It can be a terrifying moment that leads you and your little one to a Milk and Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI) diagnosis. The moment may leave you frantically searching for your phone to call your pediatrician. Followed by some serious Formula 1 driving to get there! You will also most certainly find yourself repeatedly telling your baby that everything is going to be fine, while trying to convince yourself that it really will be!

For us, it all started with a normal day for my happy, healthy, breastfed son. I went to change what I thought was a wet diaper and I was shocked to see that his diaper was filled with green stool and bloody mucus. My nurse brain immediately jumped to the worst possible scenario as I made my way to the pediatrician’s office. I even prepped my husband telling him we may be going to the hospital and he may need surgery. Our lovely Pediatrician walked into the room sweetly chuckling. She knew what I was thinking and she quickly assured me that it wasn’t what I was suspecting. Long story short, we walked out of the office with a diagnosis of MSPI and a plan to avoid all dairy and soy so that I could continue to breastfeed.

MSPI is when the infant can not breakdown and digest the proteins found in dairy and soy products. It is often a condition that is grown out of as the digestive tract matures. The most common symptoms of MSPI are fussiness (before, during, and after a feeding), change in stool pattern (infrequent, watery, mucous, or bloody), reflux, spitting up or frequent vomiting, nasal congestion, eczema, and weight loss. However, all babies are different and you should contact your pediatrician if you suspect anything is wrong with your baby.

So, let me just say that food elimination is easier said than done! Seriously, I never realized that dairy and soy in some form were in almost EVERYTHING! I was determined to achieve my personal goal to breastfeed my son for at least 6 months, ideally 1 year. So, I searched the Internet for everything that I could possibly find about the diagnosis. I wanted to know what it meant for my son and what foods were acceptable for me to eat. During my research I became acutely aware of my love of eating and how I am literally hungry all the time…losing baby weight…what’s that?!

I honestly had no idea what was in store for us the day my son was diagnosed with MSPI. It is a diagnosis that takes blood, sweat, and tears to manage-at least figuratively! The MSPI diagnosis is what ultimately led me to start this blog. My hope is that sharing our journey through this maze, might help others on the same journey. Mommyhood is hard enough, adding this to the plate just makes it more interesting 🙂

Helpful Links

My Pediatrician referred me to the KellyMom website for information about food allergies and breast feeding.
http://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/food-sensitivity/

There is also a great cheat sheet to help you identify hidden dairy in foods.
http://www.kellymom.com/store/freehandouts/hidden-dairy01.pdf