Introducing Dairy?

Hi A.,
My son is lactose intolerant which is not the same as a milk allergy but also requires close attention to the consumption of dairy products.

Silk brand soy milk is NOT made from genetically modified soybeans which I think is good.

I would check the labels and with your pediatrician about rice milk. In the past rice milk did not have the calcium or other nutrients to be a healthy substitute for milk in small children. It may not be enough just to add protein. You may need to add calcium and vitamins as well.

My son drinks lactose-free milk. It's still a dairy product, but has lactase added to it since that's the enzyme he's missing to digest the dairy.

Is there a nutritionist in your health plan that could help you with this too? It's so difficult to make some of these food decisions when a wrong one results in pain and discomfort for our babies.

Good luck!

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Check with your pediatrician to be sure, but here are my thoughts, having gone through this twice. You might want to try yogurt first, the kind with active cultures. For some reason that seemed to sit better in my kids' stomachs than milk or cheese. Actually milk and cheese were a nightmare for us (they can cause BAD constipation) until my kids were in the 2 year old range. About a year ago, when my youngest was 1.5, I discovered raw milk, and it made a huge difference. Because of all the probiotics in it, it is easier to digest than pasteurized milk. I have heard from the owner of the dairy that we go to, that raw milk can even be digested by lactose-intolerant people. I don't know for sure since our issue was not so much lactose intolerance, it was just that my kids would get sooooo backed up when they drank regular milk...

You do have to be careful about getting raw milk from a good source (we use Organic Pastures Dairy, which you can buy at Whole Foods - we actually buy directly from the dairy because we live nearby). Before I discovered raw milk, I did use soy milk for both daughters, and that also worked well for us.

Good luck!!

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If you google "soy children" you will be overwhelmed at how much information you will get about how bad it is. I had heard that soy was bad for boys and I have 4 of them, so never used soy milk. But now after reading all the stuff that I did, I am eliminating soy completely, even for our future daughters. My family uses Trader Joe's Rice Drink(in vanilla), which is probably the same as Rice Dream. It is enriched in Vitamins A,D,B12 & Calicum.(Has the same amount as cow milk) It is lacking protein though, so you need to find other sources of protein. It also doesn't have the high fat content that whole milk has, so you need to make sure she is getting that through other sources also. If you use rice milk, make sure that the type you are buying either says enriched or fortified. When shopping for rice milk, compare the different brands or types, and choose the most nutritious. Hope this helps!

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Maybe try soy milk or rice milk? Give her another year before you try to dairy?

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I have heard that goats milk is great for kids that are allergic. My daughter was lactose intolerant and couldn't even drink a soy formula (which I really wanted to avoid anyway). Every Dr. (including hollistic) said goats milk! Or even try Lactose free milk.... that's what I have given my daughter since we stopped the lactose free formula.

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Our third (18 months old) is also allergic to dairy but tolerates a partially hydrolized formula (Good Start). We tried occasional yogurt at 9 mo or so and didn't see a reaction. He was fussier than usual but that is about it. We switched from formula to whole milk at 12 mo. From 12-14 mo he was much fussier and developed an itchy rash on his forehead that then spread down to his cheeks. I never saw him scratch it, but assume he was because it was frequently scabby. We switched him back to Good Start and the rash went away immediately. Cut all other dairy back out and the fussiness went away too.

Both our family doctor and allergist are fine with him continuing on the formula. (Our 6yo child has severe food allergies, so we've been through the drill and have been seeing the allergist for years.) I feel better staying on the formula, especially since we are avoiding other highly allergenic foods (nuts, soy, eggs) and are taking introduction of new foods very slowly. Once I feel confident he is getting enough protein and fat in his diet, we will switch to rice milk.

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I had severe problems with dairy and was told by our nutritionist not to introduce it to my daughter until she was 3. There are several good alternatives which you can sort through (rice, almond, soy etc.). We introduced dairy after 3 with no problems. If she's on formula, 90% of it is based on some kind of cows milk. Soy is often an alternative, but for many difficult to digest and can cause exema. Our nutritionist is not too expensive and amazing if you're intersted in getting custom results.

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Start with plain, unflavored yogurt... you can flavor it with jarred or fresh fruit so you know it's definitely only the yogurt if there's a problem. Soy is one of my son's highest allergies so please don't start with that unless you've had previous success with a soy-based formula (Alimentium and Nutramigen are not). Aside from the soy allergy possibility, there are hormone-like components to soy. Also, some soy milks, Silk in particular, contain carageenan which gives my son the runs. Every time I let him have one of those Horizon milk boxes he'd have a poopy accident and after studying the ingredients more closely I finally googled carageenan and was horrified to read further. As a mother with two allergic boys it's daunting to introduce new foods... especially with additives I can't recognize - much less pronounce! Good luck and I hope after a success with yogurt you can move on to organic whole milk :)

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I had premature twins and had to supplement their breastmilk with Alimentum, which does have dairy in it. So if she is doing fine with that then, introducing milk should be ok. What I did, was start oz by oz. Say the boys were drinking 6 oz of formula, well for one week, we used 5 oz of formula and 1 oz of milk. The next week we went to 2 oz of milk to 4 oz of formula so on and so forth, till the boys were drinking all milk. I know it seems long and drawn out, but my boys also suffered from acid reflux, so when I did yogurt they spit it up and nothing smells worse than curdled yogurt. Now the boys are on full milk and loving it.

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I would try Lactaid Milk. It is for the dairy intolerant. I have used it and I found it to be helpful. Good luck!

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Hi A. -

Goats milk is the least allergenic milk, followed by RAW cow's milk. Since she has shown signs of intolerance to pasteurized cow's milk, there is a good chance she won't tolerate it well. Cooked (pasteurized) cow's milk is allergenic to a LOT of people. It has had all the enzymes (that help the body digest the milk) and many of the nutrients cooked out of it.

Soy milk is very problematic - it has phytoestrogens, phytates (enzyme inhibitors) and is usually sugary. Rice milk is better, but tastes not so good unless a lot of sugar is added.

A person CAN live very well without any milk or milk-like products at all. You can get more calcium from greens and oranges than milk - protein also comes from myriad other sources. Of course you can feed her formula for as long as you want - but it is expensive. It is easier to feed your daughter a healthy well-balanced whole foods diet :)
Raw milk is a great food, but it isn't the only great food.

Good luck-!

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My daughter also showed signs of a milk allergy at a young age, so while breastfeeding, I gave up dairy. At 1, I started giving her milk. A few months later, cold and flu season hit, and she had at least 1 ear infection a month. After about 8 rounds of antibiotics, I was desperate - so I read everything I could online about ear infections and how to prevent them. Lo and behold, I read that a milk allergy could cause them. I immediately took her of cow's milk and yoghurt and she has not had an ear infection since. (over 1 year now) She does fine on cheese made from cow's milk, I just give her soy yoghurt and she drinks rice milk. I definitely would not give her cow's milk if she showed signs of an allergy early on...doctors are now saying that children are outgrowing allergies much later than they used to, and if you read anything homeopathic doctors are saying about cows milk, it's not really good for us anyway. Good luck, S. - 31 year old stay at home mom with 7 year old boy and 2 1/2 year old girl

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If you want to start slow, try yogurt. We introduced it at about ten moths and he loves it. We give him YoBaby Organic Yogurt. Mainly because i needed a full fat yogurt without the high fructose corn syrup. Just make sure it's a flavor that your munchkin has already been introduced too. My son has milk problems, but he took yogurt, cheese, butter, etc... just fine.

Good Luck!

P.S. They have this bran of yogurt at Regular grocery stores, but it is significantly cheaper at Trader joe's :-)

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My daughter had the same problem and I gave her organic Soy Milk at 12 months in a sippy cup. She never used a bottle after that.

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I think it's perfectly fine to continue with formula, if this is what you would like to do. My daughter is 13 mos, and she is still taking mostly formula and juice, with an occasional cup of milk. The formula has more nutrients and essentials than regular whole milk. I think a good place to start for your situation would be her Ped. He may have recommendations so that she is still getting enough to eat, but is drinking an alternative to cow's milk.

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If you aren't interested in giving your son soy milk you can choose other nut milks. Almond milk is much more nutritious than rice milk and has a great flavor. My daughter has been raised on soy milk and is taller than most kids her age. She gets cow milk at school as a treat.

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Some people say that vitamin d milk is too strong for a small child. Babies can eat baby food around 4-6 months, when they spit it out, you know they don't like it. Formula is ok until they are 2 years of age. I did introduce 2% milk to my sons and they had no reaction to it. My boys are older now, but knowledge never leaves a mom. I heard eggs under 1 year is not good for them. After 1 I don't know.
Each body tolerates things at different times.

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You can just try real milk and see what happens. With my son he drank it for several months then stasrted having a reaction with diarrea and bad diaper rssh. He was then put on goats milk for a few months and reintroduced to real milk with no reaction. Goats milk is expensive but it worked.

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my son has done well on soy milk... we eventually put him on a trial of lactaid milk and it is working well. there is NO need to introduce milk if she shows signs of being allergic..there are so many other choices...
L.

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Soy and rice milk are a great substitute. May I ask why you aren't crazy about soy milk?

My brother was lactose intolerant back in the day before soy milk was available in the stores and my mother used goat's milk. She said it worked great and later when he was able to tolerate cow's milk it wasn't that hard a transition (especially the flavor).

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