Switching to cow's milk - could this be sign of milk allergy?

[maka]

My DS just turned 1. This week we started to gradually introduce cow's milk (3 days cow's milk first bottle but formula other two feeds, today is the first day with 2 feeds switched to cow's milk). DS stool is a bit loose for the last 3 days and he seem to be a bit more gassy then on formula. He was diagnosed with reflux since 3 weeks old and was on meds until he turned 11 months. He has had milk based baby yogurt since 6 months and never showed any signs of milk intolerance. I hope that loose stool is just a phase of adjustment to the cow's milk, is it possible that this could be a sign of milk allergy? Thank you.

[Seona1973]

if you are using cows milk based formula then it is unlikely to be milk allergy as the formula is made from cows milk too.  Straight cows milk can be harder to digest than formula so it could just be his system getting used to the change. 

[deb]

Yogurt often is tolerated better than cows' milk as the bacteria that culture the yogurt also partially pre-digest the sugar and protein.

[maka]

Thanks guys. He has been on milk based formula. I guess I'll see how he reacts to two milk feeds per day. thanks

[Lemonthyme]

My son has been recently diagnosed with a (hopefully temporary) lactose intolerance after a stomach bug. If he has normal milk at the mo he has violently huge loose stools which smell like sour dairy or he throws up immediately. He's also doin the largest, stinkiest trumps I've ever known!

It might be just mild adjustment, if it continues, see your doc but it's unlikely I agree.

[Mashi]

My son was milk allergic and when we were doing the tests to try him on cow's milk, the specialist told us to be aware that the transition in "normal" (ie non allergic) babies very often produced a lot of diarrhea, gas, bloating, etc, and that it is normal to take a couple of weeks to get used to it, so for us to not go on those symptoms alone.

If your LO was on regular formula and eating yogurt and other foods containing dairy without problems then it is pretty unlikely that it is not an allergy or intolerance, but you could always chat with his dr...but I do think it is pretty unlikely that it is a problem at this age.

[maka]

Thanks everybody.

[*Kara*]

Our doctor told us to stop the transition and try again at 18 months because of excess gas, abdominal pain, etc... he mentioned that the protein in cow's milk is much harder to digest and loads of kids do much better with a change at 18 months as opposed to a year   DD has always had cow's milk based formula and is fine with cheese/yogurt etc...