Diagnosing Baby Ella
- Posted on
- By Sarah Abbott
Since birth, my daughter was on formula and filling her nappy up to 14 times a day. She was also feeding almost every hour and completely finishing the bottle every time. I tried switching formulas and she improved to only needing a nappy change six times a day. But she still had a nappy rash that was as if she had sat in a bath of acid, which, as you can imagine, made her scream.
When she was 18 months old, she was once again up past 11pm one night, screaming in agony with her bleeding bottom. In desperation I began investigating nappy rash online – milk seemed to come up a lot in my search, as did lactose. Soon I found the information I needed on the Lactofree site and headed straight to the doctor for an emergency appointment – and was told off for bringing her in for such a “minor thing”! I just wanted to clear it with them before I put her on a lactose free diet. But all I managed to get out of them was an application for an appointment with a paediatrician and the comment that “children with lactose intolerance will become dehydrated and start to lose loads of weight” – which wasn’t the case with my Ella.
Still, I went straight to Tesco and bought your milk, cheese and yogurt. I gave her two 9oz bottles the next day as a test – no poo! I gave her a yogurt – no poo! In fact, she did not go until the next morning after breakfast and this time there was a great improvement in her nappy! I have now had her on a lactose free diet for over a week and she is a different child, no ‘curry paste’ poo and no nappy rash!
My doctor’s surgery has since apologised to me and officially diagnosed Ella as lactose intolerant. This made me wonder how many other babies are misdiagnosed as they don’t present with the ‘right’ symptoms. My advice to other mums is to be aware that sometimes a nappy rash is more than just nappy rash. If your child is not teething or doesn’t have a bug, then this could be a sign that he or she is allergic to something that they have ingested – like lactose.
All that is left to say is thank you Lactofree! Your website has helped to make a beautiful little girl better!
Comments (2)
Nikki Goldsmith
good to know me and baby soph arent on our own. sophie had problems from day 1, and it took until she was four months old for anyone to agree with us what the problem was. i think i might ask for an apology from my gp too!
emma jones
so good to read someone else's view on how the doctors pass it off as not really important issue, my son had terrible nappy rash was changing his nappy 8-10 times a day sometimes having to bath him afterwards as he was covered and the doctors just kept saying he's fine he's putting on weight stop worrying. in the end i insisted another doctor look at him who said if i can prove he had lost weight he will take the steps to get him seen asap in hospital. he'd lost nearly 2 1/2lb in just over 2 weeks. hes now 3 and his dietician has just put him on a lactofree diet and the change is brill. no more smelly toilet times and he seems so much happier in himself. mums really do know best in these situations.