Can I Drink Lactose Free Milk?

Oh how I hated cutting out the dairy. I feel your pain! The doctor wants you to cut dairy because your baby is probably sensitive to milk protein. Drinking lactose free milk would only help YOU if you were lactose intolerant. It won't help the baby because,
1. She is drinking your breastmilk and can probably tolerate the lactace that is present in your milk without problem, and if not then your doc would have put her on some sort of hypollergenic formula or drops that you can give to your baby while breasfeeding.
2. The milk protein that is in the lactose free milk will still make its way into your breastmilk.

I had to do a lot of research too to figure this out. When I first started my dairy elimination diet. I was baffled when, after cutting dairy and he was remarkably better, he started getting sick again. It finally occured to me that the splash of non dairy creamer I had in my decaf was the culprit. It just didn't cross my mind that non dairy stuff was a BIG no-no too. :-(

The good news is that you don't have to be dairy free forever. I tried dairy again when he turned 6 months and he was just fine. YAY! Great for me because I am still nursing him. :-D

Here are a couple good links:
http://www.drgreene.com/qa/lactose-free-milk
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html

ETA:
Rice milk and almond milk are worth a try. I really liked the rice milk, and I still on occasion, will grab some chocolate rice milk for a treat. They even have rice milk ice cream!!
AND an FYI my doc also told me to give up soy and peanuts too because babies can occasionally show an intolerance to those as well. SO no soy milk for me either. :-(

2 moms found this helpful

The only way to know is to try it. I'm lactose intolerant and also do not tolerate lactose free milk. If your baby is still having difficulties when you're drinking lactose free milk I would just not drink milk. But it won't hurt to give it a try.

1 mom found this helpful

I would check the ingredients in lactose free milk. I believe the lactaid brand is regular milk with lactaid (a pill to help you digest milk) in it. I'm not sure if that is good for breastfeeding. Perhaps you could try soy milk, or almond milk or rice milk? I've tried the soy egg nog, which wasnt bad. I wasnt breastfeeding, though, so I took lactaid when I needed it. (I was lactose intolerant for almost 2 years post pregnancy....weird)

1 mom found this helpful

Probably not. Do not try it without talking to your doctor first. If it is a lactose thing, then it may not be as big a deal, but if it is an allergy to the protien in milk, casein, then it could be very harmful to your baby! We use vanilla flavored soy milk. If you are going to try soy, rice or any, I really suggest tring a vanilla or some other flavored one before you get a plain one. We have been milk(and a bunch of other stuff) free for over 3 years now, it can be done! Good Luck!

My daughter was diagnosed lactose intolerant when she actually had a reaction to the chemicals in the processing of the milk. (There are a lot of them) She did fine with organic whole milk. I know that some people do have an intolerance to lactose but I also think that some doctors jump to that conclusion if there is any reaction.

I know this didn't answer your question but a little additional info...just my two cents.

M.

Were you told to eliminate diary due to your child's reaction? If so, you can have lactose free milk. Another great option, which is actually better for you and has a lot more benefits is either soy milk or Almond milk! Sounds weird, but I have the same problem with my daughter. When I eliminated diary and went to soy products and the Almond milk, she is so much better and I actually lost some weight!!!!!

It all depends on why you were told to stop. I think your best bet is to give your doc's office a call and ask the nurse.

not all issues with milk is the lactose..that is only one of many issues someone can have with milk. no if your doc said no dairy then that means no dairy. are you seeing if it bothers your child? if it does even a teaspoon of dairy can have an effect so you must eliminate it completely for 2 preferably 3 weeks to get it out of your system and babys system to see improvements. i eliminated it for 4 weeks and boy it was amazing to see what dairy was doing to my system!

Try soy milk, rice milk or almond milk. I also found that I could cut out just cow dairy, but keep sheep & goat dairy products in my diet. Then you can drink goat's milk. There are ton's of great goat & sheep cheeses available now. My fav is goat gouda & drunken goat. Trader Joes has some that are affordable, but Whole Foods has a great selection.

Most babies are not lactose intolerant so it probably won't help you. Lactose is naturally occurring in your breastmilk whether you drink milk or not. It is definitely an intolerance of the dairy protein casein.

I had a hard time "givin' up the juice" too. I've always been a big milk drinker and it just got worse when I got pregnant. I could go through several gallons a week by myself.

I only completely cut dairy for the first two weeks...that is how long it takes to clear the protein from your system. After that I still ate cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. without problems for my daughter.

I slowly added milk back in sometime between 4 and 6 months...and continued to nurse her until 18 months. Today she is a happy, healthy toddler that can tolerate dairy just fine.

Is it you or the baby who is sensitive to the lactose (or both)?

My daughter was sensitive to lactose her first year (I am sensitive to it but can handle it better some days while others not at all). I tried the cutting out diary from my diet but I just could not, I did not eat/drink that much diary to begin with BUT there is dairy in A LOT of stuff and that even seemed to trigger my daughter as an infant. I was having some medical issues and just could not spend the time looking at hours at what had or did not have the least bit of diary in it SO I switched my daughter to a lactose free formula. My daughter would have "vomit like force" which was a sign of not tolerating dairy/lactose, so I kept trying different things till that reaction went away (formula was the answer for me, but may be different for you and others).

Soy products also are touch and go for me since I have developed a sensitivity to this too. Goats milk works the best for me, and rice milk is ok (just a little too sweet for my taste). It will be different for everyone so try and see what works best. Now I focus on getting calcium from other nutritious items but an adult can do that.

Hope this kind of helps.