I think ds might be lactose intolerant - what are the signs?

[Miaou]

Wasn't sure whether to put this under allergies or in here.

Ds is 100% breastfed - and I can't decide if he is a heavy posseter or if it's more than that - he seems to bring back a lot of his feed and it's very mucousy (in fact it almost has the consistency of snot!).

I know the only way to be sure is for me to cut out all dairy products (), but just wondered if y'all thought that it sounded likely to be a lactose problem.

Dh is lactose intolerant btw, though both dds are fine.

anyone else dealt with a lactose intolerance?

Hi Miaou. DS is the same. Although my GP assures me it is common and probably nothing to do with lactose intolerance. I'm lactose intolerant and was a sicky baby though.

Does he seem upset when he's sick? If not, I wouldn't worry about it. it's probably more likely that he's eating too much - is he still feeding all the time?

BTW, we are now being woken by DS several times in the night - he's very unsettled and feeds for comfort although i don't think he's hungry. how's your wee one getting on?

That's reassuring suzi. He is quite whingy atm but I wonder how much of that is because he is teething too.

Other than that, he is doing fine - only waking once a night for a feed (a good long one at that) - and putting on weight satisfactorily (maintaining his percentiles anyway).

I was just telling my mum about it and she says I was the same as a child, went through about 4 outfits a day! The dds were quite sicky too IIRC, but not this thick mucousy stuff.

bump

Miaou - cutting out lactose in your diet will make not one scrap of diff to your breastmilk, which like all mammalian milk, has lactose in it, regardless of what the mammal mother is taking in.

There is some evidence that cows milk protein may cause a reaction in some babies, and if it is really, really, really bad, it can be worth trying to eliminate that, but a thriving baby who just happens to posset a lot is not showing signs of cows milk protein intolerance.
HTH

Lactose intolerance generally comes on at about the age of 7. It is normal, not a medical condition. Most people, from every racial group except Western Europeans, "suffer" from lactose intolerance. (Symptoms include bloating, gas and diarrhoea, associated with high-lactose dairy products, like fresh milk. I'm mildly lactose intolerant.)

My DS2 was a bit like your DS, heavy with the posset. If he possetted right after a feed, it was runny, if it was later, it was thicker. He's mostly grown out of this now, at 14 months.

If your son's weight gain is fine, then this is really just a laundry problem. Your HV or GP may offer you gaviscon, which I'm told helps. I didn't want to medicate for a laundry problem, so didn't bother.

my DS did this too
I just used to walk round permanently with terry nappy on my shoulder or other peoples

in fact DS used to projectile vomit sometimes too

grew out of it once started eating more food than milk

1of the signs of lactose intolerance in a baby is snotty poo!!

sounds like he is just eating a bit more than he can retain.

ooh, just come back to this thread, thanks very much for the advice. I don't have to give up chocolate... yipppeeee!!!

As I thought, ds is just a greedy guts

My dd was lactose intolerant but only to the type in cow's milk. (Sorry don't know the science of it). She was fine with breast milk but when I gave her formula she came out in a red itchy rash.

miaou dd2 was really sicky and I put her on goats formula (once she went onto bottles) and it never made any difference

basically she was sick whenever she teethed. It took me 2 years to realise thast what it was.

she still chucks up whenever she is ill for any reason

Sounds more like reflux to me. Lactose intolerance usually gives constant diarrhoea...

DD and DS2 both lactose intolerant, both became evident when they were weaned from the breast (fine until then) and have had constipation as a major syptom so not just diarrhoea!

Um, georgteach and beejay, as tiktok says, there is lactose in breastmilk, too, so it's unlikely it's the lactose that's the problem for them. More likely to be cow's milk proteins, I'd think?