we think both our children might have a milk intollerance

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but we're not sure. HV said she wasn't qualified to diagnose something like that.

DD (5) was fine until she was about 3 and got constant black around her eyes. she's constantly complaining of feeling sick (been it a few times too) and having tummy ache (especially after drinking milk).

DS (5 months) is on cow & gate for hungry babies. he's always brought back part of his feeds. when he finishes feeding he arches his back and cries. he had colic only a few weeks old. his poo is always green and very very runny. last week i gave him a particular jar of solids which i didn't realise had milk in it. he came out in a nasty skin rash (like hives) which has now nearly disappeared. today we bought infasoy, just to try and see if it would make a difference. he had 4 feeds with it and he was a different baby. happy after his feeds and he wasn't sick once.

forgot to mention DD also has mild eczema.

If they were mine I'd ask for a milk free formula for the younger one and try goats milk with the elder one. My child had soya milk for a time and may now have developed a severe allergy to it it's a common allergen. Goats milk is often a problem too but some kids are Ok with it and its better than having to be milk free completely. Or you could try the elder one with lactase. Ask for a referral to a specialist in allergy because you'll need good advice and won't get it from the average gp.

Hi

I am milk intol as are two of my three boys, so I hope I can help.

I would try eliminating it from the older childs diet for a week, see how you get on. make sure you use alternatives- I like rice milk.
You could also speak to your GP about a formula alternative for the little one, my lactose intol youngest ahs enfamil lactofree, but nutramigen is good if you don't know if ti is lactose intolerance or not.

With the little one though speak to the GP first.

Hi there, we have similar problem with our 18month old ds, he gets a skin irritation around his mouth, and his eczema gets a lot worce if he has milk products.

The only real thing I have found that helps with this eczema is a cream from Holland & Barrett their allergenics range they also do a body wash.

I would go visit your doctor (hope yours is better than mine) they have never carried out an allergy test on him they just went by what I said. If they agree it is a milk allergy you can get your soya milk on prescription.

(oh sorry the symptoms I get are pain, diarrhoea, cramping, eczma, dry mouth, headaches, withdrawal- any of these can be a symptom)

thanks for the replies

DP also had the black eye thing when he was a child. he always has an upset stomach after drinking milk.

my plan was to try DS with the infasoy for about 24 hours and then see the GP (so will do that tomorrow morning). DS has been going down the weight percentiles from when he was born, so don't really want to change his diet dramatically without consulting the GP. and for DD we wanted to try to at least lower the amount of dairy she has and we bought some dairy-free products for her to see if she'd like them.

Hi
We found ds2 had a cow's milk intolerance (despite the GP saying not to bother changing his milk as it wouldn't make any difference...). He got dreadful rashes around his bottom and tummy, but when we swapped to goat's milk he was fine. He was on goat's milk from aged 1 - 2, and then we tried him back on cow's milk and he's much better - has probably grown out of it. It's worth trialling something different.

i went to see the GP this morning. he kept contradicting himself saying that he thought DS didn't have an intolerance, but that his symptoms are signs of an intolerance... he did tell me to keep him on the soya formula and try him with milk occasionally. left the surgery really confused!

anyway, here's some pictures of DS's rash and DD's black around her eyes . DS's rash was more red and raised, only took the photo when it was going away.

My ds had a dairy allergy which he has now thankfully grown out of. I was told that the vast majority of children grow out if by age 2 and this has been the case with him thankfully. I first noticed when I started to wean him as he was breastfed and when I mixed some formula with the baby rice his mouth went red.
My advice is keep pushing it as in my experience the GP and HV fob you off. They kept saying oh he might be a little intolerant when infact he had a full blown allergy plus to other things.
You can get an allergy test done but I think they have to be 1. A good way to test is to put some of the milk on their skin and leave it to see if there is a reaction.

Radcliffe i so agree with you re. GP and HV taking time to come to a decision re. whether dd had in fact any intolerance to lactose or not. Finally took her to another GP who i felt listened to what i had to say, showed her dd's rash on face and was referred to dietitian. DD now on milk and lactose free diet. Hopefully she will grow out of it. Just have to wait and see.

My ds was 9lb 6oz born and on 98 centile he is now currently on the 9th, they either thought I was diabetic or its his milk allergy. The first doctor I saw about it said and I quote "I have never heard of a milk intollerance I don't know what to do and will have to speak to another GP", so that filled me with confidence.

In the end I have gone with my gut feeling and taken him off all milk products, there are some good alternatives out there and he is finally maintaining his weight.

Also I found out Whey powder which is listed on lots of food is also a milk product so try to avoid this as well. Untill you look into it, its surprising how many things do contain milk.

Agree that the best thing to do is just remove milk and see what happens. I couldn't geta sensible answer from anyone, and after I excluded it they just accepted I was right. Every now and again a health professional asks 'who did the tests' which is awkward, but I explain and they seem OK with it. I suppose at the end of the day, Sam ahd dropped to a ridiculously low weight, then he was OK. That's what matters.

Your DS's rash is very similar to my DS's eczema on his neck and chest.

I think my DS has cows milk intolerance. He also has reflux (now under control thanks to a great consultant) which caused a food aversion. Unfortunately we didn't see the good consultant until he had reached the bottom percentile (the HV's and the GP kept saying we needed to see a downward pattern!). He said if he had seen him earlier he would have put him straight on to Neocate.

I take the 'if you don't ask (demand!) you don't get' approach to health care in this country so it might be worthwhile going back to your GP and asking for a referral to a consultant (gastroenterologist).

hi just an update on this. GP finally diagnosed DS has reflux. he's on gaviscon infant and being a lot less sick. the rash turned out to be heat rash. he's having milk and cheese now and seems ok with it.