Milk Sensitivity for a Baby - What Can I Do?

G.,
I would give the soy, rice or goat milk a try. My last child had a milk allergy, and I did not hear about it till she was 4 years old. We went through 37 antibiotics in 3 years and 2 rounds of ear tubes before she was diagnosed with a milk allergy. I breastfed for 1 year and she was so sick with ear infections from the time she was 3 weeks old.

I would have been so willing to avoid the dairy if I had only known that it would help so much.

Hang in there. The goat milk is really pretty good.

K. Voigtsberger, CD(DONA), AAHCC

The typical reaction is to the protein in the milk (casein) and not the sugar (lactose) so the enzymes really won't help. Honestly, you don't need milk to get the vitamin D, calcium, etc. but if you would like a replacement, almond milk and coconut milk taste fantastic IMHO - far better than soy or rice (soy milk is actually quite bad in that it can negatively impact your thyroid). Goat's milk *might* be okay, the protein is smaller, BUT it is still quite similar to cow's milk.

I will also note that while they sometimes tell you that kids will outgrow this, my experience was that they do NOT and it is also likely that you have a hidden allergy to dairy and may have a leaky gut. Typically, the protein from the cow's milk shouldn't really make it into your breastmilk, unless your gut is leaky (the junctors in the intestine that let nutrients through are staying open when they should close) and thus proteins that shouldn't be in your blood are being recirculated.

I'm sure you could drink almond milk and be fine. Maybe hemp milk would work, too.

I'm going through the same thing now. I've switched to almond milk and my son is fine. I don't like soy or coconut but almond milk tastes really good and it is lactose/dairy free. I've been drinking it for 3 months now and he's fine with it. If you like cream with your coffee the almond milk works well but they also have soy creamer. Good luck!

My middle daughter could not drink any formula that had milk or corn syrups in it. She would throw up everywhere if she did. There used to be a similac formula that you could buy without a prescription that was soy based without sweetners and corn syrups. It worked for her. Did not smell great & she would occassionally spit up a little bit but nothing like before. When she was about 7 months we were finally able to go to the carnation good start & it worked for her...the pediatrician had told me that it was milder and easier to digest than a lot of other formulas.

Talk it over with your pediatrician. They will first push a lot of high cost formula's and some prescriptions but if you talk to them about your needs and needing something that is easily available and within budget they will guide you to other solutions to try.

Good luck...and she will probably grow out of most of the reactions with time! :)

I am nursing as well. I have a 3yr old son and a 7 month old baby. Both were sensitive to milk. This time around I am putting rice milk in my cereal (to drink straight my husband says that the chocolate rice milk has a better taste.) Also, Whole foods carries a cheddar cheese and a mozzarella cheese made with rice. I asked my pediatrican about soy based items like sourcream, cream cheese, milk, etc. She recommended I stay away from soy products. I can't remember very well but I think she said to not drink almond milk. I know there is rice ice cream (I just don't miss ice cream enough to pay $5 for a very small amount of rice based ice cream). But it is nice to know that there are options out there for us!!!

I'm not sure if I can help since I am no longer nursing but regarding formula and dairy, I've had some experience. Good Start formula gave my son eczema and he now struggles with asthma & allergies. I've had several moms and recently our chiropractor recommend giving up dairy to see what happens. We're on week 3 of no dairy guess what, no more cough! No more throat clearing, no more "gunky" sounds coming from my toddler. Time will tell if no dairy helps his asthma but for now, I am one thrilled momma!

We tried rice milk & almond milk, both he drinks but he's not crazy about them. I feel like the almond is more nutritious, not just a starch like the rice milk. I don't like soy milk because of the hormone-like estrogen in it which I've read about. I don't feel comfortable giving him soy but you could always try it. We are now giving goat's milk a try because I've read it's very close to breast milk and much easier for them to digest. Dr. Sears has some good info on goat's milk. My son loves goat's milk so far and I'm hoping he tolerates it alright. It does have a strong smell, so I'm not sure if you would like it but you could try. There's also special formulas if it comes to that for you, out there for milk sensitive babies, like Neocate. Good luck, there are lots of options for you!

Rice, soy, potato and hemp milk aren't really milk. Milk is the number one allergen. I'd think you'd be OK with only filtered water and a healthy diet. JMO.

It is a short time overall in your life to do without dairy while nursing your little one. But, rice milk and soy is something you can get used to. We have drank rice milk now for 5 years and love it on cereal, etc. There is soy yogurt, soy ice cream and soy based products for you that are great. The chocolate almond breeze, heated is an excellent hot chocolate. I have even added non dairy flavored creamer to it for a fun hot drink.Both are better than goat milk. Try new things and stay off cheese, dairy and milk until you are finished nursing. Congratulations on number 5. My daughter has 5 also and hoping for another baby anytime.

Hi G.,

I had to cut out dairy completely (it's in everything it seems!) when I was nursing my daughter. She is 22 months now and drinks vanilla soy milk to which I added soy creamer for a couple of months to give her enough fat. Soy milk is more like 2% and under two years old should have the fat of whole milk.

As far as other milks, I prefer unsweetened soy milk because I think it's thicker and it's as close to cow's milk as I have found. Chocolate soy or almond milk is wonderful in coffee! I haven't had any hormone issues with soy and I actually had postpartum HYPER-thyroid and never hypo, lol! I gave up cow's milk 17 years ago due to my own allergy so I would assume something would have happened if soy was going to cause a problem.

Best of luck!
M.

As far as milk goes, I drank Lactaid milk. It's real milk, but somehow they remove the lactose part. It tastes almost exactly like regular milk, so it was much better than soy milk, or other alternatives (I tried soy milk, and could not get used to it). I don't know about other dairy products such as cheese, yogurt, etc. that may just be a trial and error thing.

My 19 month old was sensitive to milk when he was nursing, so like you, I stayed away from dairy. When he was a year- we did goats milk and he did very well on it. I belive because the goats milk protein is differed than cows milk, so I would try goats milk if you really want milk.I dont think the lactase enzyme would help if it was a milk PROTEIN problem,Lactase is actually the milk sugar. Best of luck.