Cows Milk Allergy and Toddler Diarrhoea - Help!

[tesremos]

Sorry in advance if TMI!

DS2 is 21mths and has an allergy to cows milk and is currently under a dietician. For the past 5 months he has had constant diarrhoea, Some samples were sent off to check for an infection which all came back clear and when i raised it with the dietician when we last saw her in June she said it was Toddler Diarrhoea. .

I have this morning been back to the GP (our next dietican appt isnt until January) as i am concerned that it is getting worse. Most days he is having 5-6 explosive poo's, normally so bad that they leak everywhere, regularly contain undigested food, foul smelling and most recently have large globs of mucous in them. I was also concerned that he was loosing weight. The doctor has weighed him this morning and he assures me this is not the case and he must just have 'shot up' in length as he is still between the 25th and 50th percentile. The doctor has rather reluctantly said he will refer DS2 onto a specialist although I have no idea how long this will actually take.

I am starting to wonder if it could be another un-diagnosed allergy and feel so sorry for him as he now hates having his nappies changed as his poor little bottom is red raw most of the time? Does anyone have any experience with toddler diarrhoea and allergies? I have also been reading that increasing the fat content in his diet could help? If anyone has any suggestions on how to do this while keep his diet free from dairy it would be really appreciated.

What are you giving him as a milk substitute? My DS reacted to the hypo formula he was prescribed and also to soya products as the proteins are very similar.

Up until recently he was having nutramigen 2 in his bottle at night and soya during the day but we have recently changed over to Alpro soya milk at the advice of our dietician. I'm not sure it would be he soya as he has been having that as an alternative for ages now and the diarrhoea has only been in the last 5mths or so?

I have an older lactose intolerant son who has been like this since he was a toddler. We found goats milk to be better than soya based milk. Maybe the rice based milk could be an option? At ten my son now tolerates the lactose free milk but your son maybe more sensitive than mine. Hope that helps - as they get older it does get easier to cope with. good luck

We had the same problem, constant diarrhoea that was limiting in how often and extreme it was. Caused exhaustion and meant constantly going down with minor infections because of being so run down.

For us it was the soya alternatives that we were using, suddenly switching to soya was more than her body could handle and within 3 months a soya intolerance had developed. She can't have any soya milks, yoghurts, margarines etc.

Don't give him rice milk, our dietician said not suitable before age 5 due to arsenic content. Her first recommendation was oat milk and then almond milk.

Sorry, keep posting by accident before I have finished!

Also, don't give goats milk before checking with dr, we were told the protein is too similar to cows milk that it will cause a reaction in many with cow allergy. My dietician could be wrong but worth checking in case you get a bad reaction.

Tesremos, my DS was having 2 soya yoghurts a day on the advice of the dietician, then suddenly started reacting to it. Unfortunately just because something has been tolerated before doesn't mean they won't become intolerant/ allergic to it.

I'd cut out the soya see if it helps.

Trixy Yes, that is exactly what happened with us. The GP said give lots of calcium fortified soya substitutes to ensure getting enough calcium. So we were giving milk to drink and yoghurts for puddings, plus soya margarine. After a while she had this awful, never ending diarrhoea.

When we saw the paediatrician she immediately said that it was a soya intolerance and that it is really common when the sensitised system of an allergic child suddenly starts consuming massively more soya.

Oh ok sounds like it could possibly be the soya then poor little boy...just feel so sorry for him as I know how horrid it is to have it even for a day or two let alone constantly for months on end. The mucous concerns me most as that just doesn't seem 'right' to me!

I think we will have to try cutting the soya out for a bit then and see if that improves things. Just a bit worried as he is a bit of a picky eater and his diet is already so limited. Don't know how we are gonna manage cutting soya out now too?? Think we should be ok for main meals as long as i can find a decent alternative for soya butter....Any recommendations for suitable puddings though?!

My DD is egg free, milk and soya intolerant and we really struggle pudding front when we are out but at home have found enough to keep us going.

She can have soya as a minor ingredient which is a blessing but not in the form of soya milk, yoghurt, cheese, butter, ice cream etc.
She is ok with baked in milk, so fine with biscuits often, just watch for egg sneaking in.

At home for puddings we have:

Fruit with honey and sprinkles on top (check the sprinkles)

Jelly

Decorate your own biscuit - Rich tea biscuit with Betty Crocker buttercream style frosting (egg/dairy free) and sprinkles all on a plate and let them decorate and then eat - their favourite

Christmas pudding -stock up at Christmas, found little individual egg free, dairy free, soya free ones in Sainsburys, the individual be good to yourself range. We have them all year

Cake - basic cake mix, made up either with water or milk substitute (almond works well). I make a batch using this one, for 22p, and freeze half. I've had a chocolate mix too that was egg/dairy free too but can't remember where from now

Soreen Malt Loaf (Original) with Pure Sunflower spread on top

Homemade air-popped popcorn

Fruit flavoured ice lollies

Sorbet - we always just double check for egg white lurking on the ingredients

EcoMill Almond chocolate pudding which they also do in Vanilla

Wot,No Dairy? yoghurt, they do a few flavours

Ogran pancakes made up following the vegan instructions, we use almond milk or water or half and half.

Fruit pots

And when inspiration fails we have biscuits.

Ohhhh thanks those are all great ideas!!!

Great post Chrissy!

My son was "diagnosed" with a dairy allergy because of sickness after having milk and dreadful diarrhoea and switched to soya it's been about 3/4 weeks now with absolutely no diary and he still has the diarrhoea marking a spot here for any tips!

people always suggest removing things from the diet but the best thing you can do for toddler diarrhoea is add probiotics. If they have a true dairy allergy (how was it dagnosed - skin prick/RAST tests?) and not milk intolerance you can get dairy free probiotics suitable for young children. Used to be able to get one in Holland & Barrett or follow this advice from another site "We were advised to use acidophilus by one consutlant at GOSH. The dietician there has now recommended one called VSL3 as it has more "good bugs" in it. It can be got on prescription."

If they still have problems when on probiotics then I'd want a test for coeliac disease as that can show up as milk intolerance, diarrhoea and weight loss but the milk intolerance may improve when gluten is removed from the diet.

Coconut milk may be worth trying (coconut is not a true nut and nut allergic children can usually have it) and avocado if you want to increase fat in the diet, although I'm not sure why that was suggested.

There are actually two types of allergies. Immediate allergies which cause hives, anaphylaxis etc and delayed allergies involving diarrhoea, eczema etc. Allergy UK have some good info on it.

Both are true allergies that involve the immune system. The only way to diagnosis delayed allergies is to eliminate the suspected culprit from the diet for a period of time and see if symptoms resolve, then challenge.

Coeliac disease, which I have, may be a cause but is far less common than allergies in young children. Diagnosing coeliacs can be pretty invasive, so it's worth trying the dairy/soy thing first.

Probiotics can help with troubled tummies too, so also worth a go.

We also use kara coconut milk which is great. Coconut is a fruit so not related to nuts. DS likes oatky but its not GF so out for me which is s sane. I love the almond milk but its quite high in salt for DS.

Co-yo do nice yogurts if you can find them. You can also make custard from birdeyes custard powder with free form milk