DD has some kind of issue with milk. how do i work out what?

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

Not an allergy, but some kind of intolerance?

Essentially when she was a baby she was mix fed. When bf she would spit a bit back up. But when ff she would throw it all up. We switched to a 'hungry baby' type at 2wks and she stopped being so sick.

Since we switched her to cow's milk at 1yo she has had lots of issues with poo, toddler diarrhea, then longer between poos, but lots of poo accidents after potty training. Poo soft, so not constipated exactly but treated medically as such.

Decided as last resort to cut out dairy, was using soya products then cut those as well and used rice milk. It didn't seem to make a big difference so allowed her to eat dairy again (after 3wks). But only small amounts, as she doesn't eat yoghurt or much cheese, and we had loads of rice milk so she kept drinking that.

Ran out of rice milk. A few days later she started having poo accidents. Gave her rice milk again.

Sorry, phone posted too early.

Anyway, back to normal, then on 2 occasions since then she has had a lot of dairy - she ate a yoghurt to impress a friend, and had cereal with how's milk at preschool - then had accidents at home.

I have never told her about the poo/milk link, and I didn't know about one of the dairy incidents until the next day, so don't think I am imagining the link.

But what could cause her to he okay with small amounts of dairy (i'm sure there is in our regulations diet, she has the odd bit of chocolate etc) but not to be able to drink a glass of it?

And am I terrible for not having realised until now at nearly 4? She complains about feeling poorly a lot, but I just assumed she was trying it on

That is really long, sorry!

Some children are able to tolerate milk in a more processed forms in cakes and breads etc but in pure form struggle. Rice milk isn't suitable under four so you may want to think about switching to something like kara coconut milk maybe oatly or an almond milk.

If you think milk is the link don't let her have it, there r plenty of substitutes that it's easy enough to avoid and if she's ok with the odd treat then even better. Is it just milk you suspect or do there appear to be other triggers?

Thanks, I didn't know that about rice milk! Will see what else I can get. GP wasn't very helpful when I asked about trying dairy free, so haven't been back to ask for advice. Do I need to try and get a diagnosis or should I just get on with giving her alternatives?

If she seems okay with small amounts of dairy do I need to go totally dairy free or just keep going with just avoiding milk/yoghurt/cheese?

I think it's just dairy. I'm not sure about soya because she was still having problems when I gave it to her, but maybe she still had lots of dairy in her system?

I don't know whether the symptoms point to CMP intolerance or lactose intolerance either, can this be tested in quite mild situations like this?

Dairy intolerances are pretty common they often grow out of them. An intoloerence won't show up as a blood test or skin prick test so really finding the level of tolerance is trial and error starting small with cakes and muffins and biscuits and finishing up trying pure milk tea spoon by teaspoon. A full fact sheet should be available on referral to a dietician but I'm sure it can also be found on line. Kids are tricky in the sense of they are always brewing something and it's hard to know if it's a bug or virus or a reaction to something they have eaten or drunk.

I'm sure others will disagree with what I'm
About to say as many feel excluding things from diets is a bad idea and in many cases that's true but my dds r dairy free and I really do t find it a struggle so what I think I would do in your case is just exclude it for now. Get her well. There's no use trying any re introductions if she's already feeling a bit off as results r not accurate. Take two or three months longer if you wish and get her feeling better. And you can make sure it's out of her system. And then you can think about how much you want to go about re introducing. And perhaps look up be how to go about it in a controlled manner. :)

Do t? That should be dont

Ok, thanks. Lots to think about!

I am tempted to do as you suggest. That was the original plan, but I stopped and reintroduced dairy too early for it to he out of her system I think.

If you are going to try exclusion, how about trying Lactofree milk? I found that made a world of difference to me. I can cope with small amounts of regular milk in other products but drinking milk/in cereal or yoghurts are too much for my poor insides to cope with.

If you go to search you can look for a thread here about lots of surprising dairy and egg free finds. Everything from ice cream, chocolate biscuits etc

Porridge with almond milk is a huge hit. And thankfully there is an abundance of milk substitutes. I find kara fab dd1 loves it and it comes in chocolate
Health food shops stock co-yo yogurts and another brand made from pea protein.

It may be worth seeing your gp again and perhaps asking for a referral to a dietician if nothing else you can get the introduction plan. Then it's just down to you when you try.

You may find a food diary useful

DD now 5 has always had an intolerance of milk - lots of tummy troubles and itchy skin. I put her onto goats milk (same for dd2) and that worked quite well.

Now I get her the Lactose free milk which she does really well on and it's widely available (more so than goats milk). She still has small amount of cheese and occasionally yoghurt and copes with that.

I've always felt its something she will grow out of rather than a really major issue. Initially I suspected wheat but eliminating that made no difference, whereas taking normal milk out of her diet made a big difference.

Lactose free milk won't help if she's intolerant to the protein in cow's milk rather than the lactose. She may not tolerate goat's milk either as the proteins are similar.

Thanks again, everyone! Lots of ideas to think about.

If you tell your gp about the exclusions he should prescribe a calcium supplement

Oh really? I was giving her a multivit anyway but will definitely see GP and ask about dietician referral and calcium.

Just wanted to come back and update - DD is doing really well. We have isolated the cause as lactose intolerance - kicking myself for not realising when she was a baby (my dad was lactose intolerant too, but I forgot!)

She is much better now - no diarrhea, no poo accidents, no tummy ache. It's down on her medical record and we're just waiting for her referral.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

That's brilliant :)