When do they stop needing so much "milk"

[Mel55]

DD is 20 months old.  She's lactose/milk/soy intolerant.  We just figured this out .

She was bf until 7 months, then drank enfalac.  Had a huge reaction (full body rash, severe diaper rash, diarrhea, etc.) so put her on Soy formula.  That was great, no problems.  Tried her on homo milk at ~10 months.  It didn't bother her so I figured she grew out of her allergy and that lasted about 5 months and then the rash/diaper rash/diarrhea returned and I switched her to soy and she cleared right up.  Then the diaper rash/diarrhea came back.  I stopped feeding her all the soy products (yogurt, milk) I've been giving her and her rashes again cleared up.

My question is--do I introduce rice milk or something at this stage, and how much does she need a day?  Where do I get her calcium from if I can't give her cheeze/yogurt, etc.? 

Thanks!

[Mom to M&M]

If it's an allergy (not an intolerance), you can go for testing. They can do a blood test (RAST) and skin prick test (SPT) and let you know if she is allergic to milk, soy, and a host of other foods.

If those tests come back negative, you have an intolerance on your hand - which most babies outgrow by 18-24 months (if not sooner). In that case, you might want to wait until it's been 3 months since you last pulled the dairy and soy and try again slowly - with hidden dairy and soy first and then slowly moving on to cheese, etc before milk.

Have you tried rice milk? Not much fat but plenty of calcium and  you can get fat from other sources.

[Mel55]

I haven't tried rice milk but it was my next step.

I read the intolerance vs. allergy website and I"m pretty sure she has an allergy.  My Dr. said they won't send you for allergy testing until your child is 3 or 4 years old.

Perhaps I need to be more insistent as I"m seeing that she has alot more allergies then just milk.

Thanks!

[Mom to M&M]

I would definitely be more insistent. Allergy testing becomes much more reliable by age 2 and even a little before. Yes there can be false results but still will give you a much clearer picture.

Give the rice milk a try!

[Tonya]

We just had the allergy testing done on my ds, and he is only 2.

Although I would have to say it broke my heart to do it, (scratches on his back, then they drop the allergant on them and wait for a reaction), it was totally worth it to know what we were dealing with!

[Mom to M&M]

Tonya - how did the testing go? Did you get some answers?

[Tonya]

Karen, thanks for asking!!

We did get answers, and fortunately none came back as food related allergies.  (although he does have some environmental allergies)

The hardest part was when they scraped his back - he was already SOOOO very upset at being restrained, the scrapes ....he sounded like they were cutting him in half!!