My daughter is 21 months old. I have always thought she had some sort of lactose issue (mother's intuition I suppose) as since she was practically born, she wouldn't sleep through the night, she wouldn't cry persay but just wake up playing for HOURS on end. She also has had major constipation issues since birth. She was a formula fed baby and my pediatrician always dismissed me ... being a first time mom, I too let it go.
Well at 20 months old it continued. She'd be up "playing", or whining or whatever for HOURS on end. There were times she'd sleep through and then times (months) of her doing this. She was so loud but didn't need us with her and we couldn't figure it out. Finally, I took the first step and took away all milk products...milk, cheese and yogurt. I did this for one week and slowly she slept better through the night. Her constipation, while still not regular, didn't seem to bother her as much. At the same time she had a cold though so I thought ok maybe the cold is getting better so she's sleeping better. We put her back on cheese and yogurt (kept the milk away) and again she was up at night. We took it away again recently and again she's sleeping better! Definitely a relationship. Now she is getting her 2 year old molars so I'm still not 100% certain. I changed pediatricians and this pediatrician had her checked for "food allergies" never telling me which ones...for other reasons, we are not seeing this pediatrician and are in the process of our third pediatrician, which I have to find soon obviously to help me through this.....
Is there a test we can do to see if she is surely lactose intollerant or if I'm wasting my time taking all her favorite foods away from her for no reason?
What do you feed your children? All of her favorite foods have cheese, yogurt or milk in them! I am now using soy cheese and soy yogurt (she hates soy milk) but what about things like raviolis, pierogies, mac & cheese, did you find a good substitute for them???
I am now 22 weeks pregnant. If my daughter is lactose intollerant, what are the chances of my son being so too? And I didn't breastfeed my daughter, but wanted to breastfeed my son. If he is lactose intollerant as well, can I? Everything I read says he should be on soy formula -- is that so???
I'd appreciate your opinion -- do you think its a true lactose issue? And your advice of course
Thanks so much!
Jackie