Baby starts throwing up after getting over being sick

Something that’s happened this time around with the new baby is something we saw with Maggie the first time around and our pediatrician told us about. Lactose intolerance randomly appearing after being ill.

Aerin had a fever and was a grump machine for a couple of days but never high enough to worry and she wasn’t miserable. Two days after getting over her temp she’s a milk geyser. Formula that worked perfectly last week now serves to cause explosions from every orifice.

Rather than being upset when she was sick, she’s now miserable when technically she’s well. There’s no amount of burping that can solve it.

The problem evidently is caused by a bacteria or medication wiping out the lactase (stuff that digests lactose,) in the lining of the duodenum. With our child, we had the double hit of mom being on antibiotics and baby recovering from a fever, so suddenly the little milk gobbler can no longer process milk efficiently.

Lactose gets dumped into the colon where bacteria help ferment it and turn it into gas which causes your screaming infant, milk explosions, and comedic baby burps.

Most babies will get over the intolerance in a few days time as their stomachs normalize, but in the meantime if you want to sleep you’ll need to get a lactose free formula, probably preferably without soy as I believe the current thinking is this is a bad thing for babies to have.

Your best option here is to switch to a non-lactose formula, then you’re going to still have a few hours or a day of stomach upset as the fermenting lactose in the baby explodes its way out.

By day two I am noticing on Aerin a lot fewer burps, but a lot more explosive farts, which is consistent with the lactose moving out of the digestive tract.

Luckily we had some no-soy no-lactose formula that someone had dropped off, or the couple of hours of sleep we’ve gotten these past nights would have been nothing.

All I remember about our formula is that it’s in a tin, orange lid, seems to work. You can find what you need here, although if your infant is going through this just run to Target and grab some. Don’t wait that long.

All the usual disclaimers – not a doctor, talk to a pediatrician, etc etc etc.