Lacoste intolerance

[SparkleGem]

Hi! My 6 year old son has just been diagnosed as being lactose intolerant and has an allergy to chocolate also! I'm new to this and was wondering if there are any other parents here the same as me? I'm wondering if lactose free is the same as dairy free? He's been told to avoid dairy. Can I also still give him foods like birds eye waffles or chicken which he likes. I'm struggling to know what to give him, does everything need to be milk free? Sorry for the confusion thanks in advance!

If he’s lactose intolerant then there are lots of dairy products on the market that don’t contain lactose; check out the Lactofree range. I should have shares in them with my dairy loving lactose intolerant family.

As for processed things, you are going to have to get into the habit of looking at the ingredients list on boxes. Sometimes intolerant people are okay with tiny amounts of lactose though.

Lactose is the sugar in milk. You dont have to avoid milk products as there are lots of lactose free products that are still cows milk protein based. What do you mean by allergic to chocolate?

@dementedpixie thank you! He's had problems with his stomach and eating so I took him for a private food intolerance test and two things out of 150 flagged up that he had an intolerance to lactose and an allergy to chocolate! He is gutted! Poor baby!

Private allergy testing doesn't have an amazing reputation especially if they've tested for loads of things in a non-directed way. Was this patch testing or blood tests? Do you feel there is a correlation with the symptoms?

I don't think it's a good sign that they have tested but not given you interpretation of the results or advice what to do with diet.

If the child's parents are both northern European I would be a bit sceptical about there being lactose intolerance as it's traditionally understood.

How can the say chocolate allergy? What aspect of chocolate? Milk chocolate contains dairy but most dark chocolate doesnt. Or is it some other factor in the chocolate? I'd see a gp rather than spurious private tests

Has he been tested for coeliac disease?

Mine was lactose intolerant (developed as a result of a stomach bug) & we 'avoided' lactose but were not 100% strict. She's gradually outgrown it over a year or so & is now fully ok.

It's not an allergy, just that the gut bacteria (or such) that process the milk in sugar have gone out of order & may well recover with time (or may not).

Just use lactofree/ dark chocolate/ avoid some food & see if you notice any improvement.

My dd is lactose intolerant due to medication she takes. We were lost to begin with but have found plenty she can have and have found plenty of alternatives. When we eat out most (sadly not all) have allergen menus or she has a vegan option.