Reflux - Colic

[DebNC84]

i'm testing now for celiac - pretty positive (rash disappeared upon removal of gluten in my diet) now I'm concerned about my family -

My sister's 5 week old has reflux and possibly some problems with colic. He is on similac formula. are these celiac symtoms?

[chrissy]

not likely at that age.

[janelyb]

it could mostly be a dairy or corn intollerence. Maybe have her switch to one of the allergen free formulas to see if that makes a difference....Altaminum (spelling is wrong) the LIQUID is the only one that is also corn free.

Good luck.....many doctors just say colic when they have no clue what is really causing the problem.

[Darn210]

Just my opinion . . .

What one person thinks is colic might just be a crabby, tired baby. (Especially on first babies - which I don't know if this is or not). My husband thought that our (first) son had colic - basically every time he cried. Then when our daughter was born, she cried a lot more and his response was "Ohhhhh, so THIS is colic!" Neither had colic, my daughter just needed a good 20-30 minute cry every late afternoon/early evening that nobody could stop/console. Then she was done.

Lots of babies have reflux. Lots of babies have colic. Too early to jump to conclusions.

Also, I believe, although I have NOT verified this, that baby formulas are gluten free.

I would wait to see how your tests pan out. If you turn out positive, your siblings and your kids (if you have them) should be the first to be screened . . . and so on. If you turn out positive, have your sister tell her pediatrician that there is Celiac in the family and then they can both watch for further symptoms (failure to thrive & diarrhea) once gluten is introduced.

Good Luck.

[EmmaQ]

Celiac can't present itself in a formula only fed baby. Similac formulas are gluten free, I called and checked for my own child this year.

For the scenario of a colicky baby on dairy formula it is probably dairy, switching to an allergy free is probably enough to solve the problem. Do not recommend soy, it is an allergen equal to dairy as well as just not a safe alternative these days.

Now a breastfed baby can react to gluten that is passed into breastmilk. Pub Med fact, even if research doctors continue to ignor it.

[Dianne W.]

We spent an absolutely miserable 6-1/2 months trying to convince our ped that my newborn son was not simply "colicky". It turns out that he has reflux and that he is intolerant of milk, soy, and gluten. All of these were passed through my breastmilk. Nearly a year later, he's doing great except for accidental glutening as he explores his world.

If you or your sister are doing additional research online, some great sites can be found about infant reflux and also MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance). PM me if you want some specific sites (I think I've found 'em all in my attempts to figure out how to help my son.)

About two months ago, I also discovered a book called "Colic Solved" (colicsolved.com) by a ped-GI who makes the point that "colic" is a description of symptoms, not a diagnosis. Some babies do have high-need temperaments and just need extra attention/cuddling, but many "colicky" babies are in pain and can't tell us in any other way. When I found this book, I sat there and sobbed since I realized that someone finally understood what we had been saying all along! I wished it had come earlier, but I finally felt validated in my concerns and guided in understanding what I needed to do as a parent of a "colicky" (how I hate that word) little one.

If your sister's little one is dx'ed as having reflux, check out marci-kids.com about proper med dosing for infants since they metabolize meds faster and actually need higher doses to get out of pain. (Opposite from what you'd think - "little baby, less meds".)

If your sister determines her little one is intolerant of milk and soy, there are formulas like Alimentum and Nutramigen (with broken-down milk proteins) and Neocate and Elecare (amino-acid based formulas). But the other poster is right that the only corn-free formula seems to be liquid Alimentum Ready to Feed (RTF).

Give your sister an extra hug from me. She should be enjoying her little one's precious newborn days, not struggling to survive them. Tell her to hang in there and know that she is not alone!!

[gynger888]

i'm testing now for celiac - pretty positive (rash disappeared upon removal of gluten in my diet) now I'm concerned about my family -

My sister's 5 week old has reflux and possibly some problems with colic. He is on similac formula. are these celiac symtoms?

I have to say, my son has not been officially diagnosed, but I believe celiac begins at birth. He had severe colic (20+ hours/day) and projectile vomiting along with runny stools. I was told all kinds of things, such as I was a new mother, there isn't any way he could be allergic, it was all in my mind. I would tell your sister to follow her gut on her child. It is a genetic-based disorder, which means it is inherent in a child. This would mean it is present at birth. Symptoms may manifest at different times, but I would say my experience was that I knew something was wrong, regardless of doctor's inability to diagnose my son. He could not tolerate breast milk, regular formula, or soy formula. I resorted to feeding him rice cereal at 3 weeks old. There were few alternatives back then, and noone ever told me about celiac. I am still getting resistance to following through with diagnostic tests on my son (he is 19 now). I wish your sister the best of luck, and don't give up!

[gfpaperdoll]

I have seen in my family that babies are born with it - just for starters, me, my son, & his son - I think that the baby is born sick from the gluten that the mother eats when pregnant. & of course none of us knew better.

We were eating high gluten and high dairy diets with of course any soy that was added to foods along with additives, preservatives, artificial colors, sodas, on & on...

So do I think a new baby can have "celiac" yes, I do. But in my family it is called gluten intolerance because we do not have DQ2 or DQ8 genes. Really it is worse than having celiac.

It would be interesting to see if all the biopsy diagnosed people would get their gene test for celiac - so that we could see if maybe if you have DQ2 or DQ8 that you might not have a problem from the womb. But if you have DQ1 or DQ3 or some of the other ones that you do have a problem from the womb.

My family is double DQ1.

If your sick baby has the gluten intolerant genes I can tell you that if you are not strict with the gluten-free/DF/Soy free diet that you will face a few years of projectile vomiting, cranky baby, crying baby, ear infections, sinus infections, colds, allergies, asthma, and on & on - our kids got everything that came along...

I would also be VERY careful about getting this baby vaccinated. Never let them give more than one vaccination at a time - & you will have to be very controlling on this issue or the doctors office will do it & not tell you what they are doing. I would encourage the mother to read up on vaccinations - there are a couple threads on here re vaccinations...

not to alarm a new mother - or the auntie - but knowledge is power - research & read read read

[Lizz7711]

i'm testing now for celiac - pretty positive (rash disappeared upon removal of gluten in my diet) now I'm concerned about my family -

My sister's 5 week old has reflux and possibly some problems with colic. He is on similac formula. are these celiac symtoms?

Colic is most often due to food allergies as others have said, most likely to be dairy/soy. My sister in law switched to goat's milk for my niece when she was a baby with colic and it worked like a charm in her case.

Liz

[FoxersArtist]

Both of my kids had reflux to the point where medication had to be given and even still they wore bibs around their necks all the time to keep from getting too soggy. I don't think this is in and of itself is related to celiac but I have read that one symptom of celiac is when your baby projectile vomits a great deal of the time. Our celiac son did this and it was horrifying. My daughters reflux never caused any projectile vomiting...at least, not the type where the whole meal lands 8 feet away. I would not describe our son as colicy as an infant. He was flat out ANGRY about life and wanted nothing more than to be left alone to his own devices...even at 2-3 weeks of age. He could be super (almost obnoxiously) happy when he wanted to but then when something upset him he could cry with the best of them...and he cried for HOURS on end, unrelenting, unconsolably, for no reason at all. Pick him up? His volume would only increase. There was no winning. Our daughter was colicy at times but we could tell the difference. Her cries sounded like something was hurting...like she was miserable. Our son just sounded ticked off about life when he cried, unless of course something really was hurting, and then he usually just tried to distract himself instead of trying to communicate or reach out. Very odd behavior in my opinion.

-Anna

We spent an absolutely miserable 6-1/2 months trying to convince our ped that my newborn son was not simply "colicky". It turns out that he has reflux and that he is intolerant of milk, soy, and gluten. All of these were passed through my breastmilk. Nearly a year later, he's doing great except for accidental glutening as he explores his world.

If you or your sister are doing additional research online, some great sites can be found about infant reflux and also MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance). PM me if you want some specific sites (I think I've found 'em all in my attempts to figure out how to help my son.)

About two months ago, I also discovered a book called "Colic Solved" (colicsolved.com) by a ped-GI who makes the point that "colic" is a description of symptoms, not a diagnosis. Some babies do have high-need temperaments and just need extra attention/cuddling, but many "colicky" babies are in pain and can't tell us in any other way. When I found this book, I sat there and sobbed since I realized that someone finally understood what we had been saying all along! I wished it had come earlier, but I finally felt validated in my concerns and guided in understanding what I needed to do as a parent of a "colicky" (how I hate that word) little one.

If your sister's little one is dx'ed as having reflux, check out marci-kids.com about proper med dosing for infants since they metabolize meds faster and actually need higher doses to get out of pain. (Opposite from what you'd think - "little baby, less meds".)

If your sister determines her little one is intolerant of milk and soy, there are formulas like Alimentum and Nutramigen (with broken-down milk proteins) and Neocate and Elecare (amino-acid based formulas). But the other poster is right that the only corn-free formula seems to be liquid Alimentum Ready to Feed (RTF).

Give your sister an extra hug from me. She should be enjoying her little one's precious newborn days, not struggling to survive them. Tell her to hang in there and know that she is not alone!!