Lactose free diet for my 10m old

[hm4912]

Hi, we have been advised to trial a lactose free diet for my 10 month old by my GP due some symptoms she has been having. We have bought a lactose free formula and have been doing some research on lactose free foods but I’m a bit confused between dairy free and lactose free..

I know you have to avoid cows milk, butter, cream, yoghurt, cheese but are there any other main foods that could contain lactose? My MIL mentioned bread but I thought this would be ok..

I often give her snacks like melty sticks, rice cakes, pin wheels (pastry).. what ingredient will I need to look out for on things like this?

thanks in advance!!

You can have some dairy with lactose free. Some dairy goods are naturally lactose free. Lactose is the sugar in milk, so foods which have bacteria and enzymes which digest the sugar are fine. Things like Kefir, natural yogurt (not low fat and not ones with added cream), mature cheeses etc. My DD was lactose intolerant for a while before she seemed to grow out of it, and she was able to still eat some dairy. We didn’t buy the artificial lactose free dairy products as they’re ultra processed and often not very nice, but plenty of other things are fine.

For other foodstuffs, watch out for ingredients such as powdered milk.

Could it be cmpa rather than lactose? It's more unusual for a baby to have a lactose intolerance as breast milk contains lactose so would be a huge flaw in nature's design. My baby had cmpa (cows milk protein allergy) and sadly lots of medical professionals aren't very experienced in it and refer to it as 'dairy free'.or 'lactose free' when they really mean cmpa. It was much easier to navigate once I knew what it was without getting confused with lactose and dairy.

Did the GP definitely say Lactose free and not try going Dairy Free?

Like the PP said, being allergic to Lactose is not unheard of in babies but it is extremely rare. It's much more common (something like 1 in 10) to have Cow's Milk Protein Allergy.

My DS is 13 months and has been lactose free since around 3 months. (We tried dairy free but the formula made his symptoms so much worse as had lactose in) so he has lactose free formula and cows milk in foods but other than that we just mainly stick to dairy free as I find it a bit easier.
When we were referred to a dietician she said just make sure anything dairy free like yogurts has enough calcium in.
As @Melassa said, it's powdered milk and whey to look out for in foodstuffs. I find milk in really random things!

The gp needs to prescribe you milk. Lactose free milk won't help if your lo has cmpa.

How can your lo have cows milk? Do they tolerate the cows milk?

@buswankerz I think they mean lactose free cows milk as it is just like cows milk but with the lactose broken down so it doesn't cause an issue

@hm4912 you get lactose free cows milk/cheese/yoghurt. You also get dairy free products e.g. soya, oat milk, coconut yoghurt, etc.

It's milk products you need to look out for and the label should say whether milk is contained in the ingredients

You need to know if the doctor said lactose free or cmpa - and work from that.

A lot of dairy products xan be bought lactose free. It's works great.

Yes, you'll have to watch out for dairy as an ingrediens in other things like bread. It won't be lactose free or cmpa.

If cmpa avoid all dairy. But speak yo health visitor or doctor about child's nutrion. Cmpa isn't easy to manage.

How are you both getting in now @hm4912?

Hi all, our doc definitely said lactose free as it runs in the family. Thanks

I have a child with lactose intolerance and he can have some cheese as it’s often very low in lactose.

Sometimes I just buy the dairy free version of an item eg almond or oat milk because lactofree isn’t always available in shops and it’s easier to have him able to go for the dairy free alternative when out and about.

You need to look at the labels because it’s not automatically obvious if something is dairy free. Bread will often have milk powder added as an ingredient.

It’s best to check out the vegan/dairy free alternatives of your usual shop. They are sometimes in different aisles but should both offer alternatives.

Wow that is unusual! I can't help with being Lactose Free as I'm CMPA but can help with being DD if you need any help