Just figered out last night that wildie is lactose intollerent
has anyone else had this with there refluxer?

oh she is two months old now so two months have went by with her having these issues with milk.

Hi there, would you be able to tell me what Wildies symptoms are? and what makes you think it is lactose intolerent?

I only say this because lactose intolerence is not generally the cause for problems in babys but either a milk allergy or a milk protien intolerence, so if you give me the symptoms then I or others might be able to help you with some answers.

But to answer your question though a lot of babies have issues with milk, so hopefully we will be able to help you out a lot.

Rachel,

Are the symptoms of MSPI and outright milk allergy differ from one another?
The reason I ask is that we are still in the dark whether Ava is MSPI or allergic. She's been on Neocate for three of four months now and it does her only good.
But the other day I (just out of curiousity, oh so dumb) gave her two teeny spoons of yobaby yogurt, thinking she will be ok and...couple of hrs later she had this eczema like rash around the mouth and chin and also had red stain-like patches alover her chest. Now, when I realized she had the patches (not scaly or anything, just reddish), she was just done straining for poo. Super consitpated and when after she pooped I checked the rash was almost gone. Coincidence? Should I give it another go with the yogurt? Some babies that are MSPI do well with a little yogurt, but the allergic once dont, right?

Thats right Ella, some babies, especially the older they are, become more tolerable to the proteins, and in yogurt and cheese they are really processed and it makes the proteins smaller so some kids (like mine) who can't have milk, can have small amounts of other dairy.

I think that Ava may have the skin sensitivity, so if you try the yogurt again, then put the vaseline around her mouth, cause this may be a skin sensitivity instead of an allergy. I am not sure if she is allergic, but other symptoms would be swollen lips and hands and feet even, peeling hands, blue face, short of breath, rashes, hives, diareaha. Though i am sure there are different degrees of the allergy.

If you really suspect an allergy, or if anyone in your family has a milk allergy, I would leave the trial till after you see the allergist, and keep an anti histamine like Benadryl in the house just in case of Emergencys.

I'm still confused about the whole lactose intolerance thing, myself.

My dd was found to be deficient in lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose--thus, making her "lactose intolerant".) It made sense to me at the time, as my dh is Arabic and many people in his family are lactose intolerant--it tends to run heavily in families with certain cultural backgrounds. However, another doctor told me that small children cannot truly be lactose intolerant...but I can't remember why this is.

At any rate, my dd did terribly even on lactose-free dairy products (Lactaid cheese, Lactaid milk, etc.)--she would still vomit, break out into a rash (on chest/back) and become extremely constipated. The same happened with soy (which we did find out she has an allergy to, long story), so she was then diagnosed as having MSPI.

Confused yet? Rachel, perhaps you could explain a bit more about lactose intolerance?

Lactose intolerance in infants is extremely rare, something like 1 in 60,000. However, some babies do better on lactose-free formulas because the proteins are more broken down than in regular milk-based formula. They benefit from the smaller proteins, not from the formula being lactose-free.

That is what I have heard Lesley that it is very rare in children, not in adults though. See when people don't do well on milk as adults they are typified as 'lactose intollerent' it is everywhere so when our child becomes sick on milk then we first think it is lactose intollerent, but in actual fact a lot less likely that the protein intolerence.

With that said though, my allergist diagnosed Parker lactose intolerent, and I too have tried lactose free products and the results are similar to whole milk, so I think this diagnosis is wrong and I am going with milk protein problems.

Parker is now two and for the last 2 months, have introduced small amounts of other dairy, he still gets a bit of eczema but if I don't push it, he is OK. This only makes the protein theory better, I was always told that more processing, smaller proteins, easier to digest.

I am still very confused too, but Mary maybe you have both problems, if she has the lactase problem. I really don't know, except to introduce a little every now and again and see how she goes. Start with cheese and yogurt, real small amounts, like a tsp for a couple of days.