10 Mo. Old with Milk Intolerance?

If he's lactose intolerant (and not allergic to milk), you could wean him to Lactose free milk when it's time to go off the soy formula. That's what my son (lactose intolerant) is drinking now. If you have other questions about Lactose intolerance, feel free to send me a private message.

Hi- My daughter is on lactose-free milk. Dairy Ease, by Land O Lakes is on the chaper side, and Roundy's brand has lactose-free milk too, that is the cheapest out there. She can handle certain amounts of dairy items, but milk is the worst for her. She liked the soy milk to, but the lactose free works as well. Some kids can out grow the issue, and my thought was stay close to milk, soy taste so dif. from regular milk, so lactose free was the choice for us.

We ended up using Lactaid with our son and he does well with that. He seems to be able to handle other dairy within reason. Both milk and ice cream have the highest level of lactose, making them more difficult to digest. We had to experiment with how much dairy he could tolerate. Hopefully your son will outgrow this, but if not, there are lots of other options for him. Good luck.

I went through the same thing with my daughter. I breastfeed her for 4 months and weaned her then poof! I had a screaming little girl who would just throw herself back and arch just like you are describing. She outgrew her intolerance, but not until she was 2. It sucked! I am the daughter of a dairy farmer, but I learned a lot in a year. Just stay with the soy milk. Every now and then try the dairy, but in the meantime just stick with what works. I was always concerned that she wouldn't get enough calcium, but there are a lot of vegetables that are calcium rich. She was also on vitamins. There are a lot of dairy free products out there from yogurt to all kinds of cheeses. She didn't notice for a while that she was eating different foods so it didn't matter, but she did start getting upset. There is every product imaginable to have a diary free diet. Sour cream, cream cheese, string cheese, sliced and shredded cheese-even parmesan cheese and bulk cheese in all kinds of flavors. My daughter could handle small amounts if it was cooked. I could make one batch of scrambled eggs and she was fine, but macaroni and cheese was too much for her so I always made her own. Thankfully she is fine now and can eat whatever we eat. Some never outgrow their intolerance and some are ready before 12 months to consume dairy. You just have to try it every once in a while and wait. Good luck!

I had the same issue with my now 11 yr old. We ended up transitioning her from soy formula to soy milk at 1 year. She really liked it and made the switch very well. It was difficult financially because it costs more and she was the only one in the house drinking it, which meant making sure that dinner drinks were kept separate - soy vs. regular milk, but she would be in misery if she accidentially ended up with the regular milk.

It is interesting that the doctor said to start switching him over already at 10 months old... most doctors will say to wait till there a year old to try milk again. Usually if a baby has an intolerance to milk it will take the first year of their life for their stomach to fully develop to handle milk. Not all babies will out grow the intolerance but we were told to wait till your daughter was at least a year old to try lactose milk.

My daughter had a milk intolerance as a baby, we "discovered" it at 2 months old (she did the constant spitting up almost throwing up everything at times) and we put her on parent's choice lactose free formula. We used that formula until she was 13 months old. How we did the transition was at a year old we started to slowly, very slowly, mix the formula with milk Over the next month we kept upping the amount of milk in the formula till at around 13 months old our daughter was on only milk. Our doctor said to keep an eye on her reactions during drinking and a few hours after consuming the milk because she may have not out grown the intolerance and will need to be only on soy milk.

Our daughter is now 2 years old and drinking milk. Just remember that not every child will out grow it so you may just need to adjust your childs diet accordingly BUT you have a few more months before really needing to take your baby off lactose free formula or soy formula.

Best wishes!

The first thing I though of when I read your post is, "Why does he have to switch to milk?". My daughter has a true dairy allergy, and so she drinks rice milk, and Iknow that everyone says it is void of nutrtional value, however, she is a perfectly well developed 4 1/2 year old despite it :) Anyways, we switched her to rice milk at 13 months (as they first thought she was allergic to soy too), and she had no issues. She can have soy now, but she prefers rice because that is what she is used to. We are hoping at the age of 5 she will be able to tolerate more dairy, but we shall see.

I would go with your gut, there is no reason he has to have cow's milk. His digestive health and comfort are more important.

S.

Mother to three beautiful girls ages 7,6, and 4, and another one on the way.

Hi K.! My daughter also had a fairly dramatic milk intolerance--to the point where she couldn't even breastfeed due to the lactose! Anyway, we had her on soy formula until about a year, when our ped. suggested we begin trying whole milk as well. She seemed fine for awhile, but then after a few weeks things got bad again. We went back to the soy, and tried the milk again 6 months later. To make a long story short, it was more trouble than it was worth, and we just transitioned her to the second stage soy formula when she was ready for it. She is two now, and doesn't drink any milk, but she does really well with yogurt and yogurt drinks and cheese, believe it or not. I would suggest that you skip the whole milk transition, and just stick with soy as long as you can. My daughter is a very healthy, very tall, very sturdy, very active little girl...all done without milk! Your son's health won't be compromised if he stick to soy, and it will make your life easier, and his more comfortable. I would maybe try yogurt and cheese as he gets older, since a milk intolerance can be exclusively with milk. You know what's best for your son, and while it is usually best to follow your doctor's instruction, sometimes you may know better! Good luck!

Hi K.,

My son (13 months old) can not tolerate cow's milk, but he can handle trace amounts of dairy, like cheese in a casserole.

Soymilk seems to upset our son, too, so we give him goat's milk and rice milk. (Rice milk is pretty void of any nutritional value, but we use it to dilute the goat's milk and make it last a little longer.)

Also, remember that you don't *need* to wean your son off of formula at exactly 12 months. This is not federal law. ;-)

You really have 2 ways of proceeding at this time. One is to keep him on soy formula for a few more months and then try cow's milk again and see what happens. The other way, if you want him off formula right now, would be to give him soymilk and/or goat's milk.

You can easily and inexpensively make soymilk at home; there are lots of recipes online.

Good luck!

My daughter developed a milk/lactose intolerance. After trying everything others, including doctors/specialists, suggested, I found information about Lactagen. This one-time, 38 day program helps the body recondition itself to digest dairy products. Doctors we talk to about it are still skeptical, but my daughter went through the program and we know it worked for her. She has always loved dairy products and been a big milk drinker. Since completing the Lactagen program over 2 years ago, she has been able to eat and drink milk products without any problems. Check them out at www.lactagen.com. Blessings!

Tons of kids cant handle milk. If he has trouble with the formula, putting him on whole milk will be torture. Soy milk, made by the Company called SILK- the milk tastes great cold and has all the calcium and vitamins a kid needs. Your kid is acting like mine did. Mine is 5 now. He still cant handle much dairy.

Both of my boys were lactose intolerant until they turned 2. My oldest would get terrible gas and throw up if he had anything with lactose in it. My second just got gas.
My oldest was on lactose-free formula (he didn't tolerate soy) and then switched to Lactaid milk at a year. We eventually moved him to regular milk with Lactaid pills.
My second wasn't as bad, so he got breast milk and then whole milk with Lactaid pills.

My oldest was also on soy formula as a baby. We kept her on the soy until just after she turned 1. I tried her on the whole milk and thankfully she did just fine. She hasn't had any issues with milk since then. Just give it time and maybe he'll outgrow it in a few months.

Our daughter can't have milk either. She has some sort of allergy to it and gets bad eczema, gas, constipation, and a whole host of issues from drinking it. We tried soy milk but most kids who have an allergy to milk also have it to soy. Then we tried rice milk but that constipated her because rice is part of the BRAT diet. We are now using almond milk and it works great. The cheapest place to buy it is Trader Joes where it is 1.69$ a carton. And goats milk has the same protein that cows milk does so be careful with that one. Good luck. I know what a pain it is. But if you don't feel comfortable weening to cows milk I would go with that instinct. :)

You may not be able to wean him on cow's milk. Soy, rice, almond and goat milks are all alternatives. As is using broccoli and other foods for calcium, and things like avocado for fats. Additionally, you may find that he can handle things like yogurt and cheese, if his problem is lactose, or that he can't handle any dairy at all if milk proteins are the problem.

When it is time to move him to milk you can choose a soy based milk or something like goat milk.