I think she has a milk intolerance - what should I feed her?

[courts&munchkins]

Way tmi but dd has never had anything that forms any sort of solid poo. They are super sloppy, not watery diarrea but definetly sloppy. They often have white chunks in them that look like cottage cheese. And I find that I have to use a flushable and fleece liner with her nappies and even then if they get on the the nappy with me washing them straight out they stain her nappies. She can do anywhere between 2-6 a day. I am thinking it must be a milk intolerance. The only thing is I'm just not sure. She has no other symptoms except her horrible horrible poos. Her brother is sensitive to milk and fructose and he had the same sort of poos but excema and he never slept as well, plus horrible reflux. She sleeps, she has no excema, its just her digestive system. The only other connection I have with milk is she tried her first icecream the other night and spent about 4hrs screaming and writhing in pain at about midnight. Thing is I don't know what to do with her milk. We are down to one breastfeed a day. I have barely any milk left and she has a horrible latch (always has, we've had a rough breastfeeding journey) and so leaves horrible deep teeth indents in my nipple so I am not thrilled about the idea of trying to get my supply back. She's been mixed fed from about 8 weeks having one bottle a day but now that she is down to only one breastfeed she generally has 2 bottles a day (She will generally poo within about 10 minutes of her bottle). I feel like I should take her off the formula to see if her poos settle to normal and rule out milk allergy but I don't know what to replace it with. I really don't think I could handle extra breastfeeds a day and I don't feel the almond milk (what her brother drinks) is nutritious enough by itself. She's only 13 months, she still needs some milk.

[RhiChiChi]

Wow what a tough one! If you don't want to relactate & I can understand why (ouchie!) I'd consider trying goats milk. My gf DD had a cows milk allergy and that is what she drank. You can get goats milk in the supermarket. I can't remember what age she was put on goats milk but I do know my gf went back to work when her DD was about 12 mths old & was still giving her a bf when she got home from work so I am assuming that her DD had both??

This is what I found about goats milk:

'There are other alternatives: take goat's milk, for example. Patients with diarrhea, asthma, bloating and irritability may be suffering from the most common food allergy: cow's milk. Goat's milk is a natural alternative to cow milk and can comfortably be consumed by many patients who suffer from cow milk allergies or sensitivity.

Although goat milk, like cow's milk and human milk, contains lactose, many people with lactose intolerance can drink goat milk. Why? It has been hypothesized that the reason lies in goat milk's superior digestibility. Goat milk is more completely and easily absorbed than cow's milk, leaving less undigested residue behind in the colon to quite literally ferment and cause the uncomfortable symptoms of lactose intolerance.'

(sorry about the lack of commas in my post. My comma isn't working on my keyboard :-/)

It is safe to stop giving your DD formula at this age. (My DD went straight from cows milk formula to cows milk)

[sydney moose]

My daughter had a low tolerance to dairy and we went from soy formula to Vitasoy high calcium soy milk...its actually quite tasty too, niece loves my DD's milk just for the taste..
but maybe it might be worth a trip to the Dr's? they can do tests maybe...? Good luck

[courts&munchkins]

I haven't switched her off the formula because I was reluctant to put her straight onto cows milk after the issues we had with her brother. I thought the formula would be slightly less of an attack. We tried goats milk formula at one stage when she was 9 months (she was only having one bottle a day at a time) her poos were normal for a week and then they went back to their regualar slop. So I think she might still react to the goats milk as well

[Olive]

DD2 was on breast feeds and oat milk at 12 months, it's higher in calcium than cows milk. She still drinks it now as do I. I think you need professional advice and guidance though

[Charlotte91]

I know of twins who had milk intolerances.
One was on Goats Milk Formula and one was on Soy Formula.

DD struggles with dairy (part of her medical condition) and we're going to talk to her surgeon about slowly introducing soy milk instead of cows milk.

[OceanPrincess]

DD2 was on breast feeds and oat milk at 12 months, it's higher in calcium than cows milk. She still drinks it now as do I. I think you need professional advice and guidance though

Yep agreed. Don't just take her off it without getting medical advice.

[Maruschke]

DD1 had something similar. It wasn't an allergic reaction but a chronic overexposure allergy to something in milk, if that makes sense. She also had no solid poos until we stopped all dairy and gave her soy instead. I like Olive's advice, chew the ear off a professional.

[courts&munchkins]

I am going to the doctor on Monday but we live in a small country town and the doctors are ordinary :/ it took nearly 2 years for me to get them to listen to me about my middle son and then I had to wait months for the travelling paed's to come into town and he was less than helpful. Told me his apparent lack of growth and weight was nothing to be concerned about and most definetely not because of allergies. I took him off dairy and high fructose fruits myself and what do you know he's put on 2kg in 3 months. The first weight he's gained in 18 months. I guess what I'm trying to say is our access to professionals is lousy and I need a back up plan for when they look at me blankly. But that's what it sounds like with her more over exposure. Because symptoms have been a lot worse since she tried that mouthful of ice cream, it's like it sent her over the tolerance edge.

[RhiChiChi]

:hugs: That is terrible that you were fobbed off. Can you travel to another Dr? Sounds like your mums tuition knows what is going on. I just don't know whatelse to suggest other than like Olive suggested speaking to a professional. I you can't travel will they do a phone consult instead?

[black_rose]

Ds had issues with goats formula too made him scream, it sounds like an intolerance that cottage cheese reminds me of my kids and how I know they have had dairy the shouldn't have. We used s26 lactose formula and now lactose free milk as they don't like soy, oat rice or almond milk. They can have small amounts of cheese and yoghurt these days.

[black_rose]

The ice cream has probably upset the lining of her tummy do try a probiotic to restore it. It's hard to find medical professionals who believe in allergies and intolerances I am lucky my gp is lactose intolerant too so he has been great. Ds saw a naturopath / chiro to help guide us through his intolerances we tried eliminating everything from my diet but he still kept losing weight, he only started gaining properly once he stopped bfing and went onto the lactose free formula at 3 months.

[courts&munchkins]

I'll give her a probiotic see if that helps a little. She's never been great but it is certainly much worse since the ice cream. I feel bad for giving it to her but the boys were having some as a treat and she was getting upset at being left out I only gave her a mouthful Unfortunately traveling to see other doctors is a huge deal as nearest place is about 400km away but I'll go to the doc see what they say. I find most gp's just aren't great with the intolerance stuff.

[Kmn]

It's probably not lactose, because she was OK and gaining weight well whilst you were breastfeeding, and breastmilk is very high in lactose.
More likely that she is now being exposed to more cows milk protein (which most formulae are based on) than she was when some of her milk was coming from you. And that is taking some getting used to. I wonder about using several "milks", rather than just one, so she's not getting a large dose of any particular soy/cow/goat/nut protein. Try her for a day on food-and-water and she if she's better or worse.

[surprised]

Not sure how old your daughter is, but if she still needs formula, look into getting a script for Neocate (there's another one but I can't remember the name). It is highly processed so that kids who are allergic to casein (the protein in milk) can tolerate it. But you cannot get it without a script (or maybe you can but it's super-expensive).

Bear in mind that the soy protein is very similar to casein, so switching to soy may not help. You might also want to look into the controversies surrounding soy so that you can make an informed choice about whether or not you're comfortable using it.

Note that milk protein allergy is not lactose intolerance. Casein is protein, lactose is a sugar.

[Lisa B]

My DS has a milk protein allergy. The advice I have been given is that most grow out of it between 6 months and 18 months. When I was feeding breast milk I had to go off dairy for him to tolerate my milk. The other thing to consider is a high number of children who have a milk protein allergy also can't tolerate soy. I am lucky on that score as my DS can tolerate soy. We are using soy formula and a high calcium vita soy milk. The other option for formula is a prescription one as mentioned by Surprised. Things like lactose free formula and goats formula still have milk protein. I haven't explored them enough to know if there is less protein or a different form of protein which might make it easier.

When we attempt the next introduction of dairy which should be very soon we will try A2 milk. The paediatrician told us that whilst it still has milk protein that a lot of kids find the protein in this milk easier to digest and is gentler on the tummy.

[black_rose]

The neocate and a2 are great ways to try and work out if it's milk protein or the lactose. The neocate is cheaper than regular formula as its on a script. Unfortunately for us it is the lactose they are unable to have, dd1 power spewed on the neocate. Both dd and ds struggled with weight until we stopped bfing.

[MantaRay]

After 12 months, milk is not necessary, but if you cut out dairy and other milks you will need to make sure there is enough calcium in her diet. This site gives you a good idea of other foods that have calcium in them - Vegetarian Network Victoria - Complete Nutrient Summary. It is certainly possible but many mums do find that dairy or another milk make it easier to reach the daily requirement.

I totally agree with getting professional advice. Dieticians are best place to help with food sensitivity issues - they usually have done 5 years of study to become qualified and doctors have often done just 4 hours of nutrition stuff as part of their course. A good place to start is this website, Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) : Find an APD, searching for Allergy and food sensitivity in the Area of Practice. Because you are also still breastfeeding you might want to also search for Breastfeeding as an area of practice and find one who does both. That way you can get good advice on your own diet while breastfeeding and eliminating foods in your DD's diet. If you don't find any near you, some do Skype consultations. I can highly recommend one dietician who works across both areas - PM me if you would like her details.