, whole, lowfat, nonfat, skim)
  • nougat
  • rennet casein
  • sour cream
  • sour cream solids
  • whey (delactosed, deminderalixed, protein concentrate)
  • yogurt
  • brown sugar flavoring
  • caramel flavoring
  • chocolate (you can find some milk free very dark chocolates!)
  • high protein flour
  • margarine
  • natural flavoring
  • Simplesse

2. Shop only at the edges of the store.  This means eliminating virtually ALL processed foods.  Easy to say, hard to do!

3. Check your seasonings.  I had no idea that Montreal seasoning had all kinds of soy in it.  Now we just make our own (even though our daughter is totally milk and soy tolerant now!).

4. Make sure to have lots of snacks on hand.  On an elimination diet you end up pretty hungry.  My go to’s were: nuts, avocado, seeds, and lactose free bread with spread on it.

5. Evaluate for other intolerances.  Our daughter turned out to be milk, soy, egg, sesame and cashew intolerant.  She’s now highly cashew allergic and I always blame myself because it was my go-to nut of choice before we figured it out!

6. Be very cautious about eating out.  We focused on a couple of restaurants that were very allergy savvy.  Otherwise, we stayed out of restaurants until LJ’s issues were resolved.

7. When eating with friends, alert them to your issues… or better yet, have them over so that you can control what you eat.  I had a lovely well-meaning friend proudly make a soy laden dinner, thinking that she was addressing LJ’s intolerance.  I felt so bad that I didn’t say a word, but just ate as little as possible.  It was an uncomfortable moment.

I set out to our local organic market and found some products that I could count on to be safe.  These included: Earth Balance butter substitute (have to get the red tub as the others have soy), Enjoy Life! products, high quality 70% or more chocolate, Brianna’s poppy seed dressing (so yum!), Barbara’s cherry soft fruit bars, carrot sticks with hummus (until LJ developed a sesame intolerance too!), egg (For those who can eat it. I had to eliminate, unfortunately!).  Egg replacer was vital to diversifying my recipes, so we picked that up too.

I was told that I might not see improvement for at least 2 weeks and was advised to take Calcium supplements and schedule frequent appointments with my own doctor while on the diet.  In our experience, Little Jacks responded nearly immediately.  Two days into my diet, she was like a different baby. Instead of waking up screaming 5-8 times a night, she would wake up more like 3 times and just ask for breast milk.

Some guidelines for initiating the diet can be found here.  If your baby is not getting better, you may need to push to see the gastroenterologist or allergist.  Our allergist was incredibly helpful in figuring out some of LJ’s issues when she had relapses despite my meticulous diet.

I got really bored of eating the same things day in and day out, so I was constantly on the hunt for more recipes.  Here are some of the great resources I found.

Recipes:

MSPI Mama
Food Allergy Mama
Intolerant Offspring
Babycakes NYC
Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook Homestyle
Top 8 Free

Shopping:

Cecilia’s Marketplace
Go Dairy Free

These are resources that helped me through 8 long months of milk, soy, egg, sesame and nut free living.  The up-side was how fast I got below my pre-pregnancy weight, and seeing my daughter evolve into a happy, easy to please baby!  It was tough, but worth it… Please feel free to share your own resources below.  I know there are several of you going through a similar experience!  Stay strong mamas!

Hellobee Series: Mrs. Jacks part 8 of 12

1. Attachment Parenting: One strategy by Mrs. Jacks
2. School is now in session! by Mrs. Jacks
3. Babywearing 101: Inward or outward facing? by Mrs. Jacks
4. My baby's head is flat! What's the deal with plagiocephaly? by Mrs. Jacks
5. Responsible media viewing by Mrs. Jacks
6. What to do when your baby goes on bottle strike by Mrs. Jacks
7. Birth plans: the other side of the story by Mrs. Jacks
8. Beyond colic: milk/soy protein intolerance by Mrs. Jacks
9. Cracking the code on toddler tantrums by Mrs. Jacks
10. Talking with children about race by Mrs. Jacks
11. Toddler eating habits cause parental grey hair by Mrs. Jacks
12. A warm winter treat by Mrs. Jacks

Milk soy protein intolerance (MSPI) part 1 of 3

1. Beyond colic: milk/soy protein intolerance by Mrs. Jacks
2. Elimination Diet Adventures by Mrs. Superhero
3. Our Journey with Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI) by Mrs. Deer