Lactose Intollerance

[TANYA]

My baby daughter has just been diagnosed as lactose intollerant. I wonder if anyone knows if it is law or just up to the individual GP if they give Soya milk out on perscription. My GP seems a bit reluctant to give a perscription out but the chemist I buy it from at the moment say that 99 times out of 100 they give it out on perscription???;)

[Copper]

I am the one with lactose intolerance so have not had to woryy about a baby with this problem. Other people on this list have had presciption milks for their babies. I guess you just have to press your GP a bit harder.

[Pam]

It seems to be a bit of a postcode lottery. Some areas give it on prescription, others don't. I was lucky and had Wysoy prescribed until my daughter was 5 years old. The doctor was quite willing (but only 3 x 900g tins per month so I usually had to buy a fourth one as we used one per week) and the dietician wrote to the doctor recommending that she should be given it until she was 5.

Current thinking is not to give soya milk formula as this can lead to soya intolerance as well as milk so most doctors now prescribe a hypo-allergenic milk such as Nutramigen or Progestamil (?) which are foul smelling, not very nice tasting and far more expensive than Wysoy.

How old is your baby? I think I would ask the doctor for a referral to see the dietician - you should be given some advice before you start weaning. The dietician might be able to get milk formula prescribed through the hospital or could write to your doctor requesting that it is prescribed.

Failing that, is there another doctors surgery near you that might take you on instead? Have you tried talking to your health visitor to see if they can help you get milk on prescription?

Try to find some info against using soya formula and present it to the doctor, this will back up your case for having hypo-allergenic formula on prescription.

[Broxine]

I know that my nephew had milk on prescription when he was a young baby but now he is a toddler we have to provide it ourselves. It is a bit of a lottery as another family I know has a lactose and wheat intolerant child and they get a huge hamper of dairy and wheat free products delivered free each month thanks to their GP!

[ellsie]

If your baby has been diagnosed properly then it seems odd that he won't give you a prescription. Is there another doc in the same practice you could ask?

My kids were fine but I had Wysoy on prescription in Leeds and Leicester because I am allergic myself and couldn't make up a bottle. If milk makes your child ill then what is he going to do to help?:bash:

[TANYA]

I have had a phone call from my doctor and he has given me a perscription for the soya milk but I have to go and see him next week about keeping it on repeat perscription.

My daughter is 10 months old and has only just developed this intollerance due to a bad bout of gastroenteritis.

I am just trying to vary her food as much as I can at the moment, which is a bit of a task. It is the puddings I find the hardest to vary.

Has anyone ever tried making rice pudding and similar using soya milk?

Thanks very much for all the advice everyone

[Pam]

The good news is, that if the milk intolerance only came about after a bad tummy, keeping clear of milk for a while should sort things out and you will probably be able to re-introduce milk again in a few weeks.

I make custard using soya or oat milk and I've made semolina with soya milk but I've never tried rice pudding. I would if I wasn't on a diet as I used to love rice pudding before becoming dairy free. Have a look at vegan recipe sites and see if you can find a recipe for dairy free rice pudding there. If you find a good one and enjoy it please will you post it on the recipe board here?

Well done for getting the doctor to change his mind.

[Copper]

Maybe rice pudding would work with Alpro soya alternative to single cream, or a comination of that and rice milk. I guess it would mean experimenting. I can vouch for the alternative to cream tasting yummy and my mother has rice milk on her breakfast cereals.

Anybody can get lactose intolerance after a bad tummy but the good news is that once the small intestine has recovered it starts to produce the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the lactose. I think I read somewhere that it can a few weeks to recover. I hope your baby gets over this problem. I feel sorry for the poor little thing as I know how ill you feel with this intolerance.

Do let us know how she gets on. Good luck.

[cnc]

Most things seem to work ok with a dairy replacement, all you can do is try normal recipes and alter them so that they are dairy free and see what happens...

Hope that you see some improvement in your baby, good luck.

[monaliza]

all i can say is my son was put on soya after been told be was milk intollerant, but it was the worse thing they could have done.i would go back see you gp and be asked to see a diatition.as they will make sure that you get it on precription.
I found my son became worse being on soya and they are not ment to give it babys under 5 months of age.because they become intollerant to the soya as well.
lisa :D

[Copper]

There is a danger lurking there for all of us - if we use soya substitutes for everything then we might become intolerant/allergic to soya too. I try not to use too much soya as life is hard enough already without another allergy.

[Pen]

You may be interested in these two Nexus Magazine articles on the dangers of soy:

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/Soy%20Allergens.html (http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/Soy%20Allergens.html)

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/soydangers.html (http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/soydangers.html)

[Copper]

I could not read all of the articles Pen as they were too scary :( I do keep my soya intake to a minimum anyway. I am working on the basis that too much of anything is not good for you.