Post Gastroenteritis Lactose Intolerance?

[bellasmim]

Hello all,

My DS had a horrid bout of gastroenteritis about a month ago.  However, although the illness has cleared up he still has awful diarrhea  .  He has done a stool sample that was clear and the doctor has said I need to just ride it out and it will clear up in its own time.  But I think that this is wrong advise    I don't think a 7 month old with diarrhea should be left to 'sort it out'.  I read somewhere that after an illness like gastroenteritis, a baby can be temporarily intolerant to lactose.  Has anyone ever heard of this condition?  I have started him on soya milk and he HATES it.  Do babes come round to the idea of drinking the stuff?  Poor boy!

Help and advice is welcome.

Kate x

[mcruari]

Poor little mite!

I don't think he should be left to his own devices either.
I honestly think he should be on some sort of probiotics and maybe you could try rice milk rather than soy.

Good luck

[em_here]

I have heard of this yes, its called transient lactose intolerance.  I would do a few weeks on lactose free milk, SMA do one called SMA LF, it is over 5 pounds for half the size of a regular tin though  Maybe he would take that better than soya, its not too palatable xx

And grrrrrrrrr to the doc, ask for a second opinion and you might even get a script seeing as its a temporary thing. Also try and stick him on to a bland diet for couple weeks.

It WILL clear in its own time, but if you dont want to wait then lactose free milk is available.  You can then reintroduce normal formula after couple of weeks

As I said do get a second opinion on the matter xx

[mcruari]

Doh, didn't see he was only 10mths. Yep lactose free formula would probably be best

[deb]

If he was on antibiotics, then it's even more important to get him back on probiotics.

Yeast in the intestines go nuts when any kind of sugar goes in there and they do the same thing they do in bread dough, which is to create lots of little pockets of gas, which can go along with diarrhea in a person. Probiotics can help at least with digestion overall if the balance hasn't yet been restored.

[Shdef]

You know, we made the same experience. DS had gastro at 12 months and then didn't have formula or anything milky for about six months or so.

I would maybe switch to Alimentum or Nutramigen and see how LO is doing? Probiotics are also essential, like deb said. DS had terrible bouts of diarrhoea and thrush after them, probiotics worked a treat.

[bellasmim]

Thank you so much for your supportive responses ladies, it is HUGELY appreciated!  I went and got some soya yoghurt with probiotics in it following your advice, so hopefully this will help his recovery.  I have also had a look for rice milk but it was not in stock and i have also had a look for lactose free milk but didn't have much luck there either.  Never mind, I will try another supermarket tomorrow...

In the meantime, it has only been 24hrs since I took ds off dairy and already we can see an improvement - no diarrhea  .  I will still get a second opinion though.

Thanks again for all your wise words and support.

Kate x

[Mydreamcametrue]

Hi.  We had a very same situation with DS1.  He was on 5 antibiotics in 3 months and was pooping out everything he ate whole.

Anyhow I removed all dairy and soy and started him on a dairy/soy free probiotic and within a month there was so much improvement.

In you case though, it deft. sounds like temp LI.  I would keep on trying the soy milk or the LF milk. 

Yogurt is good with the probiotics, but if you can actually find probiotics (it would be a powder), that would be better.

[bellasmim]

It has now been about 4 days since we switched to Soya from dairy and things are not as 'fixed' as I was hoping.  Poor little DS is still getting bouts of diarrhea but it is not all the time like it has been as we are getting a few solid BMs as well.  He is still off his food and is only eating perhaps one solid meal a day (approx 1 tblsp) and continues to be very unsettled and grizzley, poor lad.  The only food he has been having is soya yoghurt or quinoa with pear and apple or veg and baby rice.

Is it normal to take this long for his body to get rid of the lactose from when he was on milk or am I expecting too much to think his wee body will return to normal quickly?  Do you think LI is just one of his problems and there are other allergies/intolerances i.e. MSPI?

We are off to the doctors today to discuss this very issue, but as they have been totally unhelpful and utterly useless so far, I wanted to talk to you all about it too!

Thanks,
Kate

[Shdef]

Around half of the children who react to dairy will react to soy, too. On its own, soy is an even bigger allergen than dairy is, soy formula isn't available here for that reason.

I would go and see another doctor and ask for a prescription for hypoallergenic formula...

Hugs

[bellasmim]

Wow I didn't know that.  It certainly goes some way towards explaining why Oliver is still having problems.  Sadly my appointment with the doctor was cancelled for today but i have another on Wednesday so I will ask about he hypallergenic formula and getting a prescroption.
Kate x

[Jonncarlo]

Alimentum or Nutramigen

You know, we made the same experience. DS had gastro at 12 months and then didn't have formula or anything milky for about six months or so.

I would maybe switch to Alimentum or Nutramigen and see how LO is doing? Probiotics are also essential, like deb said. DS had terrible bouts of diarrhoea and thrush after them, probiotics worked a treat.

I been using Alimentum for 3 months and I feel much better than before, So I'm going to say this is the perfect probiotics source.

[deb]

Alimentum has probiotics in it? We never used it, I wouldn't know, but didn't think it included probiotics. We always took the probiotics separately.