Milk intolerance?

[Jessiebean]

We have an unhappy little man of three. He failed to thrive and was colicy as a baby and has always been more prone to eczema, rashes etc and has *ahem* loose stools nearly always he has always been an irritable little person. Not wanting to net diagnose I was interested when a customer today told me his son had been a real cranky pants until they found out he was lactose intolerant and then he was fine. It made me think of the fact our boy has been complaining of tummy pain, having unexplained rashes, demanding milk and being a right little PITA all the time lately- has anyone got a little one with lactose intolerance, what steps have you taken to diagnose it and what symptoms showed? How are they without lactose? where they a milk fiend like my little man is( honestly he is like a herion addict with milk!)

[boboff]

I have no experience, but why not switch the whole family to the lactose free stuff for a month and see how it goes? If no change, then it's a no, if good news, you can switch everyone else back. I only suggest everyone, because if there is a choice there is a choice, and often singling one out for special treatment can mask issues / make matters worse. Play it as no biggey.

[Jessiebean]

That seems like a good suggestion, he is the one who has the most milk so he probably wouldn't notice if we didn't switch but I think I will pickup some kind of "non normal" milk tomorrow and get started. Hopefully it will cure every thing that ails him( I was going to put a *fingers crossed* smiley but couldn't find one, I was disturbed to find a KY jelly smiley however and can't think of when I would use that to punctuate any of my posts on ïsh) so ahem anyway *fingers crossed*.

[Dr.Syn]

I'm not wishing to offend but why not go to your Doctor for an accurate diagnosis? My grandaughter is lactose intolerant and has the necessary medication for such times as she needs it.

By the way the poor girl was intent on a career in the services in particular the Army, she went on a college course to help get her prepared for the fitness tests and entrance exams a course which takes 2 years. She passed the exams, passed the fitness was offered 130 different jobs in the Army in the end she was devastated to find that she was rejected because of her lactose intolerance. The emergency rations are loaded with lactose and other things to provide soldiers with the maximum benefit.

[Zech]

why not go to your Doctor for an accurate diagnosis?

If the doctor does think it looks like lactose intolerance, the next step will be "Try cutting out lactose and see if that helps." You can save the doctor's time by skipping straight to that step. Of course, the doctor might think it looks like something else, in which case you could save your time by not pursuing a dead end.

[Pumpkin&Piglet]

I don't know from first hand but I have read on another forum about children who are lactose intolerant and how milk can have such a huge affect with very similar symptoms to what you're describing up to two weeks after drinking it. As suggested above I would try lactose free milk for a while and see how it goes. Hope you can improve the situation

[Dr.Syn]

Not just milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt, soup and countless other things so check labels and although this is not the weather for it don't forget ice cream

Cutting out lactose is not easy. I would still see the Doctor to make sure.

[snapdragon]

GoGoat goat milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter, everything - I had to find something when I became intolerant - it worked for my granddaughter too and t'dragon (when he joined me with goat milk) found his painful sinusitis stopped

[snapdragon]

I will now try to compose a less frantic message - sorry things were boiling over

I went to the GP with various similar problems, (ok I am old but bear with me) he suggested it could be lactose but said tests are time consuming and not always conclusive. I did my own test and gave up all milk products and got better, however I did miss milk and cheese, so when my sis suggested I try goat cheese I risked it - and had no after effects. So then I got some goat milk, no bad effects (getting bettter and excited I tried cow's milk - bad idea )

When my granddaughter was first weaned from breast milk she started to be ill regularly, colds, sickness, diahorea and permanent snottiness. After a weekend visit when she was about two and a half I suggested to son and DIL that goat milk might help, they tried some for her - Result!! snotty gone, no sickness etc and no more of the doctors dammed anti-biotics for chest and throat 'infections'

On the dragon front - getting fed up with buying two different milks OH decided to go goat, after a few weeks I realised he hadn't recently complained of sinus pain, or taken tablets for it, so broached the subject, and the answer was - 'no haven't thought about it but haven't had any pain or trouble for ages'

Best thing about it is that it won't hurt and he probably won't notice any difference, but it could help, just give it a couple of weeks and see how he goes?

(I did try lactose free milk and found it rather like soya milk - don't like that either)

[demi]

switch him to goats milk.

people with lactose intolerance usually do fine on goats milk. its the most similar to human milk out of all the animals milk we drink.
it containse less lactose so its less allergenic. plus, nutritionally its better for you than cows milk, because of the similaritys to human milk.

i was allergic to cows milk as a baby. i had terrible ecxema all over my body. the doctor recomended to my mum to switch me to goats milk and it all cleared up and i was fine after that.

have a read at this:
http://www.mtcapra.com/benefits-of-goat ... -cow-milk/

you can easily find many studies on the benifits of goats over cows milk, just look on googlescholler or pubmed.

[Teapot]

Be very careful with crisps especially flavoured ones. Pringles are deadly. Also soup especially creamed, they also include lactose in most so its best to check labels

[Jessiebean]

I will try goats milk, I am a bit iffy about soy milk esp for boys- I figure it is better to avoid it than risk the rumours of hormonal disruptions being true.
Whenever I go to the Dr. with health complaints I am told there are many complicated expensive tests which are inconclusive and/or there is an over the counter medication to relieve the symptoms so rather than spend $40 to find this out I think I will pick up some goats milk today.
We don't feed the kids pringles type things (my husband eats them all!) mostly plain crisps if any and I don't think I have ever fed them a pre prepared soup, I am one of those annoying folk who makes things from scratch in the Thermomix ( I just made a dairy free smoothie using oats instead of milk and with an egg- it was great) so I shouldn't have too many dramas with avoiding hidden dairy- it's the non hidden kind I will have to watch for- I am a cheese fiend and seem to have passed this on!
It seems that there are a lot of random declarations of intolerance lately with some people seeming to wear it like a badge rather than an affliction but my poor little guy is so miserable at present I think it is worth a wee bit of home experimenting with some Goat milk... if I don't see any improvement though I will see the GP.

[boboff]

Excellent Jessie, you know it makes sence if I suggested it and a couple of people agreed, hardly ever happens!

Dr Dr is of cource right and that "tinterweb" diagnosis is a bit silly for some things.

I am going to try and make yoghurt today. My plan is to use my egg incubator to hold the milk and the live youhurt at "ish" the right temp. Going to strain it a while after 7hours and make "greek" yoghurt.. I just thought if you guys like Dairy and this sort of thing works then it's something to replace the dairy puddings, i.e. make flavoured frozen Goats Milk Greek Yoghurt etc?

I really hope all goes well, keep us posted would you, it's interesting.

[Jessiebean]

Well I haven't got my act together to get any goats milk yet but I did make almond and oat milk yesterday and have been reducing the amount of milk so today he had a bottle of the nut milk before bed quite happily instead of having five little bottles of cow milk throughout the day.
His rash which hasn't responded to any ointments or creams for five days is now 70% better than it has been, his temperament has been better (he is still a feisty wee one !) and no complaints about tummy pain.
V.early days yet but we will keep him off the cows milk for two weeks and see if the improvement continues...!

[Henwoman]

I have developed a lactose intolerance since my mini gastric bypass in July. They bypassed the first two metres of intestine where the lactase acts on the lactose. I had stomach cramps, flatulence like you'd never believe, non-solid poohs and couldn't leave the house as they were unpredictable and came almost without warning. At the beginning of December this year, I cut out milk and milk products and checked all labels for ten days, when the cramps and flatulence disappeared, I then ate a small amount of cheddar. Within ten minutes all symptoms had resumed and I was having a very intimate relationship with the loo again. I now don't eat milk products at all and am an avid label reader - it's amazing how many products lactose is in. My son is bringing me some tablets from Holland & Barrett when he comes at Christmas, which if taken before milk products may help me to be able to eat them without ill effect. Here in France the medical profession do not recognise any prescription or non-prescription drug as being efficacious and they just say avoid dairy products. I was a butter, cheese and milk addict, so it's horrid not being able to have them. I'm also asthmatic and I know that I did get "cloggy" after dairy, and I had quite bad eczema as a child, so maybe I've always been a bit inclined to lactose intolerance and it's just my recent operation which has exacerbated it all.

I hope you have found a solution which works for your son now and in the future.