Q&A about lactose intolerance with Lactofree's expert and Consultant Paediatric Allergist, Dr Adam Fox - ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

Do you, your partner of your child suffer from digestive disorders which you think could be related to dairy? This week Lactofree's expert and Consultant Paediatric Allergist Dr Adam Fox is joining us on Mumsnet to answer your questions. Dr Adam Fox has trained in Paediatrics and then Paediatric Allergy in some of the country's leading teaching hospitals including Great Ormond St Hospital, St Mary's and the Royal Free Hospital. He is now a consultant Paediatric Allergist at Guys' & St Thomas' Hospitals as well as an honorary senior lecturer in Paediatric Allergy at King's College London. He also sits on Lactofree's expert Advisory Board, providing regular advice to their lactose intolerant community. Send your questions to Dr Adam Fox before the end of Sunday 15th May and we'll link to his answers from this thread on the w/c 23rd May.

[Penelopepitstop1]

Hello Rachel I am a new user to mumsnet and have picked up the questions about dairy intolerance. How can I see dr fox replies or where else cani get advice on dairy intolerence. Regards Penny

[LackaDAISYcal]

Hi Irenia, this is an old thread from the dates of previous posts and your query probably won't be answered. If you start a new thread with a quick description of your query in the title, you will get some advice from other forum users.
Welcome to mumsnet if this is your first post

[Irenia]

Hello, and thank you for being here to help us!
I live in Romania and my 3 and a half years old son was diagnosed with milk allergy at seven months, when I first tried to give him yogurt. His Specific IgE was 5 when he was one, 8 when he was 2 and 59 when he was 3 years old.
Here, in Romania, no doctor knows why this value is bigger and bigger... his allergologist told me he had never seen a value like this (59) in his entire career.
Is there any conection between this value and the chance to outgrow this allergy? I mean, the bigger this value is, the smaller are the chances to get rid of this problem?
I tried a homeopath treatment and we reached 37 kU/L in only 3 months, but after another three months...no improvement... Should I stop this treatment?
What can you tell me about Intercron, because I found it mentioned in an "desensitisation programme" here, on this site. Is this some kind of treatment for the allergy?
And my final question is: my son had two crisis with breathing difficulties (rest of the crisis were with allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis, oedemas, red itchy spots, vomit, due to very very small doses) . These two breathing crises pased only with Hemisuccinat Hidrocortyzone 25mg intravenous. Is the existance of those two crisis an indicator of the fact he will never get better?
Sorry, please, forgive me for writing so much, but there's no specialist here, in Romania, able to answer my questions!!!! Please, doctor, help me with some answers!

[RachelMumsnet]

Thanks for all the feedback - we'll definitely look at inviting him back for a live webchat next time so you're able to respond to his answers. We'll keep you posted on this.

[niniane]

Can't believe I missed this. Can we get him back?

[TheProvincialLady]

I wanted to know whether trying to introduce small amounts of lactose to try and build up some tolerance in my boys was a good idea, ie whether it would encourage their bodies to create their own lactase, or whether it would just produce nasty symptoms with no benefit.

However, I took someone's advice to try lactase from the health food shop and it has been brilliant. They have a couple of capsules emptied onto a spoon, and then they can eat whatever I am cooking. It is such a relief to be able to make one dish without separating out a separate part to put no cheese on, or use lactofree cheese (which is a great product but not the tastiest cheese).

[InvaderZim]

I didn't see when the call for questions came up, but this is by far the most helpful thing I've read regarding cow's milk protein allergy in infants, including the difference between intolerance (milk, not lactose - am lactose intolerant do already knew about that!) and allergy.

Now I know how to proceed with weaning and what to ask the doctor about.

Thanks Dr Fox!

[allhailtheaubergine]

What was your question TPL?

And what was the contradiction PC?

[PrettyCandles]

Definitely an interesting webchat, and fairly informative, but Oh! isn't it frustrating when the 'interviewee' doesn't quite answer your question, and you can't ask for clarification?! Dr Fox seemed to contradict himself in his answer to my question about different milk proteins.

Very pleased, though, that (a) it's OK to slip up on the DF diet if the child tolerates it, and (b) he did not push Lactofree in his answers.

[RunsWithScissors]

I found this really helpful. Thank you (and dr fox) for this thread.

[simpson]

my question wasn't answered either

[TheProvincialLady]

Not as interesting as you wuld have found te answer to my question, had it been answered. Mine was fascinating, easily the best.

[allhailtheaubergine]

I didn't find it in time to ask a question, but found the answers to other peoples questions very useful.

[TheProvincialLady]

He didn't answer my question. This is the only time I have ever asked a qustion on one of these things.

[allhailtheaubergine]

How did I miss this??!

[RachelMumsnet]

Horrah ! the answers are now back - sorry for the delay but there were rather a lot of questions to send over. Here's the full transcribed Q&A

Adam Fox Q&Awww.mumsnet.com/qanda/dr-adam-fox

[BlameItOnTheBogey]

MNHQ - Any responses to this yet?

[nanatothree]

Looking forward to hearing from Dr.Fox.... sometime!

[dietstartstmoz]

Also wondering if there were any answers back yet? i'll keep an eye out

[DorisIsAPinkDragon]

Just popped in to see if any response yet? we;ve obviously kept poor Dr Fox busy

[Mitzycat]

Dear Dr Fox, I noticed early on that my daughter had a reaction to some whole milk recipes. Anything with a mix of flour and milk (cheese sauce etc) brought on particuarly dirty nappies although it didnt seem to cause any pain. My daughert is now nearly 2 and I am having trouble trying to introduce cows milk as a normal drink for her. She eats probiotic yoghurts, rice puddings made with whole milk and custard without any side effects, but still has a problem with cheese sauce and drinking milk on its own. I always heat her milk to make it easier for her, but am at a loss as to know how to get over this, whether she will grow out of this seeming 'intolerance' or if there is something else I should be concerned about. Any help would be very much appreciated, thank you.

[RachelMumsnet]

It's your last chance to send in a question to Dr Adam Fox and we'll be sending them all over to him in the morning. As soon as the answers are back, we'll be linking to a transcribed Q&A from this thread.

[moonstorm]

Sorry if this is a silly question (?)

Ds1 (3) often has loose bowel movements, it just seems normal to him. He is small for his age (always has been) and has a bloated tummy, but is progressing well in all other areas. Could loose stools be a sign of intolerance in the absence of other symptoms? He was 5 weeks prem and ebf apart from the first week where I had to wean him off formula (grr at hospital pushing formula more than they needed).

Ds2 (6 months) has just started being weaned. He has always had greenish poos, but now they are thick, mucusy and he is in pain with wind, which has never happened before. Could this be a sign of intolerance as well? (He has had little bits of cheese/ egg). The green poos have been passed off as 'one of those things' by HV (which it may be).

Thanks

[iris66]

why, oh why, when so many children have a dairy intolerance/allergy is a cow based product the only freely available alternative to breast milk. Lets face it, cows milk is actually for cows. Why are paediatricians not pushing for the development of a formula that is nutritionally sound and not based on an animal product? (I'm not vegetarian btw)

[jackie83]

Hi Dr Fox
I'm not sure if you'll really be able to help with this as it's really more a question about colief.
My DS was born 4 weeks early and seemed to be very unsettled and uncomfortable after breastfeeding. He had cramping and very bad wind that infacol, gripe water etc, just didn't seem to help. Feeding times were very hard and emotionally draining and at 6 weeks I finally switched to formula. His symptoms didn't change much and my HV and GP were of no help, so i started looking on the internet, I read somewhere that colief was good for those type of symptoms and that premature babies will quite often react to lactose due to immature digestive system so I decided to try it.
There did seem to be a big difference and he was much happier. My problem now is trying to wean him off it. The instructions say it should be fine to wean them off it at 3 to 4 months as their digestive system learns to cope with lactose, however he's now 5 months and everytime i've started reducing the amount he seems very uncomfortable again, however he's also showing symptoms of silent reflux so GP gave us infant gaviscon to try and that has made things better.
How do I know if he definitely has a lactose intolerance rather than it just being something else (eg reflux)?
I'm scared to stop the colief completely as he seems to be uncomfortable when i try to reduce the amount given, especially for the first few days. Will his system learn to cope if I persevere with weaning him off it and get used to lactose or is it better to just keep up with the colief and keep him off lactose completely?