Testing if dairy intolerance still exists

[Nicola K]

My 15-month old son is dairy intolerant.  I'm not sure if it is actually lactose intolerance or a reaction to the dairy proteins. 

My Dr. has said there are not any tests that can be done until he is older and that he is likely to outgrow his sensitivity by the time he is 2.

My question is how do I know?  What is the best type of food to introduce, how much of it do I try, and how frequently?  I don't want to cause him any pain unnecessarily but at the same time would love to be able to introduce a few new things into his diet.

If anyone has any suggestions or has been through this I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance

[Livvismum]

Hi Nicola

I'm told that the thing dairy allergic/intolerant react least to is yoghurt but we've never been in that situation as Liv is milk protein allergic and we have to go into hospital for a milk challenge when the time comes.

We just did an egg challenge at home and I was terrified but it was all fine, I just took it slowly.

Personally I would leave it a good few months more if the last reaction was recently. Our doc said that as Liv had a rash reaction to something, even though we couldn't pinpoint what it was we have to leave it another 4 months before the challenge.

Not a lot of help, sorry. Can your doc/dietician advise you any further on what to do and when?

Sara

[GraceKellysmom]

My ped suggested we 'trial' Grace every 3 months with whole milk yogurt when we were ready. She failed the 15 months (loose runny stools, mucus in stool) but at 18 months she tolerated it ok. It took until 2 years old to pass the cheese test. She is 2.5 and still not drinking milk, but she can handle milk cooked in foods, cheese, yogurt, ice cream in small quantities.

HTH and good luck!

[kim&savannah]

Savannah was mildly intolerant to dairy and soy proteins.  We were also told to try again every three months or so--since I am still bfing, I always tested first in my diet, then in Savannah's.  At one year, she seemed ok when I ate a little cheese, then got a rash when I ate more volume (not sure if it was related), so I cut way back and she was fine.  Then I tried yogurt, still just in my diet, and she was fine, so by 13 months or so, we tried cheese in her diet and had no problems.  She is now eating cheese, yougurt, drinking some milk (she still prefers rice milk). . .

Next is the soy test. . .

Good luck!
~Kim

[Nicola K]

Thanks for the help everyone.

How did you know that Livi was allergic to milk proteins rather than the lactose?

I had thought it was the lactose that Max had an issue with but he had a pretty bad reaction to tofu cheese slices yesterday which had no lactose but did have caseinates in it.

I also find it interesting when I read through the other postings on this board and notice people talking about the dark circles under eyes.  I didn't realize that could be allergy related.  Max has them A LOT (we get the tired comment from strangers all the time) and our Dr. told us it was likely due to a slight iron deficiency.

I think I'm going to insist that our Dr. refer us to an allergist or a dietician as I really need to get some guidance on this.  We were up for 3-hours last night due to a severe gas reaction and with baby #2 on the way soon I really need to get it sorted out sooner than later.

[Xavier and Erica's mommy]

My son had allergy testing done at 9 mos old by a very reputable pediatric allergist, so it is possible to get it done, but many doctors don't want to do it for some reason.  You can at least have blood drawn to do RAST testing that let's you know if they have the antibodies in their system, it does not mean they are allergic, but they may be.  You can also have his iron levels checked at that time too.

[Livvismum]

Hi Nicola

As I understand it lactose intolerance does not demonstrate many symptoms other than gastric ones. Livvi came out in rashes after milk, her face was swollen and the doc diagnosed it on the basis that she was having serious mucous and spotting of blood in her stools.

This link may help

http://www.lactose.co.uk/lima/symptoms.html

Your hunch may be right and in addition to the caseinates there may be an issue with soya which has a similar molecular structure as milk. Hopefluu not though.

hth
Sara