how strict do u have to be when weaning lactose intolerant baby

[princessdaisyboo]

hi, my 16 week old ds has been diagnosed as lactose intolerant yesterday and prescribed SMA LF formula milk and already he is like a different baby, im so happy for him. The doctor said that when its time for weaning to use the lactose free formula to add to any food and to not give any dairy products which is fine but what about other thing that contain small amounts of milk or lactose?? im planning on making all his food myself but there will be some treats or foods that have it in, are these ok in small amounts? Anyone got any experience of this?
thanks x

Hi,my DD is the same and hasnt grown out of it and shes 13months.

We have to be so careful with everything we give her.

Did he used to sick up alot after his bottle?

DD used to projectile vomit mucus - sounds nasty sorry!

I would advise been as he is still only 4 months to makesure he only gets milk/lactose free food.

Heres a list of what to look out for in ingredients.

-Whey powder from milk
-Milk Protien
-lactose - obviously

Cheese is a no no too.

The reasons why they are milk intolerant is becuase the stomach acid cant brake down the protien in the milk. You dont realise how much pain they are in.

i check everything as her belly is so sensitive to milk.

Hope this helps

Keep him on the soya formula till hes one then you can change to alpro -soya or similar. They do yogurts, deserts, etc...

hi chellesgirl, no he has never been sick this is one reason they have kept saying he is not lactose intolerant and also he was a big baby 10lb3oz and gained weight well until 12 weeks but he has always been in discomfort and had terrible nappies and lots of wind both ends and just generally very unsettled, i have a daughter also so i knew he was extremely different from the beginning but the doctors and health visitors just kept saying he was greedy!! when u think about it so many foods have milk in them in some form so i guess we are going to have to be very careful when we wean him, the doctor just said no dairy products, i suppose he will let us know what he can tolerate and what he cant, thanks for your help xxx

Doesn't sound like LI to me at all, princessdaisyboo - congenital LI is very, very rare and does not show up with the symptoms you describe.

Secondary LI follows gastro-enteritis - not something you mention.

How confident are you that he is LI?

Why not cows milk protein sensitivity?

hiya, have3 milk intol babies plus myself

LI is usually semi permanent after gastro bug or can be a racialting (prevalent I beleive in asian descent). Casein intolerance is far common and- here's the problem- some abbies with CI do seem to respond to LI formula; ds3 did.

LI and CI both vary in terms of how much an individualcan tolerate and tahts something you'll establish over the tears; I could have a cuppa say but if I hd 2 would be ill. It seems to have an accumulative effect.

But to start with keept the weaning diet milk free. ou need to be able to spot any other reactions anyway. After a year you can add in tiny amounts- say a biccy with milk in, see if baby reacts.

You do adapt and if you need any ideas please just holler.

tiktok could be li- sounds like ds3 (CI).

keep himonn the formula un til 3 unlessadvise dothrwise by a HCP:soya does not have enough fat for a child under 3. Likewise rice milk. Alpro products such as yoghurts are wonderful though- ds4 has one fro brekky each day, make sure it hs the tick for calcium fortified on it.

If its secondary LI ask at a health shop about prebiotics.

Peachy - why do you think it could be LI?

I agree - sounds more like casein intolerance, which is (correct me if I am wrong) cows milk protein intolerance.

I am not a dietitican, BTW - this is informed lay opinion, hasten to add!

hi the pediatrician we saw said that he has shown signs of some lactose intolerance and his stool sample had galactose and glucose in it,he didnt mention other types of intolerances. He has prescribed SMA LF and said that we can slowly try introducing dairy around his first birthday as he should of outgrown it by then, he has improved straight away from switching his milk so im happy to continue with this. A happy baby = a happy mummy!
thanks very much for your help peachy x

It is the same as prtotein intol yes

The only reason i think it could by is the symptoms could lead to it (I sontr vomit neither do many peoplewith either intol, ds1 did a bit as a baby but thats it).... plus we don't know the posters background, LI is common in certain ethnic groups.

It's not common in infants, though, Peachy - not anywhere.

OP's baby is 16 weeks! Far, far too young for LI to develop.

this articlesuggest LI can set i at weaning; I presume weaning from nreast would have similar effects?

OP can I suggest something without scaremongering? DS3 was given LF milk on prescription and started to thrive- however as it had been misdiagnosed and was casein intol he was still getting the proteins can unfortunately left him with more serious health problems.

Many kids with CI can tolerate small amounts of casein and I can understand that if your PAed has prescribed LF milk that you want to pursue this (do e aware that a PAed is not an expert dietician). However, please be alert for other tissues and if there are any consider a hypoallergenic formula. GP'scan prescribe thee but as they are more costly wil try to avoid doing so. At least consider requesting a referral to a dietician; we ahve seen several inclidng private and they are fullof good ideas.

i will look into the poss it is CI then to be safe, thanks for bringing this to my attention i had never heard of this.
Tiktok: if LI is so rare in babies then why do companies make the LF formula milk and why do all the docs paed's and articles on the internet talk of babies with LI that is only temp? also just for info we are white british.

anyway thanks for advise i will leave u 2 to argue it out between yourselves you both know a lot more on the topic than i do x

LOL daisy- actually Tiktok and I know each other in MN terms and get on OK (Tiktok saved my bf of ds4,she's a BF counsellor).

Temporary LF milk is often needed after baby ahs had a bug of some description, that's why they sell it; not all GP's will prescribe.

I think as well there is a rare recessive LI as well as post-bug and early onset cultural, so there are kids out there with it, and you are quite lucky to have a pro-active Paed;many are quite dismissive.

princess - apart from the gradual development of LI in some ethnic groups (not apparent in infants - the article Peachy links to is misleading to talk about it being apparent at 'weaning' and conflicts with all other info I have ever read about this), there is congenital LI (very, very rare and the symptoms do not match your baby's) and secondary LF - again the symptoms do not match your baby's. Secondary LF is what you have read about - not very rare in babies, and temporary (though sometimes quite long-lasting) and treated with a low-lactose or lactose-free formula, in ff babies.

I am not arguing with Peachy She clearly agrees with me that your baby's diagnosis is worth exploring in more detail.

Hope all goes well with your baby and you find some help for him.

Im gonna join back in now.

Here goes....

Doctor's are now prescribing LF milk alot more often now. My daighter didnt even have any tests, they took my word for it and prescribed it to her straiht away.

LI can be found in all ethnic groups. Either inherited or because of some kind of illness when baby is very young.
Though as my doc never did any tests I dont know which one it will be as:

My Mom is LI and she is White British.
My sis-in law is LI and she is of antigan/jamaican decent.
My daughter is LI and is a mix of the two.
But my daughter also had echogenic bowel when she was inside me- which may have caused the LI, but she is also allergic to any kind of protein in any kind of animal milk.

Some children grow out of it depending on thier own individual circumstances.
My daughter although told by the doc she would grow out of it - Never will.

It sounds to me the Doc thinks he could be midly LI. Most likely the chances are, he will grow out of it, but as we said before keep him on it for as long as you can stand making bottles. its best as the formula has Iron added to it and will help him to thrive.

I keep spelling daughter like that!!!!!!!

i think he is able to tolerate some lactose as we used coleif since he was 3 weeks and even when we reduced it down to 1 drop per bottle he seemed ok, no tummy ache at least.
But when we took it out altogether we were back to square 1 he was screaming with tummy ache and incredible wind. The paed said that coleif could of been causing the excessive diorreah that started at 12 weeks this is why he said use the LF milk.
We have been using it since last Thursday and things are going ok but he is now constipated so weve gone to the other extreme, he is taking water that is helping and im assuming he has to adapt to the change in milk? poor thing he has had a rough first 4 months with his sensitive tummy im so hoping he improves for good now.

Its hard at first but you get used to it all as time goes on. My daughter went from the 'breastfed baby poo' to being totally constipated and hardly aining any weight. If the constipation carries on for over a week then try adding 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to 4oz of water. This actes like lactulose. I was told to do this by a childrens nurse at the children's hospital.

I find that once they hit the stage where you can feed them solids, it gets better. He should be getting at least 4oz of water a day at the moment.

cheers hun thanks for your advice x

No probs!