Milk intolerance symptoms returning?

[Jem26]

I am not sure what to do withmy daughter she was diagnosed with a milk intolerance at 6 weeks old and was prescribed Neocate, she didn't gain much weight on it but all her symptoms such as wind, stomach pains & bad sickness dissapeared so we continued with it until 2 weeks ago when I tried her on regular formula (aptimal) and was fine but very greedy, taking 40oz in 24 hours and was waking again at night for about 2.5 weeks. HV said I could try weaning but just veg, so I did and she seemed fine and started sleeping through again.

Since Wednesday she has been struggling on her bottles again, very windy, letting out wind down below and pooing during feeds, she can't seem to swallow the milk and cries with pain after an ounze. As soon as you take her off the bottle she is ok and burps but seems less disstressed. She did about 5 poos yesterday, with every feed she seemed to follow through, they were yellow and thick so not greeny & runny like they were when she was smaller.

I don't know if its the weaning upsetting her but she was ok from Thursday-wednesday, it was then on the wednesday that the wind probs returned when on the bottle, she doesn't cry in pain at all when eating solids, she is only having it once a day at lunch and only a small amount.

I saw her dietician a week or so ago and she said that the intolerance symptoms would of appeared again within a few days to a week so she said my daughter probably just had diet related colic when she was younger.

She also has had avery very red dry cheeks since going back on aptimal, could this be linked to intolerance? cheked her gums, no sign of a tooth or anything but her cheeks are spotty & very red.

Not sure what to think or do now, any advice?

Ju

[rebecca c]

I know my dietician says symptoms occur within a couple of days. To be frank I am not sure I agree with this and as they dont even fully understand intolerence I dont know how they can be so sure about it. This is my personal opinion.

I also get a white blood cell reaction called eosinophilia which I think is to soya and possibly milk but I know very little about it except what I have researched for myself and the dietician didnt know about it but then asked me to try soya again.

I can only say that personally I think if I were you I would try her on non dairy again.

I reacted to milk as a baby but was weaned back on to it and suffered from problems all the way through my life until I stopped it and a few other things in the last few years. Copper also has had lifelong problems from dairy intolerence and now like me has multiple intolerences.

People on the site have had a mixed experience of dieticians and of the health service.

I find it necessary to do my own research and make my own decisions and use the NHS as just one of the few resources available to me.

[Jem26]

Thanks for your reply,

Thats what my dietician said, id know within a week if she was still intolerant.

I don't know if its the intolerance back or if its because I started to wean her btu she was ok with food it was just the milk she was fidgity on but was fine on it for 2-3 weeks then suddenly changed.

Very strange and im very confused of what to do with her.

Ju x

[rebecca c]

It definitely takes 6 weeks to clear my system of milk reactions. In fact if I stop milk for 4 weeks things still improve 2 weeks after I have restarted it which suggest to me that there can be a much more delayed reaction to milk than the dieticians think there is. Only you know what is the best thing for your child but you should base that decision on research and discussion.

[cnc]

Only you know what is the best thing for your child but you should base that decision on research and discussion.
I agree with this totally, you know you're own child best.
Spend some time looking around for information, be careful with some stuff you find on the internet as some of it is totally inaccurate and other stuff is just scaremongering.

Hope you manage to come to some decision, and your daughter gets better soon.

[ellsie]

I agree,you know your child best. If she was settled on milk free with no problems, try it again.:)

[Copper]

I was born with lactose intolerance (people didn't know about this problem 52 years ago!). I got over it by the time I was about 2 months old. BUT throughout my childhood it came back to haunt me. The worst time was when I was about 8 years old. I was monitored at a London hospital and they still had no idea why I was always ill. They did establish that I was growing but my growth was 3 years behind. For the first two months of my life I was doing well if I put on an ounce on my weight per week.

I have given up dairy now as my intolerance is here to stay now. I have also gained a number of other intolerances the latest is coconut. It took a week for my intestines to get over that :(

If she was my baby I would cut all dairy out of her diet. My personal experience tells me that it can take longer than a week for the intolerance to show up again. It sounds like your daughter has an intolerance to dairy and I know how she must be feeling. If you cut out her milk and she improves then I think you will have the proof that she is still lactose intolerant.

Please let us know how she gets on. I feel very sorry for you and your daughter. There is life without dairy though and things have improved in the last few years, so she won't starve.

[Jem26]

I have put her back on the Neocate and left a message for my dietician to ring me for some more advice.

She is just like she was, very windy and now very grumpy today:-(

Ju x

[Copper]

It will take time for the lactose to clear her system and for the intestines to recover. I was very ill one afternoon (the coconut episode) and it took a week for my intestines to recover. Every time I ate anything I got horrible pains, bloated and full of gas. It did improve a bit each day and after a week I was fine. I guess this is how your daughter feels too - poor thing.

[Pam]

I always knew when my daughter had accidentally had milk by her red cheeks, but her reaction was always 3 hours after consuming milk.

As a baby I didn't realise that she had a problem and when she started screaming a couple of hours after a feed I would just stick another bottle in and that seemed to do the trick as she calmed down. It never occurred to me that the screaming was pain. I think she just settled because the sucking took her mind off it.

Perhaps your baby takes longer for the symptoms to show (and longer for them to clear up) and it takes a week or so to irritate her digestive system to such an extent that she becomes ill. I would return to a completely dairy free milk only diet for a couple of weeks and then gradually introduce fruit and veg one at once and maybe baby rice mixed with formula. If you only introduce something new every 3 or 4 days it should become clearer if she is reacting to anything in particular.

[tigerlily]

My daughter Eden, who is just over 2 now, initially had a dairy intolerance at 8 months. It got better when she was 16 months and then she could tolerate some dairy but was intolerant to the lactose in it. Now at age 2+, she has a dairy allergy (tested at 2 years). If she ate dairy, she would vomit straight away and get severe diarrhea. Her dietitian said she had never come across a case like Eden's. In her experience, children may go from a dairy intolerance to a lactose intolerance when the immune system is challenged by illness. But Eden proves that just about anything is possible when it comes to allergies.

I would go with YOUR instincts.

Vanessa.

[ellsie]

You said your daughter had been diagnosed so this must be by a doctor,so I can't understand why the dietician is trying to give her milk. How old is she now?

[Jem26]

Hi, My aughter is nearly 5 mths now, no tests were done other than stool sample for lactose intollerance which was negative.

They said shewas milk intolerant by the symptoms she was showing.

Ju

[ellsie]

If you think milk is the problem and she is more comfortable without it then stay milk free for now and try again later. My 3 girls were milk free until they were tested at 18 months and they were fine as I substituted soya feed for milk, and you would use what you have been advised to. My problem was not the children though .I have such a bad allergy that I could not make up or test a bottle,or deal with milk vomit! So they had to be milk free! As long as she is getting what she needs from her diet you don't need to give real milk products at all. You just need to be a little more inventive for puddings etc but as she gets older this also will get easier. Only you can gauge how she is after milk product and you need to weigh up advice and decide what to do. Dieticians can advise but that's all it is,just advice. If you feel she still has symptoms then steer clear of milk. I do sympathise as you are probably very tired if she is not settling well,but really it is you and her together and you do what you feel works best for her. Good luck!:hug:

[Jem26]

Thanks,

She has another runny poo after yoghurt today (see my other post) and she was quite sick and windy because she couldn't take her next bottle very well, was very fidgity and upset.

She was on Neocate formula maybe I should just put her back onto that.

Ju x

[rosaC]

I have a soon to be eight year old son who has been lactose intolerant since birth. At times he is able to have lactose light milk for about a six week period before diarrhoea kicks in. He also reacts to soya. In the past I tried goat's milk and that worked for about six weeks as well. The only thing that works is lactose free cow's milk. At three months he went on Enfalac Lactofree by Mead Johnson and finally started to gain weight.

I can recommend Lactofree it made all the difference with my son.

[Jem26]

Thanks for your help.
Ju