Breastfeeding

Dairy intolerance and "lactose free" products?

ktpaladinoktpaladino member
edited February 2014 in Breastfeeding
DD's pediatrician wants me to cut out dairy to rule out a dairy intolerance before filling the Zantac Rx she gave me. I am wondering, for those of you that are dairy free, can you still have products that are labeled "lactose free"? I'm not sure if consuming lactose free milk and such would still negatively effect DD. She has been super gassy, arching her back, and occasionally projectile vomiting after eating. I know these are all signs of reflux, but are these characteristics of dairy allergy too? I thought the tell-tale sign of dairy intolerance was mucousy green poop, but her poop is always the normal yellow seedy BF poop.

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Re: Dairy intolerance and "lactose free" products?

  • casey78 said:

    It's my understanding that it is the milk protein, and not the lactose, that some babies have a hard time tolerating at the beginning. I don't think lactose free products would help.


    Kellymom.com has some good resources on identifying hidden dairy, etc. 
    Great thanks! I'm going grocery shopping today and I'm just going to steer clear of those products and cut out the milk, cheese, and yogurt completely! It's going to be hard b/c I LIVE on that stuff LOL!

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  • Lactose intolerance is very rare in infants and when most react to it, it's due to the protein.  It's hard to do at first but after DS's symptoms cleared up, I was completely fine with going without.  I'd rather have a happy baby.  I like coconut milk with cereal but some LOs can also react to coconuts so I would test that out after getting rid of the dairy (and remember dairy can take 4-5 weeks to get out of both your systems).  Also, many LOs who are sensitive to dairy also react to soy because the proteins look very similar. 

    Yes, she did mention to cut soy out too, but I don't think I ever have any soy so that should be easier! Thanks for your help :)

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  • Lactose intolerance is very rare in infants and when most react to it, it's due to the protein.  It's hard to do at first but after DS's symptoms cleared up, I was completely fine with going without.  I'd rather have a happy baby.  I like coconut milk with cereal but some LOs can also react to coconuts so I would test that out after getting rid of the dairy (and remember dairy can take 4-5 weeks to get out of both your systems).  Also, many LOs who are sensitive to dairy also react to soy because the proteins look very similar. 




    Yes, she did mention to cut soy out too, but I don't think I ever have any soy so that should be easier! Thanks for your help :)

    It's harder than you might think.  Hidden soy is in MANY processed things and even in things you may not think of, like your vitamins. 

    ETA: Also you need to be extremely careful if you ever go out to eat.  Marinades on meats sometimes contain soy.  Bread products can contain hidden dairy and soy.  Many restaurants even put some kind of diary or soy product on their vegetables.


    Holy crap.

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  • Soy is in pretty much EVERYTHING! Be really careful like pp said
  • If her poop is normal, it might not be MSPI you're dealing with... I've heard of babies with reflux/gassiness improving when their moms simply cut out obvious dairy. It is very difficult (at first) to cut out all hidden dairy and soy, so you might want to try just the obvious dairy first and see if your LO improves. In that case it will probably only be a few days until you see improvement. If it's MSPI you would need to cut all dairy, and possibly soy, for at least 3-5 weeks before you see a total end to symptoms. But, like you said, usually the main symptom for MSPI is green/mucousy/bloody poop.

    HTH and GL!

  • ktpaladinoktpaladino member
    edited February 2014
    @AmyG thank you for such a detailed response. I will try my best to answer all of the questions. First, her symptoms show up about 10 minutes after every meal. The fussiness lasts about 25 minutes during daytime feeds, but it is worse around 9:00 pm before bed- it can take me an hour or two to get her comfortable and back to sleep. She arches her back, gets stiff legs, latches and relatches very franticly with rapid breathing, makes horrible faces with bug eyes, and wails in pain. Most of these symptoms show up after she has eaten, not while she is trying to nurse. Except for at night when it's at it's worst, I keep putting her back to the breast cause she keeps rooting like she's hungry even though she's clearly uncomfortable. The spit up is not frequent. However when she does spit up, it is projectile and seems to be the whole contents of her stomach. It completely soaks her and me and wherever we are sitting...a few ounces at least. This happens maybe once a day on average. She does seem to gulp a lot of air and when I burp her she burps A LOT. Like, I usually get at least 7-10 huge burps out of her. I had a horrible oversupply with my first, but it seems not to be *as* bad this time around. I do nurse her laid back a lot of the time. My letdown may be a little on the forceful side, but she doesn't gag or choke- it doesn't seem to bother her too much. Her poop is just fine. Always yellow and seedy, no mucous or blood. She poops and pees A LOT! We usually nurse on one side at a time, except for when she gets fussy because she gets frantic like she's starving and I worry she's not getting enough so I put her on the other side. Maybe that's part of the problem. I feel it is more of a gas and reflux issue than a dairy issue, but I am cutting out milk, yogurt, and cheese this week to see if that helps before I fill the Zantac.

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