What's the modern thinking on problems with dairy products?

[duchesse]

DD3 (17m) appears to have a problem with dairy products. After one day of eating them, the skin on her arms, legs and body goes rough and dry to the touch; after two days, it goes rough and slightly scabby-looking; after a week she's covered in raw red patches, especially behind her knees and on her stomach. It's not weepy, just sore. She's still breastfed so at the moment I'm not too worried about calcium and things, but I'm not going to be able to bf her for ever and I need to find a solution. When I stop giving her any dairy for a few days, all the roughness and soreness disappears - didn't give her any yesterday after it got especially bad and her knees are not angry-looking any more- still rough but that usually takes a few more days to go. I don't believe that soya products are a good alternative. It's a shame because she loves yoghurt and cheese and it's hard enough finding anything she'll eat... The theme of the next few months' diet is avocado I think...

Have you had this problem? Did you find that you could tolerate sheep or goat milk, cheese and other products any better?

Has your DD been referred to the hospital?

My DS2 is cow's milk protein intolerant and it definitely affects his skin if he has dairy, although actually the other symptoms are worse.

I think a paed would be able to advice whether dairy is a problem and if so prescribe dairy free formula, treatments for your DDs skin and also help you to access dieticians etc - DS2's dietician has been really good at helping me put together a balanced diet for him and also is supportive of BF (and ready to support further when I decide to stop BF, DS2 is nearly 2 so I guess it will be soon). We've been told that sheep/goats milk has a very similar protein so is no good either, also many DC with milk intolerance will also react to soya so this is excluded too.

The positive thing I've been told is that the majority of children with cow's milk protein intolerance grow out of it, usually by 5.

advise, sorry

It's trial and error. They say Rice milk is not suitable for little ones because of traces of arsenic ( how cheery is that on your cornflakes). Soya not advised for boys because of fertitlity issues.

Dairy allergies are not clear cut. There are 2 possible reasons why allergic.. Could be lactose intolerant, or the proteins (Casein or Whey proteins).

There's also Almond or Oat milks. Expensive and a selective taste!

Some people use a soy formula.
My boy is 2 and been on Neocate for 10 months. Not sure what next stage is for him. I think I would be happy if I could have him on Lactose free milk but he had a funny reaction to it last year.

Duchess - if you are still BF, have you cut out dairy too? The hospital advised that if I wanted to keep feeding DS2 I needed to cut out all dairy. Since then I've managed to eat dairy a couple of times by mistake (thanks Starbucks for duff information about ingredients) and its caused a huge reaction in DS2.

Out of all the milk substitutes I've found Oatly oatmilk the easiest to use, although Kara coconut milk is ok too.

cake I'm in two minds whether to cut out dairy or not as I thought that modern allergy thinking was that it's useful to maintain some intake to keep some kind of tolerance going. She doesn't appear to have any other problems from it other than the skin reaction- no diarrhea or vomiting, no failure to thrive (although she is small and slender it's a family feature rather than caused by a dietary problem), no excessive tiredness or dark circles or any of the other things you might expect. No, haven't seen a doctor about it as she's only been eating food in any quantity for a few months (milk monster) and it wasn't all that obvious until recently.

I was reluctant to cut out dairy without the support of a paed, but it was pretty tough convincing my GP to refer DS2. I'd not heard the theory about maintaining intake. DS2's symptoms are horrific nappies, stomach cramps, vomiting and bloating even on the smallest amount of dairy so it wouldn't work for him.

Could you try to identify which forms of milk cause the most problems - I guess 'raw' milk would be more problematic than milk cooked at high temperature - and then try to mainly feed your DD the less problematic forms of milk? Could you also get your GP to prescribe products for her skin - we get Doublebase and oilatum for the bath on repeat prescription which helps keep things under control?

No heard that theory from our dietician or Castro- consultant. We got told to cut all out but our son was lethagic, vomiting constantly, explosive bottom and overall in an utter mess.

I mean gastric consultant ( bloody iTouch thingy). Why would Fidel Castro know all about it?

Not so much Castro himself as a consultant on him, shurely? Maybe what ails Castro is gastric?

Just put of interest, is Fidel Castro still alive?

Anyway, DS (3) is still on Neocate. He's dairy and soya allergic and the dietician at the Children's Hospital says he could be on it until he's 5 .

I think Fidel is ... But wasn't he rather ill the other year? Maybe he ate too much dairy against his gastric consultants advice?

Bet I got that wrong and he's dead for ages.

I thought he disappeared from public view about three years ago but is allegedly still with us except he hasn't been seen since then.

One of the ones that me was Ariel Sharon being alive. He's been in a coma for awhile though.

About 5 yers now I thought.

Why don't you feel soya is a good alternative?
There are plenty of alternative sources of calcium which you could feed your dd including soya products but also chickpeas, spinach, mackerel, sardines.

My dd is on a prescribed hypoallergenic formula milk which she loves

I don't feel it's a particularly good nutritional choice for a very small child either because of the phyto-oestrogens. People you really shouldn't give it to boys if you can help it but I think the oestrogens could also have an effect on girls' hormone levels.

Could you convince your GP to prescribe Neocate? It's a dairy free formula, DS hates the taste of it on its own but he's happy to have it on cereal and in other food. You need to get it prescribed tho because it costs £40 per tin. It'd give you an option for breakfast etc and for when you stop BF

--> people know you shouldn't

That sounded like a party political address there for a second.

Cake- I suspect I may not be able to convince them since she is otherwise healthy. I may have to see my HV (who is lovely) and ask her about it. The baby is tiny (not had her weighed for a bit but probably no more than 8.5 kg at 17 mo) but that's nothing to do with the dairy- she's just like her sisters.

try goats milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt. (st helens farm is one brand, i get it in asda, tesco, sainsburys, waitrose, co-op) all of which are in the chilled section of the supermarket. solved my & dcs eczema / snuffly nose problems, and it has same amount of calcium as cows milk.

Going to get some goats' milk today and try her with it now that her red patches have mostly cleared up. She's still a bit rough behind the knees but has gone baby soft again everywhere else so should be able to spot any reaction easily.

Would be very careful giving goats milk, cheese, butter and yoghurt. My grandson CMP allergic from birth but only diagnosed at 9mths. He had been given finger foods of cheese and yoghurts etc with awful results. His excema covered whole body,bloated tummy,bowel problems etc. Would ask gp for referral to hospital pediatrician for testing to be on the safe side. (Grandson on Neocate and totally diary free diet and doc_thinks he will not grow out of it) He was prescribed a calcium supp. to take but doesn't need now nearly 3 and has very varied diet.Excema now totally gone.Truely believe it started as intolerance but turned into an allergy.

Well, having tried her over the weekend with goat and sheep yoghurt and cheese, I can confirm that the eczema is now returning so it's not looking like that's going to be a solution alas...

On the subject of heated milk, I find my DS is happier with UHT goats milk than fresh.

I'm always wary of the milks like oat/rice as the only reason they contain calcium is because it is added as a supplement, and I think it is debatable whether the supplements are absorbed as easily as calcium in it's natural form.

I was advised to get as much calcium into him with fruit/veg as even though it is small amounts it is easy to absorb. I was told to give him figs, but there's only so many his digestion can take!