Secondary lactose intolerance: breastmilk ok?

[JumpJockey]

dd2 11mo has had bowel/tummy problems for a couple of weeks after a bout of norovirus and I finally took her to the doctors, he thinks it may be secondary i.e. Temporary lactose intolerance as a result of the virus.

A couple of questions that he couldn't answer so is going to call me back later, but would be v helpful if anyone could answer now (for reasons that will become evident!)

• is breast milk ok? He's put her on a diet of clear fluids just for today until any last bug has cleared her system, but I still feed her at bedtime/nap time and doubt that just a cup of water would have the same effect.

• he prescribed dioralyte, which says for babies to give 1-1.5 times their usual milk intake of dioralyte. i have no idea how much milk she takes, so don't know what to do here. Maybe if BM is ok, she can have this as an extra rather than instead of formula/cow milk?

Thanks :)

How many feeds does she usually have a day? If she usually feeds twice I would just give her 2 large cups of diarolyte, or if she feeds once then one cup (assuming she drinks from a cup!) . If you can get her to take the bloody stuff I had to add squash to get my DS to take it, it is foul!

As far I know bm is preferable to dioralyte if the baby/child is bfing as bm maintains blood electrolytes better (plus dioralyte just replaces bfing
so puts baby at risk of weaning).

From what I've read as bm heals the gut giving bm with 2ndary lactose intolerance just helps the baby get over it quicker due to the components in bm. This isn't true of formula as it doesn't have the skin growth factors, immunological molecules and balance of nutrients/micronutrients.

I would normally do links but am no phone and it's very tempermental.

Hope your little one feels better very soon.

Oh bm is counted as s clear fluid not as dairy so would be part of her clear fluid diet.

Will carry on with bm then - thanks for the hint re taste of the dioralyte as well! Will give her some as extra since she normally only has 2/3 feeds a day plus solids, don't want her getting too starving hungry...

If you want to feed her more often or if she asks for a feed more often than usual then you will make enough milk for her (assuming no long standing supply issues). The flow might be slower than she is used to if she is feeding a lot more than her usual but if she is poorly a slower flow might suit her better, it will soon pick up though.

Hi - my daughter had secondary lactose intolerance after a nasty tummy bug at about the same age - it lasted about a month. It happens because the gut looses the parts that make lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose) after a bug, and it takes a while for those bits to repair and start working again.

What worked for us was buying colief drops to add to any beakers of milk/milk on cereal, or using lactofree milk/cheese. Breastmilk contains lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose), so it should not cause any problems. HTH

Sorry to bring this back, should I be avoiding dairy as well? She was doing fine for a couple of days (poos back to normal!) then I had cauliflower cheese for tea and the next day her poos were a bit iffy -nowhere near as bad as before, but softer again.
Milkjetmum- thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into that ad well. She was having formula at nursery so is off that obv, maybe lactofree milk could help her at least have something to drink other than water.

Part of the "issue" with lactose intolerance is that if you dont give lactose the gut will not produce lactase, the digestive enzyme to disgest lactose. This can be wiped out during some gastro bugs. however if you dont give lactose then lactase will not be produced untill you do.... amkes sense, hence why many people decide on lactose free diet for a child... try to add lactose back in some time later and then proclaim that yes of course they were correct their child is lactose intolerant as they get gut ache, the runs, bloated... funnily enough they could not digest it.Best off keeping diet normal once re hydrated ( 48 hours post final episode normally)..makes sense?

Chloeb - we've kept her off dairy for nearly a week now, has had some normal poos and some still a bit iffy but otherwise absolutely fine in herself. Will gradually reintroduce other dairy things and milk last of all as it seems to have the most lactose in it, hopefully that will ease her back in.

If you are bfing then you have already given her a lot of lactose - human milk as ~9% where as cow's milk has ~4.7%.

OK,. now I'm really confused! So if she has issues with digesting lactose, is breastmilk good or bad?!

BM is good as it has growth factors in it that heal the skin in the gut that was damaged during the D&V bug and the presence of lactose will trigger the resumed production of lactase with in the baby.

More details here.