Lactose Intolerant/Milk allergy or something else please help!

[tracy28011984]

Hi I'm wondering if someone may be able to offer me some advice my son 8 months has been very wheezy since December and has had a constant nasty cough for about 3 months, he also has a runny nose on/off. About a month ago he was sent to A +E because his wheezing was so bad and they gave him salbutamol inhaler, they said it could be asthma/viral infection. Since then his wheeze has settled on/off until two days ago it came back very strongly where he was fighting to breath and having constant coughing fits, finding it very difficult to sleep. They upped the dose again, gave me seriods for him for 3 days and said he's probabaly caught another cold.

For the past 4 weeks he has bad diarrhoea ranging from up to 5-10 times a day and bad nappy rash although when I gave the doctor a sample they said it came back normal. They did say I could try him on soy formula milk for a while because he might have temporary lactose intolerance.

Ive been looking on the internet and have noticed that a lot of his symptoms e.g wheeze, runny nose, diarrhoea-could be linked to either lactose intolerance/milk allergy.
Looking back to Decmeber he started on the sma follow on milk then and solids about a month before that.

Wondered if anyone else has had similar problems, any advice would be gratefully received.

[firsttimemummy]

THis sounds like my friend's DD although I can't remember what it was but it was definitely an intolerence/allergy to something, can't remember what though  (sorry - and I wont see her for another week).  My DD had a constant cold, etc and I have narrowed it down to cows milk and probably yoghurts so you could be right.  I have cut those out and give him soya milk etc instead (he is 15 months and was breastfed) - cutting it out has helped sooo much! Health visitor initally put it down to getting lots of colds but it is definitely more than that.  We are currently keeping a food diary to track things (And bowel movements as they have been so squidgy until recently now he is finally not getting cows milk+yoghurts) and are seeing a dietician in 2 weeks time (referral through nurse at doctor's surgery).

My friend took DD to the doctor and got tests done etc so it is probably worth doing that. Sorry can't help more at the moment (about to bath DS and put him to bed).

[deb]

Do be aware that while you might be treating a milk allergy or intolerance by giving soy instead, many people allergic to/intolerant of dairy have the same problems with soy, so a continued reaction might well be a soy intolerance or allergy. Cutting out lactose will only help a lactose intolerance, but the milk protein (casein) is in other things too, including of all things soy cheese.

Rice milk tends to have a much lower incidence of allergic reaction, as fewer people are allergic to or intolerant of rice.

[firsttimemummy]

Thanks for that.  DS LOVES rice milk but I am never as keen to give it to him as it has added salt, etc whereas the soya milk is only soya beans.

[deb]

We also try to make sure the kids are getting their calcium in other foods, like dark leafy greens, crucifiers (broccoli/kale/cabbage/cauliflower), salmon, or if push comes to shove, supplements. Both mine have some significant digestive reactions to both dairy and soy. I also don't really feel good about giving my kids any quantity of soy until I get some reassurance about the phyto-estrogens in unfermented soy. (There's conflicting research on that, but that's my own family's choice FWIW.)

[firsttimemummy]

DS loves sardines too which are good calcium source, but I tend to just give them once a week.  What supplements do you use? Are there specific children's supplements available? Deb - in what ways do your children react to dairy and soy?

[tracy28011984]

I saw the health visitor today she said that its up to me but if I were to try him on lactose free milk to only give it to him for 3 weeks then reintroduce his milk as the lactose free milk does not have as many nutrients in. She also said I should get it on prescription. I'm a bit worried about changing his milk he currently has ready made sma progress which sounds alot thicker than the other milk but if it helps think I should maybe give it a try.
Is rice milk okay to give at 8 months?
If you can find out what your friends lo's problem was that would be great!

[deb]

When my family has straight cows' milk, we get extremely gassy and diarrhea isn't uncommon, tummy cramps at the least. When the girls had soy milk (DH and I never liked the stuff ), they got runny poop and gas, nasty-smelling too. We have to go easy on most cheeses, too; pizza is a rare treat here. (We're still paying this morning for having had pizza last night. )

That said, we all can eat yogurt just fine; the culturing apparently alters both the milk sugar and the milk protein just enough for us to tolerate it. That's not the case with everyone who has lactose or milk protein intolerance/allergy, but that seems to be the nature of ours. I've read the same about hard cheeses, like parmesan, but we just tend to avoid most cheese entirely since the yogurt is so easy. I've started making my own to save money, since we eat so much of it!

I wouldn't give lots of rice milk at 8 months, but I can't imagine any ingredients in it that would be a problem - more as an occasional drink, certainly not as a substitute for milk/formula.

My kids take Rhino Calcium supplements, which are chewables, but my kids are also older now, not babies. I did do a quick Google search and found some interesting nutritional information about calcium and getting it into the diet: http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/calcium-sources.html.

[EloysH]

I Just had my Ds2's faeces tested for lactose intolerance,  He's 3 weeks old and I was worried he was intolerant to the lactose in my breast milk.  The tests came back negative.  I am wondering if you could get your sons tested to find out?

My Ds1 was milk protein intolerant but not lactose intolerant.  He grew out of it by 9 months, most commonly it gets less severe as they get older, so I guess its interesting that he's 8 months old.  How much dairy is in his diet at the moment?

If he is not lactose intolerant but milk protein intolerant - to caesin then the only way to test is through elimination diet (no soy or dairy) for 2-3 weeks (so that means changing the formula) and then food challenge (give him a glass of milk and observe symptoms).  Also, soy proteins are similar to milk proteins so there probably won't be much success substituting dairy for soy.


Rice milk is not recommended if you are treating it as his "breast milk" or his "formula".  If on formula, you can get a dairy free formula - some are by prescription.  

[annette.xx]

Hi there

firstly poor thing its so hard for you and baby for sure so hugs for you...

my LO always had colic and reflux - pretty bad - instead of the usual 3 hrs a day crying spell it was 10 - 12 hrs a day right up until around 5 months when it started to get better then 6 months it all started again...

I always exclusively BF then alongside weaning I started to give formula in a sippy - DD always had diarhoea terribly before weaning, really bad about 5-6 times a day bless her but then after weaning it changed to thick and runny frothy poos inbetween constipated days and terrible wind - the screaming baby returned and to top it off the reflux returned with a vengence (im talking about 50 times a day!!!!) and she started to pass blood in stools...

at 7 1/2 months finally she was diagnosed with an allergy to milk but I have later discovered that she is milk sugar (lactose) and milk protein (casein) intollerant - the 2 intolerances cause different problems...

lactose causes the diarhoea and tummy aches, constantly hungry and posseting

casein normally causes constipation - terrible trapped wind, undigested food, projectile vomiting,skin rashes, blood in stools (if severe) ...

I found all this out through researching loads on it! and now it makes sense so much cos jasmine I think is getting better with the milk protein allergy as when I dairy test her she usually only gets diarheoa at first but then gets a delayed reaction of skin rash and wind so I tried her on lacto free milk and she was great for a day on it then the next day started getting rashes on her face and chest so I knew the protein had still caused a reaction and that night was in pain with wind all night! apparantly they grow out of protein allergy by 1 - 3 years old (jas is 14 months and its improved so much - used to be instant vomiting and tummy trauma!)...

I was prescribed nutramigen milk for jas at 7 1/2 months and within just a week of using it in foods and not allowing any other dairy product she was a different baby! it was like a miracule!! I still BF morning and night now and I dont have any dairy as it passes through - The doc stopped prescribing me nutramigen a couple of months ago and jas now has 2 BF and then rice milk once in day (it has added calcium) ...

my advice is to try the lactose free formula for a week or so and look for any other reactions - you mustnt allow any other dairy in the process as reactions could come from lacto in foods so please be careful! If your LO has any other reactions to the lactose free formula then you will then know there is a possibility of milk protein allergy...

sorry for the long post but wanted to share my experience with jasmine with you as thought it may be relevant...

big hugs, keep us posted

Annette.xx

[tracy28011984]

Thanks for all the replies
I think I'm going to wait over the weekend and if he's still the same by Monday ring the doctor to see if I can get the lactose free formula on prescription. I don't want to buy it yet incase he doesn't like it. I'm worried he won't take to it as he has the sma follow on ready made formula, which looks thicker than normal powdered milk.
What's the difference to sma lactose free milk and nutramigen milk?

[annette.xx]

nutramigen is for milk allergy, sma lactose free is for just lactose intollerance so still has milk proteins in...

it took me soooo long to get jas to take the nutramigen but I had to persevere... good luck with whatever you decide

Annette.xx

[christineangel]

If your baby has  Dairy allergy and your using soya, then it could make it worse as it did for me, just gone onto neocate as the doctors told me that soya has a cross contamination of cows milk in it.  So when my daughter first went on it she was great, until just over a month later and she was back her miserable self.  Get neocate as it is fantastic!!!