tell me about your experiences with lactose intolerance/milk allergy (inc constipation)

[drivingmisscrazy]

OK - DD is 2.2. She was unwell a week or so back, and was vomiting every night (usually just once, after which she was fine). Thanks to the wisdom of a mumsnetter, we figured this was a secondary lactose intolerance and have moved to giving her only lactose-free milk. She is still eating cheese, butter (although less of this - she used to be a fiend for it) and probiotic yogurt, so I have no real worries about her calcium intake (and she is drinking the lacto-free milk too).

Since we made this switch, though, she is a different child - more energy, vastly improved appetite (actually finishes meals!), brighter skin and eyes. She is also quite small, but seems to have grown. She also suffers from chronic constipation and has been on Movicol for almost a year - but since taking her off milk, she is doing very soft poos, and I've decided not to give her any movicol for a couple of days to see what happens. I know usually it's the opposite effect but some research seems to suggest a link.

Now, I've a couple of questions: Has anyone else had these experiences? How do we tell if it's lactose or milk allergy? As she's over 2, is there any need to attempt to reintroduce cow's milk? Has anyone had the link to constipation?

thanks

is the lacto-free milk not cows milk (i.e would still give a reaction if your lo had a cows milk protein intolerance). Sounds more like a lactose intolerance if she is fine with that milk

Track down Jabberwocky, she has lots of experience, I'll put a link for her, he ds has had big constipation issues and is dairy free.

My ds also suffers from constipation, we have just started to cut out cow and have him on goat milk, goat milk yoghurt and goat cheese. It has only been a week or so, Dr said to do it for 4-6 weeks to really see if it makes a difference. He has done very well for poos the past few days and I am cutting back his fibrogel to once a day then to every other day and so on to see what happens.

If she is doing well on lactose-free milk then you could certainly be correct in that it is probably not a cow's milk allergy but just an intolerance to lactose. As Indith says (thanks for the link :)) we have had more experience with this than I would have liked!
I was able to decrease ds1's miralax (I think it's the same as movicol - we are in the US) gradually after making the switch. Ds1 is so sensitive that, while he seems OK with butter and cheese, milk-wise we have to do goat's milk. The molecular structure of goat's milk is the closest to human milk and therefore easier to digest.
And no, don't try to reintroduce regular cow's milk. My dh had that brilliant idea a few months ago and it only took 3 or 4 weeks for problems to start up again.
I give ds1 extra probiotics (break open capsule and mixed in with juice) and also cod liver oil - rather ewww! I know but I draw it up in an oral syringe and then draw up a little strawberry syrup with it. That seems to be the only way to make it palatable.
Congratulations on figuring this out for your dd! It can sometimes take a really long time to link together what is causing constipation and poo problems. Solving it can be a huge relief for you as well as the child.

Nutritionists say that once we have teeth we don't need to drink milk (and cows' at that), I didn't like milk when little so when my ds had bouts of constipation, we went dairy free, which solved the problem. In fact they also say that no animal drinks milk beyond babyhood, not even calves.

I now think that it's not dairy per se, it's dairy overload, b/c my ds can have dairy products now with no adverse effect, although he doesn't have that much. My ds is also gluten free which I think has helped too.
Don't need to leave out butter, it doesn't have much in a way of protein, as it's just fat.
I also use goats milk occasionally, eg hot choc or custard.

thanks - well we are over a week without cow's milk and she has more energy (my DP is now unsure as to whether this is an entirely Good Thing) and is eating better. The constipation issue has not resolved but perhaps we need to be very gradual with that. I have just realised that I will have to make ice cream for DD - she adores it, but of course it's usually made with milk!

DD gets constipated as a result of dairy, not sure if lactose or cmp, although her constipation has continued to be hit and miss so we are now looking at soya as a potential problem as well (which is an absolute bugger as it's in most of the other prepared stuff if dairy isn't|)

As for icecream dd has sorbet which is completely dairy free, we also used to used goats milk/ cheese and butter products (st helen's farm are the nicest imho)

Ah, give her time 2-3 weeks at least and maybe don't overload on wheat (which was the prob with my ds), I am quite sure that once it's out of the system she will cope with occasional dairy treat.

It's really amazing when you see them better and any setback will make you all realise what to avoid and why.

With constipation you need to be careful that she doesn't have a fecal impaction. You may need to give her a suppository or an enema (not pleasant I know!) to make sure things have all cleared out. The reason this is so important is that an impaction will stretch out the colon in that area which causes another impaction to form rather easily. Unfortunately I have a lot of experience in this area. Ds1 had 3 impactions and we had to undergo 2 years of colon rehabilitation.