Milk allergy during bf leads to dairy allergy as the child ages?

[lhuberdeau]

I'm new to this and I wonder if my child's intolerance to milk while breastfeeding means that he will be allergic to dairy as he grows older? Also... how common is it in babies? Does the intolerance to milk cause the reflux or vice versa.

My son presents with the classic symtoms of reflux as described on the "What is reflux" post. Most of the time he has awesome days and nights... it is only periodically that he has his screaming fits, they can happen once a day and can last up to 10-30 mins, usually in the evening or not at all. However, he is very gassy and "mucousy" which doesn't seem to bother him unless he is "cramping" as I descibe it. I have been excluding dairy, but it is sneaked in once in a while... which would explain the periodic cramping. He sleeps well at night, between 5-8 hours, and naps every few hours during the day as in the EASY routine but won't go down if he is not tired. He is generally a happy baby and alert!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Samuel's mum]

I think if it appears he is reacting to dairy proteins that are coming through in your milk then it seems logical this is something that will continue once he is eating/ drinking them directly.

Have you been keeping a food diary for yourself? Are you pretty confident it is dairy proteins?

[Mydreamcametrue]

In my experience, dairy caused cramping, gas, reflux, you name it with my 2. 

Since it is not happening all the time, it sounds like it is from the dairy sneaked in.

Some lo's are so sensitive that you cannot have even trace amounts.

I would elimanate all dairy.

[lhuberdeau]

Thanks for the replies! I will continue to avoid dairy. He's been really good lately.... hopefully growing out of it... started theething so we are contending with that!

[Mydreamcametrue]

Glad to hear it.

Wendy

[campbellchick]

lhuberdeau, just wondering how old your LO is if he has started to grow out of it?  My 4.5 month old dd has the same problem, but the dairy that I eat just causes her a lot of wind and she wakes all night because of it.  I discovered this when she was only about 4-5 weeks old thankfully and have stopped all dairy.  She seems okay with a little bit occasionally, but if I eat a little more than a bit on one day or two days in a row, she gets really bad wind again.  I accidentally ate a lot more than I thought (as it is so hard to cut out and sneaks into the diet) and she was waking about 4-6 times a night with wind for two weeks.  I realised and cut it out again, so it just doesn't seem like she is getting over the problem yet anyway. I was hoping that she would be less affected by it by now, but no suck luck.  I originally had the same question about will it continue when she can drink cows milk herself?

Wendy, I saw your previous posts in this category on other threads and since you seem to have so much knowledge in this area, can I ask your thoughts on this?  I can drink lactose free milk and this has no affect on her, but I can't eat cheese, yoghurt, ice-cream, creams (the usual dairy items) etc. etc.  Does this mean it is a dairy intolerance or a lactose intolerance?  I'm not quite sure I still understand the difference, but probably should be educating myself about it now so I know what to do incase it continues.  Your links on another post look great, so I will be checking those out too.

Thanks so much in advance, Kerrie

[KitchenerMom]

In regards to Milk Protein carrying on after infancy, my DD1 was extremely sensitive to Dairy in my diet (had to even cut out the "modified milk products" in foods) and now she can eat all dairy without stomach troubles.  She grew out of it around 7 months old.

My osteopath explained that an infant's stomach doesn't have the necessary enzymes and such to break down the protein, but as they get older they develop those enzymes and so it doesn't bother them anymore.  Now he also said he believes that ALL BABIES have Milk Protein Intolerance to one degree on another, just some aren't recognized because it looks like reflux.  I don't know if other doctors share this opinion though.  My 2nd LO is showing similar signs as yours, so I am back to cutting out diary and hopefully that will help with controllig the reflux symptoms as well (GRRRR I love ice cream!)

[campbellchick]

thanks KitchenerMom, that is great news and gives me hope that she might grow out of it.  I think it would be a little stressful having a diary intolerant toddler.  I had the same thoughts as your dr about all babies having a bit of an intolerance as I've read quite a lot about it (my ds had colic and I also think I should have tried harder to cut dairy out then too), but I just love cheese and yoghurt   I might try a bit of dairy in my diet again as she gets a little older - is this what you did when you found out your first LO was okay with it at around 7 months?

[Eden&Connor'sMom]

Just want to add that lactose intolerance is different from milk protein intolerance. According to the National Institute of Health, it is uncommon for a child under the age of 3 to develop lactose intolerance. If your child is lactose intolerant, it is usually a lifelong condition.

Milk protein intolerance is different in a few key ways. Most children outgrow milk protein intolerance by age 1 or 2. MPI is caused by an immune response rather than missing enzymes, but most children outgrow it. With lactose intolerance, you actually grow more intolerant as you age. In other words, more people become lactose intolerant as they get older. It's been estimated that 70% of adults have some form of lactose intolerance. 

[campbellchick]

Thanks Eden&Connor'sMom, that is interesting info.  I know that a lot of my family, especially my dad have started suffering from lactose intolerance as they got older, but wow - 70% of adults, that is a lot. 

I wonder how I would be able to tell the difference in my LO?  I can drink Lactose free milk without a problem to her.  I just read the ingredients and it seems to have a lot of milk solids & milk fat in there - so now I'm wondering if it is lactose or milk protein???  Maybe I need to go and speak to her paed 

[Eden&Connor'sMom]

I agree about seeing her paed. I think my son is allergic to milk protein, since he also reacts to soy protein, but his symptoms are more typical of lactose intolerance. I'm still considering taking him to a pedatric allergist, but eliminating dairy is working fine now so I'm in no real hurry.

Good luck on figuring this out!

[Eden&Connor'sMom]

After my last post, I got curious about whether my son was lactose or milk protein intolerant, so I did a bit more reading. It seems obvious now, but I just discovered that you can't eliminate lactose from breastmilk, since it's the main carbohydrate in human breastmilk. In other words, going dairy free with your diet doesn't eliminate lactose in your breastmilk. So, I'd say if your child is better when you go dairy free, then your child has milk protein intolerance.

[KitchenerMom]

My osteopath recommended trying some youghurt as that has a very low amount of Dairy protein and see if she reacted to that at around 6 months.  She had a mild reaction (which was encouraging) so we waiting a bit longer and then tried again.  I slowly reintroduced dairy over a few weeks.  It also meant that we waited on introducing solids.  DD1 ended up having problems with Rice cereal as well.  I also have a friend whose DD was sensitive to both Milk and Soy.  That lasted a bit longer, until she was 8 months.

[campbellchick]

Hi Eden&Connor'sMom, I also had a look on the internet.  It is still a bit confusing, but found the same info as you about the lactose in breastmilk.  I assume that isn't the problem then, but I did find a website that explained about a lactose overload, which is different to an intolerance or allergy.   It sounds like that might even be the problem.  Anyway, the website gave a great little chart of each dairy item and how much lactose they contain.  It was interesting anyway and seems quite consistent to the foods that I have eaten and she has reacted/not reacted to (Milk being the highest lactose content of course).

KitchernerMom, thanks for explaining that.  I might try the same thing as you and see how she goes at around 6 months.  Interesting that you were told to delay the introduction of solids then.  I guess I will try reintroducing a little dairy into my diet just before 6 months and see how she reacts.  Then introduce solids at 6 months and if she reacts to that as well, I will then visit her paed to discuss further (in Australia we need to get a referral from a GP to go to the paed if they are over about 3 months old for a specific reason - strange I think)...

[lhuberdeau]

campbellchick: my LO is not affected anymore. he had his last big fit on father's day! thank god.... im back to indulgin in blizzards! Now, over the last few days, i can't keep up with his feeds! he is starving and getting up at 3am to eat and inhaling my milk. he has been sleeping through the night for the last 3 weeks. now, my breastmilk isn't enough, he doesn't even want it and i have to give him a bottle. he'll be 4 months on the 4th. i think i will start him on cereal tomorrow!