Anyone had success with cutting out dairy?

[Beingblonde]

My almost 5 month DS has terrible wind. I've tried everything, including some ridiculously expensive gripe water from the US with no success. The gripe waters and infacol seem to help him to burp, but it's the other end which causes the problems!

I've cut out windy veg etc but after a shocking, shocking night last night I've decided I need to try to cut out dairy. Problem is, I love dairy and need to know what I can replace it with! Sorry if I seem really thick but is this what soy milk and stuff is for?

I am just beyond frustrated with the situation which I've been dealing with since his birth and have been constantly told he'll grow out of it...

I need some SLEEP! Have you cut out dairy and seen an improvement? I need some hope to hold on to!

It may, haven't got any experience personally but my friend had to do this. She was told by the Paed to do it though, her DD had blood tests which showed it up.

Our DS was like that for a while and I cut out caffiene first. It could be coincidence but the wind stopped. Maybe you could try that?

Yes, it did make a difference for me, however I can't have dairy myself except when I am pregnant )not sure why but each time i am pregnant I can tolerate dairy up until about 4 months postpartum). Anyway it is worth trying other things too, onions, coffee, pickles being the obvious culprits.

When replacing dairy in your diet it will be about 3 days before you see the effects with your baby.

Make sure you are getting enough calcium in your diet, plenty of green veg like broccolli, or rice milk with added vitamins.

It is worth cutting soya out too if you are going to try for a few days, as some babies who are intolerant to milk are also soya intolerant. I just feel if you are going to suffer cutting out dairy for a few days then it might be worth going one step further to make sure you don't miss anything.

However also I need to warn you that dairy is in mamy many products, you will need to check ingredients of everything you eat..... . It is not easy. But the effort is worth it if you relieve the wind and get some much needed sleep.

All three of my children turned out to be intolerant of milk protein and MSG. By the time I got to my third child I knew what to do, and he did not have to go through the agony that my other two did.

I hope you find out soon what is the issue, it is a bit of trial and error, but remember you do have to cut things out for a minimum of three days to see the big difference sometimes. All the best.

Yes. I've had to do this with all 3 of mine.
It takes longer than the 3 days mentioned to see the effect though. Some dairy will stay in your systems for 10-14 days afterwards.

I use oat milk (get the one with added calcium, not the organic one), but you can also get hemp milk and now one made from coconuts too, although I do thi k that that has a bit of a coconutty taste.

Use pure sunflower or vitamins or m&s dairy free spread instead of butter.

Just acceptnthat you can't have cheese, as all substitutes are vile.

Thanks very much for all your replies. It's really hard isn't it, cos I don't actually know that anything I'm doing/eating is causing it. I'm just so fed up and can't cope with many more nights like last night!

cantsleep can I ask how you knew that dairy was a problem for your DCs - or did you figure it out by elimination?

sorry just noticed that ipad 'corrected' vitalite to vitamins!

With my first we were waiting for her to grow out of her 'colic', but by 15weeks she hadn't, and we had the worst week ever (she mostly screamed round the clock). After talking to my hv realised that I'd had more dairy than normal that week, so gave it (and soya initially, although was soon able to reintroduce that) up and very soon I had a different child! Her horrendous nappy rash also cleared up as a result.

Ds1 started to scream the same way at 3 weeks, so I stopped right away with him, and with ds2 I just went dairy free straight away as I couldn't bear to make him miserable too.

hi, i've recently stopped dairy. have swapped to soya and rice milk, actually i think i will stick with this long term. soya yghurts/chocolate desserts good. biscuits hard, sainsbury's do some. and i love these

i am a snacker, and love crisps but lots have milk in. tyrells and snack a jacks good. i thought i'd struggle to do a day but it is ok actually and i'm also loosing a bit of weight (have done 2 and bit weeks)

ds3 still terrible sleeper but eczema gone. i do wonder if i had done it earlier whether it would have helped the sleep and stopped the bad pattern we are now in.

weasel - most bourbons are dairy free. And waitrose essential almond biscuits, and most fruit shortcakes, and cheaper brands of digestives. :)

DS is 9 months, BF and I've been dairy-free since he was 9 weeks. I've become gradually stricter about it - an initial dairy (ice-cream) free weekend last July led to a changed baby in terms of colic, but since then eliminating soya and egg has helped loads with wind and eczema. He is now on solids and learning how to control my diet first has really helped in controlling his diet.

My secret tips to surviving are M&S Apple and sultana bread (which you can kind of convince yourself is cake if you try hard), Waitrose Stoneground bread (no dairy or soya), hob nobs and Lindt 70%. Oat milk, chocolate oat milk and oatly cream are all essential. Avocado plays a big part in DS's diet.

All very worth it though. Any time I slip up in my diet the painful farts return.

Good luck!

It worked for us too with DS1. I cut all dairy out at about 9 weeks old. Within 3 days the screaming and wind had settled, and he slept 12 hours solid having never done more than about 20 minutes. It took about 10-14 days for the explosive nappies to settle. Every now and then I doubted myselfweakened and ate something with milk/cream in it, and then he would be awful again. Most spectacularly when I was trying to sort out going back to work, and he wouldn't take EBM, so I got DH to offer him formula out of desperation. It was like something out of The Exorcist, the speed with which it came back and hit the wall 4 feet away from him. I then believed he was genuinely dairy intolerant

Cutting out dairy is easier than you'd think and is very beneficial to your health.

I would certainly use soya products. It's highly unlikely that you DS is intolerant of soya. So, there's calcium-enriched soya milk, yogurts, creams, mousses, oh all sorts of things! Have a look at the Alpro website: www.alprosoya.co.uk/

My DD has Kara Milk (www.karadairyfree.com/) which is also full of calcium.

Cows' milk is neither natural or healthy for humans who are the only mammals to consume milk after weaning, not only that but the milk of another species! Scientific research links the consumption of dairy products with a wide range of health problems including acne, runny noses, wheezing, coughing, ear infections, rashes, stomach upsets, asthma, eczema, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes and prostate cancer. Cows' milk hinders calcium absorption, so not good for a little one!

Sorry to be the voice of doom, but I'm passionate about this!

Please PM me, if you'd like any info, such a dairy-free recipes or products. :)

Oh, and Swedish Glace icecream is gorgeous! www.swedishglace.com/

Sorry, I meant that cows' milk hinders iron absorption, so it no good for little ones.

I was talking to a doctor recently who said he'd recently seen a toddler who was anaemic. He recommended they cut-out dairy, and his iron count has rocketed.

Susie, many other posts on mumsnet suggest that 60% of babies with cow's milk protein intolerance are also sensitive to soya. This is certainly true in our situation and trying soya with my son while weaning led to four days of severe d and v. I would suggest eliminating dairy and soya, then trying reintroduction of soya first to see if symptoms persist.

HTH