Projectile Vomit-4 months old

[Mommy2008]

MY DS is 4 mos old. He has always been a happy spitter for the most part since he was a few weeks old. He spits up ALOT, at least 6-12 times a day, sometimes small amounts, sometimes larger amounts. This is his norm.

However, this morning, I was feeding him like any other morning. He usually doesnt let me burp him after hes finished with one breast b/c he is impatient and wants to continue eating..LOL. So, I usually just burp him after hes finished with both breasts. Well, I was burping him for a good few mins..maybe 5 mins...and he FINALLY let out a loud burp[not abnormal for him...lol] followed by projectile vomit with it. It shot out with force onto the boppy, my pants and started dripping down the couch. It startled me thats for sure. he didnt even have a care in the world and went on to his old happy self playing in the bouncy seat. I offered to nurse him shortly after, before he went down for his nap, thinking he must be hungry b/c he just threw up most of his feeding, but he didnt want to nurse. I put him to sleep.

Now, I know that its normal from time to time and I have had my fair share of spitting up/puking episodes with my son..but he has NEVER puked like he did this morning. It really freaked me out! I didnt call his pede b/c he seemed fine and b/c he is going tomorrow anyway for his 4 month well baby check up.

I want to add that I have been "obvious" dairy free now for a week straight, avoiding butter, cream cheese, half and half in my coffee, milk, yogurt, cheese etc. I am doing this due to mucus in the majority of his poops now for over a month. However, last night at dinner we were eating mashed potatoes[im only avoiding OBVIOUS dairy..not hidden dairy, so I still eat things that have milk products in them but like I said just the obvious things] and my DH wanted to give him a little "taste" of mashed potates. I dont even think he ate much of it at all b/c he amount he put on his finger was prob the size of a grain of rice or a pea. and he really didnt even "eat" it, i dont think he got much of it at all.

but now, I am just not sure if this projectile vomiting was from the mashed potatoes last night or if it was just a coincidence? I would have thought that if it was from the mashed potatoes that he would have puked last night and not this morning?

Anyone that has any comments I would appreciate it.

thanks so much!

[Jacksmommy]

I doubt that the projectile vomit was because of the mashed potatoes. I'm not even sure I'd be worried about the projectile vomit from the way you described it. If your son has a milk allergy, then avoiding obvious dairy isn't enough. You have to avoid it all. Also, it's recommended that baby get nothing but breastmilk until he is 6 months old - not even tiny tastes of solids.

[Mommy2008]

I doubt that the projectile vomit was because of the mashed potatoes. I'm not even sure I'd be worried about the projectile vomit from the way you described it. If your son has a milk allergy, then avoiding obvious dairy isn't enough. You have to avoid it all. Also, it's recommended that baby get nothing but breastmilk until he is 6 months old - not even tiny tastes of solids.

I know I prob shouldnt be worried about it, but I guess it just startled me to some degree..and then the fact that we let him "taste" that last night made me feel even worse.

I realize that I would have to avoid ALL dairy, but Im just trying this first to see if anything at all changes. I dont think its an allergy but maybe just an intolerance if anything at all, since the only symptom he has is mucus in his poos.

I also realize that about solids, but we all get carried away at times...out fault.

[Jacksmommy]

If he has an intolerance or an allergy to dairy, then you have to avoid all dairy to see a change in his poo.
It's easy to get carried away when we want to share new fun things with a baby, but it's better for them if we wait until their digestive tract is more mature and can handle these things. Even without an allergy, you don't want to give your baby mashed potatoes until he's a year old. Cow's milk shouldn't be given until baby is 1.

[Mommy2008]

So, if I start to see changes in his poo by just eliminating obvious dairy then he it doesnt mean he has an intolerance? I have heard that some babies that are just inrolerant can tolerate small amounts and others have to be completely dairy free. I think I read that on kellymom.com

[Mommy2008]

Also, I just wish there was an easier way to know for sure if he is intolerant to dairy or not. Its so hard to determine. FWIW, I think we let him have a taste of fetuccini sauce a few weeks ago and some ice cream cake and he didnt puke like he did today so maybe its just a coincidenece..as Im sure the fetuccini had much more Cream and chesse in it then mashed potatoes.

Im not saying what we did was right...yes, we prob shouldnt have let him taste those things, but I just wanted to add that.

[Jacksmommy]

You may see some change in your son just by eliminating obvious dairy, but you may not, and you won't know for sure what you're seeing unless you do total elimination. You also may never see any ill effects from feeding him solids early, but it may do him harm anyway that will show up later. It increases his risk of food allergies and a host of other problems to give solids early - risk - not guarantee. It could be that everything will be and is fine.

[Nipple_nectar]

Honestly, eight more weeks of exclusive breastmilk can make the difference on whether or not he develops an allergy to foods, in general. Did you know that allergies are associated with a premature introduction to solids?

Also, one spoonful of something your deathly allergic to, and it will be enough to swell his throat closed. I'm sorry to scare you but you need to be really careful about what you introduce first, dairy needs to be witheld until one. My little one is allergic to dairy, so we are on an even more delayed introduction schedule.

The older the baby is when you introduce a particular food, the chances are lower of an allergy, that's why you want to wait.

My firstborn also had a dairy allergy. I gave him a spoonful of chocolate pudding when he was six months old and his throat swelled shut, that's how we discovered the allergy. That was twenty years ago though and now we know better. We know that introducing whole milk before a whole slew of things would be a huge error. Like an egg noodle is probably the first dairy item with the least amount of actual dairy in it. This would be a safe thing to start with.

If you already suspect allergies then you need to be extra diligent with the pace you introduce new foods. It can be a life or death situation. Not something to take lightly.

[Nipple_nectar]

Sorry for the rant, I didn't even answer your question. It's just I know from experience, it can be a real problem.

Now, to answer your question: I think the projectile vomiting and the spoonful of potatoes was a coincidence. One incident of projectile vomiting is not a cause for concern. There are many reasons for projectile vomiting: just pressure of leaning on a full tummy is enough for some babies to throw up the whole meal. Sometimes just coughing gets out of control or accidentally breathing saliva down a windpipe can do it.

As long as he seems to be otherwise normal, I wouldn't worry. A good rule of thumb for vomit in general would be more than once would indicate a bug or a virus. Longer than 24 hours, I would have him seen by his DR.

[vickikreiner]

I would not be worried about one projectile vomiting but marginally concerned, that is something to be on the alert for.

As for an elimination diet, you need to be completely free of the questionable food for at least 10 days-2 weeks as it can take this long for the food allergen to be eliminated from the baby's system. (It generally takes 1-6 hours for the allergen to reach the baby after mom consumes it).

Dairy is the most common. So I would go completely dairy free for 14 days starting today and after 14 days see if you notice an improvement. If not try eliminating wheat and so on. I'd stick to breast milk only for at least 2 more months.

Don't feel guilty but if you are eliminating dairy from your own diet, giving it staight to him can be even worse and could have upset his belly. You may find this link helpful.

http://www.foodallergy.org/