Hekp! My baby is lactose intolerant!

Arifah A - posted on 09/25/2010

awww try soy formula

Minnie - posted on 09/25/2010

Oversupply is a problem for many mothers- and in that case the baby gets too much of the foremilk and yes, it ends up being a lactose 'overload'- too much lactose in too short a time for baby to digest. Here are some articles about it:



http://www.llli.org/FAQ/oversupply.html



http://www.llli.org/FAQ/foremilk.html



http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVSep...



Since he was 6 weeks old he has been very unsettled, screaming, crying, wriggling his body in pain etc. and he would vomit big chunks of milk



This can be scary. It sounds very much like the symptoms of a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. This can be rectified through block feeding- letting your baby nurse on one side for however many feedings it takes to empty that breast before going on to the other side. If your baby wants to nurse before the 'block' of time is up, back he goes to the same side.



For some reason, oversupply, or a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance is unheard of in the medical field and reflux tends to be the blanket diagnosis of choice.

Crystal - posted on 09/25/2010

my daughter started the same thing and i was on wic and they were giving me something like 6 to7 gallons of milk a month, so i was eating LOTS of milk and cereal....same symptoms and i just cut out all dairy (milk, chz, yougert, ice cream, ect) and am now working on a more vegan diet(it gets much easier as time goes on) and now when i do have even a small amount of dairy it hurts my stomach soooooo bad! it is almost like i am now lactose intolerant or suffer from lactose overload! haha! crazy right? but it is so worth it to have a super healthy baby! and havent ever had to give her formula!!! yea!!!

Jessica - posted on 08/15/2010

It sounds like you have already done it, but google the elimination diet. I think kellymom.com had an article on it as well. Some alternatives for you while on the diary free diet: soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, for ice cream: there are some made with soy milk and some made with coconut milk, there are non-dairy cheeses. Check in your supermarket's natural food section. I too had to eliminate dairy from my diet because my baby was sensitive to it.

Aleks - posted on 08/01/2010

they add protein and a few vitamins and minerals, i think some iron and vitamin b12 (?) but am not all that sure, look it up on google or wikipedia. They are not a dairy substitute....

Helene - posted on 08/01/2010

I am cutting out all dairy now but I've read on here that it takes a while so I'm patiently waiting. I've recently had lots of egg (to make up for no dairy) and I can't see any difference in him. What's eggs in the diet suppose to do?

Victoria - posted on 07/31/2010

My son cannot handle my milk if i eat dairy or eggs. So i had to cut it out of my diet and he got better. Have you tried doing that?

Helene - posted on 07/31/2010

Aleksandra,lactose overload is not just having lots of milk. I searched "lactose overload" on here and found an answer to a post about a baby with the same symptoms as my son. Lactose overload is also called functional lactase insufficiency and it occurs when a baby's digestive system is unable to produce enough quatities of the digestive enzyme lactase to break down all the lactose recieved. One symptom is that they gain weight very quickly which would explain my chubby son. Basically babies get more of the foremilk and less of the hindmilk which fills them up quickly but them makes them hungry all the time. The first months of William's life I breastfed 10-14 times a day!!!!

Aleks - posted on 07/30/2010

LOL@ Helene. Its not lactose overload... I had/have lots of milk too. Children's/babies stomachs are actually specifically "designed" to handle lots of lactose. In fact, breastmilk has something like 3 times the lactose than dairy/cow milk. We humans then lose our ability to tolerate lactose at around the same time we start losing our "milk teeth".
Oh, btw.. it takes something like 2-3 weeks for the proteins to completely leave your system, so you may not see any "real" improvements in your son till that time.
Good luck and hope he gets well soon :-)

Helene - posted on 07/30/2010

Thank you very much for all your responses! After getting the diagnosis as well as writing here I also surfed the net for info and it's defenately not lactose intolerance as my son is healthy and even chubby at 8,650 kg. or more than 19 pounds. My own diagnosis would be lactose overload due to my overproduction of milk (I have loads). Anyway, I am now cutting out all dairy from my diet. A health visitor told me to keep breastfeeding as I'm doing now, 2-3 times a day as it creates a protective layer on the inside of his gut. Thanks again!

Kelly - posted on 07/27/2010

It is most likely a milk protein intolerance. My son is 6 weeks old and had very similar symptoms. I cut anything with milk, whey or casein (milk proteins) and he is a whole new baby! It sucks for me because everything including soy has milk proteins but it is a season!

Hope your little one is doing well soon!

Mary - posted on 07/26/2010

I think the two previous posters covered most of it, but another thing to be aware of is there is a high likelihood of babies who are sensitive to cow's milk protein having issues with soy as well. My daughter actually had a worse reaction to soy. I cut out all soy and dairy for 6 months and it really helped. Now she can tolerate when I eat cheese and yogurt, however, she has not done too well with cow's milk or cow's milk yogurt in her own diet (She's almost 14 months). We mostly breastfeed, but I have introduced some goat's milk and goat's milk yogurt, and that agrees with her a lot more. I hope that helps both now and later.

I would really try to eliminate from your own diet first. Otherwise you'll need to find a formula your child can tolerate.

You're not a bad mother. You're just trying to figure out how to nourish your little one. Good luck!

Aleks - posted on 07/26/2010

Like Sara said.

Its NOT LACTOSE intollerance. It is DAIRY INTOLLERANCE! Which is an intollerance to some of the proteins found in ALL dairy foods. Basically, your sons stomach and/or intestines (including his bowel) is not mature enough to handle the harsh and difficult to digest (in most people) proteins contained within all dairy foods, like casein. As he grows and his digestive tract matures he may be able to "out-grow" his intollerance.

Your breastmilk is fine - though needs to be cleared off dairy (Protein)

Both my kids have had it. My 17mth old daughter is still intollerant and suffered both blood in poo and reflux, while my 1st born son only suffered blood in poo and outgrew his intollerance by about 12mths of age. In fact, the doctors I went to see about the blood in poo would not believe anything was wrong. Said it should go away and when it didnt they assumed that its blood from my nipples!!!! (heavy sight!!!) Actually, my daughters current pediatrician still doesn't believe that my daughter's blood in poo is caused by the intollerance and thinks its blood form my nipples!!! (shaking head) If only she saw all the mucous and the amount of blood that was there ... but doctors, hugh?
Anyway, as soon as I cut out all dairy, she was like a different child!!! Mind you, she soon also developed soy intollerance too (that took a while to diagnose too)
BTW, the reason there is mucous and blood is because the bowel is inflamed, and there is technically damage being done to the gut floura and lining. Therefore, it is important to find out the "guilty" foods and cut them out as soon as possible!

With my 1st born, a good pediatrician after 2 visits (and a few hundred dollars later - typical), on the 3rd visit suggested diet emlimination and dairy was the first to be tested. As soon as all dairy was cut out of my diet my baby was fine, even though it took until he was about 7mths of age for it to be diagnosed, and I started talking to doctors about his poo when he was barely 3mths old! Once dairy free poo was clear of mucous and blood :-) Also, the evening grizzles and unsettled behaviour ended (in both kids in fact).

However, the problem with cutting out dairy is that you have to be very villigant, as a lot of processed foods have got dairy hidden in it. You have to read lables on all processed foods - including bread products (yep, some have dairy products in them!!!!). Others, crumbed or otherwise frozed fish, ready to roast chickens and turkey. Most store bought deserts and sweets. Pastry. Some pasta sauces. Indian curry sauces. etc etc...

Anyway, good luck and I hope I was of some help to you.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 07/26/2010

It doesn't sound like lactose intolerance. It sounds like a dairy allergy. There's a difference and many people (including doctors) don't seem to know it. Lactose intolerance in a baby is extremely rare. It's usually diagnosed in the first weeks of life and the baby is usually FTT (failure to thrive). Have you tried cutting dairy out of your diet? It takes about 2 weeks to get all of the milk protein from dairy out of your system and it might help his problems.
Symptoms of a food allergy (from the second link):
"If a breastfed baby is sensitive to a particular food, then he may be fussy after feedings, cry inconsolably for long periods, or sleep little and wake suddenly with obvious discomfort. There may be a family history of allergies. Other signs of a food allergy may include: rash, hives, eczema, sore bottom, dry skin; wheezing or asthma; congestion or cold-like symptoms; red, itchy eyes; ear infections; irritability, fussiness, colic; intestinal upsets, vomiting, constipation and/or diarrhea, or green stools with mucus or blood."
Here's more info on lactose intolerance and milk protein allergies. Hope they help you!

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/lac...
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/foo...