Could my 6 month old be lactose intolerant?

[pinkdolly]

Hiya,

Since I started weaning dd every time I give her anything dairy she poos all the way up to her neck (I am not exagerating), It's awful, v.runny and smelly.

I wandered if she is intolerant, but have some questions.

First of all she is a breastfed baby. Her poos have always been runny, but then b/f babies poo's generally are, aren't they?
Surely she would have had a reaction to the dairy in my diet.

Second, I want to start introducing the odd f/f just in case I need to go out somewhere, could this upset her tummy (do you have to buy special milk?)

She is only small about 13llbs, could it be that her digestive system is just to sensitive for dairy at the mo.

Thanx

Pink

If your baby reacts badly to dairy foods sounds like a good idea to stop giving them. You are right that normal bf baby poos are runny, and look like mustard. I kept all my children away from dairy products for at least their first year, just in case they reacted like your baby. I ate dairy products myself and continued to bf. Giving dairy products to a baby directly is not the same as eating them yourself and then bf. Mothers eat all sorts of things they would not give directly to a baby. Do bear in mind though, that when you add solids to a bf baby's diet, the stools will increase and change and smell much worse. However, I would normally expect them to be more solid rather than more runny.

If you want to be able to give your baby the occasional bottle (or feeder cup), have you thought of expressing your own milk for that purpose, rather than buying formula? Once they start on solids, you can give other fluids such as water and dilute juice so unless you are going to leave your baby regularly for long periods you can get away with not leaving milk for them. It worked for me anyway.

It's unlikely it's the lactose causing the problem, as there is lactose in breastmilk (and goat's milk, and every milk). It's more likely to be the cow's milk protein.

She might be better with goat's milk.

As elasticwoman says, better to give your daughter EBM than formula, particularly given your concerns. There are cow's milk-free formulas, but they're even more artificial than normal formula. (And the cow's milk protein in formula is treated to be less allergenic, for what it's worth.)

This discussion also going on here due to double post by OP, in case you ladies want to follow the discussion.