Cows milk allergy advice needed..

[mummalish]

Hello, I have gotten my baby's allergy test results, and it is confirmed that he is allergic to cows milk. He is "grade 2 posiitve". It ranges from grade 1 positive till grade 6 strong positive. I am wondering whether to try him with a small amount of cows milk in his food, this has been mentioned before.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of allergy, and did you avoid all cows milk products, and for how long?

My baby is fully breastfed, and his vomiting (when I gave him formula) prompted me to get him tested. We have now decided to continue breastfeeding, but just want to know if I can give him some yogurt etc?

Thanks in advance.

my ds is intolerant to it and we have avoided it completely until he was around one.
he has had some small trials recently which have given him a big nasty rash round his mouth, so currently still avoiding it

What is the difference between allergy and intolerance?

allergy usually pretty immediate reaction, rash/hives etc, can include swelling of lips/tongue etc if very severe. kids very allergic to milk can not even have it splashed on their skin etc

intolerance is generally milder eg recurrent diarrhoea, vomitting etc - sometimes delayed up to 48 hrs after eating the problem food. often temporary - they grow out of it.

how old is he? TBH if old enough to be on solids, you should be referred to a dietitian for full advice on what to avoid and for how long and how/when/if they want milk reintroduced

if you are totally avoiding cows milk, there is a huge list of derivatives you need to be aware of to avoid any slip ups

should have added, DD was 3 when she was put onto dairy free diet, has been on it 3 years, specialist said the longer we stuck to it the less chance of a recurrence. she will probably never drink milk again and has soya yogs etc, but is now OK with a little milk in a biscuit or butter in a cake now and then

we know we have overdone it when she gets thick cattarrh and diarrhoea!

DS is intolerant to cows milk, he has been having smal amounts of gosts milk which he seems to be fine with, we tried him again on a small amount of cows milk the other day which led to vomiting up his next two feeds and a dodgy nappy, so we will be avoiding all cows dairy. He does have soya margarine spread and also soya yoghurts sometimes.

Ds1 was allergic to cows milk from 5 months until age 3. He was a grade 1 positive but even so eating raw milk caused vomiting and hives.

I cut out all milk until he was 2 (he failed a milk challenge at age 18mo), then tried him with occasional biscuits with milk in - he was OK with those but I still mostly avoided milk in all forms til he had passed his challenge last autumn.

OP: in your situation I would lay off all dairy for your little one til he was at least 18mo then get him tested again. Repeated exposure to dairy(in any form)could make the allergy worse. On the bright side he is likely to outgrow it over the next few years.

I would agree that you should stay clear of milk products as repeated exposure may make the allergy worse.

hi, my ds2 is cows milk intolerant. he was on neocate until he was 1 then put onto neocate advanced. he immediatly started vomiting again. I put him onto goats milk and he stopped being sick immediatly. the change was amazing. the protein in goats milk is much more easily absorbed and so just because your child can't have cows milk don't rule out goats. my son loves it and has butter,yoghurt,cream. its worth a try. i guess your baby is quite young as you are breast feeding, you can get formula called "NANNY" goat milk formula. hope this helps

Hi mummalish, I would definitely avoid all milk products for the time being - I would imagine they may retest your DS in 6 months' time to see if the allergy has lessened, and if that is the case they may recommend a milk challenge or reintroducing milk products gradually, but it is much too soon now. Don't worry - you'll be amazed how quickly you get used to cooking without dairy!

I would agree with KerryM that it could be worth giving up dairy for a few weeks yourself as you're still breastfeeding and see if it has a positive effect on your DS. I just read some of your earlier threads where you felt he had tummyache etc when younger - it is possible this is due to dairy in your own diet. Does he still suffer from that, or from eczema at all? My DD's eczema cleared up completely when I gave up milk.

Good luck!

I was referred to a dietician when I had the allergy appointment, and she gave me lists of things to avoid etc.

Funny thing is that he seems not to suffer at all from the dairy that i eat. He did have colic until around 3 months, and and apart from a horrible cold that lasted for weeks, and some tething pain, he has been fine.

I know it is easy enough to avoid dairy, especially since his main drink will remain breastmilk, as he will not take any of the formula he has been prescribed. Have tried Nutramigen and Pepti, and he will just not take it. To be honest, I would rather just keep him on breastmilk if he enjoys it. I tried cooking with the Pepti today, and it stank to high heaven, and he refused the cheese sauce (with soya cheese).

not an easy thing to deal with. Both my dc were dairy intollerant. Eldest grew out of it by the age of 2.5 but daughter had a more servere reaction so have been advised to continue total dairy free diet.

Don't know if mentioned before but breastmilk still can cause a reaction - i had to totally cut out all dairy and take calcium suppliments (gave up after 6 months but saying that nutramagen baby formula (dairy free) did the trick for my daughter so do ask about seeing a dietician - well worth it