Lactose Intolerant or Milk Allergy? - posted: Aug. 19, 2008 at 9:55 PM

My 13 mo old Jackson is lactose intolerant or has an allergy to milk protein, not sure which? We just figured it out yesterday. At first I was SO relieved I couldn't really think about how bad it really sucked. But now I just want to cry. I have a friend who is lactose intolerant and her 2 yr old is as well but when she talks about it I don't think her's is as bad as my little one. I am just so sad that it took me so long to figure it out. He has had to suffer with it for so long. I have told the Dr's he has really runny poops and all they had to say is some babies are just like that. And I asked about his rash all over his body almost every time I took him in but they always just shrugged it off.

The problem all started when he was 3 months old and I switched him to formula because my flow was too fast for him he would always gag and cry. Well he used to have solid poops the first few months of his life but as soon as he went on formula he started having runnier poops and he would cry all the time. I thought he was constipated for a while cause some of the time he wouldn't go for days. I tried other formulas I even tried soy based but nothing seemed to help. Maybe I just didn't give it a long enough chance to work for him? But he seems to get these spurts where his diarrhea gets really bad! His butt gets really red and blistered. It will clear up after a couple weeks and he is back to like always with the runny poops just not as acidic. And his rash on his body will come and go too. He used to throw up a lot when he was a baby but now he is OK. Well I gave him a slice of cheese for the first time the other week and he got it all over his face. Everywhere the cheese touched turned bright red and puffy. So I decided it has to be the dairy. So the day before yesterday I stopped giving him milk. He had his first hard poop yesterday since he was a newborn. He still seems a little cranky but the rash is gone. I can't believe I have let him suffer for so long, my poor little man! :(

I just talked to the Dr and they are thinkin with the rash it may be a milk protein allergy. But the reaction he had to the cheese I guess is still unknown? So I have to put him on soy milk for a few weeks then slowly introduce the milk then cheese and yogurt, etc. Then we will see how he reacts and we should know from there what is going on I guess. She had a hard time explaining to me what the difference will be in the reactions but we will just have to wait and see what happens...



UPDATE: So come to find out he is allergic to milk AND soy. You wouldn't believe the amount of things that have soy in them. It is hard to keep him totally away from it let alone any dairy. He has to be on rice milk now which I do not believe has the kind of nutrition cows milk or soy has in it. So I am a little worried. He seems to be getting pretty skinny, although he did start walking around the same time this all came up so that could be part of it. He gets really cranky around 6 every night so sometimes he falls asleep before I can even get some dinner in him. It makes me feel like a horrible mom! I don't think he is getting enough to eat. I am going to take him to a Dr, someone who will actually take the time to help us cause the one we usually see doesn't seem to be helping much. I am hoping to get some suggestions on what to give him and start giving him vitamins. I am curious about how much he weighs now. The good new is they say most kids grow out of this by the age of 4. I found out Dave had some of the same problems when he was a baby and he is OK now so I sure hope Jackson will be too!