Does your Child Have Dairy Allergy or Lactose Intolerance?

I suspect my DD is either allergic to dairy or is lactose intolerant. We went to get her tested at the ped and is awaiting results, but I'm pretty sure already because of the rash she gets when she drinks milk.

So what do you have them drink instead of milk? What do you feed them to make sure they get enough calcium and other nutrients?

 

I think we're dealing with more of a protein intolerance, but we're still avoiding milk for B. I make his oatmeal, eggs, and most everything I cook for him with Enriched Rice milk. Other than that, that's all I do. I did take him to the dietician to discuss his diet b/c I was also concerned about his intake and she said that since his diet was otherwise varied and balanced, that there wasn't anything else I needed to do. He is able to handle Goodstart formula (though for a long time he could only handle Alimentum) so he drinks that in place of milk. If she can handle citrus without getting a diaper rash, then I would also suggest giving her calcium fortified orange juice. Have you tried giving her Lactaid? Can she handle that ok? If she can, then it would seem like lactose is the problem, and that's pretty easy to deal with now days with all the different options in supplements, and alternatives. Let us know how the reports come back! I hope it is something she can/will outgrow!! :hug:

 

I am lactose intolerant and Sydney is (and possibly sam too). Our issue is diarrhea not rash.

We drink lactaid milk. Alternatively: soy, almond, rice, and other milks are all good. I personally like almond milk quite a bit.

We have limited cheese and yogurt, but I don't avoid them. There are soy yogurts and soy cheeses. Sometimes goats milk, cheeses and yogurts are options. I was also told recently about coconut milk yogurt and ice creams, which sound quite yummy - but i haven't found them yet.

I do avoid really heavy cream sauces and other "heavy" type milk products. I have to be careful with ice cream, puddings and melted cheese. For some reason, melted cheese bothers me more than cold cheese. weird.

 

My DD was allergic to dairy. Fortunately she outgrew it after about 18 months - by the time she was 2.5 (she was tested for a suspected allergy when she was around 10 months old). We just used soy milk, the vanilla flavored kind. It actually wasn't too bad, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad she outgrew the allergy! We used the soy just like we did regular milk. If a recipe called for milk, we used the soy milk. I had to read labels to make sure dairy products weren't in the food. The weird thing is, she could eat cheese. The doctor explained why this could happen, I just don't remember. We also fed her soy based yogurt - which I thought was totally disgusting, but she loved it! She ate that for quite a while, even after she outgrew the allergic reaction to dairy.

FWIW - we suspected an allergy because when I first gave her yogurt, her entire face broke out in hives and got swollen. It happened almost instantly. It was scary because I didn't know if her throat would swell up too and cause choking. She would break out if she touched the dairy product, let alone was fed it. Neither of my boys had any problems.

 

I'm hoping to get dd tested next week; she seems to get horrible constipation & blood in stools when she has dairy. Right now, we've cut out all dairy & she's drinking Lactaid milk (lactose free). I've found Rice Dream yogurt & ice cream and Soy yogurt that they like pretty well. So far haven't really found an answer for cheese, but dd is at the point now she has no desire to eat it. She'll tell us "cheese hurts my body".

I called the dr a few weeks ago to see if she's still getting enough calcium, etc & they told me to make sure she's taking vitamins. She also gets fish oil, which has Vit D.

 

Our issue was diarrhea and throwing up, and judging from their reactions, severe stomach upset. It started at 18 months, which was strange.

We've fed calcium fortified Soy milk (they LOVE) at daycare. I use lactaid milk at home to cook with and give them on weekends.

Until recently, we were buying Soy and Lactaid cheeses. They are EXPENSIVE, so we used that sparingly. I recently discovered though that you can feed them Cheddar cheese. Something to do with how it's made naturally elminates the lactose from Cheddar cheese. I've made homemade Mac n cheese with no problem, pizza w/ cheddar for them, grilled cheese sandwichs.

Also, if you can find yogurt with live Active cultures, I've read articles that said this will not bother them. I haven't tried it yet, but have found Cheddar cheese chunks w/live active cultures that they eat with no problem.

As for ice cream, I gave them lactaid ice cream for their b-day and they did great, and it tasted good for us too.

You can also give them calcium supplements, just make sure there's vitamin D in it as well.

 

We have tons of food allergies and my boys both drink rice milk and/or almond milk. Both of those are only really tolerated in Vanilla flavor. They are fortified to contain Calcium. If she can tolerate soy, I think that is one of the most common replacements (soy milk, that is!). Good luck!

 

One of my boys got diarrhea from drinking cow's milk so we switched him to soy. They fought over the soy sippy cup, so now they both drink soy milk. He does okay with yogurt and cheese since he doesn't eat a ton of those things. He loves fruits and veggies and that's what he eats the most of. Both boys do love their soy milk- usually vanilla, but they also like the chocolate.

 

My son has a severe dairy allergy (still) and when he was about 1 I visited a nutritionist. She told me to keep him on the Soy baby formula until the age of 2 for the fat and vitamins (regular soy milk is too low fat). At age 2 I switched him over to Vanilla Soy milk.

Fingers crossed for all of us that they grow out of this. My Dr. still says Archer has an 80% chance of outgrowing it. Good luck-

 

My two year old drinks Almond Breeze original taste. I am Latose intolerant and that is what I use to drink and cook with. I only personally avoid milk, cheese and ice cream.

 

Thank you for all your advice, ladies. To update you on my DD's blood test, the ped told me that she doesn't have either dairy allergy or lactose intolerance. But he thinks her rash is caused by eczema that is triggered by diary. So I guess the end result is the same, I should keep her off of dairy and find an alternative drink as a source of her nutrients. I'm going to try all your suggestions and see what she likes.