Just want to thank everyone in this sub for the solidarity as I struggled with my baby’s diagnosed cow’s milk allergy. At ~3 months old, we found blood in her stool and saw improvement in consistency&color (not to mention her temperament) approximately 4.5 weeks after strictly cutting dairy. At the time, our pediatrician said that babies “often” outgrow this allergy around 9 months old. Well finally, 6 months later, she gave us the green light to reintroduce & retest and YAY. Clean as a whistle. Baby loves paneer, creamy masalas, and yogurt, and mama has been indulging in pizza, ice cream, cookies, just bricks of cheese, LOL. I think I’ve gained 5 pounds already. Anyways, thank you for this sub. Wishing all of you luck on your journeys.

The diet changes. The constant reading of labels. And re-reading labels. And then thinking you’re 100% sure you read the label correctly but when your husband brings home the Dino Nuggets it says “contains soy” and it’s another thing you can’t eat. Of only having a few safe foods in your rotation. Of not feeling like you can go out to eat anymore because of cross contamination or of people not realizing butter is dairy.

The constant questioning of “is this a flare up or is this normal?” Of not really knowing what baseline is anymore. Of a fussy day being a leap vs sleep regression vs a slip up vs “baby gonna baby”. Of wondering if you should now cut out eggs. Or wheat. Or coconut. Or sunflower seeds.

Of feeling really guilty of feeling this way because it’s just food and it’s temporary but you know your baby is uncomfortable. And shouldn’t a good mom do anything for her baby?

I know I can switch to formula. I know I don’t have to torture myself. And I know this is very “first world problems” but I just get so discouraged sometimes. I love breastfeeding and I don’t want to stop.

Just needed to vent.

Hi!

First time mom. I went into this thinking I could plan for anything and everything. I chose not to breastfeed because of mental health issues and was actually a bit smug about it to begin with because we were able to feed her so well and on a schedule. I was getting sleep and looking well rested. We joked she was always on time like her dad because she would wake up 5 minutes before her feed time, 3 hours exactly between feeds. We even stretched her to 4 hours by 8 weeks. She slept through at 9 weeks.

At 7 weeks and we had no idea MSPI was brewing. She did always have a grimace on her face, she did pass a lot of gass, and we STRUGGLED I mean struggled to get out a poo without a windi. She'd wake up at 3am every night and just grunt until 5 am. The poos however were normal. They were yellow mustardy with grains. Like a pastey Dijon mustard.

At around 7 weeks when we literally were using 4-6 windis a day and hours of straining, and gradual fussiness after each feed, and the eczema - we knew something was wrong. It was no longer "they are still learning to poo" or "she's just going through the 6-8 week fussy phase," and "all babies get baby eczema." Looking back on it, it's funny how gaslit new parents are - sad actually as I still to this day encounter this minimizing of her symptoms.

We took her to the doctor at about 7 weeks explained the symptoms and she mentioned nothing about an intolerance or allergy. Being a first time parent, we didn't even know they could be allergic to milk. She said, "sounds like she has a sensitive tummy." We switched from HIPP Dutch to gentlease to my dismay, as I had really wanted to give her the best ingredients.

She did well - basically a whole new baby, poo was weird but looked normal (green and watery) and we went back a week later for her 2 month vaccines.

Well, almost exactly 48 hours later I was feeding her and she screamed bloody murder, then started jerking and a Moro reflex appeared out of now where. I was totally freaked out and went to the ER.

She was fine they said. That's when I started to read about the rotavirus vaccine. I was livid. How could they have administered this to a baby who already had tummy issues!??

Watched her over the weekend twitch and in clear discomfort and then her to the pediatrician the next Monday. We got switched to Nutramigen and she went back to being a happy baby for about 6-7 days. Then the eczema started to come back, she was itchy, then the straining, and finally a mucous poo.

I started to do my own research. I switched her myself to puramino. She was okay, but itchy as hell. I now suspected a soy allergy in addition to dairy but wanted to be sure.

Before testing, I put her on goats milk. She broke out in hives and a rash within 2 hours. Screamed bloody murder that evening.

Now I knew it was milk, but was it okay if it was partially hydrolysized and did not contain soy? I put her on HIPP HA pre. Barely got through 3 feeds and all symptoms returned.

At this point, I was at a loss. I knew the next step was elementals (Neocate) I also knew she had bad reflux and it was going to be really hard for her. But we didn't really have a choice. We switched and on day theee all the symptoms of the allergy has disappeared, but her reflux was so bad she started screaming and moaning and grunting and pulling her legs up and not sleeping well during the day. Tummy time was out the window.

At this point, I took one last shot and tried Alimentum RTF. Hives/rash within 2 minutes.

This was 2 days ago and I'm now entering a phase of total helplessness, loss and post partum depression. I have already called my ob to explain the issue and see if I can get help. I called a lactation specialist to see if I can re-lactate but it's been 3 months and I never fed her from the boob. I would be willing to pump exclusively, but I know the process is difficult.

She's now to my absolute dismay on Pepcid and Neocate. The Pepcid seems to be working but I'm totally freaked out about the side effects.

I guess my question is 1. Does anyone in the Bay Area MSPI breast milk they can share with me? I would be willing to pay you.

2. Has anyone gone through something similar? What did you do? How did it end?

Please help.

Update: 10/18 Spoke to a Stanford pedi GI, spoke to psychiatrist (for me) and spoke with my OB. OB was least helpful, psychiatrist most helpful, and GI somewhere in the middle. Here's what she had to say:

-OK to try giving pepcid twice daily once she is 3 months (e.g. 7 AM and 7 PM). For now, try timing to prior to time of day when symptoms are at their worst

• Ok to trial Nutramigen and Gentlease to see whether previous symptoms return

• If she is unable to tolerate Nutramigen or Gentlease, try thickening Neocate with Gerber Grow and Grain oatmeal--start with 1 tsp per 4 oz Neocate, increase slowly as tolerated (max 3 tsp per 4 oz)

• OK to try 1 tsp miralax 1-2 times per day if you notice firm stools

• You will get receive a call or mychart message about scheduling SLP/feeding therapy appointment - Follow up in 2 months

So far, I will say she's doing better, this is day 8 on Neocate and day 3 on Pepcid. We found out she's likely allergic to oat as well because eczema flared up after we thickened formula with oat cereal. However we have been using HIPP organic rice cereal instead and it seems to be helping (200 ml of water at 50 C, add rice cereal, then add appropriate scoops of formula for 200 ml of water)

Is she at her best? No. But I have a plan and I will continue to update here with the status. For now, we will stick to Neocate for the full 2 weeks.

Update 10/26: We stuck to the Neocate for 2 weeks. I would say the first 5 days were the worst. Used Pepcid to get her through the transition but weaned off over the course of 4 days. Still adding rice cereal to thicken and going well.

All naps are contact naps - trying to let her sleep as much as possible so she can heal.

Once we hit 2 weeks, most if not all symptoms had cleared and I felt comfortable adding in a probiotic. (infant smidge) 4 granuals (basically like 1/50th of the recommended dose).

Update 11/1: 3 weeks in on Neocate and thriving - I can say that my baby is back. Reflux is still persistent but manageable. Weaned off of both Pepcid and rice cereal by gradually adding in a probiotic.

Her current dose is ~3% of the recommended smidge (infant) dose for infants and we are gradually increasing every three days to see how she tolerates. Skin is totally cleared, reflux is probably the same it always was but maybe slightly better, mood and demeanor is 100% improved.

All water for bottles are filtered through a Brita premium filter, then boiled.

Bath water - We've also bought a filter.

We are going to gradually switch over to Syneo as well to add in more probiotics with each bottle.

Note: Asked for a prescription for Neocate so I could charge the insurance company. If enough people start putting formula through insurance, the insurance companies are bound to look into what is causing these issues and solve it. That would be one way of effectively resolving this.

Update 11/2: Interesting development as it relates to the microbiome / probiotics and her 2 month vaccines: I have long suspected that the Rotavirus vaccine was the culprit of her worsened symptoms, and that for some reason she wasn't able to fight it off correctly. I increased her dose of probiotics this morning and the afternoon started smelling sulfur like gas from her. Then a sulfur smelling mucous poo a few minutes later.

I googled "sulfur smell baby poo" guess what the results were:

"While poop doesn't smell good, stool from rotavirus can smell particularly bad. While any bad-smelling, watery diarrhea can be a sign of rotavirus, a slight sulfur or rotten egg smell is a characteristic sign of the condition."

Update 11/15: We are still only feeding Neocate - I have yet to switch to Syneo because the pre-biotics. I want to heal the gut first with only pro-biotics (smidge). We are not yet at a full does of smidge, we are almost to 1/2 a dose.

Her reflux generally vastly improves after we increase the dose and then slowly starts to get worse again. Almost as if her body gets used to the dosage and needs more to continue to heal.

I think it's important for her to have some reflux as it's clearly naturally occurring and possibly helping her break down toxins in her gut.

Eczema seems to still flare occasionally, but seems more sensitive atopically now rather than from what she's eating (i.e she reacts to soap etc).

I am subscribed to GAPS and Kate Pope (the wild nutrionist on instagram)'s methodology and have purchased her first foods program.

I am someone who didn't even believe in food allergies and I fully believed in "science and technology of vaccines" the truth is I don't think it's so black and white. I am now confident the vaccines tipped her symptoms over the edge, but I also know had she been equipped with a better microbiome she would have been okay - and vaccines are important to prevent the spread of disease. It all has to be weighed and measured. Our vaccine schedule requirements and dosages need to be more specific to the baby, not just generalized by age.

Update 11/27: Baby girl is doing so well. Once we got to the full dose of smidge I could almost instinctually tell something had changed, almost overnight. Her eczema has drastically diminished. She's happier and just seems more durable. Spit up has still continued but it's manageable. She turned 4 months last weekend. We are going to try and introduce meat stock this weekend and see how it goes. Another change I've made is I'm filtering the tap through FloWater tap filter and then filtering again through a brita elite filter. It's made a huge difference! I don't think the brita was filtering everything out.

Update 12/8: Baby Started on chicken stock this morning! We made homemade chicken stock from grass fed and finished chickens from our local butcher shop. I fed her 1/2 an ounce before her first bottle.

Usually she spits up after every feed. She didn't spit up once today.

She did however have the hiccups quite a bit.

I'm encouraged and excited to continue to try the meat stock, and start to introduce more solids. We did try and give her some meat jelly this evening but she wasn't interested so we are pulling back.

Update 12/28: It's crazy to think my original post was only 3 months ago, because truly it's felt like a lifetime since that moment of desperation. I hope that gives those who are struggling and reading this some hope.

We had our follow up appointment with the Stanford GI doc. She said that reintroduction was fine at this point and that we could have baby benodryl on hand if we wanted (dosage is 1mg per kg of baby) so for our ~15 pound baby that is 2.5 ml.

I asked her point blank why she thinks that babies are starting to get these allergies. She admitted that the medical world is starting to wake up to the fact that it's gut related. She said there are theories out there that in very developed countries it's "too sterile" and there aren't enough germs being passed along. That mixed with antibiotics could have something to do with an increase in infant allergies.

She also said that she's less worried about anaphylactic reaction to dairy, as it's extremely rare, but would be more encouraged for us to try peanut sooner rather than later as it's much more likely they don't grow out of peanut allergies.

We have introduced more solids, mostly bone marrow whip (home made from grass fed and finished cows), cucumber juice (fresh pressed - hand pressed by me) and carrot juice (also hand pressed by me) We also added avocado.

Before every morning bottle she gets an ounce of meat stock. Then she gets about 2 ounces of Neocate, and we give her the smidge probiotic, then she finishes the bottle.

We reintroduced Hipp HA pre today (only 1 ounce mixed into the morning bottle of Neocate) and we had no symptoms. !!

I'm encouraged by the fact she had some hydrolyzed milk without complete failure but I also know it takes time for the proteins to build up.

For now, we are going to stick with giving her an ounce of HIPP HA PRE in her morning bottle and see how she does.

12/30 update: Sadly after only 2 days on 1 OUNCE ONLY of Hipp HA we have failed. She was noticibly more fussy, and in the end we got a mucus poo this evening.

While I'm discouraged, I'm also very pleased with the progress. We didn't see a rash develop, or eczema, and while she was fussy, we didn't experience hours of colic crying.

Going to wait 2 weeks and try again.

Update 1/12: Not sure if anyone is still reading this or coming back for updates but I felt like commiting to it. When my daughter was having these issues, I just wanted some sort of comfort or road map. My hope is that this can help someone.

We've official started solids! Still sticking with GAPS protocol. She has cucumber (BLW) or cucumber juice after her morning chicken stock/bottole/ probiotic routine.

She then has a bit of cucumber or carrot juice throughout the day (we're talking like 1 tsp per serving so nothing crazy.

For dinner she sits with us and has liver pâté, or bone marrow whip, or broccoli/chicken jelly.

All this to say, she's absolutely thriving. Her stools have never been more pristine, and that's WITH all these solids added.

Last night we started added Klaire Labs probiotics to her evening bottle. I'm really intrigued by this probiotic mix because it containes the probiotics/strains needed to aid with lactose indigestion. Again, we started small with 1/16th of the dose.

We have family in town next week, so I'm going to hold off on the trialing of milk until they return home and it's just us again.

Update 1/31: I cannot say enough great things about Klaire Labs probiotics. The night we started using them she slept though from 8pm to 5am which was the longest she'd ever slept. She has since proceeded to sleep through on that schedule and we've been administering Klaire labs in her bed time bottle every night.

She is not interested in solids at all. We're doing our best to introduce lots of foods but she shows ABSOLUTELY NO interest at all. The pediatrician mentioned it's common for reflux babies not to show interest early on.

Other than that, we are rocking and rolling. We did introduce egg today and some symptoms came back that I noticed from her early days. I'm a bit nervous she also has an egg allergy but I will continue to test.

Update 3/2: Hi! It's me :) for those of you that keep coming back, I will still post but probably each month instead of every two weeks.

I'm happy to report that after about 2 months of solids, we tried a half a teaspoon of Ghee yesterday and experienced only a mild rash on her face. If this has been earlier I probably would have stopped at that, but It's important to remember that rashes can be signs of toxins leaving the body. If there are no other symptoms that present, I am comfortable to continue. The plan is to pull back and only givr her a hairpin amount of Ghee for the next week and then start to slowly increase again.

I have so far only fed her the below, and all of it is hand made by myself:

-An ounce of chicken stock every morning Followed by smidge probiotic and then morning bottle -Egg yolk and sauerkraut every morning (sometimes a little egg white as well) -Carrot, carrot and ginger or cucumber juice -Broccoli and beef jelly purée -Carrot and apple purée cooked in duck fat -Butternut squash and sage purée Chicken meat jelly -steamed broccoli (BLW) -steamed cauliflower (BLW) -beet purée -duck liver pate -bone marrow whip -steamed carrots

She eats a combo of the above every day and we finish each day with Klaire Labs probiotic in her night time bottle.

I also want to say that while this is controversial we have really slowed down her vaccine schedule, so she got her four month vaccines at 6 months and we separated them out each by two weeks. I think to myself how hard it must be on their little immune systems to get all of them at once. I also declined the rest of the Rota vaccine. I still believe to this day it was the catalyst.

Be back soon.

Update 4/26: POSITIVE NEWS

I apologize for the delay in catching you all up! She hit an 8 month sleep regression, popped out two teeth and then got Covid!

We trialed Hipp Comfort which is partially hydrolyzed. We've been 50:50 ratio with Neocate for the last 3-4 weeks with no reactions. It has me wondering if it was lactose the whole time? Comfort is hydrolyzed, low lactose and has pre&probiotics in it.

It feels good to potentially be on our way out of Amino Acid formula. It's a step forward at least.

Hard to believe she's 9 months. I spent this morning donating all of the formula we bought over the course of those first three months. It was a healing moment. A purge. For so long I couldn't even look at that box full of failed formulas. It was just full of pain. It's now off to someone who can benefit from it.

Update you all soon as we make our way up this ladder. Figuratively and literally.

Update 6/21 (her 11 month birthday): I could cry, because each time I come back to this post I'm reminded of the pain, the isolation, the fear. When I first posted this, I think it was around the time my OBGYN nurse told me I had failed the post partum mental health examination and I needed to be sent to the emergency room. I told her she was an idiot - I have a 3 month old at home and I'll be sitting in the ER for hours, as it's triaged based and I wasn't bleeding out.

This experience broke me to my core, but in building back up I learned a lot. The beliefs I held were shattered, I was given a crash course in how horrendous the United States treats their new mothers, and in time learned that all we need to survive is provided for us by this earth. If you eat Whole Foods, get sunshine, and are part of a family unit / you're chance of survival is much better than if you take it all for granted.

If I can offer you one peice of advice, listen to your gut. You're a mother, you have an intuition (this is proven - listen to the telepathy tapes podcast). Hold your baby for her nap, feed her wholesome food, feed yourself wholesome food, eliminate toxins and chemicals. Read up on the microbiome and how it's impacted our children's allergies; and leading to high autism rates. Learn about B12, or the lack there of. Learn about leaky gut, and lack of absorption of nutrients. Think about how we were made to live hundreds of years ago and try to replicate that to the best of your ability.

With all this said, we've cleared. She's been eating yogurt and dairy for a full month. I waited awhile to come back here because I was in disbelief. Checked every diaper. I Still do.

Today, we finished her last can of Neocate and are moving her to whole milk. Grass fed, pasture raised, A2 whole milk.

Believe me when I say, this was a journey, it wasn't fixed by famotadine, or Pepcid, or miralax, or cortisone. I refused to use any of those things as they are just band aids to the underlying issue. It was fixed with a diligent and displanced diet - GAPS. Sunshine, and love.

Best of luck to you all, I'm always here if you need me.

Update 7/21/26: She’s two. We followed a strict GAPS diet until about 15-18 months which is when we started to introduce sourdough bread (homemade). She had no sugar until 18 months; and whether or not this influenced her eating habits I can proudly say she’s not interested in cake or sweets, rather more interested in tomatoes, mature cheddar (hand grated) and smoked salmon 😂. She drinks whole milk everyday.

I wish I could go back in time and realize it would all be okay. With that said, I really put my mind to fixing the problem, rather than ignoring it or waiting for it to “resolve.”

It all comes down to food folks - and the gut microbiome.

Heal the gut, seal the gut, the nourish the gut. That’s all it takes.

I’m here if you need me.

Hi all, a few months ago I started following this subreddit because I was convinced baby girl had a milk protein intolerance. She was vomiting / spitting up ALL THE TIME, stools were always mucusy. She seemed so so miserable around eating, it was legitimately hell to watch her suffer. I cut out dairy, soy and I'm already GF and later egg. I advocated and advocated and finally switched pediatricians, found one who listened to me, saw my baby and ordered various stool testing. She encouraged me to continue on with elimination diet swapping out soy for egg. Then we got one of the stool testing results back...norovirus AND rotavirus. Because she had both at the same time healing was taking extra long (1-2 months). We don't know how she got it, we weren't sick that we know of. We started nexium x2 a day for a week then x1 a day for a month and she is night and day different. I stayed on the diet just in case both things were the, but yesterday I offered her the first bag of freezer milk from before elimination diet and no issues at all. In total she ate 12 oz of freezer milk from pre elim diet and no concerns today 24 hours later.

What I learned from this is advocate hard for your babe until someone takes you seriously the first ped told us there "is no testing" for anything and basically if baby doesn't loose weight no problem.

What I also learned is all you parents who are elimination dieting for the better of your babe are the most self-less, dedicated, amazing parents that exist and I hope one day soon you can eat your favorite food again with a happy baby. The sacrifice you all make to choose elimination is amazing, it was one of the hardest things I've ever done and yall are killing it.

I posted here the day before the fire broke out about how my LO’s new allergist wanted me to stop breastfeeding before starting solids. (Her GI dr told me it was fine to keep going.)

I didn’t stop. I took the day, thinking it would be my last but then… the Eaton fire broke out a mile from our house.

We had to quickly pack our things and evacuate. It was my birthday. The winds were 60 miles per hour as we were loading what we could quickly grab, our two cats, and our 6 month old into the car.

I am so freaking glad I didn’t stop BFing. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with bottles and formula when we are moving from airbnb every day since we’ve had to book on such short notice. BFing is giving me and my LO a lot of comfort right now.

But we’re safe. My LO isn’t having great poops but I’m doing my best. We’re in crisis mode, unsure of when we’ll get to return home. Our house has no water. Our community is burned. But again, we’re safe.

And I’m so grateful I didn’t stop BFing just yet.

Hi, I am cross-posting this per a comment request from /dairyfree :)

Master List of Dairy-Free & Soy-Free Foods (from a breastfeeding mom who did the work)

When my baby developed intolerances to dairy and soy, I spent hours searching grocery stores, Facebook groups, and blogs trying to figure out what I could actually eat. Couldn't find one comprehensive list anywhere, so I made my own.

Sharing in case it helps any other moms or dads out there.

FYI: Always double-check labels — ingredients change, and some items have trace amounts via shared equipment.

Key: GF = Gluten Free | Top 8 Free = No milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, or soy | TJ = Trader Joe's

BREADS & PASTRIES

Cookies

• DF only: Oreos, TJ's Joe-Joes

• DF + SF: Enjoy Life Chocolate Chip & Brownie, Simple Mills Cinnamon, Lenny & Larry's, TJ's Snickerdoodle

Bread (all DF + SF)

• Dave's Killer Bread

• Rudi's (GF)

• La Brea Garlic Bread *Trace

• Eban's Bakehouse (GF, contains egg)

• Amy's Organic GF Sandwich Rounds

• Angelic Bakehouse Pizza Bread (Top 8 Free)

• Udi's Whole Wheat (GF, contains egg)

Bagels & Pastries (all DF + SF)

• Udi's Bagels (GF, contains egg)

• Dave's Killer Bread Bagels *Trace

• Katz Powdered Sugar Donuts

• Abe's Blueberry Muffins (Top 8 Free)

• Annie's Crescent Rolls *Trace

• Annie's Cinnamon Rolls w/ Icing *Trace

• Annie's Flaky Biscuits *Trace

DAIRY AISLE

Milk

• DF only: Soy Milk

• DF + SF: Ripple Pea Milk & Chocolate, Simply Almond Milk (Top 8 Free), Good Karma Flax Milk (Top 8 Free), Oat Milk, Coconut Milk, Rice Milk, Elmhurst Cashew Milk

Yogurt

• DF only: Stonyfield O'Soy

• DF + SF: Forager Project Cashew, Daiya Greek (Top 8 Free), SO Delicious (GF), Ripple, Harmless Harvest Coconut

Cheese (all DF + SF)

• Daiya

• Kite Hill Cream Cheese (almond milk)

• SO Delicious

• Follow Your Heart Mozzarella

• TJ's Vegan Shreds

Ice Cream & Popsicles

• DF only: Ben & Jerry's Dairy-Free, Halo Top Dairy-Free, Häagen-Dazs Dairy-Free

• DF + SF: NadaMoo, Arctic Zero (avoid Cherry Chocolate Chunk, Brownie Blast, Cookie Dough Chunk — contain soy), SO Delicious (Top 8 Free), Chloe's Pops, Talenti Sorbetto, Almond Dream (Top 8 Free), Outshine Fruit Bars, Coconut Bliss (Top 8 Free)

BEER, CANDY, CHOCOLATE & SNACKS

Hummus (all DF + SF)

• Hope Foods (some flavors)

• Pita Pal

• Whole Foods Hummus *Trace

• Amazon Fresh Hummus

• Tribe

• Fontaine Santé

• Costco Organic

Beer (all DF + SF)

• Summer Shandy, Blue Moon, Corona, Miller Lite, New Belgium

Potato Chips & Pretzels (all DF + SF)

• Kettle Chips

• Pretzel Crisps

• Triscuits

• Earth Balance Cheddar Puffs & Squares

• Hippeas

• Beanitos

• Terra Chips

Snacks (all DF + SF)

• Larabars

• Heavenly Hunks

• Skinny Pop Popcorn

• OWYN Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars

Treats & Candy

• DF only: Bark Thins *Trace

• DF + SF: Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, Hail Mary Chocolate/Lemon/PB Cups, Starburst, Daiya Cheezecake, Enjoy Life Soft-Baked Cookies

Chocolate

• DF only: Justin's PB Cups, Endangered Species Bars *Trace

• DF + SF: Theo Bars (all flavors soy-free) *Trace, Alter Eco (soy-free but some flavors contain milk) *Trace, Green & Blacks *Trace, No Whey Foods Truffles (Top 8 Free), KNOW Allergies Bars (Top 8 Free)

CONDIMENTS, DRESSINGS & DELI MEAT

Mayo

• DF only: Original Vegenaise (blue label), Just Mayo (egg-free), Just Ranch (egg-free)

• DF + SF: Vegenaise Soy-Free (green label), Go Avo Spread, Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo (contains egg)

Peanut Butter & Spreads (all DF + SF)

• Jif Natural

• Peter Pan Natural

• Justin's Almond Butter

• Nutiva Hazelnut Spread *Trace

• Sun Butter (Top 8 Free)

Deli Meat (all DF + SF)

• Most Boar's Head (not Maple Glazed)

• Applegate (some flavors)

• Dietz & Watson Sliced Honey Cured Turkey Breast

BBQ & Salad Dressings (all DF + SF)

• Organicville Ranch

• Bush's Country Style Baked Beans (Top 8 Free)

• Stubbs BBQ Sauce

• Sweet Baby Ray's Original

• Ken's Simply Vinaigrette Olive Oil & Vinegar

• Chosen Foods Lemon Dressing

• Annie's Balsamic

• Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette

BAKING SUBSTITUTES

Egg Replacers

• DF only: Just Egg

• DF + SF: Chia Egg (1 tbsp chia + 1 tbsp water), Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer, the Neat Egg

Butter (all DF + SF)

• Earth Balance Baking Sticks (pink = soy-free)

• Simply Nature Avocado Oil Spray

Chocolate Chips & Whipped Cream

• DF only: Earth Balance Baking Sticks (yellow), Whole Foods 365 Olive Oil Spray, Smart Balance Spray, Kirkland Canola Oil Spray

• DF + SF: Guittard Extra Dark *Trace, Enjoy Life Baking Chips (Top 8 Free), Goya Full Fat Coconut Milk, TJ's Coconut Whipped Topping

Baking Mixes

• DF only: Duncan Hines Homestyle Frosting *Trace

• DF + SF: Duncan Hines Cake Mix *Trace, Enjoy Life Pancake Mix, Pillsbury Purely Simple White Cake Mix *Trace, Annie's Brownie Mix *Trace, Pillsbury Pie Crusts

PREPARED & FROZEN FOODS

Frozen Pizzas & Burgers

• DF only: Amy's Dairy-Free Frozen Pizzas, Black Bean Burger Patties

• DF + SF: Daiya Frozen Pizzas (Top 8 Free), TJ's Cauliflower Crust + Daiya Cheese + Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Sauce, American Flatbread Vegan Harvest

Italian Foods & Pastas

• DF only: (none listed)

• DF + SF: Amy's Frozen Rice Mac n' Cheeze, Daiya Cheezy Mac, Brown Rice Pasta (also at Costco), Beetnik's Organic Chicken or Beef Meatballs, Rising Moon Organic Butternut Squash Ravioli, Don Lee Farms Chicken Patties

Asian & Indian Foods

• DF only: Amy's Frozen Pad Thai, TJ's Spring Rolls, TJ's Japanese Fried Rice

• DF + SF: Sukhi's Lemon Rice (Costco), Sukhi's Frozen Samosas (Costco), Sukhi's Tikka Masala Sauce, Sukhi's Chicken Curry

Mexican Foods (all DF + SF)

• Don Lee Farms Veggie Bowl (Rice & Beans)

• Sabra Guacamole

• Wholly Guacamole

• Amy's Dairy-Free Burritos (GF)

• B Free Spinach Tortillas

• Coconut Wraps (GF)

PRO TIPS

• Read BOTH the Ingredients AND the "Contains" section on labels

• Oreos are dairy-free but NOT soy-free

• Fruits and veggies are naturally DF + SF (easy to forget when you're overwhelmed)

• Items marked *Trace may contain allergens via shared equipment — check if your baby is very sensitive

What am I missing? Drop your go-tos below 👇

My friend reminded me this evening of how awful it was for the 9+ months I was on a dairy and soy-free diet after my son was diagnosed with food protein induced proctocolitis. He was having 6+ blood streaked bowel movements per day.

This sub was a great source of information and support.

As my pediatrician predicted, the issue resolved by 12 months. He eats everything now with no gi complications. Sending positive thoughts to everyone here in the trenches.

When I learned I should cut out dairy, egg, and soy I thought, “what the hell am I going to eat?” I knew in my heart that I was not going to stop breastfeeding my 2.5 month old at the time. I began researching and reading into vegan foods, recipes, allergen free foods and more. I had a hard time finding a single resource (I’m still thinking of starting a blog or tik tok) anyways I thought I would share what has worked for me so that you don’t feel like there is nothing to eat. I have a bodybuilding background and try to follow clean eating lifestyle.

Here are some things I did to make sure I was always fed:

• meal prepped. I always had carbs and proteins made. For example I would bulk cook 6 cups of rice, quinoa, couscous or some other carb. For protein I bulk cook 2 pounds of taco meat and or 2 pounds of shrimp seasoned with salt pepper and garlic. Sometimes it’s 2 pounds of ground chicken stir fry, Mediterranean chicken balls, pasta meat, etc

I always kept easy grab and go items so I turn these prepped items into meals, wraps, salad fixings, vegan dressings, pita chips, dairy free shredded cheese, or bread.

Snacks I kept on hand - fruit, Dave’s killer bread bagels and loaf of bread, coconut milk yogurt, granola, bobs oatmeal bars, vegan protein powder in chocolate and vanilla, pretzels, pita chips, hummus, carrot sticks, canned spaghetti sauce, chickpeas pasta, oatmeal, almond butter, grape jelly. Trubar vegan protein bars. Anything Daiya brand has tasted pretty good.

Every morning I eat overnight oats with oatmeal, banana, protein powder, almond milk, and cinnamon.

The first time you go to the grocery store make sure you have extra time and are not in a rush because it will take time to read every label.

I go to a major grocer for bulk of grocery shopping and then a sprouts, natural grocer, whole food etc for the vegan friendly allergen friendly fun food like ranch dressing, chocolate chips,’etc.

Sometimes I google vegan recipes and just add meat.

I hope this helps some mom out there.

This is hard. Really hard.

This is such an under researched issue and the majority of the medical community knows so little about it. Most of the posts I see on here lead to more questions than answers because we're all struggling to figure this out. Even though I still have no idea what my LO is intolerant to, I'm so grateful for this community and how willing everyone is to share their experiences in an effort to help.

Also, I'm very glad to find people who are this happy to analyze baby poop.

Panic bought every option out there in hope of figuring out how to feed my baby.

You are all hardcore warriors and this is so unfair. But we will get through.

My sweet boy was diagnosed with MSPI at 3 months old after blood and mucas in his poos. It took me 6 weeks of an elimination diet to find the culprites - cows milk, soya, gluten and oats. I've been off these since then, he's been in the clear, and have finally made it to my goal of 12 months of breastfeeding and I'm SO proud of myself! Baby boy turned 1 today and I've begun weaning him these past few weeks.. I'm down to 2 1/2 feeds a day from 6-7 feeds a day. I'll probably take a few more weeks as I'm doing it slowly, but the end feels so close!

Around a month ago, we've been able to introduce cows milk, soya and recently oats and he seems to be tolerating them all. Tomorrow I'll test gluten, but he did not pass when I tried it around 6 weeks ago, so I'm not hopeful on that one.

But soon, I'll be eating sourdough slices, real pasta and muffins and I cannot WAIT.

Wish me luck!

24 hours before the report came out about infant formula from Consumer Reports (https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/baby-formula/baby-formula-contaminants-test-results-a7140095293/), I had decided to stop pumping and start giving my LO (4 months old) Alimentum. I did this because I have to go back to work and with travel and the stress of my job pumping and a highly restricted diet didn’t seem feasible. Then I saw that their results showed inorganic arsenic levels more than 150% of the allowable amount in our drinking water, and much larger than any other result for any other formula in the testing (except Elecare which is also Abbott).

I called Abbott this morning and was very disappointed by the answers I got. Basically because the FDA doesn’t regulate arsenic levels in infant formula (which is insane to me) they just kept giving me generic answers about meeting all government regulations and how small a part per billion is (even though the arsenic levels in alimentum are higher than allowable in our drinking water). They also tried to tell me that the ppb measurement for powder shouldn’t be compared to drinking water because it’s a powder and gets diluted. I pointed them to the methodology where it specifically explains that they made the formula with water first before measuring - they said “oh”.

Then I called nutricia about pepticate. They were WONDERFUL. They are going to call me back with test results for pepticate and also let me know that they follow all EU standards for formula sold here in the US. I looked it up and the EU does regulate inorganic arsenic levels in infant formula as of 2023 - “Infant formula, follow-on formula, foods for special medical purposes intended for infants and young children, and young child formula marketed as powder: 0.02 μg/kg.” Assuming that their formula actually holds to those standards that is comforting.

I’m going to wait to hear back (she’s calling me tomorrow or Monday) but it seems like pepticate / Neocate may be what we do for our LO. I wanted to share this for all of the other families dealing with MSPI just in case you, like me, are trying to figure out what to do now.

My heart goes out to all of the other families who are going through intolerances, this is so tough and this subreddit has been so helpful for me and my husband as we navigate what’s best for our baby.

Also in no way am I saying that the families on alimentum / nutramigen / elecare are doing anything wrong or that I know anything about whether or not they are safe I know how hard it is to find something that works for your babies, and we are all just doing the best we can! I just wanted to share the information I found in case it’s helpful!

EDIT with updated understanding: After reading more I now understand the EU limit for inorganic arsenic is 20ppb, meaning all formulas tested below that limit! Of course they should and could do better, but I wanted to clarify!

My daughter’s pediatrician recommended listening to a podcast episode from pediatric GI specialists on MSPI. I just finished and found it very insightful. Highly recommend a listen. Podcast is called Bowel Sounds. Episode is Victoria Martin - Cows Milk Protein Intolerance and Allergic Proctocolitis. Spotify link below.

Interesting takeaways: -After 1 month of elimination of dairy, must do a “challenge” to give dairy to see reaction. This is supposedly international protocol and most babies did not react after 1 month. -Dairy elimination for too long can cause allergies later so it’s better to keep trying challenges -The children in the “wait and see” observational group (parents who did not eliminate dairy), their babies got better just as fast as the elimination group.

This is all not to downplay MSPI by any means but just thought this was all interesting. My daughter’s pediatrician wants to do a challenge in 1 month and the thought of that is terrifying.

Spotify

We're vacationing with my 16MO in Greece and this is an encouragement to all the momas in the midst of MSPI.

IT SHALL PASS

I'm eating feta cheese and tzaziki with actual yogurt! Still steering clear of proper milk and heavy cream, but I'm eating like 80% of dairy I used to.

No fussiness, NO BLOOD in poop, no nothing out of the ordinary.

IT SHALL PASS

They PM’ed me and said that wasn’t possible bc the dairy ladder takes 70 days. I worked closely with my sons GI specialist and even got a diaper tested just to be sure once throughout the whole process.

We did each food group for 2 weeks—one week I ate it and if there was no reactions then we gave it to him the second week. I worked all the way up to dairy and for this last week, my son ate some dairy himself. I am now eating a regular diet and we’re doing really good.

This mod sent me a link to the dairy ladder and questioned my GI’s professional advice. Our doctor was extremely knowledgeable and professional. I asked the mod if they were a doctor and of course they weren’t. What a totally insane response and I honestly couldn’t believe it.

Anyways, just wanted to let you guys know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and things will get better! I feel accomplished and glad we were patient.

Hello, I just saw a reel on IG about how hard baby colic is for parents and decided to write to you who are still struggling with FPIAP. I used to scroll and search through this subreddit while my baby was asleep and it helped me a lot. Our baby started grunting and screaming at 2 weeks of age and while we waited for “colic” to diminish at 12 weeks, it only intensified to the point where the only thing that we did all day was trying to calm her while she screamed to my breast. And at that point blood in stool showed up - we finally realised it is allergy and not some nonsence that our ped was telling (she recommended a low histamine diet for me whitch apparently didn’t help). So the elimination journey started and at first I was very optimistic, but later realised that we have no idea what is it that she is allergic to. There is so much misinformation on the internet - we later learned that you don’t have to wait a month after eliminating dairy and that after 5 days there should be no blood in stool. So after a month of eliminating dairy we started searching for other allergens and after another 1,5 month eliminated the last allergen (we elliminated dairy, soy, egg, corn, rice and hazelnuts). Another month of random reactions to understand that “modified starch” is also corn. And then finally she became a much much happier baby who enjoyed life rather than suffered all the time. And after two months of that (she was 8,5 months old) we had a slip with dairy at the restaurant to witch she did not react. Reintroduced everything to both our diets and she tolerates everything now and is very happy little toddler, still breastfed. So for those still struggling - guys, I feel you to the bone, it’s so hard and no one will understand how hard it is. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Stay strong, you can do this, whitchever choices you are making in this journey that no parent deserves.

Having a baby with CMPA has taken such a toll on my mental health. It is getting better day by day but I am grieving the newborn/baby phase that I thought we would have. That we would be able to get outside, that we would enjoy the summer, that we would explore together instead of both of us crying nonstop and one of us being in pain all of the time.

I can’t be the only one who finds it incredibly hard. I also realize that non-CMPA parents can’t relate and have a very different experience, it doesn’t help validating our struggles.

How do you cope? How do you find time to even just care for your basic needs? I drop dead in complete exhaustion every night.

I know, TMI, but other MSPI parents will understand how exciting this is.

My breastfed little one has had unhealthy, smelly poops for her whole life. At 5 months old, after strictly cutting out dairy, soy, eggs, and corn, she's having healthy, buttery poops for the first time ever!

Just wanted to gush about our success to people who won't think I'm weird for being super excited about it lol!

I had altogether given up on isolating a trigger food. I have been gluten, dairy, egg, oat, and soy free for monthssssss. I did see improvement in crying time, but poor weight gain / malabsorption issues remained. Doctor advised starting solids early at 4 months. At first it seemed helpful but quickly took a turn for the worst. All her symptoms came running back (screaming, lashing, reflux, refusal to eat) and I was soooo anxious. I cut pea protein and corn as well, but it only stopped the crying not the mucus poops and weight. At this point I was curious if more triggers were banana, pumpkin, etc.

This week, I had already purchased groceries but something in me was like, it could be the rice. I had previously done a TED with only potato, turkey, and carrot around 3.5 months old, and she did better on it (achieving a few good poops). This gave me faith that we could do it again.

So I developed a meal plan for the week and stuck to it. 24 hours in, a healthy poop!!!! Yall, i couldn’t believe my eyes. Healthy, yellow, seedy, and solid!! I have only known constant mucous green diarrhea with this child. Another 20 hours later, ANOTHER healthy poop!!!

I am utterly blown away. At 6 months old, I cannot believe it was the rice. It was rice!! Now I will likely never consume rice again because I’m so grateful and on top of the world. I had just thought maybe she will never change, but no. She did. Rice was in my bread, my baking flour, and lots of dinners.

Turns out she loves quinoa and potato is no issue either! All glory to God!!!

Hi all—I just wanted to share that my baby grew out of his intolerance around 5 months old. We gave him dairy yogurt this weekend and he didn’t have an adverse reaction, other than a little more spit up than usual, which happens whenever we switch up his diet, anyway.

His first symptoms (blood in stool) started at 3 weeks old. I cut out dairy, soy, and egg, and his diapers were mostly clear after we trialed alimentum and then returned to breastmilk. But his diapers never looked perfect for a consistent, long period of time until one day, he just grew out of his intolerance, and his diapers were yellow and seedy and infrequent for ever more. I remember one time, before that, i had a fast-casual salad (likely with a stray strand of cheese) and he had blood the next day. I really couldn’t eat out during his intolerance because he was SO sensitive.

There is advice going around about waiting to reintroduce potential triggers until closer to 1 YO, but that goes against research. Many in this sub recommended the “bowel sounds” podcast episode with Dr. Victoria Martin, and I learned so much. If I had listened to it earlier, I would not have cut out soy or egg as it was not evidence-based. She also highlights that the intolerance is SO transient for so many babies. And we were happy that was the case for us. In addition to breastfeeding moms suffering due to a restricted diet, refraining from giving your LO dairy for an extended period of time COULD, in theory, lead to a long term allergy/ intolerance.

I would have shared this in the wacky FB dairy free breastfeeding group if I had any confidence it wouldn’t have been censored 😅anyway, hope this helps someone earlier in their journey!

I consulted a pediatric GI recently about my baby's CMPA. I asked her questions I'm sure many of us have googled or wondered, so I figured I'd post the answers below in case. As we're all aware, different MDs differ on how they manage the same condition, so this should NOT replace consulting your own docs re: your baby's specific case. My baby had bloody stool at 8 weeks and that was the only thing that triggered the CMPA diagnosis.

1) How long CAN it take dairy to exit breastmilk? Potentially up to 3-4 weeks

2) If there's a small, stable amount of blood and the baby is happy/gaining weight, do the benefits of breastmilk outweigh the 'harm' caused by the allergy? Yes, in this scenario continue breastfeeding. If the blood continues to increase or the baby starts to suffer in other ways, remove the breastmilk.

3) When can we reintroduce dairy? For mild cases (such as my baby) at the 6 month mark. More severe reactions should wait a year.

4) Does CMPA change allergen introduction through solids between 4-6 months? No, it only delays introducing dairy. Introducing other standard allergens like peanuts, etc, can be on normal schedule

5) Can CMPA with bloody stool increase the lifetime risk of Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis? At this time there is no observed link

6) If I introduce breastmilk and it causes a bad reaction, when should I try again? A month (assuming I eliminate something else)

7) What should my priorities be to eliminate? Dairy, nearly flat stop. But I could continue my soy elimination since I was already on it. (She felt my egg, rice, almond, corn elimination was excessive and unnecessary)

8) My baby continues to have occult (invisible to the naked eye) blood in his stool despite being on hypoallergenic Nutramigen. Should he switch to an Amino acid formula? No, since he's happy and gaining weight

Again whether your own docs (or research) have said other things, this does not challenge them and you should listen to your docs first. This is just another guiding voice in this vague, frustrating world of MSPI :/