Questions about dairy intolerance / allergy in BF bub

Hi all. DS (now 12 weeks) was super colicky and unsettled for his first 6 weeks. The MCHN suggested I try cutting dairy out of my diet and by 8 weeks he was definitely more settled. I didn't see 'instant' miraculous change so I've wondered whether it was just that his gut matured. He still has windy, unsettled periods but they are certainly less frequent. I've managed to remain 99% dairy free but have slipped up occasionally and still can't tell whether his bouts of wind relate to my dairy consumption. For example, I went out to dinner on Thurs, and when my meal came, I discovered it had cheese all through it. It looked soooo yummy so I decided to take my chances and use it as a test. Next day, fine. No reaction. Just slept slightly more than usual (which was great). Today started off fine, but suddenly at about 5pm he started SCREAMING. Poor love was completely beside himself and nothing would soothe him. He just screamed himself to sleep. It was awful. Now I'm left wondering whether it was the cheese I ate about 46 hours prior... or something else?

I am a dairy junkie and am finding it really hard to remain dairy free. Don't know how I'm going to go if I have to cut it out for the 2 years or so that I intend to breastfeed. But if I must, I will. Just need to know if it's actually the issue and how to manage it right for both DS and myself.

So for those who have kids who react to dairy - or know anything on the subject...
How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?
Was it an immediate or delayed reaction?
Did you get allergy testing or any other medical consultation to confirm?
How did it impact your introduction to solids?
Did your child grow out of the allergy or become able to tolerate small amounts?
If your child had to maintain a dairy free diet, did you have to increase the intake of other foods to ensure they got appropriate calcium and nutrients?
And while breastfeeding, did you alter your own diet for the same reasons? I'm taking calcium sups but suspect I should probably be modifying my diet in other ways.

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?

My DD had colic and was very unsettled as a newborn. I used to have cereal & milk for bfast every day. I had a few days when i was too rushed to have breaky, and noticed that she was less unsettled and so decided to try cutting out dairy to see if it helped.

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?
Was it an immediate or delayed reaction? I didn't know if it was defintely the dairy but it was worth cutting it out if it helped her. Her reaction wasn't immediate or specific which made it harder to say if it was definitily the dairy.

Did you get allergy testing or any other medical consultation to confirm? No

How did it impact your introduction to solids? A few months after cutting out dairy, i reintroduced it to my diet and found that DD did not have any reaction. Whether this is because her tummy had matured over this time- or whether dairy was never really the issue and it was just colic that fluctuated over different days, i'm still not sure. So by 6 months, i was able to have dairy in my diet. We did BLS, but i was probably a little slower in offering dairy. She did react to yogurt once or twice and so we stopped for awhile and then started again. SHe has never been a big fan of cows milk, and i haven't pushed it because maybe it is her body saying that she is ok with small amounts but big amounts don't feel good.

Did your child grow out of the allergy or become able to tolerate small amounts?
She eats cheese, good yogurt (Jalna) etc now without a prob. She has cows milk on her cereal and is ok with that too.

My MCHN/LC suggests cutting out dairy, eggs, nuts, fish for colicky babies - is from evidence based research and also doesnt necessarily have any bearing on outcome of allergies etc.
She also said to do it for 10 days before ruling out that it has made a difference or not.

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?


Initially DS was diagnosed with reflux but his symptoms got worse (volume of milk reduced and crying at beginning of feed). The RCH suggested I trial cutting out dairy, egg and wheat. We saw a new paediatrican who specialised in allergies and she also referred us to paediatric dietician.

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?

By trialling the removed foods back in my diet and watching for a reaction. The reaction was fussy feeding and low milk intake (I EE so I can see how much milk is being drunk).

Did you get allergy testing or any other medical consultation to confirm?

Only food challenge was used.

Did your child grow out of the allergy or become able to tolerate small amounts?

Not sure yet but my paediatrician says most children with the milk protein allergy outgrow it by about 18 months.

Not sure if you are aware, but I was told that milk takes about 20 minutes to get into the breast milk and 2-3 days to remove from it. The babies gut can take a couple of weeks to heal from the milk reaction. It's possible that some babies can take certain amounts of milk but reach a threshold were it will cause problems.

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?
When I switched Liebs to goat milk, the pain stopped within a few hours - even now I can tell if he has had cowmilk products.
Was it an immediate or delayed reaction?
Within about 24 hours
Did you get allergy testing or any other medical consultation to confirm?
Tried to, but as it's an intolerance not an allergy (known, my dad and I both grew out of cowmilk intolerance) they wouldn't test for other things I didn't know about.
How did it impact your introduction to solids?
This happened post-solids as I'm a bad mummy who let her baby scream in pain for hours and hours without cutting dairy for 20 months.
Did your child grow out of the allergy or become able to tolerate small amounts?
Dad and I grew out of it so Liebs should - going to test him with it when he gets his big teeth. He's had pain from some accidental dairy recently so hasn't grown out of it yet, but it's impacting him less.
If your child had to maintain a dairy free diet, did you have to increase the intake of other foods to ensure they got appropriate calcium and nutrients?
He's on goat milk and soy products - and doing really well on them.
And while breastfeeding, did you alter your own diet for the same reasons? I'm taking calcium sups but suspect I should probably be modifying my diet in other ways.
Yeah, next baby I'll be goat from my BFP until weaning.

FWIW, I really enjoyed goat products while pg, more so than normal. Should have been a hint, in hindsight. But my mother never changed my diet, so I didn't know about goat until my grandmother told me she'd done it for dad.

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?
With dd1 discovered around 8 months, she was always a chucky Bub with low weight gains, we had to increase her formula feeds. It was trial and error as some made her worse including soy. Finally tried lactose free in desperation one day. She then refused all bfeeds or ebm, if she did have them she was violently ill.

Ds had very low weight gains (50g) and reflux, worked quickly it was most likely an intolerance, tried eliminating all dairy from my diet and saw some improvement. He had to go onto formula top ups to try to improve his weight gains so trialled soy and goat to see if it was a protein or lactose issue he reacted badly so went onto the lactose free formula, he self weaned at 4 months and his reflux calmed down although still on meds and he started gaining 150g a week.

Was it an immediate or delayed reaction?
It was about 30 minutes after a feed but sometimes overnight too. It was a thick sticky chuck for dd and with ds it was a constant trail of chuck following him.


Did you get allergy testing or any other medical consultation to confirm?
No allergy testing for dd but talked to my gp and pead, they were happy with us to treat it as an intolerance as she finally gained weight.
Went to a nutritionist with ds to guide us through the elimination process this time.


How did it impact your introduction to solids?
Just used the formula in cooking and avoided cheeses etc. Swapped to lactose free milk at 2 years but she now has all other dairy.
Had to avoid wheat with ds for a while but he recently went onto the lactose free milk and can now have grains.

Did your child grow out of the allergy or become able to tolerate small amounts?
Slowly introduced yoghurt and cheese at around 18 months with dd and ds is having small amounts of yoghurt and cheese at 14 months.

If your child had to maintain a dairy free diet, did you have to increase the intake of other foods to ensure they got appropriate calcium and nutrients?
Both were good with vegies and their formula had calcium.

And while breastfeeding, did you alter your own diet for the same reasons?
Only with ds once I realised the problem, feel guilty that I never realised there was a problem with dd.

Both my DDs had dairy, wheat and gluten intolerances - DD1 much more severe than DD2. We saw several paediatricians and ended up seeing a paed who specialises in allergies. Both girls were tested (faeces and blood) and both showed positive to intolerances, with DD1 considered allergic to dairy.

Both my girls screamed 20 odd hours a day, were rigid with stomach pain and had explosive liquid poo two or three times per breastfeed.

They initially had delayed reactions, but it builds up in their systems so by the time we got to say 6 weeks both girls were having immediate reactions where they screamed and pulled off the breast during feeding, and their poos were becoming more immediate.

I tried altering my diet with DD1. I was basically dairy free right from the start and then included a whole heap more foods - got to the point where I had excluded seemingly everything and she was still unsettled and in pain, which is when I switched her to formula.

DD2 now eats yoghurt, cheese, ice cream etc and drinks lots of milk. DD1 won't touch milk or yoghurt at all, and will eat tiny amounts of cheese.

Thanks for sharing ladies, it's been really helpful reading other's experiences. It sounds like there is a broad range of severity and reactions, as well as 'prognoses'.

Poor little man has been really squirmy and uncomfortable all day. Barely slept and has had a couple of serious bouts of screaming. Very unlike him so I'm becoming more confident that it was the cheese I ate on Thurs. Still considering whether to get it further clarified / confirmed medically if it's possible. I need all the evidence and accountability I can get to make me stay off dairy... it's gonna be tough for this little cheese-addict.

Ours is a little different again

How did you know that it was the dairy causing the problem?
We didnt at first, we came home from NICU/SCN and discovered that after 18 days she hadnt done a poo... We went to get her checked out and everyone passed it off as being BF, spoke to the paed and they suspected Heirsprung's after invasive testing for that it was concluded she has dairy/soy allergy. After eliminating it from the diet she has pooed every 3 days on cue.

Was it an immediate or delayed reaction?
She didnt poo immediately, for 18 or so days. After dairy/soy was eliminated she improved almost immediately

Did you get allergy testing or any other medical consultation to confirm?
No allergy testing as far as Im aware but she was tested for Heirsprungs due to her birth.

How did it impact your introduction to solids?
It hasnt as we are already ona dairy/soy free diet. Although we have to check most prepackaged baby foods etc.

Did your child grow out of the allergy or become able to tolerate small amounts?
She can tolerate traces of without major impact, no trial of full exposure has been given.

If your child had to maintain a dairy free diet, did you have to increase the intake of other foods to ensure they got appropriate calcium and nutrients?
We are yet to get to this stage...

And while breastfeeding, did you alter your own diet for the same reasons? Hmmm. Not really lol. Should probably look into that haha.

I've been a dairy addict as well. How could I not be as a daughter of a diary farmer. It's hard initially to keep off diary but I got into the swing of it. I've discovered a cheese in the greek deli called mini chol. It's not dairy free but it's lactose free and made from soy. DS seems to tolerate small serves of this cheese. Some bubs who have the milk protein allergy also have a soy allergy. I'm lucky that DS seems to be fine with soy.

Thanks Lisa. Yeah, he seems to react to soy as well... though I switched from dairy to soy and gave up on this after only a few days as he was still miserable. From what you wrote about dairy staying in the milk and the gut taking time to heal, he may have still been reacting to the dairy so might trial soy again in a couple of weeks.

soy is what worked for both my girls too.

Its a lot easier if its just Dairy so I wish you lots and lots of luck!!! Most things replace dairy with soy so avoiding both is a bit annoying if you can help it.