3yr old milk allergy/intolerance?

[lilac83]

DD has been having constant problems with constipation for almost 2 years. She drinks plenty of water, we eat 90% whole grains, tons of fresh fruits, etc. Based on her diet, constipation should not be a problem.

I recently came across the information that lactose intolerance can cause constipation. This immediately raised some flags for me:

*When she was a baby I had to switch her to sensitive formula because she was having horrible gas pains from the regular formula.
*Her constipation got much worse when she was between 12-18 months and this is when she started milk.

She has a week off school next week so I'm going to try eliminating dairy and see if this helps. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I eliminate all milk, cheese and yogurt? Can she have rice milk? I've read soy milk generally doesn't help if it's a lactose problem (because it has lactose in it?) Is dairy the only food with lactose in?

Her doctor just said to keep giving her Miralax. That she can use that stuff for the rest of her life if she needs to. This is not okay with me and I really want to get to the root of the problem. It seems to be getting worse (or she's just vocalizing about it more now that she's older). She keeps saying her butt hurts and then she'll go to the bathroom and two small pebbles will come out. The Miralax does loosen it up but, like I said, I don't really want her on it consistently.

Ideas? Suggestions? Experience?

[EloysH]

It might not be lactose but rather the milk protein intolerance which is the more common type of food intolerance.

[Mashi]

I suppose there might be added lactose to soy milk in the States, though I can not imagine why they would or what benefit there would be to it but soy milk (elsewhere) does not have lactose in it.  Soy is lactose free. Lactose only occurs in mammal milk.

As Eloys said I suppose it could be milk protein intolerance but if she was fine on the sensitive baby formula (by that I assume you mean a lactose-free milk based formula) then it would seem more likely to be lactose than milk protein.  Milk protein intolerance generally starts out in infanthood and is outgrown in toddlers, while lactose intolerance is extremely rare as a baby and generally is something people develop as they get older but of course "generally" does not mean always and certainly could happen other ways.

I guess if it were me, I would start off with suspecting lactose as the culprit, and see if you have any changes in 1-2 months. If not, then move forward as if it is milk protein.  

You can buy lactase, which is the enzyme that breaks down lactose - if your body does not have lactase naturally you can take it (or add it to the dairy product ), and then drink/eat regular dairy.  Or, you can buy lactose-free dairy products which have the lactose removed. They don't really taste much different IMO.  

Some people with lactose intolerance can eat regular yogurts fine, because a lot of the lactose is broken down in the culturing, but I would still remove yogurt from her diet while trying it out, and then add it back in later to see if she reacts.

Just my opinion, I am sure others have different thoughts on it though Robin! So nice to see you back here 

[lilac83]

I did a bit more research on this last night and ended up going out and purchasing a lactose free milk.

She had horrible gas when she was a baby which I wrote off as being her digestive system still developing. I switched her to sensitive formula when she was a couple months old and helped almost immediately with the gas. I just googled the formula I used and it says it is low lactose. The constipation would come and go at that point. When she got older (maybe when we introduced milk but I can't remember) the constipation came back and became more consistent around 18 months because I remember asking the Dr at her 2yr appt what to do about the constipation.

So, I'm assuming the lactose is going to be the thing here. However, she also gets bumps on the back of her arms, which until last night I had always assumed was just the way her skin was. I can't remember when they appeared, probably around 1 year old. I found another thread on here mentioning them and that it could be related to a milk allergy. I googled that and it mentioned the milk allergy and gluton allergy in a number of sites. I don't think gluten is a problem though.

I guess I'll try removing lactose from her diet first and if that doesn't help, look into the milk protein and hidden dairy.

Thanks for the suggestions EloysH and Mashi! I'll let you know how this goes!

[Mashi]

I know the bumps you mean - my DS has them also and has fully outgrown all of his food allergies. My DH has them, too, and has no food allergies. I think it can be from needing more vitamin e and/or vitamin a in their diet, but we use Body Shop hemp hand lotion on it and it goes in 2-3 days. 

[EloysH]

Good luck with the lactose free milk.  If it doesn't help then blame the milk proteins.

My natruopath says theose bumps are vitamin a and essential fatty acids deficiency whihc are present in egg yolks, real butter, gee, and milk fat.

[lilac83]

Yeah, I'm not sure about the bumps. She eats a balanced diet so should be getting all the vitamins she needs. Plus she takes a multivitamin. I will try the hemp lotion and see if that helps.

Today will be DD's second day without lactose, so I'm thinking maybe by Friday I will start seeing results? She's only been sipping the lactose free milk but I'm hoping she'll get used to the taste. I tasted it this morning and it really did taste like regular milk, just a tad sweeter.

[lilac83]

DD had really good BM's on Tuesday and Wednesday but today she was back to pebbles. I think the good BM's were left-over from the Miralax over the weekend I needed to purchase more lactose-free milk and decided to go with rice milk instead to see if it's a milk allergy. I figured this way I could kill two birds with one stone since the rice milk is both dairy and lactose free. If this works, I can experiment and give DD some lactose-free milk in a few months and see what happens.

[EloysH]

sounds like a good plan