Lactose intolerance and yoghurts

[MummyDarlingSausage]

My ds (7 mnths) is lactose intolerant and I was wondering wether the alpro soya yoghurts were ok to give babies? He is on lactose free formula btw rather than soya formula so he sisn't recieving any other soya (which I heard was not too good for baby boys)
Also, I thought i read a while ago that greek yoghurt was ok as the bacteria kills off the lactose (?) does anyone know if this is true? Thanks for any advice.

My dd is also lactose intolerant, and the dietician she sees suggested trying her with soya yoghurt when she was about 9 months, and she's absolutely fine with it.

Soya products except soya formula don't have the same levels of vitamins and minerals as milk products, so don't replace any of your ds's formula with soya yoghurts etc, give those in addition to his formula if you want to give them. I don't know whether soya is bad for boys.

I read somewhere that the bacteria in live yoghurt (not Greek yoghurt which has got cream in as well as yoghurt) pre-digest the lactose, so dairy intolerant people can eat it - I haven't tried giving dd dairy yoghurt yet, though.

Roskva, thanks for your reply. I shall try some live yoghurt to mix with fruit. I have got some soya youghurt aswell which I can use but good to have another option to try. Thanks again

You're welcome. Let me know how you get on with the live yoghurt - I'm thinking about trying dd with it, and then I think of how she reacted the last time I tried giving her milk based formula.

Does he need to have yoghurts at all?

I think the advantage of the dairy based yoghurts it is the probiotics in them. But I'm not sure if the soya ones are really contributing much to the diet of a 7m old baby. Are they? (genuine question here )

DD (almost 16 months) is milk protein intollerant and has been having at least one Apro yoghurt a day since her diagnosis. Not only does she love them, but they were actually recommended by her dietician as they help to keep her calcium levels up.

I think you should speak with your dietician before trying live yoghurt just to make sure that there will be no reaction. I was told to avoid all cow, sheep and goats based products.

roskva - i gave ds some bio live yoghurt this morning and so far no reaction

LRWG we don't have a dietician, just gp and hv. i get really confused about the different allergies and intolerances but he has been having lactose free formula for a few weeks now, which is still cows milk based so maybe something different from your dd (?). As we haven't seen a dietician - so far it has been a case of trial and error.

Isababel I guess he doesn't need yoghurts but i don't see any reason not give them to him if he doesn't react to them. I want him to have a wide variety of food really. As long as they aren't unhealthy i'm not too bothered about the health benefits as his diet is very healthy allround.

Thanks for letting me know, MDS. I might pluck up courage to try dd with one, although at the moment she is quite happy with soya yoghurt.

Erm... Please don't take me wrong. I asked about soya because being such a potent allergen I wondered if there was much advantage to use it this early.

Soya was one of DS'many allergies. The only contacts with it he had with before being diagnosed was via a soya based bath oil prescribed for eczema and 2 weeks of soya formula we gave him when we were finding about his problems with dairy.

That's why I asked if it was absolutely necesary. That's the reason behind my question.

I see what you mean. Ds did have soya formula for a few weeks before the lactose free formula and he was fine with it (a vast improvement on the normal formula) I was not happy for him to have soya long term though as i'd read alot about it having small amounts of oestrogen in it etc, so I went back to my gp to ask for an alternative (non milk and non soya based formula) anyway, that's when gp suggested it could be a lactose intolerance. I don't mind him having small amounts of soya but he is fine with the live yoghurt so it doesn't look like he'll have to have any anyway.

With dd it's not an allergy - she doesn't seem to be able to digest milk, but she can digest soya: I'm gradually replacing nutramigen formula with soya formula, and that doesn't seem to be causing her a problem.

those who have problems with milk can have either cows milk protein intolerance or lactose intolerance. Total intolerance to lactose is rare and often temporary after an infection destroys bacteria in the gut that help digest lactose. Live yoghurts contain "good" bacteria that help to digest lactose. Most people can tolerate a little lactose hence can possibly have cheese even when they can't have milk.

You can also buy lactase - the enzyme that digests lactose. I have some drops suitable for a baby if anyone wants them. They were bought for a friend's child who was discovered (between ordering and delivery) to have a different problem. Unfortunately gps can't prescribe lactase but we found it very helpful.

Another possibility is that people who have problems digesting gluten can appear to have milk intolerance. Remove gluten from the siet and they can tolerate dairy again.

I'm sorry it is quite a complex issue and tends to be trial and error to discover what the problem is. There are tests for lactose intolerance but doctors don't seem to like doing them.