Anyone Have Experience with Milk Causing Stuffiness but NOT Digestive Problems?

T. - the best way to find out, of course, is to take him off of it completely for a week or two and see what happens.

Personally, I was a milk lover all my life. I had a really bad sinus infection/ear infection a couple of years ago and my chiropractor suggested that I eliminate dairy to help clear the congestion. So while I was off of milk something else wonderful happened, no headache. I suffered from headaches almost daily. I didn't even recognize it until I had some ice cream and wow, the headache came back. My chiropractor tested me for dairy allergy and sure enough. I think I have had 10 oz of milk in the past 3 years. Cheese and ice cream are a little harder to give up. :)

If you'd be interested in the chiropractor I go to to do allergy testing, I'd be happy to share his contact information.

Good luck,

Yes, he can be allergic to milk, not lactose intolerant. My co-worker is allergic only.

My son had/has the same problem and they put him on Prevacid because it was acid reflux causing the stuffiness. The ENT said that they actually find stomach acid in ear canals...so I'd try giving him an antacid and see if that helps. Good luck!

I only have anecdotal evidence, but my 3.5 year old daughter gets stuffy pretty quickly after consuming largish quantities of milk. We took her off cow's milk at 1.5 years old, but she's been back on it a few times off and on. Every time she's back on for a few days she gets stuffed up. She doesn't seem to have a bad cold (no fever/chills/etc), but she's congested. She never had stomach/digestion issues from milk. Without cow's milk, she stays pretty clear in her nasal passages unless she has a bad cold. No doctor has confirmed it for us, but we've observed the connection and have seen a difference when we take her off milk (she can handle some cheese and does well with yogurt, though). It's a little harder with an 8 year old who is already attached to cow's milk. Good luck!

the first 2 things that come to mind dont have anything to do with milk

do you smoke? does anyone he has regular contact with him smoke? smoking would cause 24/7 stuffiness, as well as frequent illnesses : colds, sinus infections or just the general stuffiness.

also, if you live in an older home or one with a basement, do you feel you could have a mold issue? this is COMMON and it can also get to dangerous levels. mold spores can cause illness and stuffiness and depending on the level of severity, it can get worse from there. really, i dont know what to do about it, its a frustrating situation, especially if it invades all rooms. one thing you can try to impliment is leaving windows and doors open as often as you can in nice weather, using fans, in the winter running a heater can cause dry air, so it wouldnt be as bad in the winter. air conditioning also can dry things out, but it is expensive to run one all the time.
make sure to install bathroom fans for showering, or always leave the door open when showering. it seems like a privacy issue, but really, when dealing with mold, the bathroom is a hotspot if it doesnt have proper ventilation.

try wiping surfaces with bleach. not just bleach wipes (which usually dont really have bleach in them unless it specifies it) but real bleach solution with water. keep food in the kitchen to minimize mold's ability to grow off of food crumbs or spills. etc etc. i spose im blabbing a lot when it might not even be your problem.

you could have him examined for a deviated septum (the part that separates the 2 nasal passages) as i suppose if the nasal passages were too narrow it would cause just about any air disterbance to cause stuffiness.

other than that, typically, milk doesnt really have much to do with nasal passages i wouldnt think, it would cause gunk in the throat that would make him cough or just have that icky junk down there, but i doubt it would cause stuffiness. im not an expert so if you have someone else who says they did have the stuffy nose related to an allergy, then thats ok. but i really wouldnt think that milk would cause a stuffy nose before it would cause other symptoms.
my son is allergic to tomatoes by TOUCH but not by digestion... so i spose wierder things have happened :P

Hey, My daughters both had stuffiness with no digestive problem. They each ended up with different outcomes. My first daughter ened up getting her adnoids removed first. She has a lot of allergies and 1st surgery was adnoids and ear tubes her second surgery was was for tonsils( She snored really bad) and adnoids again. Now my second daughter ended up with acid reflux with laryagomalacia. Both of them were more stuffy at night and when they took a bottle or drank from a sippy. Any other quetions feel free to ask.

I have the milk protein allergy to casein. In fact, I never knew I had an allergy to cow's milk until I had some other testing done at the age of 40. I had no abdominal distress from consuming milk products. However, I have had problems with sinuitis, allergic rhinitis, stuffy nose, stuffy head feeling, my entire life. Now that I no longer eat anything made from cow milk (goat and sheep products are fine, because they don't carry the protein), almost all of my "sinus" troubles have cleared up (I'd probably by 100% clean except I am also battling some other food intolerances, some of which do make me a bit stuffy if I eat them).

So yes, if he's got the casein allergy, your son could be experiencing stuffiness. Everyone's body suffers differently, but stuffiness/nasal problems/lots of pflegm is definitely a very big red flag for dairy.

I limited my daughter to just milk on her cereal, and it really did help her stuffiness. I also took her to a chiropractor who has done wonders with her stuffiness. She has gone from constant dripping and more mucous than I can handle, to no dripping and almost no mucous! Make sure that the chiropractor you go to is certified to work with young children. I go to one in St. Paul - Dr. Barb Gettel - and she is amazing.

Absolutely. I get congested but have no digestion issues.

My mom has terrible allergies and one of them is to milk. She just recently had nose surgery to remove polyps and her surgeon told her to stay away from dairy products as they can produce more mucus. So it is very reasonable that this is causing your son's problem too.
My mom drinks soy milk now and seems to like it ok. She did try lactaid or vitamilk, but both of those are still milk-based.
Good luck!
A.

If he already has the dust/pollen allergies and phlem/mucus exists, milk definitely makes it worse. I haven't really heard of milk being the sole cause of the mucus, but its possible. I know that if I have a cold and am stuffed up or have a cough, milk makes it worse every single time, so I avoid it. If my daughter is stuffy, no milk until I see an improvement. Just my 2 cents :)

Hi T.,
You probably know about dietary challenges already, but have you tried removing dairy from your sons diet for a week or two to see if the suffiness clears up? Is it possible that the stuffiness is caused by an environmental factor (mites & mold are present year round)?

I know it would be a serious pain to remove dairy from his diet, but it seems like the only way to tell for sure if it is the true cause of his stuffiness. Both my son and I are dairy-intollerant and can tell if we have the smallest amount.

Good luck!

Hi T.!
Dairy products are one of the main causes of excess mucus. It's VERY common to have sever stuffiness associated with milk consumption. Believe it or not, another culprit is grain consumption. Grain makes me miserable! Grain and dairy together are often a very bad combo.
My daughter is on goat's milk because cow's milk made her SO stuffy. She also had alot of mucus in her bowel movements and that cleared up after we took her off milk. Yogurt and cheese have no affect on her.
Keep in mind that it takes TWO WEEKS for dairy to exit the system. I would go off milk AND grain for one month and then add each item in separately to see if either is the problem.
Does your son crave carbs or dairy? A major sign of an intolerence to a food (or food group) is a constant craving for that food.

Cooking without milk is pretty easy. My family ate a vegan diet for some years and we used cashew milk for cooking. I have alot of recipes if you would like some.
I would NEVER substitute using soy milk. Have you tried almond milk? It's fantastic! Hazelnut milk and hemp milk are other alternatives.
It IS hard to go off dairy, esp. if you really, really don't want to. It get's easier after time.
Good luck!

Yes... that's me!
for years I was chronically sick, stuffed up, runny nose...and I got well when I cut out milk. Now I eat it much more than I used to, but still limit the quantity.

When my son gets liquid dairy he'll cough all night long. I believe it's from reflux and a tad of asthma. Just try taking your son off of liquid milk and see what it does. My son is fine with cheese and baked goods with milk in it.
Hope this helps some,
J.

I have 3 girls with seasonal allergies, it seems every time the weather changes, they get "colds" (runny noses and coughing) I limit their milk until they seem to be better and cut them off of milk about lunchtime so they can sleep better. I personally avoid milk when I'm stuffy, too.
I also agree with the chiropractor suggestion. They are not just "back-crackers" they can do wonders with kids and runny noses, ear aches, etc.