What are the symptoms of lactose intolerance/milk allergy?

I'm weaning DD3 & have been using a milk bottle as back up, just for if she needs something to suck while going to sleep. She's not too fussed on it, but has been drinking it here & there.

Last week she woke through the night crying with a belly ache & was a bit constipated, & I put it down to the milk. I didn't think too much of it, but the last 2 days she's had a milk bottle again & has actually had a decent go at it.



Today she's had 2 really yucky, black runny nappies causing nappy rash. I'm thinking the cows milk is the link. I've obviously had milk in my diet over the last 2 years, but I don't drink much of it at a time & she's never had it straight. Just in foods.

So I'm thinking she might have an allergy or intolerance. I was severely allergic as a baby, but grew out of it & my mum & sister are lactose intolerant.

Any other experiences so I can compare? I'll be avoiding it now, but I want to know if I should go to lactose free milk, or try soy milk? I don't want to cut it out completely.

See your GP and get a stool sample of hers tested for lactose intolerance, otherwise it may be a protein intolerance so you could try A2 milk

Lactose intolerance in infants occurs from birth. The onset of the adult form is from 3-5 years. It is possible to have secondary LI due to damage to the gut which will be temporary unless the damage is not healed (so important to figure out cause of that).
It's probably more likely dairy protein.
Here's an article which talks about LI a bit more

A good idea might be to talk to a doctor or a dietitian about an elimination diet to try and get to the bottom of things. There's a dietician in Perth who specialises in this - she does phone/email consults.

ETA - my understanding is that the stool test does not work in infants? They will all have sugars in their poo.

Ok, thanks.

Where can you get the A2 milk from? Does it come in long life form? We have no major supermarkets here, so not sure what would be available.

Lactose intolerance is rare in human babies, as lactose is in breastmilk too. It's only when BM is no longer needed an intolerance/allergy to it will build.

Cow milk protein problems, on the other hand - my dad, me and Liebs all had these as young children. Liebs still has an issue with cow milk. We used goat milk and it works well - I'll be drinking goat milk when pg/bfing in future. Once you get used to the taste it's nicer than cow milk (and I did prefer goat cheese when pg anyway). Sad problem is it will cut down on my cheese selection. We also do use soy, but goat milk and cheese works better for us. (We do use soy cream and chocolate mousse quite a bit.) Liebs also eats only dark chocolate - and impresses people with his love of ginger chocolate and chilli chocolate.

Symptoms. These differ from person to person. With me it was typical allergy stuff - constantly runny nose, quiet, lethargic. This was until I was about 6-7 and grew out of it. With Liebling he has dreadful stomach pains, his eczema flares up, constipation issues, lack of sleep, feeling constantly hungry but can't face eating, just really general (severe) discomfort that impacts on his life.

She does seem to have a constant runny nose, but I've never thought to link the two. I have a gp appointment tomorrow, I might see if I can talk to him about this as well.

MadB - thanks so much for that. Explains alot to do with my mum & sister.
I knew there was a difference between an allergy & intolerance, but didn't really know that difference was.

The key thing is that the intolerance is to the lactose - sugar - and the allergy is to the protein. That said, it's also possible to have an intolerance to dairy protein.
There are 2 kinds of protein in cow's milk, which is why some people find the A2 thing helps. I reckon talking to a dietician might be a better idea than experimenting at home. You wouldn't have to do the whole elimination diet, since you already have a prime suspect.

Yeah, I will do that I think.

She did have a tummy bug 3 weeks ago & I remember having to have DD2 on lactose free formula after she had rota virus, but I'm thinking its a bit late after the fact for it to be a gut lining problem. I only had to use that formula for DD2 for a week from memory. I might've gone a second week to err on the side of caution.

I think this may be something more & I think the problem has been around before, but she's never had this much milk before for me to notice a persistant problem.

We think my DS2 is Lactose Intolerant, we never picked it up when he was little as they were FF Lactose Free formula but since switching to cows milk he started to have vile acrid BM's (up to 5 a day) which would literally burn his bum - not nappy rash but scalding from the acid. We also noticed that when he would do a BM he would pass alot of undigested food as well - like it was going straight through him. We switched him across to Lactose Free Cows Milk and Lactose free yogurt about 3 weeks ago and after a couple of days he started to doing formed BM's and only 1 maybe 2 a day and has only had 1 instance of burning poo (which was probably from him being on antibiotics recently which would have upset his gut) so we are just going to continue along the Lactose Free path with him for the time being

Hope you can work it out, trying to confirm if it's lactose or the protein can be tricky. With dd1 it was 8 months of her throwing up, very little weight gains while bfing and only once she started formula top ups with lactose free milk that she refused to bfeed anymore. Dd could have a minimal amount of yoghurt or cheese but not regular milk or formula if she did she would be throwing up with thick sticky vomit. These days she has almost outgrown the problem but we still have lactose free milk. Dd2 was fine, no issues until last year she got a tummy bug and was getting sick after eating at kinder where she had been having full cream milk. She still can't have milk, cream or ice cream. Ds had issues from the beginning, reflux very low weight gains and at four months he started to loose weight rapidly the pead put him on formula top ups, and he was watched closely or ge woukd have gone to hospital, this time we tried soy, goat and then went back to the lactose free as he was in pain and vomiting. I also went on an elimination diet to see if that helped. Again like dd once he was settled on the formula he refused to bfeed anymore. So long story short two of mine are genuinely lactose intolerant, I am too but didnt realise until i was in my 20's and used to have headaches, stomach aches and bad sinuses all which stopped when I cut out milk which I love.

I went to the doctor today. He said it needs to be more of a prolonged thing for it to really be looked into & because she hasn't had much cows milk, it may just be that her body needs time to get used to it.

He suggested putting some sugar in the milk? Said that might help? Anyone got any theory's on that? I really don't like the idea...

I'll be avoiding milk for now, but maybe in a few days to a week I'll try again & see what happens.

Dunno why he would suggest adding sugar! A good pro biotic could help I am about to dose up dd2 on one try and stop her tummy pains.

I don't know, but I'd get a second opinion, if I were you.

I don't think there's really anywhere to get a second opinion... I will talk to the health nurse though. See what she says.

My dd cAnt tolerate full cream milk. She tolerates skim milk so long as its not more than 2 cups a day. If we don't follow those limits she gets crook - tummy pain, vomit, runs, constipation etc the symptoms vary depending on which milk and how much. I'm told she doesn't have lactose intolerance but when she only gets symptoms on those milks.... We know she is fine on lactose free milk.