Cows milk allergy - more questions!

[MotherPanda]

I have suspicions that my dearest ebf dd may have a cows milk allergy, particularly due to family history of cows milk allergy/ lactose intolerance and her reflux, rotten egg/ vinegar poo and smelly wind etc. You may remember similar threads.

For reasons beyond my control forgetting to order a tesco delivery , I have run out of cheese - the love of my life. so for three days now I have had zero cheese. I normally eat a third of a family block a day - at least!

And Elizabeth has hardly been sick- at all. this is a baby with reflux remember, with several changes of clothes and bibs a day. We have still had smelly windy explosive poos though.

However I have eaten a batch of flapjacks, with butter in and had two cups of tea with a splash of milk. So my question is this - does heating/cooking dairy somehow stop its effects on my baby? I had always thought that if the milk was 'processed' like in cheese its effects were diminished. Is it just a coincidence?

I am getting a call back from my HV to chat about poo - and will then think about wheather its time to talk to my GP about my concerns.

The common issue with bf babies is not lactose but cows milk protein - casein. So cheese would be the worst offender I believe.

weeps

my poor cheese! It's so exciting to see something that actually makes a difference though!

Does goats milk/cheese have casein?

oops - just realised i mentioned dds name, oh well.

I have read and been told that goats milk is very close to human milk and is often fine when cows milk isn't.

One other thing, I also found out that a lot of babies that can't tolerate cows milk protein also can't deal with soy. So I have switched to almond milk instead. Soy is in loads of things so it's a bit tricky.

Good luck!

Thanks - I've filled my fridge with goats cheese, milk and butter so will be trying a cow-milk free diet for 2 weeks from tomorrow (just one last day to devour chocolate please!)

Will see if that makes a difference to her sick and nappies. will try a milk-free diet altogether if no difference after that.

Thanks - why isn't goats milk more popular then? Silly people!

Oh HV wasn't too helpful by the way - said it did sound a little odd and to go and speak to the gp about it. Are gps any use with this sort of thing? Can they actually do a test to 'prove' that she is allergic?

Yes, heating/cooking does alter the proteins in food to some extent. Some children can tolerate milk which is baked into cakes etc. even though they can't manage fresh milk or cheese.

I haven't seen your previous threads, but it does sound as though it is worth cutting out dairy for a while to see what happens. You might want to keep a diary of what you eat and record any changes in your daughter's health.

Children who have allergies (i.e. reactions involving the immune system) can have blood tests and/or skin prick tests done in hospital to confirm this. For food intolerances (i.e. 'gastric' reactions), there is no real way of testing apart from excluding the food and then reintroducing it again.

Soya is a problem for about 60% of dairy-allergic children, but might be a better substitute than goats milk because goats milk is still 'dairy'. If your DD reacts to cows milk then she could well react to goats milk as well.

There are other substitute 'milk' products on the market (oat milk, rice milk, Kara coconut milk). Personally I think they all taste disgusting in coffee... and I feel your pain about the cheese.

Vitalite margarine and Pure dairy-free spread both taste okay.

Hope you see some improvement soon.

I'm sure I've heard/read about people having success replacing cows milk with goats. It is very different, they are different species just like humans and cows are.

I don't like goats cheese so I'm on non-soy dairy free stuff using almond and coconut milk. I have some really strange cheese substitute with no soy. It manages to melt but tastes really odd!

Good luck

Have a read:

www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-infants-toddlers/goat-milk

Sorry - I don't know how to make active links on an iPhone.

My dd is 4 and we have finally eliminated milk from her diet.
She isn't allergic, it's gastric.
She now poo's solid formed lumps for the first time in her life.
She complains of tummy ache if she eats chocolate. Ice cream is an absolute no no and I am slowly trying butter in pastry or cakes type experiments to see how much she can tolerate.
She eats goats cheese the cheddar hard one. She really misses cheese.
We use oat milk. The orange one for cooking and the red one for cereal as its calcium enriched.
Also oatly cream is very good as is alpro custard

Havin just gone through all this, I noted in an nhs booklet that Breastfeeding mothers need 1250mg calcium a day which is 2 pints cow milk!!!
So by all means cut it out your diet but take a supplement.

Oh she was EBF 6 months, had terrible reflux under peadetrician and I too am a cheddar fiend!

It will depend on which protein your DD is allergic/intolerant to as to whether goat's milk makes a difference. I would recommend cutting out all dairy and soy (as soy can be a problem for at least half of those with dairy issues). We've been dealing with a dairy intolerance in LO for a year now. Giving up cheese is the hardest, I have fantasies about it. :(

The good news is that intolerances are usually grown out of by 18 months, and allergies by adolescence. If you suspect an allergy and not an intolerance (my LO had none of the allergy symptoms such as eczema or vomiting plus had to have formula when tiny) I would see your GP ASAP.

Oh and you'd have seen very little reaction with butter in comparison to cheese because it only has a small amount of milk protein in.

Me again. On plus side dark choc has no milk in it! And there are some yummy mrs crimble choc macaroons are milk free.

Jnice, it's true that some children who have an intolerance to cows milk are okay with goats milk. I suppose I'm just erring on the side of caution - my DS is highly allergic (anaphylactic)to cows milk and our allergy specialist said that we should not let him touch goats milk with a barge pole as there is a very strong likelihood he will react.

Is your non-soya cheese that 'Cheezly' stuff which is made with pea protein? I totally agree that it is strange! We did try it, but DS is now allergic to peas... fortunately he is okay with soya so now we have the 'cheddar-style', and that is also a bit weird but does not taste quite so strange as the pea protein!

Kinnerton chocolate is dairy, egg and nut free.

Even though some dark chocolate does not list dairy in the ingredients, the machines which make chocolate which are very hard to clean. There may be traces of allergens left from previous products.

Thank you so much for all the info and advice - I've never really understood the difference between allergy and intolerance, but I'm not worried about dd, she's not very ill - so feel like I can take my time to play with my diet. I suspect in this case its just an intolerance - which means that traces shouldn't make too much of a difference.

Dark chocolate will see me through then - I love green and blacks yum yum yum. Though today I made myself some flapjacks with the pure sunflower spread to appease my sweet tooth during the next couple of weeks.

Will take the advice about supplementing with vitamins - though I eat lots of dark leafy veg (baby spinach and green beans) so will still get a good bit of calcium.

greenbananas I'm not surprised you're cautious, sounds like a risk not worth taking to try goatsmilk. I think our situation is like OP's, a sensitivity rather than an allergy. My 11 week old has no rash and no blood in stools, just soaks me and himself plus the carpet with barf after the majority of feeds. Mostly it's an inconvenience but sometimes he seems to experience pain right beforehand.

I heard that it takes 2 weeks to clear out mum's system, then another 2 for baby. So potentially a month before it makes a difference. I am doing this through January and if it makes no difference I will quit.

I notice a lot of chocolate products that have no milk do have soy lecithin and haven't found a safe chocolate yet

Good luck with going dairy-free, Jnice and MotherPanda

Chocolate without soya... I remember not being able to find any when I was looking 2 years ago.

Here is a website with dairy and soya-free chocolate. Don't try the Plamil (it's disgusting!) but I have heard good things about the moo-free stuff from mums on the allergy board.

Thanks green