Do you have a baby that cries all night and does not sleep? Perhaps you can relate perfectly to this, you are exhausted from running back and forth all night trying to comfort your wailing baby. It seems no matter what you do, the baby will not sleep. You may have even called your mother or mother-in-law and asked for their advice in which case you may have been told that you have a colicky baby on your hands. This may not be the case at all and what the real issue at hand is something that can be cleared up right away. Your baby may have insomnia due to food allergies. At this point, there is a very good chance that your baby is allergic to milk products.
Even if you baby is allergic to milk that does not mean that by age four, the issue will not have resolved itself and the child will then be able to properly process milk products but for now, milk is not going to work. Of course, this can not be an assumption that you make on your own as baby will have to see the doctor first. If your baby is allergic to cow's milk, which is in plenty of infant formulas, there will be other symptoms present too such as shortness of breath and stomach upset which may or may not include vomiting. Although food allergies are rarely a cause for insomnia in adults, it can sure cause baby many sleepless nights until the culprit is found.
When your baby is allergic to cow's milk, their immune system will see the protein in the cows milk as a danger and they will try to fight it off, which is where all of the problems come in and baby is very fussy and unable to sleep. Your infant having a milk allergy does not mean that they are lactose intolerant and it may not stay with them for the rest of their lives as they could very well outgrow it within a few years.
In the meantime the doctors will likely switch baby to a soy based formula, unless of course you decide to breastfeed. If you do decide to start breastfeeding baby remember that if he is sensitive or allergic to cow's milk then you are going to have to avoid all dairy intake as well so that baby does not get it through your milk.
While this article has centered on babies and their milk allergies that result in insomnia, it should be known that this can happen in children and adults with other food products as well. Sometimes it is very difficult to figure out what it is that you are allergic to so if you partner with your doctor he will be able to assist you in keeping track of exactly what you are allergic to and from there monitor any pattern of insomnia. This could be in the form of keeping a food diary as a way to find out the allergy by a process of elimination.
