Can you "push through" a dairy intolerance?

[MummyR2017]

Hello, I really hope nobody is funny about my question- it comes from a place of completely lack of understanding. With Covid if I can avoid going to to Doctors and get advice from fellow mums I would be so happy. My little girl is 9 months old. I have never suffered and food intolerance or my elder son but since she was born I noticed if I had lots of dairy before breastfeeding she would get a small eczema like rash around her mouth and be very sicky. So I took it really easy on the dairy and been much better- now she's eating if she has cheese, milk etc. She is very sick afterward and next poop her bottom is covered in raw sores- not like happy rash- like a layer of skin has actually burned off her bottom. It's horrible. So... I took her off dairy and all is good. I went to hospital for an MRI Tuesday and was told due to the dye I couldn't breastfeed for 12hours. In a panic on the way home I rushed to the supermarket to buy formula before bedtime but there wasn't any dairy free ones so just grabbed one that looked good- she fought a lot but eventually drank it and went off to bed (thank goodness) the next day there was no sickness or in the night I was so pleased - but the bottom rash came back slightly yesterday and today is awful - just from one bottle feed. My question really is- since she wasn't sick, is she building a tolerance ? Would it be good to keep trying even though she gets the super sore bottom - has anyone been able to achieve this or should i leave her off. I don't want to cause her to be I. Pain but if other have pushed through and made it to the other side I would love it if I was able to aswell. Any advice would be so helpful thank you !

She may well grow out of it but please don’t “push through” it.

I don't know about pushing through, but I think you can outgrow dairy intolerance, or maybe as you get older you digest dairy better. DD2 used to get stomach pains etc. from dairy until she was about 3 but has no problem with it now. I gave her that toddler milk - can't remember what it's called, follow-on milk or something? The doctor said it was a waste of money and I was "imagining things" but she def seemed to digest it fine, whereas normal cow's milk caused diarrhoea.

You can sort of manage a low level dairy intolerance - we have with DS who is now 2. He's ok with processed dairy (cheese and above on the milk ladder) but we have to be careful with ice cream and yoghurt and haven't really tried him with actual milk.

If it's just low level dry skin and slightly loose poos the private consultant we saw when DS was 6m as his weight wasn't great said that it's more important that they're fed and growing so might need to manage mild skin symptoms.

The short answer is No

Longer answer - No and get advice from Health Visitor or GP

My son has CMPA and there is no pushing through.

Around the age of 1 you can try the milk ladder which helps you find where their tolerance is (my son has no tolerance)

No you can’t ‘push through’ an allergy. If I were you I would stop dairy and go to the gp/ ring the health visitor for advice. If you are still breastfeeding you need to stop dairy and also possibly soy as many children with dairy intolerance are also intolerant to soy. Hopefully in time you can reintroduce dairy and she may well grow out of it.

We've recently started giving our DD more dairy and she's been fine. She was on an alternative to dairy formula as a baby as she couldn't seem to cope with breast milk or cows milk formula, and when she was about 2.5-3 we eventually cut out dairy completely which helped her sleep, moods and tummy. She's now 4.5 and I've been letting her have bits of dairy now and again and she's tolerating it well. So for us I'd say as she got bigger she is better able to process it, but I wouldn't necessarily frame it as pushing through. It's a very long and slow thing for us.

Please don't try to push through.

I'm lactose intolerant, as a child I didn't know that not everyone had tummy ache all the time, I thought it was normal.

As an adult I tolerate some cheese / milk in food but I have to be careful to have other food with it, I know if I have over done it and it is a really nasty pain before a long trip to the toilet.

I would not want a baby to have 1% of that pain.

My son had fairly intolerance as a baby. He had the most awful poos and I too came of dairy when I breast fed.

Personally I wouldn’t push through and keep feeding her something that clearly irritates her body. I’m sure she’ll be exposed to tiny amount of dairy by accident generally anyway because it is in so much. Also for it to irritate her that much must be uncomfortable. Last thing you want is a upset or fussy baby.

Personally I’d wait for her to get bigger and she where you are then.

My son is 7 now and he eats whatever. His poos can be soft sometimes but dairy isn’t a big issue. I’m sure he was ok with fairly from about 2ish.

It's really hard as I cut out all of my babies allergens to clear his eczema...he was skin tested. It worked and fixed his poos. However I wish I didnt do it fully and just cut down and now his allergies are worse to anaphylactic levels. That's why they tell you to eat everything when pregnant now. It's really case by case. Personally I would def not give baby formula or milk products to eat, but I would have a small amount of dairy myself, (not milk though) so a small amount gets through to breastmilk, maybe every 3 days.

Hi OP, my daughter has a number of food allergies. You really need to speak to your health visitor or GP as soon as possible as paediatric allergies are complicated and can become very serious. Children can outgrow them but they need to be under medical supervision.

I thought my 15 year old had pushed through it finally, then she ate a whole load of ice cream and was covered in eczema for weeks. She can handle dairy if its cooked in things, but not milk, cream or ice cream.

Yes and no.

There is no such thing as a dairy intolerance. There is lactose intolerance (sugar) in milk, this very rarely occurs in children, and cow milk protein allergy.

Yes you can out grow CMPA but she needs to be CMPA free for at least 6 months and then go through the milk ladder. It’s possible for CMPA to get worse and it could also be that she is reacting to something else.

You need to see your GP and ask for a referral to a paediatric dietitian.

No.
Grow out of it yes. Dd is lactose intolerant still at 19, but not as severe.

Oh no, please don't. I have lactose intolerance and it's very painful sometimes if have awful indigestion. Your child won't be able to explain that to you. I was told by my mum that I used to scream and scream as a baby and wouldn't settle. This was back in the 70s when intolerances weren't understood so I was bottle fed with cows milk based formula. I was absolutely covered in eczema as well which would get sore and crack. I was very poorly in my late teens/20s but eventually had an endoscopy to look for ulcers and got a diagnosis after a food exclusion diet. I mostly live normally now if I'm sensible.
Things are much better now and alternatives are so easy to find. Please get some proper help for your little girl, you can't know how she is really feeling and she won't just overcome it.

I have CMPA and until I was old enough to understand it independently and moderate my own diet it contributed to the eczema which made my life a misery (there were various other allergens). Please, please do not 'power through' it. Now in my 40s there are things that I tolerate in extreme moderation and they are almost all cultured milk products so cheese (tiny amounts not even weekly e.g. a sprinkle of parmesan on pasta) and yogurt (1tbsp on breakfast each day). I can't drink milk, eat ice cream etc. I do adore v posh custard but that's once or twice a year and my skin is in a better place so the consequences aren't as bad. I did succumb to an ice cream on holiday a few years ago and not only did my skin react badly, I was really sick. It's not much fun.

My DD has a mild intolerance, initially it was quite bad, everything that went in came out. We cut all dairy and she was much better very quickly, her paediatrician told us to keep one of her milk bottles (to see how she did) and the rest as non dairy alternatives. She’s fine with cheese and once she started improving we added some yogurt (carefully). Her doctor said it was load and frequency and that will be variable depending on child.

Would really talk to the doc about it, my DD needed about a week for stuff to improve and then we slowly added dairy back. She’s probably at the limit with one small yogurt, one babybel and one milk feed now.

But honestly i wouldn’t just push through it, it’ll be painful for her. I have a lactose intolerance and at its worst a dash of milk in tea gave me the most god awful stomach cramps.

She’s 9months and your mri is tuesday?

Don’t panic with formula. Express in the next few days if you can, and give expressed milk.

Also ask for a breastfeeding pharmacist. Most medics don’t know about drugs in breastmilk so err on the side of caution and say no. Someone with more expertise might have a better idea of the risk.

She’s 9months and your mri is tuesday?
I think it was last Tuesday, two days ago and the OP wasn't informed beforehand that she could not breast feed.

Thank you so much everyone for the advice. I'm going to go to the Doctor sounds like something I need to learn more about. Thanks for all taking the time to help