Hi mamas! My daughter has been on a dairy free diet for about a month. My hubby and I bit the bullet last night and started her back on dairy like her allergist suggested (I dont think she's truly allergic but just sensitive).. i'm nervous as it always seemed like she gets ear infections.. anyways.. question is: how long do you guys think it might be before her issues start to show back up again if they do? we've been giving her a ton like he said (he said "do it and do it big"), but since we just started last night I'm not sure how long it might take. Thanks :)
Thank you everyone for the answers. I really appreciate them all..
BTW - "he" is the allergist in the sentence "do it and do it big"
Update: We took my Daughter back off dairy yesterday. First day when we put her to bed she coughed hard for about 45 minutes. Second day when we put her to bed, she essentially coughed ALL night, waking up a few times whining. Took her off yesterday and last night she sporadically coughed for maybe 30 minutes then was silent the rest of the night and no waking up. :)
My husband will see dairy-induced symptoms within a couple of hours (mainly clogginess and lots of throat clearing).
My son will usually take a day or so, and then I'll start to hear lots of sneezing and congestion.
The good news for us is that dairy seems to clear relatively quickly.
MIne shows signs immediately.
My DD takes a Claritin every day to combat the foods she is sensitive and allergic to.
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I don't know, but I'd love to know the results of your 'experiment'. :)
My 11 month old son is suspected of having a milk allergy, although he wont be tested until he is a year old. At first the doctors though he had a sensitive tummy so he was on soy, and at his 9 month check up I was asked to try and give him regular formula to see if his stomach had "toughened up." He drank 4 oz of regular formula and had a reaction within 2 hours. I am not sure if this is the norm or not, but it was our experience with it. By the way, we are back on the soy and no milk whatsoever. Good luck to you and your daughter!
After being dairy free for a month, if you just give her a full glass of milk she should show signs within an hour or two. She would get diarrhea, pain in her belly, painful gas, nausea, and possibly other discomfort. If you're giving her yogurt you likely won't see much since yogurt has live active cultures in it and it sort of "digests itself" so that someone with lactose intolerance (that does not have a protein allergy) can eat it.
You should also be checking the packages of cheeses you're giving her. Some brands, like Cabot and Kraft, add lactase enzyme (the enzyme in the small intestine that digests lactose sugars) so as to make the cheeses lactose-free and the nutrition information on the back reads as "0 grams lactose." Usually it's the cheddars and the shredded mozzarella. You also might not get much reaction from real Swiss cheese or Parmesan cheese because of how they're fermented. Or from Kraft Parmesan which definitely has the enzyme in it.
Point of story: make sure that what you're giving her isn't actually lactose-free or chock full of live active cultures. Just give her a big tall glass of real cow's milk and you'll do fine with the test. Or you tell the doctor that you aren't sure if it worked and request the Breath Test where they test the amount of nitrogen in her breath after a small fasting period the night before. That morning they'd give her a lactose solution and have her breath out into a tube that catches her breath, then measure the nitrogen in it... if there is any nitrogen, she's lactose intolerant.
I have a child with lactose intolerance. We've been through this whole thing. It suuuuuucks. But it's worth it to figure things out.
