Lactose Intolerance but baby won't feed on Lactose Free milk

[KalamityKate89]

My GP has told me today that they suspect my 7 week old DD has Lactose Intolerance so we've swapped to LF formula but she won't take it. Any ideas on what to do to get her to take it?

Can you mix it with her regular milk changing the percentage every couple of days so she gets used to the change in flavour e.g of a 5ml bottle
4mls reg milk/1ml lactose milk
3mls reg milk/2ml lactose milk
2mls reg milk,/3ml lactose milk etc

My first born was the same we first tried nutramagen I think it was called, smelled horrendous! He would touch it and I was in new Mum panic mode thinking he would die if he wouldn’t drink. We did a bit of research and found another called neocate and he took this one. Good luck

*wouldnt

Gradually mix it with existing formula, as pp suggested. Some people use vanilla.

I’m surprised GP suggests lactose intolerance, as dairy intolerance in infants is much more commonly associated with the protein, casein, rather than the lactose (which mostly affects adults).

We used Aptamil lactose free - least worst smell

What formula was she on before and does that manufacturer make a lactose free version? My DD was on Aptamil and became temporarily lactose intolerant. I think it was the Aptamil brand lactose free that we gave her so it was as similar as possible to her normal formula.

Are you sure they said lactose not cows milk?
Cows milk protein allergy is much much more common in babies. Lactose free milk is completely different to dairy free. My dd was fine with nutramigen but when we tried Neocate she wouldn't try it (she was nearly 1 though) but I read online to add vanilla essence or nesquick. That did the trick and obviously we weaned her off the additions ASAP!

Well the GP said it was likely to be something in the milk and to talk to our HV about what to swap to and they advised us to try Lactose Free first for a couple of weeks and then if theres no improvement we'd probably end up with prescription formula.

We were on Aptamil 1 and now trying Aptamil Lactose Free but she wouldn't entertain drinking it so we're mixing it but I've heard the prescription stuff is foul and so if we do have to switch to it that's going to be interesting...

They get used to it quickly, and at 7 weeks old it will be much easier to swap to than if she was older. I had all those worries too, but in the end it was fine. They get so hungry so quickly at that age, and haven’t yet got to the stubborn stage.

I'm not sure if it is always the way, but it only took about 6 hours of lactose free milk for us to know that lactose was the problem for my DD. If you can't digest lactose then it draws water into the gut and acts as a laxative.

One scoop of new in place of one scoop of old, so a 3oz bottle would be 2 scoops normal milk and 1 scoop lactose free, if she takes it fine go to 1:2 and again changing it each day until it’s all lactose free, you can pop colief in them in the mean time too to break down the lactose from the regular formula.