Eliminating cows milk - lots of questions

[franch]

Decided to try cutting out cows milk for 17mo DD's eczema and rashes. Sorry if this has all been covered before.

Should we go on to goats milk or soya?
Are healthfood shops the best places to get these?
How quickly are we likely to see results?
If she is allergic, when is she likely to grow out of it?
What other foods should we be wary of?
Can I give her cheese, yoghurt etc and if so what kinds? (She's addicted to cheese.)
We're off to the States on holiday shortly - how easy will it be to stay cows-milk-free while we're there? (1 week in Delaware)

Many thanks. All other advice and experience very welcome.

Hello

My friends little boy has a very sensitive reflux and after a vey bad cold and throat infection with constant vomiting, the doc advised she tried goats milk. her little boy took to it straight away and is still on it now.

i am not 100% sure but i heard soya milk can actually trigger nut allergies - but hopefully the others on here can clarify that for you.

I thought my little girl was allergic to cows milk so i breast fed for as long as possible, took her to a baby clinc and sat there and rubbed some milk on her cheek, waited, no rash, rubbed some on her lip, waited... then gave her some to drink, waited an hour and nothing! If she had reacted I would of ran into the doctor screaming! - I know an over the top mother

it gets better, when i first gave her egg, it was in the a&e car park - just in case

she only reacted to formula milk whne 5 mths, but when i tried again at 8 mths she was fine.

Not sure if any of this help but here goes.

My ds was allergic to cows milk but not goats. Most children will be allergic to both however.

My son has grown out of his cows milk allergy but still can't eat cheese. He was about 2 when he grew out of it.

Eggs are another common dairy allergy.

If she tolerates goats milk there are a range of youghurts and cheeses they do.

cant answer all your q's but-
ive been using rice milk as i have soya intolerance as well as dairy and its great(tastes ok in tea as hate soya and goats urggh !)

can buy most of these in a large supermarket now

i dont think cheese would be advisable but yoghurt maybe ok as sometimes a dairy allergy/intolerance is to do with lactose(a substance in milk) which is broken down in yoghurt and therefore not a problem

i would imagine if it works you would see results in about a month or less

if your dd has eczema i would strongly recommend that you cut tomatoes out of her diet as they are very irritating to eczema (something to do with them being from the deadly nightshade family of plants) . i have eczema on one hand and if i cut them up its agony and the last time i ate them in a homemade tomato sauce i woke up in the night scrathing cause my eczema was burning

also avoid nuts peanuts

other things to look at(google/internet ) would salicilates (asprin like substances in foods/fruit/veg eg apples, that can cause allergic reactions )

vega food testing - this is poo-pooed (scuse my terminology by some but i have known people for who/whom it has worked well

dont know if she will grow out of it you cant really say or know that but i would suspect not fully although it probably will get better

ps i once got a blood test for food allergies by my gp which was very accurate but not all gp's can/will give these

also franch what bath products do you use on her skin many leading commercial brands are full of chemical skin irritants (johmsons for one ) try a company called neways.co.uk they now have a site where you can buy the prducts direct (im an agent for them) if you pay £5 you will get a third off the onscreen price of the products theyre not the cheapest but because thyre good they last well and so are worth it (all their products are more than excellent-food suppliments(esp.maximol and hawaiian noni juice!) toliteries etc)

well blow me i think i have given an answer to nearly all your q's pls scuse any spelling mistakes

best of luck franch hope your dd's eczema gets better

agree with eany too avoid eggs esp. the whites

will explain tomorrow but i a rush

goats milk

most large supermarkets

needs a minimum of two weeks for a proper trial, more if you miss whey or casein

variable for growing out, probiotics may help

casein, whey, skimmed milk powder

no

states normally good on labelling

oops - sorry goats milk cheese ok if you're not trying totally dairy free

Bit more time now. Soya is quite a common allergen. It has been linked to nut allergy although that's a bit chicken and egg. Children who go on soya milk usually do so because the parent in worried about allergy. If there is a family history of allergy the child is more likely to develop nut allergy anyway.

The proteins in goats and cows milk are still fairly similar. So if your child has a problem with milk it may be with both goats and cows milk. Still its easy to try as you can get goats milk in most supermarkets and it does make a big difference for some children. You can get goats milk or ewe's milk cheese although children who love other cheese don't always like it. There is a wider range of "milks" available in health food stores but both goats and soya milks are in most big supermarkets. If you have a Sainsbury nearby they have, IMO, the best range of milk free foods.

It takes 4 days for an allergen to completely leave the system and if there is a problem with milk even a small trace in food is enough to screw up the test. One of my family has to be totally milk free and it is a real pain finding foods that don't have it. Because its so easy to screw up you may have to try for longer.

If the problem is with lactose rather than cows milk protein you need to try avoiding cows or goats milk. There are lactose reduced milks you could try and giving probiotics (live yoghurt or supplement from health food store) helps with lactose intolerance. They also help the development of the immune system. I would not be without probiotics since my sons eczema improved on them. He also has a problem with raw, but not cooked, tomatoes. Still one thing you learn with a child with eczema is that nothing works for all of them.

We weren't avoiding milk when we were in America but genrally they are so litigious that places are pretty good about labelling food/ knowing what is in it.

The other thing that may help is to try more omega 3, either as a fish oil supplement or by adding flaxseed oil to something.

Soya milk is good for some kids, but be warned your child may be allergic to it especially if she has other food allergies.

Friends were advised by paediatrician and nutritionist to put their dd (at around 18mo) on soya milk. She had an allergy test which showed NEGATIVE to soya allergy. After the first helping she had a reaction. Her dad rushed her to the doctor who told him he was over-reacting. After the second helping she went into anafalactic (sp?) shock and nearly died!! To which the paediatrician said "Oh, I guess she was allergic to it after all". Luckily her stay-at-home dad knew what to watch for and rushed her straight to A&E - if someone else had been looking after her they might not have realised she was in distress until it was too late, as the reaction was very severe and extremely quick! (See LoveCloud, your precautions were not over the top!).

Hopefully your child will not be allergic, but do take care as a soya allergy can be lethal (just like a nut allergy). Also second or subsequent helpings can produce a more severe reaction. It might be wise to get her tested for allergy before starting her on it? But bear in mind that such tests are not fail-safe. And of course, you'll know about introducing only one new type of food at a time so that if there is a reaction you know what the reaction is to.

Good luck! Hope it goes well.