Milk protein allergy in a baby? Anyone?

[Deleted]

I've just been told that DD might have a milk protein allergy and all milk/dairy products need to be eliminated from my diet...

Has anyone had any experience with this? How much of a PITA is it? I've started doing research and it doesn't look like a very fun diet... no chocolate, milk, cheese, chocolate, butter, chocolate, ICE CREAM, CHOCOLATE?!?

OMG, what am I going to eat?

[Miss Tequila]

My oldest dd also had a milk allergy...I didn't have to give anything up as she was on formula. On the plus side, she did outgrow it.

[Deleted]

Both of my sons were lactose intolerant and I had to eliminate a lot of things from my diet until I stopped breast feeding. It was a pain in the butt, but having a sick cranky baby was worse.

I THOUGHT my oldest out grew it, but when he hit puberty, it came back with a vengeance! He now has to take lactose pills if he eats any dairy. It doesn't always work, but for the most part the pills do. If he forgets, he is in the bathroom doubled over into a fetal position.

[973beachbum]

My son was allerigic to Dairy products. It is a bear and a half to avoid all dairy products. The good news is that most out grow it by 3-5 years old. But I have never heard of a baby being allerigic to it through the breast milk. Is it allergy or just fussyness type of thing?

If it is a true allergy to dairy and you have to avoid all dairy products I would seriously consider formula.

Avoiding all dairy is more than just chease and ice cream. My son couldn't eat most breads, crackers, tomato sause, well you get the idea, almost any product that was bought at the store except meat, grains and produce. Trust me it is not an easy road to hoe.

[Cookies Galore]

This looks like a job for AngelD and T-Bird! AngelD has a severe casein allergy and would know what foods are safe (example, loaves of bread sold in the supermarket may contain casein) and T-Bird is vegan so she'd also know dairy-free foods.
I bake vegan, but one can only eat so much carrot cake and cupcakes.
But Rose, there are PLENTY of foods you can eat!
We are talking an actual casein allergy and not a lactose intolerance, right?

[Deleted]

Jan 3, 2011 18:24:58 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

This looks like a job for AngelD and T-Bird! AngelD has a severe casein allergy and would know what foods are safe (example, loaves of bread sold in the supermarket may contain casein) and T-Bird is vegan so she'd also know dairy-free foods.
I bake vegan, but one can only eat so much carrot cake and cupcakes.
But Rose, there are PLENTY of foods you can eat!
We are talking an actual casein allergy and not a lactose intolerance, right?

Ah...I should clarify that DS is lactose intolerant but does not have the casein allergy. Thanks for bringing that up.

[973beachbum]

Is this lactose intolerance or an allergy? Most people use the words interchangeably but they are radically different.

My son would break out in hives and his mouth and throat would swell up if he ate a Ritz cracker. Is that what you are talking about OP? Or do you mean the baby is a little fussy after you feed him after eating ice cream?

[973beachbum]

Jinx Meghn!

[Deleted]

It is not very common for BF babies, but apparently it does occur. They think it's an actual allergy (I'll make them actually run some tests when we go in next week). I noticed blood in her stool last night and again this morning. That in conjunction with some of her other symptoms led the dr to come to this conclusion. She's actually not fussy, just the bloody loose stool, eczema (thought it was sensitive skin), gagging (thought it was acid reflux), lots of man-sized gas...

Anyway, I'm planning on trying the dairy-free diet while we're waiting on the tests to see if that helps, then re-evaluating. Right now she won't take a bottle at all, so I'm not to sure how switching to formula would work out!

Any help on dealing with this would be a huge help. Because even if she does switch to formula there will still be a lot of work I have to do as she gets older.

[Opti]

There are some dark chocolates that do not have dairy in them, however
if she's really sensitive I don't know any that definitely are processed
on dairy free equipment.

Kosher products can be your friend.

[Deleted]

LA808 - as far as we know milk protein is the only culprit - if my dairy-free diet doesn't help, then we'll get her tested for other allergies.

Opti - Since she hasn't been tested, not sure how severe it is... but I don't eat tons of dairy (maybe have a slice of cheese on a sandwich a few times a week, a glass of milk once a week, creamer in the coffee daily) And it appears to be the slower onset allergy vs rapid onset (hives, vomiting) so I'm assuming it would be a "milder" case.

I'll definitely have to check out the dark chocolate. I'm already craving chocolate and a big glass of milk has never looked so good! Maybe it's just because I know I can't have it now I'll be going to the grocery store tomorrow reading all the labels, our store has a kosher section, so maybe there will be some goodies there.

[NastyWoman]

You might go over and post on the WIR Kids thread. There are a few women over there who have been dealing with issues like this.

[973beachbum]

baby's sensitivity to milk protein can be considered an allergy if the symptoms are extremely bad - for example blood in their stool.

The duration of the sensitivity or allergy varies from baby to baby. Some are OK with cow's milk protein in as soon as 4 months and others may last a year or two or even longer.

Rose because you are breast feeding their is not as much milk protein making it through to the baby. I don't know how much but I would start with the obvious things that are dairy and cut them out of your diet. I would eliminate all milk, cheese etc but not worry about casein in products like bread and crackers. I would try that for a few weeks and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn't them I would look at making all things you eat be dairy free.

The good news is that most kids who are allergic to dairy outgrow it by the 2nd year. But blood in the stool is a sign of a bad allergy for a little baby and I would try to cut out all dairy to stop it. Or switch to milk free formula.

My son became allergic to dairy after solid foods and outgrew it by 3 years old. It was a pain but it is normally not a life long problem.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

RoseGarden hop onto MSN WIR Pregnancy thread before it goes because there is a poster named azure sky that has had to eliminate practically everythign and then some from her diet, one of them is dairy. She can tell you how to do it.

I am not sure if she is coming over here so your best bet is to catch her over on MSN.

[Taxman10]

Jan 4, 2011 11:44:00 GMT -5 Taxman10 said:

Jan 4, 2011 11:43:42 GMT -5 Taxman10 said:

It is not very common for BF babies, but apparently it does occur. They think it's an actual allergy (I'll make them actually run some tests when we go in next week). I noticed blood in her stool last night and again this morning. .

We had the same thing with DS -- it was really scary at first b/c we noticed blood in the stool when he was 3 days old. A quick trip to the ER (7 hours) later, we had to put him on Nutramagin (sp?) fron Enfamil - it was pricey. How old is your kid??

Babies usually outgrow the allergy. Ours did by 6 months and he's back on regular formula. I actually switched him to soy first at around 3 months. He never had any problems after the first week

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Cow milk is not the same as human breastmilk. Baby cows need different things than baby humans. Totally different protein structures in the two. That's why you cannot give milk to babies in place of breastmilk or formula.

Then soy is even farther off the mark and so is rice.

[Cookies Galore]

Jan 4, 2011 12:24:01 GMT -5 @la808 said:

Jan 4, 2011 11:59:50 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Cow milk is not the same as human breastmilk. Baby cows need different things than baby humans. Totally different protein structures in the two. That's why you cannot give milk to babies in place of breastmilk or formula.

Then soy is even farther off the mark and so is rice.

Why is it that some babies can tolerate cows milk while more and more babies are showing that they can't? Is something happening to the milk or what?

More likely the child is lacking an enzyme that helps process the milk protein. Or something like that.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Lactose intolerance. If you are of Eastern (I think, I can't remember) European descent, Asian decent, Native American or African descent you often times do not have the gene for lactose tolerance.

The gene is recessive and is becoming more recessive as time goes by.

You need to be of a certain genetic descent to interhent the tolerance for lactose.

[Angel!]

I'm allergic to milk protiens, so I can provide some help.

It isn't too hard to figure out if a product has dairy with all the labeling laws & awareness nowadays. You need to look out for any of the obvious ingredients - milk, cheese, butter, etc & then the two other biggies are whey & casien (or any variation of casien such as casienate).

A lot of foods have whey - breads, cereals, frozen meals, so this can be tricky & you will have to check labels. Casein isn't that common & is occassionally in things like hotdogs & processed deli meats & some gums. Not sure how careful you need to be since you are breastfeeding, so you will need to determine if you just need to cut out the major items like milk & cheese or cut out absolutely everything. If you are going to the extreme, then I would also avoid foods manufactured on equipment that processes dairy. Don't trust the packaging saying "dairy-free", it often isn't truly dairy free if you read the ingredients - such as Coffee-mate Creamer, which calls itself non-dairy, but has Sodium Caseinate in the ingredients.

There are lots of dairy free brands out there, but I'll give you a few I am familiar with: Soy Delicious Ice Cream is dairy free & they test their products for allergens. Silk milk is good soy milk & you could go with rice milk also, but I am not familiar with the brands. Fleischmanns unsalted margerine (the salted variety use to have milk, not sure if this is still true). Frozen meals are really tough & I don't know of any offhand, but I do know most of Tyson Chicken frozen stuff is generally ok. Many of the Pillsbury dough products (rolls, sugar cookies, etc) are dairy free. The only bread brand I can think of off-hand is Rainbo, but there are others.

Also, I think it was mentioned - lactose intolerance & a dairy allergy are two completely different things & need to be approached differently. Lactose intolerance is the body's inability to process the sugar lactose in dairy, which can lead to stomach problems. Dairy allergy is when the body has an immune reaction to dairy protiens (whey & casien), which can cause anything from diarrhea, to a skin rash, to anaphalaxis where the throat starts swelling shut.

Let me know if you have more questions, this was just the basic stuff I could think of atm. Also, walmart's website now has foods listed with ingredients - you could start there to make a shopping list so you don't spend twenty minutes pulling product after product off the shelf in the effort to find a dairy-free foods. I would double check the foods in the store though.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Also to put it coldly people can flame me for it, a huge factor in why we have an upswing in severe allergies is because of modern medicine and modern food supplies. What would have been a death sentence before people can now survive well into adulthood and have children.

No saying they should not have kids, but that our modern world has allowed for an upswing in a lot of things that generations before would be considered a death sentence.

The more people who have severe allergies who have children, the more children born with severe allergies. It's really that simple.

There is also some controversy I read in a baby magazine that doctors are jumping the gun in calling things allergies and are missing more subtle diagnosis. Allergies is the new "flavor of the month" with doctors.

[Angel!]

Jan 4, 2011 12:37:19 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

There is also some controversy I read in a baby magazine that doctors are jumping the gun in calling things allergies and are missing more subtle diagnosis. Allergies is the new "flavor of the month" with doctors.

I believe this. When my son started having problems at ~13 months, the pediatrician sent him for a blood test. Then she proceeded to tell me that he is allergic to milk, eggs, nuts, & soy & that I needed to avoid all those foods. I didn't believe the milk & already knew he had a problem with soy, but wasn't sure about the rest. Took him to an allergist & it turns out the pediatrician didn't know much about allergies & didn't read the results correctly.

The way the allergist explained it was something like below .07 = no allergy for peanuts. Above a 15.00 = positive allergy result. My son tested .08, not a true negative, but not nearly high enough to start full on peanut avoidance or to announce he has an allergy. So all the foods we were told he was allergic to was just because he was at or slightly over the value for a negative test. The allergist did a skin test & all he has is a soy intolerance which he has already started to outgrow.

Jan 4, 2011 12:37:19 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Also to put it coldly people can flame me for it, a huge factor in why we have an upswing in severe allergies is because of modern medicine and modern food supplies. What would have been a death sentence before people can now survive well into adulthood and have children.

I agree with this as well. We are no longer a "survival of the fittest" society. Now everyone survives due to modern medicine & many go on to reproduce passing on the genes with the medical problems. As a group we are becoming weaker with more medical problems. I was one of those that likely would have never survived childhood a few centuries ago, but now I have 2 kids. But then my mother would have never survived hers due to TB, so I never would have been born anyway if we didn't have modern medicine.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

There is also some evidence that especially here in the US we are so OCD about being CLEAN that now children's immune systems aren't developing properly which leads to it being hyperactive at the slighest stimulus, like a peanut or milk protein.

[kristi28]

Jan 4, 2011 12:28:22 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Lactose intolerance. If you are of Eastern (I think, I can't remember) European descent, Asian decent, Native American or African descent you often times do not have the gene for lactose tolerance.

The gene is recessive and is becoming more recessive as time goes by.

You need to be of a certain genetic descent to interhent the tolerance for lactose.

Hi DramaQ:

I think you got this a little confused - the gene for lactose tolerance is a rare dominant allele. Lactose intolerance is recessive, though far more common. If anyone is curious about this (I'm probably the only nerd that cares) there is a nice article out of Colorado State here www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/lactose_intol.html

About allergies - baby girl has a food allergy, though not to milk. We just have to ask about the ingredients of all sorts of things and read labels. We are lucky that at least up to this point, the allergy doesn't seem to be life threateningly severe.

As a side note, baby girl got a stomach infection at one point in her first year. She had lots of diarrhea, some of it with blood, some reflux, and general discomfort after eating. She also started shunning her usual diet (formula in our case). This went on for two weeks, which according to her pediatrician is actually completely normal at that age. I think that you idea of asking that they test your child for a milk allergy is a good one - it would be a bummer to spend months not consuming any milk at all only to find out that your baby was actually allergic to something else.

[Angel!]

Thought of a few more tips - most plain chips are ok, plain potatoe chips, plain corn chips. But, most flavored chips are not ok. Many crackers & saltines have dairy, so check ingredients. Plain triscuits, plain wheat thins, & Premium saltines are all safe.

Tortillas are usually fine also. Mocha Mix makes a truly dairy-free creamer that works well for cooking/baking. It seems to work a little better than plain soy milk most of the time. Top Ramen brand ramens are ok, but Maruchan brand ramen is not.

You will just have to find brands that work for you & stick with those. You can find dairy-free foods for almost anything, it is just finding the right brand. Hopefully, you won't end up having to do much more than avoid the big items - milk, yorgurt, cheese, etc & you won't need to go so far as checking ingredients on everything you buy.

[Angel!]

There was a similar thread on the old boards that might have some useful advice:

boards.msn.com/Moneyboards/thread.aspx?threadid=1801344&post=1801344&boardname=Hide&header=SearchOnly&footer=Show&linktarget=_parent&pagestyle=money1&boardsparam=PostID%3D38915042

Might be worth checking out if you have a chance in the next 2 days before the boards shut down.

[Deleted]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll definitely have to follow-up on the links posted... I spent over an hour at the grocery store reading labels just trying to find substitutes for the common items like bread, milk, creamer & butter. Thank goodness the kids were being good!

And I will absolutely make sure they perform an allergy test just to make sure that 1) it is an allergy and 2) that it's to milk protein and 3) ONLY milk protein! You guys have given me hope that we can do this!

BTW- I'm also a believer that physicians today over-medicate, which is why I have previously refused medication for DD's "acid reflux"...

[Opti]

"huge factor in why we have an upswing in severe allergies is because of modern medicine and modern food supplies."

I think the modern food supply is a big culprit. Flavors are made from
all sorts of things you wouldn't expect and some of the ingredient lists
for dishes in chain restaurants contain an amazing amount of unexpected ingredients. This past weekend I was looking at some sauces, dry packages and bottles , I was shocked to see dairy in lots of szechuan
sauces, kung pao sauce, and general tsao sauce. Making any of these
from scratch they would be dairy free so what's up with putting milk products in them? I also noticed that one imitation vanilla derived some of
its flavor from tea and cocoa.

[Sammy]

Can I assume you are breast feeding and it's you that needs to avoid cows milk? Sorry, I do tons of reading, but miss a lot.

My heart goes out to you and the baby. My daughter was allergic to formula and I had to feed her a formula called Pro Sobe which is soy based. She outgrew the allergy before she was a year old. Now soy based formula is easy to get, but not when I had my daughter. We bought the formula by the case because it was so difficult to find. All I remember is my baby being in terrible pain and crying 20 out of 24 hours. Awful experience and agonizing seeing her so sick.

[973beachbum]

Yes Sammy, the baby is allergic to the dairy protiens in the OP's breast milk. She is going to try and remove all dairy products from her diet for the baby. I agree. I hope the baby grows out of it before a year. That would mak it so much easier.

[Angel!]

Jan 4, 2011 17:39:23 GMT -5 @rosebaby said:

which is why I have previously refused medication for DD's "acid reflux"...

Not saying you are wrong, but one side effect of allergies can be severe acid reflux. I don't know how common it is as a side effect though, I just know it is a problem that I have.

I do think a lot of doctors label any baby that spits up as having acid reflux & it is way overdiagnosed.