Found Out My Son Has a Milk Allergy

LOL, I can totally relate to your situation. I found out my son was allergic to milk when he was a bit over a month old. I've learned to read all labels when buying food and grew to really like soy milk as I couldn't have any dairy product as I breastfed the baby. Now our son just turned two and I have introduced him to milk and dairy products. There are two kinds of milk allergy - lactose-intolerance and allergy to milk protein, the first one is easier since there are kinds of milk that are supposedly lactose-free, but with the second kind you have to exclude erverything that has any trace of milk. As for my son, I was told that he'd outgrow the allergy by two or three, sometimes it doesn't happen, but in his case I haven't noticed any usual signs of allergy - breakouts on face and streaks of blood in stool. I'll continue giving him dairy and keep a close eye on him. One good thing about this country is a vast variety of dairy-free products - I think I've discovered most, if not all, of them in these two years :). Hopefully, he's over it. Wishing you luck with your son and hopefully our kids will be able to outgrow it totally.

You are doing all the right things. One thing to be aware of is that if a kid has one kind of food allegy, it is very possible for him to be allegic to something else.
The good part is, he might grow out of. Like my daughter, she is allegic to mutiple kinds of food. Now, we try to let her taste a little on what she is allegic to once for a while. Seems she is getting better on some of them.

I am glad that you caught it so early. I am lactose intolerant and my pediatrician didn't diagnose it until I was about 7 or 8 years old. I would double over in pain at the dinner table after drinking my milk and no one could figure out what the problem was. I haven't touched a glass of milk since. I can, however, have dairy in small doses. I can eat cheese and ice cream but I just can't have too much or for too many days in a row. That may be different for him though. Just make sure he gets enough calcium in other ways. I also use lactaid milk which tastes a lot better than soy. They also have lactose free milk in generic brands that are good too. Ask your ped about taking suppliments to offset the lactose, they can take lactaid pills (chewy i think) before eating or drinking dairy. He will be fine! Better to avoid it than have those bad tummy aches!

This is a very good forum I went to when I found out my son has a peanut allergy.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/icallergies/start

You have to register with Delphi, but basic membership is free. There are some very knowledgeable people there who have BTDT. I wish you luck.

H.

We found out about our son's allergy when he was 8 months old, and he's almost 3 years old now. I don't know if your child still has a milk allergy, but I know it can be very limiting. Our son has an allergy to casein specifically, and he can tolerate at least some amounts of whey.

Here are some of his favorite foods:
--Eggo mini waffles and french toast sticks (only have whey in them)
--unfrosted Pop Tarts
--Earth's Best mini meatballs
--chicken nuggets (Earth's Best, Banquet, Perdue Simply Smart, Great Value, etc. (check labels for other brands))
--kidney beans (yep, plain kidney beans)
--honey-roasted peanuts
--popcorn
--chips
--vanilla wafers
--fish sticks (check ingredients)
--Nature's Bakery fig bars (best value is at Sam's Club)
--raisins
--Annie's graham bunnies
--fruit snacks (I usually buy Mott's Medley's (made with fruit and veggie juice))
--graham crackers
--Lance whole grain cracker and peanut butter sandwiches
--different kinds of crackers
--Veggie Sticks (the crunchy kind you can find near chips at Walmart, local grocery stores, at Sam's Club, etc.)
--Great Value honey buns (just the glazed ones)
--cereal (usually give him off-brand cheerios)
--oatmeal
--yogurt (Silk yogurt and So Delicious yogurt)
--fries
--hamburgers
--fruit (grapes and clementines especially)

I haven't bought any for him yet, but Oreos are all milk-free.

If you're struggling with veggies, try fruit and veggie smoothies (banana, frozen fruit, spinach, a spoonful of orange juice concentrate, and a nut-based milk (or rice milk))