Hello,

I'm an "out of the loop" mom who is trying to understand what my 6yr old
is going through.. After years of my son just being plain sick and
miserable it was finally diagnosed when he was almost 5 that he is
lactose intolerant.  This was after changing doctors, missing time at
day cares because of messy diapers (when he was younger), one messy pair
of underwear after another, endless ear infections, constantly runny
nose and endless stomache aches.. usually after one bite of dinner.
Finally after being pregnant and having my last baby 2 years ago,
(feeling like he just wanted my attention through the pregnancy with the
messy pants..) when I took the baby in for her 6 month check up I
mentioned what I was going through with Ryan to a new doctor.... the
doctor left the room a minute to consult someone and came back with the
suggestion to take milk products out of his diet for a week and then
call her.... well needless to say there were less stomache aches and at
the end of the week he had a solid bowel movement!! We hadn't seen that
in ages.  In the last year he has been GROWING leaps and bounds and is a
much happier boy.

During the last year I've tried to alter his diet myself.. this isn't
going to work.  He has no problem with lacotse reduced milks.. loves
them in fact.  For Kindergarten he took a juice box for snacktime
everyday and carried his lunch to daycare with a thermos of his milk.
However, I know I have to change cooking and snack habits.

I recently went to a dietician to learn to read labels.  As soon as I
walked in the door she told me she was doubtful a 6 yr old was Lactose
Intolerant-- it's rare.  She said I'd have a hard time convincing her--
she said it was probably something..just not LI. Well after my little
speech her mouth was hanging open and she said very sweetly... "well I
think we have a moderate to severe case of lactase defficiency" (same
thing) She and the doctor both feel he has little or no lactase enzymne
in his body. She gave me a list of things to look for on labels and
that's where I am now.

I'm on this list to continually learn what to do for Ryan.  He's feeling
better each day....I have Lactaid drops and pills.  He can't swallow yet
and finds them discusting crushed hidden in anything.  The drops seem
intended for the adding to milk but I've been putting drops of this on
his first bites of food... don't know if this practical or not. He
thinks it's cool to have his "OWN" milk and is pretty good about not
eating things he shouldn't because he doesn't like how he feels later.
Is there any other way for me to get him lactase with those first bites
of food?  Something appealing to a 6 yr old?

Well I thank you all for your time in reading this.  I appreciate having
a resource like this available.  (((THANKS)))

Patti Gerbig
[log in to unmask]
in Upper Michigan