@christfollower19 Yikes, that’s tough - I still have trauma from her first 16 weeks of life. She cried all the time. Behind on so many milestones…
There are two types of allergies, called IgE and non-IgE mediated response. Only the former shows up in bloodwork, but that doesn’t exclude that someone might have both.
The pediatrician told us she could test her, but the results wouldn’t necessarily mean anything. And it’s so hard getting blood from a baby (tiny veins) and she’d been poked so much already so we never bothered.
Instead we went with an elimination diet, I cut all dairy out - had a few false starts, milk. is. in. everything!! Sometimes it’s only labelled as “whey protein”. Have to be really diligent about label reading, and eating out is a no-go.
If you don’t see any improvements within two weeks it’s likely not that. Expect 4 weeks for the milk protein to be fully out of her system, and also a setback around 3-4 weeks where they suddenly get worse (this happened to us and is common apparently).
After 8 weeks you are encouraged to do a test to see if there is a reaction, so either overload yourself on dairy or give them formula, and see what happens in the next 4 days.
We waited much longer, almost 4 months, because things were finally better for her and she started smiling and enjoying life. Recently did the milk ladder and things have gotten progressively worse, it’s almost like at the beginning again. So we’re trying to get her used to the special amino acid formula because I’m exhausted from pumping around the clock and being so strict with what I can eat, food other people make and labels. I was primarily plant based and also had to cut soy which is in everything vegan so that left no options except beans essentially.
She still had mucus poops on the no milk no soy diet but that was her only complaint and going down the list of allergens would be too restrictive for what I could deal with.
Sorry this turned out to be such a novel! Hope it can help you, and that you are able to soothe your baby soon. It’s so tough on them. I worried for a long time how the prolonged crying is scarring her/impeding her development… she had awful sleep too, waking up gassy and in tears from pain, every stool was so painful too. I’m grateful she won’t remember this (but I know I will).
The TLDR is probably - best discuss with pediatrician since they can prescribe special formula which may be covered by insurance (unsure about the US, but here it’s 55€/400g (~14oz) without a prescription). But if you stop consuming milk, the results are pretty immediate. Night and day difference it was, I tell you!
Good luck
