Milk ladder

[grey12]

Hi!
I have a suspicion DC (3yo) has an intolerance to lactose. Since trying lactose free products, her belly is much less distended.

We have recently had a phone consultation with a dietitian but there was a mess up with times and the guys who came to change a window arrived hours earlier at exactly the same time as the call. It got extremely noisy I have sent her an email but guess I would appreciate your opinion on this as well

I'm supposed to start a dairy free period. Can I give DC replacement milk? I have never tried any, what would you suggest?

How did it go with the milk ladder? Someone else is in charge of going to the supermarket in the house so I have less control and choice than I would like with this situation.

Thanks!

My son is allergic to milk. He loves alpro soya growing up milk. Another good alternative is oatly barista. You need to avoid any organic alternatives as they don't have the added vitamins and minerals children need.

I've found flora dairy free to be the best butter to use.

We tried the milk ladder a few times but have stopped trying as we never got very far.

Lactose intolerance is rare in young kids but cows milk protein allergy (CMPA) is far more common and the milk ladder is designed to adress the protein.
It's important to know the difference because lactose free foods are made from dairy which a child with CMPA.
We use oatly for milk - my dieticians advice on dairy alternatives were soya and oat milks have the closest nutrition value to blue cows milk but my lo reacted to soy as well. Of all the oat milk I tasted oatly barista was the nicest.
For yogurts we use oatly yogurts and for cheese we use violife ( the fake cheeses are disgusting but violife is the best of a bad bunch I found)
It's also worth noting dairy is in alot of things you wouldn't expect so read labels.
Good luck and hope your lo feels better

In terms of the ladder we were told to wait for lo to be 6 months free of dairy and symptom free before attempting it.

My granddaughter is allergic to dairy and she always has Oatly- if she has too much soya based stuff it can upset her stomach

Apart from the fact they make chocolate oatly so finally granddaughter can have a ‘milkshake’

@Aimee1987 6 months??!!! oh dear!! Thing is there's a lot of people to please in my house and the diversity of meals I can make is already reduced.

What kind of symptoms did your DC have? Maybe I'm being slightly dismissive of my DCs symptoms? she used to get a very distended belly (like those malnutrition children on the news) but that has massively improved with lactose free milk and yogurt. We tried but gave up on a completely lactose free diet and she does get gassy occasionally....

Btw is it horrible that I'm going to screw up the milk ladder because it'll be her birthday soon? 🎂

@grey12

Btw is it horrible that I'm going to screw up the milk ladder because it'll be her birthday soon? 🎂

Dairy free cakes are very easy to make. If you've been told to go totally dairy free it's best to do it for the time allotted and then reintroduce.

You get used to it very quickly. My son is 4 now and I was on a dairy free diet for several years before I had him. Once you're used to it, it's very easy to follow.

@Twizbe thanks! I'll research on that

Dairy free chocolate cakes are very tasty and I see them regularly in shops and recipes online. Stork (in a block) is dairy free.

My ds has the same belly issues with dairy. He drinks Lactofree. Cheese is low in lactose so he eats the normal dairy version but has less cheese/no cheese than his siblings. You can use Lactofree like regular milk in recipes- Inuse in white sauces etc

@marshmallowfluffy yeah, we do the same :)

Just thought I should contact the doctor just in case I was wrong about the lactose thing

Hi, how were your little ones diagnosed? My son has been having stomach pain on and off for over a year - he’s 6. Doctors didn’t take it very seriously. I’ve been in A and E a few times as he was screaming with pain but they said nothing serious and kids get stomach pain. I finally got a paediatrician appointment but it was only a telephone consultation. I also arranged a paid for at home allergy test and it came back to say milk allergy. I told the paediatrician this but she dismissed it and just presecribed anti acid tablets. He has an episode weekly or fortnightly with abdominal pain and sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea. I have another phone consultation this month but I want thorough tests - samples and scans if need be. Any advice re diagnosis journeys or anything else I could do privately?
He’s been on a dairy free diet for 3-4 months now. There was a definite improvement at first but back to the regular episodes again.

@VonyGal sorry to hear your little one is suffering your paediatrician is too dismissive! I would see someone else!!

My DC didn't have any tests done. Going lactose free was just a trial, since it's a common intolerance.

Dietician was very keen on a food diary with symptoms. I would advise you do it as well. Don't forget to include poops (and whether they are well formed) and amount of water drank. I also measure DC belly.

I was told no test unless an extreme reaction like throat closing up. I cut out dairy, looked up which dairy products are lower in lactose and tried those. Hence him eating some cheese but not any milk. I'm pretty sure he's lactose intolerant - his symptoms are bloating and vomiting rather than the serious ones like airways closing

A milk allergy is more serious and you have to cut out all dairy.

Seems like dietician wants to cover all bases. But now she's not answering my email started the dairy free diet now.

DC used to get very bloated and gassy. DH suffers from IBS and so we decided to talk to the GP. Don't want these things leading to worse problems in the future