Cows Milk Allergy

[stopcopyingme]

we have just been told our DD (2 + 2 months) has CMA. I was wanting some advice from other parents like us, as the doctor who "diagnosed" her doesn't seem to know much about it.

she has only been tested for lactose intolerence which came back as "some significance" only to be told the test was pointless in her case. doctor doesn't want to test for anything else, but has told us to treat her for CMA and we are being refered to a nutritionalist.

Im a bit wary of cutting a large part of her diet out without a test backing it up. is it normal to not be tested?

any info on diagnosis and early treatment would be a great help to us.

thanks!

Is she lactose intolerant or CMPA? They are very different things with very different treatments.

CMPA is an immune reaction to the protein in milk. It can be life-threatening and requires removal of dairy from the diet (with guidance from a dietician).

Lactose intolerance is where the enzyme lactase that breasks down milk sugar (called lactose) is either missing or is inactive. This can be treated by giving tablets containing lactase which allow the body to break down lactose. Therefore, with medication (and where possible, a small change from normal dairy products to lactose free ones) a pretty normal diet can be maintained.

If you are not sure which you dd has, then you can find out by the type of test they gave. If they tested a stool sample, they were testing for lactose intolerance. If they did a blood or skin prick test, they were testing for CMPA.

If she was only tested for lactose intolerance, but not CMPA, I'd push for an allergy test as a lactose-free diet is much easier to live with than a completely dairy free diet.