Intolerance to full fat dairy?

[GigantosaurusRex]

Posting for thoughts as it's Friday night and I won't be able to ask any medical professionals until Monday.

For history my mum follows a gluten and dairy free diet due to intolerances although has never had diagnostic tests to confirm. My brother also follows dairy free diet as he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at around age 16. DS aged 7 was tried with lactose free formula as a baby as he was so very windy and a terrible sleeper. It didn't really make a huge difference, he was just a terrible sleeper and he was weaned with cows milk with no issues.

He isn't a fan of yoghurts, he only really eats cheese if its pizza but he still likes a glass of skimmed milk before bed. Last year a local farm opened a milkshake vending machine locally and we noticed that every time we used it that DS would wake at around 10-10.30 and vomit. We stopped using it and the vomiting stopped. On Monday he had a bit of a cold and had some ice cream after dinner then woke at 10ish coughing as if he was going to be sick. I was unsure if it was nasal drip from the cold or the ice cream that caused it and went with the cold. Tonight he had some ice cream again and woke at 10. 30 with diarrhoea causing him to soil himself in bed. He was so upset.

There is clearly a pattern of gastric upset after full fat dairy products. Is it that fat content of it or could it be a low level intolerance that is flared when he has additional dairy? Needless to say I won't be allowing milkshake or ice cream for the foreseeable but I'm interested for any opinions.

Milk and ice cream have higher lactose than cheese on pizza.
Low fat and Whole milk have the same amount of lactose, I believe.

That's what Im struggling to understand, I've googled and it seems to say that the lactose contents are near enough the same. I don't want to cut dairy from his diet but I don't want to continue giving him skimmed milk etc and potentially be causing chronic damage to him. I will seek advice next week but I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts. Thank you for replying.

My son (8 nearly 9) is currently following dairy free, we were advised to go dairy free following bouts of upset tummy/sick late at night. In the last few weeks we've been reintroducing it and have noticed with thick milk shakes and ice cream it gives him a really sore tummy other foods yogurt/cheese doesn't seem to affect him as much, if at all. We have a follow up with his consultant in a few weeks so see what happens then.

Thank you, I hope he's OK.

Lactose intolerance is actually quite rare in babies, it's more common for them to be intolerant to the protein in the dairy, so that might explain why the lactose free formula didn't really help as the protein would have remained after the lactose was removed. It does sound like your dc has an issue with dairy though so it might be worth keeping him dairy free for a period and then if you want you could introduce it again by following the milk ladder.

DS is not allergic but has a very strong intolerance. Allergist was convinced it was lactose as that's what all the signs pointed to but food elimination proved otherwise. Dairy protein is his issue. The harder the cheese the less dairy protein and tend to eat less cheese so less chance of an issue. Butter has little dairy protein and general eaten in very small quantities so also often not an issue. Ice cream and milk are considerably higher in volume and therefore higher in dairy protein so it could be they can tolerate a small amount but not lots. Remove all dairy for a couple of weeks (absolutely all, read every ingredient in anything bought), reintroduce lactose free milk for a few days and see what happens. It's probably the quickest way to check if the issue is dairy protein or lactose.

Thank you everyone.

My ds13 is intolerant to casein. A1 beta casein. It's abundant in cows milk, yoghurt, icecream. Not so much in cheese, hardly at all in goats milk. He used to be able to have cheese on pizza, a little chocolate, custard, but a glass of cows milk, an icecream, a milkshake- they'd go straight through him. Still would.

Try goats milk. See if it helps. Chances are that the skimmed milk he's having is much lesser in quantity than the milkshake or icecream you mention. It could well be that his system is absolutely overwhelmed by the allergen.
Like hayfever days. Some you've just got tickly throat because the pollen count is low (skimmed milk), but others, you've got streaming nose, stinging, swollen eyes and tight chest because the pollen count is insane (milkshake, icecream)

Thank you. How did you pinpoint that it was A1 beta casein?

Children rarely have lactose intolerance, caused by lack or not enough enzyme to digest the lactose (sugar) in all mammal milk. When they do have it tend to have a genetic link. Has your Mum/brother been tested for it? Children are much more likely to have an allergy to the protein found in dairy (cmpa) and in which case being lactose free would have made no difference if he has cmpa.

DS had problems with cows' milk but tolerated goats' milk. He grew out of this at the age of around ten. I can't stomach milk, yogurt, kefir etc and neither could my mum, but I love cheese - something to do with the lower lactose, apparently.

Your first para sounds like me! I can eat some ice cream but not "the good stuff". Over the years I've learnt where my boundaries are (albeit they've changed as I've got older and at different points in my cycle). I just assumed it was a fat content thing but maybe there's more to it!

Either way op your son will learn what does and doesn't agree with him and where his boundaries lie. Not fun when you misjudge though!

I think my brother has been tested but not my mum. I thought I would mention it because it does seem significant that two close family members are unable to tolerate dairy (for whatever reason).

@SquigglePigs the poor boy has been too scared to drink his evening glass of milk again since Friday nights disaster.

Its not unusual for older people to start to develop lactose intolerance as historically humans only need the enzyme when they were breastfeeding.

Sounds like cows milk protein allergy, but on a lower level. I.e can tolerate some dairy but when he has something with a heavy milk protein load like ice cream it becomes too much.

Look at the milk protein ladder and see if that makes sense to you.

This is really interesting. I can tolerate a small amount of skimmed milk and hard cheese, but whole milk, ice cream, cream, milk puddings come out very quickly one way or the other!