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Allergies and intolerances

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Please talk to me about lactose intolerance versus dairy... which one constipates?

8 replies

BlueBumedFly · 24/09/2009 13:52

My DD is constipated almost all of the time. When she was in nappies not so much of an issue but now in pants BIG issue. She is 2.4, potty trained for wee but poos in pants. Terrified of the poo and screams for days at the thought/pain etc.

Its all very distressing.

When she was a month old she had colic (apparently) and was given colief which if I remember rightly removes the lactose from the milk no?

So, I have to do something, going mad here. Do I try lactose free milk or try to move her to soya.

Quick history, her half-sister is allergic to nuts and was until recently intolerant to soya.

Help me please. She drinks A LOT of milk every day, perhaps 20oz? She has no other dairy to speak of, only a little butter on toast and a yogurt every other day.

I am trying those actimel (little bottles) to help with the digestive transit (!) am I making it worse???

Final point, she is not a child who eats other than when he is very hungry (hence she has so much milk!). So 'upping' veggies, fruit, juices etc is a challenge as she simply won't eat if not hungry.

Any advice very gratefully received.

OP posts:
BlueBumedFly · 24/09/2009 17:09

hello? help?

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BlueBumedFly · 24/09/2009 20:24

please?

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Squidmission · 24/09/2009 21:04

Sorry to hear about your dd.

I don't have much experience of constipation and cow's milk allergy but I've read loads on milk allergy as ds2 has it.
He's a lot better on goats milk and I've read that some children who get constipated on cow's milk recover when switched to goats.
You could try that in the first instance?

Do you give her orange juice? Sometimes that helps and lots of warm water.

BlueBumedFly · 24/09/2009 21:10

Squids! Thank you so much, was tempted to try lactofree then soya then will try goats for sure. Anything to ease what is obviously very painful, poorly pickle.

She has orange juice and apple and prune (when mixed and cleverly disguised but nothing seems to shift it!

Many thanks for posting

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noshouting · 24/09/2009 21:53

Hi there,
we are having this same problem at the moment and I have now involved my GP.
At the moment we are trying lactulose liquid twice a day to make the poo very soft along with a good diet with lots of fruit, fluids ect.
I also ordered a couple of funny poo books from Amazon today to try and destress the whole issue.
It really is difficult to see them so sore and scared, so I sympathise.

BlueBumedFly · 24/09/2009 22:15

noshouting, oooo, we are day-twins today! I am giving lactolose and also ordered some funny poo books!

So horrid eh? DD looks at me with such terrified eyes I could join in the crying... at the start of the day.... at the end of the day after much screaming and moaning and 99 failed trips to the loo I am maybe not quite such a lovely Mummy

Might call the GP......

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KembleTwins · 24/09/2009 22:21

I am just about (I hope!) coming to the end of this with my DD. She does exactly the same - looks terrified, holds it in, etc etc In our case, it's entirely psychological. She thinks the poo will hurt, so she holds it in, and so the cycle goes on... We ended up using Movicol, which did shift it, and then, of course, caused nasty squitty poos for a few days. BUT the good side of it was that once she realised that poos DIDN'T hurt, we had much more luck. Despite the fact that she has a good diet - lots of fruit and veg, lots of drinks and so on, nothing worked as she was convinced it was going to hurt. The movicol mean that she literally couldn't hold it in. After the first time with movicol, I made her sit on the loo every so often and do "practice pushes" - just going through the motions, if you'll pardon the pun. In the end, she did poos when she didn't realise - she thought she was just practising...

Good luck! If you do call your GP, don't be fobbed off with the "more fruit and veg, try drinking more water"thing. Ask for movicol by name. That's what we ended up doing.

BlueBumedFly · 25/09/2009 20:48

Thanks Kemble, that is great advice.

I will try the practice pushing! I am sure my DD is the same, really scared. She pooed in a nappy during sleep yesterday and woke up going balistic, I gave her the nappy and let her put the poo down the loo, she stopped screaming and pointing at it and had a good look, and I think realised it was not THAT scary after all. So, a little progress!!

I think getting the poo is soft enough not to hurt at all will really help to 'heal'. Will talk to the GP.

Many thanks for posting x

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