Lactose Intolerant - What can I have and not have?

[leoemma]

I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance this week but not given much help on what I can and cant eat. Anyone got experience of this?

My youngest daughter was lactose intolerant from birth. Basically I had to cut out all dairy products or atleast anything that contained lactose and protein.

She was brought up on soya based products - milk, butter, yoghurts. Fortunately she loved her fruit and veg so no problem there.

What symptons do you have? DD2 had dreadful eczema, diarrhoea and vomitting.

xx

constant nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, eczema. Was originally diagnosed as IBS but i was allergic to dairy when I was a baby so went back and they took blood tests and came back with this! REad about hidden lactose foods - any ideas what they might be?

my children have a complete intolerance to dairy stuff [not lactose, but another protein]
we use...
vitalite marg
alpro yogurts
goats milk (because they are all great on it, and it is just like cows milk for cooking sauces, pancakes and stuff)
goats cheese
ice cream called "Swedish Glace" - most supermarkets have it
alpro milkshakes for the dc to take to school for morning breaks
Alpro make ready-to-use custard, but we tend not to use it as we make our own with custard powder and goats milk

I do a lot of shopping in Aldi because lots of their stuff is dairy free [not intentionally, just that they don't seem to feel the need to put butter in everything]

I really recommend seeing a dietitian, which you can get referred to by your GP. they check that you are getting a balanced diet and can advise on the stuff you should avoid / look out for.
After a few lengthy shopping trips where you read virtually every label in the supermarket (or feel like you have) then you will soon get things sorted and it will become really straightforward.

Will check those things out tomorrow - thanks for the advice. THere is so much stuff in the supermarket and some of it tastes grim.

Alpro yogs - lovely. Much nicer than 'normal' yogs.

My eldest DD has IBS. She is on colofac for it. She gets a lot of stomach pain around the belly button area - is that where you get your pain?

I didn't know you could be tested for lactose intolerance with a blood test - thats a new one!

Apparently there is a level of something that shows up if you are lactose intolerance - I hadnt heard of it before either. My pain is under my belly button, hope its not long before I see an improvement.

btw - you can even get jaffa cakes with no dairy stuff in them in aldi ... also take a look at the budget brands in supermarkets, as on the whole they tend to have fewer ingredients, thus no milky stuff! we use warburtons crumpets too and plain chocolate chips to put in home-made choc muffins For baking pastry, stork marg with gold wrapper and "for pastry" written on the packaging has no milk in either.
Will have to shut up now or will ramble on all night

My ds was lactose intolerant from 15 months until 6 years old. He is fine now as long as he doesnt pig out.

My tip would be dont do what I did and cut out eggs too. It took me 8 weeks to realise. For some reason I decided that eggs were dairy

ooh liking the jaffa cakes - will hunt out the nearest aldi tomorrow!

Actually I did a lot of home-baking whilst weaning DD2 and have tended to home-bake a lot for DD1 with her IBS. That way you know what goes in to a meal.

I think the key is to stick to as natural-a-diet as possible. Yes read the labels but most major stores have their own dairy free range as well as gluten and wheat free etc. Only problem is its very expensive which is why I cook a lot.

What alternative are you going to use for milk? Soya is, imo, foul. I had rice milk suggested to me and goats but stuck with the soya in the end. You can get sweetened and unsweetened versions and even flavoured shakes.

DD2 grew out of her lactose problem when she hit two years old, which I'm told is normal but even now I'm wary. Whereas DD1 simply doesn't like too much dairy because she thinks it'll always make her ill. Shame especially when the ice-cream man is doing his rounds!

Im really wary about what I eat as have just been feeling so crappy. Makes you not want to eat in case something sets it off. Am going to try Soya again but perhaps the sweetened one.

We were told by a professor of immunology and allergy that goats milk was still very close to cows milk and that you shouldn't use it. Sheeps milk is less like cows but they all contain lactose as far as I know. There is soya, oat milk and rice milk.

We still like soya milk (We use soya when we have run out of fresh cows milk now) we have the sweetened tesco one, used to have sweetened alpro

Unsweetened is foul imo

girlnextdoor makes a good point - be v.careful and take advice - (like i said,too) before you substitute with goat milk/cheese etc. It works for us because the DC have CMPI not a lactose problem. Rice milk is nice, tho. And utterly harmless AFAIK!!
know what you all mean about being wary of trying anything, DS1 is still like that and I'm particularly observant almost to the point of getting neurotic at times over what i feed him. You just don't want to kick all that pain and illness off again.

I can recommend the book Food Allergy and Intolerance, by Prof. Jonathan Brostoff- he was the dr that both me and my son saw.

Lots of down toe arth advice as well as lots of lists as to what you can eat etc.