Managing lactose intollerence

ThisRegard

I didn't want to hijack the Eating when out and about thread, but seeing Moonbeams comment about her kid being lactose intolerant has me realising there may be a few people, including myself, with a kids suffering from this, and how they manage it.

How intolerant is your kid, can they eating even small amounts with lactose and milk in them ?

Ours can seem to manage toast with some butter in it, but anything else just sets him off. Luckily there does seem to be a lot of lactose free products out there these days, and they don't all taste awful.

Has anyone had a toddler grow out of it at an early stage, did you gradually introduce lactose into their diet ?

Rose35

My now two year old was diagnosed at 7 months with lactose intolerance, but by aged 18 months he was growing out of it. we introduced him back into a normal diet gradually and figured out he was growing out of it, this was on the advice of the paediatric consultant we were seeing. He was able to tolerate small amounts i.e. butter on toast or mashed potatoes containing butter (eating out, always asked if potatoes contained butter and 100% of time they did or the soup contained cream), but he tolerated those small amounts well.
Once we changed his formula at 7 months to SMA Lactose free the change was unbelievable, poor fella so sorry we didn't cop something was up sooner, but as I said he is now ok with all foods.

Think the consultant said that no need to buy lactose free yogurts as all type yogurts were suitable for lactose intolerant people.
Cheese was a real culprit, if your little one can tolerate cheese then this is a good sign they may be growing out of it.

Orion

Have you tried raw milk? The problem with lactose intolerant people is that they can't break down the lactose sugars due to a lactase deficiency. The L. Casei (not trademarked by Nestle - you'd think they invented the bacteria from their advertising) bacteria which is naturally in milk does that job for you. Unfortunately that bacteria is destroyed by pasteurisation. Raw milk is unpasteurised so the l.casei is present along with other good bacteria and enzymes which would also be otherwise destroyed.

http://www.rawmilkireland.com/where-to-buy-raw-milk.html

Orion

Rose35 wrote: »

Think the consultant said that no need to buy lactose free yogurts as all type yogurts were suitable for lactose intolerant people.

That's exactly right. Yoghurts are probiotic - they contain the good bacteria such as l.casei to break down the lactose sugars. Generally no need for lactose free yoghurts or any other probiotic drink.

galah

It's funny, our little one was never able to tolerate yoghurts, always puked and had tummy pains. I breastfed for a year, supplemented a tiny bit with sma lactose free (which he hated, getting any amount of bottles into him was very hard, but then that stuff tastes vile so i cant blame him), and then weaned him onto avonmore lactose free milk, which he loves, guzzling the stuff.

Very slowly trying more dairy, and it seems to be going ok - he's mostly ok when the stuff is cooked (cheese on lasagne, cream in soup). He tolerates goat's yoghurts without problems, and hard cheeses. He's now 13 months.

ThisRegard

Orion wrote: »

That's exactly right. Yoghurts are probiotic - they contain the good bacteria such as l.casei to break down the lactose sugars. Generally no need for lactose free yoghurts or any other probiotic drink.

Yogurts don't do it for him, he reacts within a fairly short time to it, so our experience doesn't tally with that consultant, our own never mentioned it.

So we give him soya based yogurt. And we use the vitamin enriched Alpro Junior +1 Soy milk

Rose35

Sounds like your child may have an intolerance to dairy products(cows milk allergy) rather than just lactose intolerance, I would mention this at your next appt with consultant.

ThisRegard

Yeah, we're still awaiting blood test results on that.

galah

Just on the yogurt thing - all the stats i've seen (wikipedia is a quick one) show that milk and yogurt have the same amount of lactose, so just because baby doesnt tolerate yogurt doesnt mean they're dairy/cows milk intolerant - otherwise my baby at least wouldnt be able to drink the lactose free milk, which he tolerates well, but pukes when he's given normal yogurt.

tinkerbell

Orion wrote: »

That's exactly right. Yoghurts are probiotic - they contain the good bacteria such as l.casei to break down the lactose sugars. Generally no need for lactose free yoghurts or any other probiotic drink.

Not true. All commercial yoghurts are only fermented for 8 hours so the sugars are still present in the yoghurt. In order to eliminate the sugars it needs to be fermented for 24 hours and then lactose intolerant people are possibly then ok with eating the 24 hour yoghurt.

OP, make your own yoghurt if needs be, it's actually really easy with a yoghurt maker.

Moonbeam

My 10 month old can tolerate toast with butter now too but that seems to be it so far.
The now 4 year old was allergic to milk and at about 2years and 3 months it just seemed to vanish.

undecided

Hi my little man was really ill n cranky and really bad eczema. Tried sma soy with improved but terrible constipation. Doc then advised sma lacto free which was fine but still sick regularly and skin still v bad so went to aptimil pepti 2 and viola everything better and completely clear skin:) He is 15 months now and still not tolerate dairy must say starting to find it more difficult. So will be following this thread with interest!

undecided

Hi my little man was really ill n cranky and really bad eczema. Tried sma soy with improved but terrible constipation. Doc then advised sma lacto free which was fine but still sick regularly and skin still v bad so went to aptimil pepti 2 and viola everything better and completely clear skin:) He is 15 months now and still not tolerate dairy must say starting to find it more difficult. So will be following this thread with interest!

cbyrd

I have 2 boys who can't tolerate dairy. I'm intolerant too so recipes are a huge part of our lives. I started about 9 years ago after a severe allergic reaction to a spice left me unable to tolerate dairy. My boyfriend is coeliac so I've learned how to make gluten free dairy free foods and I find it better than buying the shop stuff.
I started on the puredairyfree.com website. I use the sunflower spread for baking and on breads. I use almond or rice milk in recipes, I get the pizzas made up in store or ordering for take away I order without cheese.
I use the alprosoya yoghurts too, they're really nice and the one's with no bits are just like petite filous the kids love them!
Swedish glace soya icecream is gorgeous, we use the extra mature cheeses only contain small amounts of lactose, I get out the fennel tea after eating it
In any recipe, milk can butter can be substituted easily. I was told my 5 year old would grow out of it by the time he was 2, it did ease a little but if he eats a lot his skin gets dry and sore. My 3 year old gets bad eczema on his arms and legs eating just a small portion. Dairy free chocolate is widely available now too, my birthday is on Friday and the cake will be a dairy free gluten free chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream! I also make a lovely coffee walnut cake.. carrot cakes, muffins, pancakes etc.. once you get the hang of the different consistencies its very easy. Once you get the mindset that dairy products make you sick, it becomes very easy to stay away from it.
Any help you need feel free to ask me.

loubian

My lo was put onto nutramigen at 5 months. Her face was covered in a rash as was other places. It did change after a while but every now and again she woul get a rash. Nowadays I'm trying her with dairy. She usually has butter/little bit of milk or a yoghurt. She was doing well but at night now she's itchy. I don't know if it's just eczema or a result of the cows milk allergy. I'm going to get the doctor to refer us to a specialist so we can find out once and for all.

Orion

tinkerbell wrote: »

Not true. All commercial yoghurts are only fermented for 8 hours so the sugars are still present in the yoghurt. In order to eliminate the sugars it needs to be fermented for 24 hours and then lactose intolerant people are possibly then ok with eating the 24 hour yoghurt.

OP, make your own yoghurt if needs be, it's actually really easy with a yoghurt maker.

I'm not saying there's no sugars in them. I'm saying that the friendly bacteria that help break them down are.