will second baby be allergic too?

[emma11]

I am 32 weeks pregnant with our second baby. My daughter Grace (now nearly 3) was diagnosed with lactose intollerance at a week old and was very ill before they finally put her on pepti-junior formula and I went dairy free to try and feed her aswell. She was dairy free until 18 months when she has a milk challenge test which went really well considering how poorly she had been as a baby. Although she only had tiny bits of dairy to start with she now eats all dairy products.

I was just wondering if it is more likely that our second baby will also be lactose intollerant? Does anyone have two children that both had the same allergy to milk? I have been having lots of dairy throughout my pregnancy but wasn't sure if it was worth going dairy free for the last month? Any advice really appreciated. Thanks x

[Copper]

Hi and welcome to the site.

I was born with lactose intolerance which improved when I was a few weeks old, so I am told. It came back at various times in my childhood and now I am totally lactose intolerant.

This problem appears to have a genetic connection as three generations of my family have lactose intolerance. I have two daughters and only the eldest has lactose intolerance. You might be lucky and have a "normal" second child. At least you will recognise the signs faster the second time round.

Lactose intolerance and dairy allergy are two totally different things. Was the eldest allergic or lactose intolerant?

Good luck.

[rebecca c]

My eldest has a tendency to asthma and ecsma - he goes through stages where I think he is more sensitive to milk. My youngest is fine.

Apart from the fact they may have been different anyway I got my youngest jabs done seperately and he had no whooping cough vaccine.

Breast feeding will help improve any tendency to allergies/intolerences as it promotes a strong immune system.

[Copper]

Both of mine were treated the same. Both were breast fed except the eldest was unhappy from the start.

[Pjackson]

Hi there

My DDs are both dairy intolerant :( My eldest (4 yrs) is also looking like she is soya intolerant too (I think due to overloading of her system on soya milk after Consultant's advice to start her on it!).

My DD1 was breastfed to 15 mths and my DD2 is now 1 yr and still breastfed. Sadly, I had v little advice or support when I had DD1 and did not go dairy free (had no idea at the time). This time I knew better and did go dairy free once breastfeeding DD2. I'm not sure if going DF whilst pregnant would help at all, I guess the proteins do cross the placenta? Have you researched this at all? It would be interesting to know.

I sometimes wonder how much breastfeeding does actually help the immune system or help prevent allergies - my two seem to constantly be ill or have colds and of course, it didn't prevent them both having a dairy intolerance....:confused:

[Copper]

I know that somebody here in the past had a dairy allergic baby and in order to keep breastfeeding she had to go on a dairy free diet. I guess this would work for a protein intolerant baby too.

A lactose intolerance is due to a lack of the lactase enzyme. See this page for my simple description

http://www.dairyfreeuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=951&highlight=sieve+peas&page=2

[Pjackson]

Sorry Copper, I perhaps didn't explain properly. My DD2 is fine being breastfed, but as you say I'm totally Dairy Free. The issue of course is knowing what to put her on once I stop feeding. DD1 was never completely OK on breast but that was probably because a) I never cut out dairy b) she was weaned onto dairy foods herself - as basically I wasn't given any advice/help on what the issue was and only guessed myself when she was around 15 mths and had moved her totally onto cows milk to drink. They both appear to be Cows Milk Protein intolerant but DD1 seemed to be lactose intolerant for a while too? As you know, the two can get blurred quite easily if someone doesn't know what they are doing!

[Copper]

If you think that DD2 is dairy protein intolerant then I guess she has to be dairy free too. Persuading the medics that you want some help with prescription milks for longer will be a battle as you know.

Otherwise it means weaning her onto dairy and wait for her to be ill and for the medics to agree with you that she has a problem. The latter seems cruel to me.

[Pjackson]

Why do you think it's a battle to get prescription milks - is it the cost? The dietician called me this afternoon and she's still pushing to get her off formula - she only has max 200ml a day anyway as breastfed am & pm (it's just enough for her cereal, food mixes like mash etc). She said that with that kind of amount it's not worth keeping her on it and she'll get what she needs from food in general - I still think it's better to keep her on that rather than rice milk (or soya as she's suggesting!) - let's face it any added nutrients have to be a bonus!! I'm going to have a look at the nutrient table in a mo - wish I knew what the RDAs were for babies & young children!!

They actually haven't disputed she has an intolerance due to her early symptoms and DD1's history. It's just persuading them that I don't want to try soya! We've agreed today to try her on cow's milk now she's turned 1 - I would rather try that and then look at an alternative rather than try an alternative straight away.... Wish us luck - I've put more about it on my thread in the 'kids' thread....

[rebecca c]

I certainly regret weaning my eldest son onto soya milk, he has had some probs with undescended testicles and it frightens me to think I may have increased his chances of infertility further by giving him to much soya milk. Oh well not much I can do about it now apart from to buy him boxer shorts.

Youngest was weaned onto goats milk.

On the other hand some people think it is better to give a small amount of the things you are intolerant to so as to give the body something to fight against or it will just find something new to have a go at.

[Copper]

Both my eldest daughter and I developed an intolerance to soya after we had given up dairy. It took about a year for mine to develop. It took a similar length of time for my daughter to develop hers too.

I guess you have a choice -

1 Try soya and hope for the best

2 Try a variety of milks and keep rotating them. This would be a pain in an already busy life.