potential dairy intolerance - experiences??

[MamaWingsIt]

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of their DC developing an intolerance to dairy products.

DS (5) comes over a bit grey, 'wishy washy' and says he has to go to sleep immediately now and then lately. I've just connected the dots that it's actually the last two times been when he's eaten an ice cream an hour or so before.

This is a kid who usually hates bedtimes and we call him the king of stalling as he'll try any trick in the book to stay up a little later. But this afternoon an hour after an ice cream he showed his usual signs of feeling crap, took himself to bed and fell asleep straight away with no adult upstairs (usually wants somebody to sit at the top of the stairs when dozing after stories).

Any experiences? Tips etc? (We will be starting a little food diary from tomorrow morning and stopping ice cream treats for now!)

TIA x

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Hi, both of my children have milk allergies but for us it’s all digestive issues, mainly cramps and terrible diarrhoea. For my eldest, the things he can’t tolerate are ice-cream, milk, cream or anything else that is a significant chunk like that. But to get the clearest answer, the best way is to go strictly dairy free for 2-3 weeks (be very strict, there is LOTS if hidden milk in all sorts of unlikely products) then have a blown out day, with ice cream and mozarella and milkshakes etc. And you will either see a stark difference or not. It’s tough but more definitive than a food diary and so will give you an answer more swiftly. Good luck, and if it is milk, it’s not a big deal at all, there are loads of easy replacements and I actually think vegan ice cream is tastier.

Is it just ice cream, not milk, cream or yogurt?

DD is lactose intolerant, and has lactose free milk and cream. You could try switching to those?

Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy is a different thing…

Thank you for your replies.

Up to now we have only noticed with ice cream and one evening last week when he ate two yoghurts after his meal (small kiddie yoghurts, but still more than he'd usually have)

He does sometimes drink milk, but not cups full at a time, he tends to drink water - gets weak juice now and then with meals.

I will look into dairy free for a period of time thanks, this is a good tip. He does complain an awful lot of tummy aches, and now and then (every 1-2 weeks) he'll have a crazy 'cannot get off the toilet' day, with diarrhoea.

I'm hopeful it's all coincidental, but I do doubt it 😞

We keep DS to a lactose free diet due to cramps and diarrhoea which lifted when we tried a dairy free diet then returned every time we slipped up and overlooked milk in processed foods (it's everywhere). After a bit of trial and error he has lactose free milk and cheese, and milk-free everything else.
It's not so hard when you get into the swing of it.
He has been really well for ages now so over the summer holidays when he had a good run of days at home, we plan to start him back on the milk ladder approach to reintroduce milk, and see how it goes. I understand it may not always be a lifelong thing.

Try giving him dairy free sorbet. Does he have a similar reaction? If so, then it might be a reaction to consuming very cold food and nothing to do with dairy.

It's certainly nothing like the reactions my family have had to dairy. For us it would be gastric problems (bloating, diarrhoea, cramps), eczema, asthma, catarrh and glue ear in various combinations.

This stuff is great if you miss ice cream:
www.wallsicecream.com/uk/our-brands/swedish-glace.html

My daughter has a dairy intolerance. We noticed that after she had a certain amount of milk, ice-cream or soft cheese she would become very pale, sometimes get a headache, feel a bit hot to the touch but would sleep a lot.

We have liquid antihistamine. She has lactose free milk and cheese. She will have a dairy ice-cream now and again but no other dairy that day or the next day as she know her system cant cope.

There's a great page on Facebook called cmpa main group, it's for cows milk protein allergies. My DD is allergic to all milk products but my friends DS is only allergic to ice cream, cream and milk. If you try keep him dairy free for a month then maybe retrial dairy then you'll know