Lactose Intollerant V Milk Allergy

[Mac]

Could someone help with this question please? My son is breastfed at the moment, he is 6 months old. When I wean him off I am worried about how I will know what kind of formula to give him....basically my question is, how do I know if he is Lactose Intolerant or if he has a Milk Allergy as I believe they are not the same thing :unsure:

[Pam]

Milk allergy is generally a reaction to the proteins in milk rather than lactose and I think the majority of lactose intolerant people have reactions that are mainly sickness and diarrhoea based (generalising here). Probably the only way to identify what is the problem is by testing contact with various milk products. There are products that contain milk proteins but not lactose, some vegetarian cheeses have casein in but no lactose, hot dog sausages contain milk protein too (not that you would want to feed them to a baby!). You would probably be better off getting advice from a dietician, we used Wysoy for my daughter but even if soya is not a problem now, most doctors prefer not to put babies onto soya as it can lead to further food allergies. You will probably be prescribed a hypo-allergenic formula which are reputedly foul smelling and not much better tasting.

From what I have picked up elsewhere babies seem to react to proteins coming through breast milk more than lactose so that might give you some indication - can you eat any milk products or do you have to stay clear of everything?

Ask your doctor for a referral to a paediatric dietician for advice.

[Mac]

I have been told to stay clear of everything for the moment, I tried reintroducing about a month ago, but my little lad ended up in Hospital with a very sore tummy and blood in his poo again. He's fine now thankfully I have been dairy free again for a couple of weeks and he has no probs. I also spoke to my health visitor this afternoon she said she would push for the paediatric dietician. Thank you for your help and advice Pam, it is really appreciated.

[kirstyh]

This sounds very similar to what happened with Stuart. We were lucky to get a referral to a paeditrician very quickly. What we were told was for me to eliminate all dairy products from my diet and to try and steer clear of things like egg and nuts. Then when we started wearning him - no wheat, citrus, tomato, berry fruits until 9 months. After that we have to wait until a year to introduce fish, milk, eggs, soya (this was because his brother was soya intolerant) and for some reason peas. I can't remember a full list and it is a the bottom of a very large pile of papers.

We were put onto Nutramigan formula, it is available on prescription and it taste foul. When we first started Stuart on it, he really didn't want to take to the bottle, but then again he didn't like breastmilk in a bottle either. :) We were told the ealier you start them on it, the easier it is, but were told to breastfeed for at least 6 months.

Kirsty

[ellsie]

When they do the allergy test the first thing they do is to test it on the skin tosee if it causes a reaction . I have an allergy and if Iget milk on my skin it is maddeningly itchy and reddens. A little drop on a small area is what they used.Hope this helps:)

[Charlie]

I found the best thing for allargy is to breastfeed for as long as is possible for you. My daughter self weaned at ten months and that is when all our problems started, before that she was holding her own and the only sign looking back was her very poor weight gain. Tabitha is now on SMA LF formula and although she is soya intolerant seems to be ok with this. I believe this formula is not any good if milk protein allargy.
The best thing is to try and get a refferal to dietician, I found them to be much more helpful than the doctor or health visitor.