Hello all,
        I have been lurking and discovered that I don't quite fit in around here,
and my problems seem very insignificant after reading about the lengths
many of you must go to to insure your children's health.  I feel very lucky.

        Even though my problem is a quite different than what I have read about
here, I wanted to post in case someone had a similar problem and knew the
answers.  The doctors in my area here haven't been much help.  It concerns
lactose intolerance in pregnancy only, and a resultant infant who cannot
tolerate breast milk.

        I never had a touch of lactose intolerance UNTIL I was 7 months pregnant
with my first child.   It was moderate, I could still get away with a
little dairy here and there, as long as I didn't drink milk or eat ice
cream.  Remarkably, immediately after my son's birth, the lactose
intolerance subsided, and I was back to my old dairy queen self.  I was
breastfeeding, and when my son was about three weeks old, he developed
severe diarrhea.

        In hindsight, I realize now that the baby's diarrhea started about the
same time I started back on dairy products.  His diarrhea continued for
weeks.  I asked the pediatrician if it could be a milk allergy or lactose
intolerance, but he said diarrhea was not a symptom of either.  He just
insisted that his diarrhea was normal and treated me like a worrisome first
time mother.  There was nothing normal about it.  My baby was in pain,
screaming every time he had one of these watery bowel movements and I was
changing diapers about 20 times a day and just trying to stay ahead of the
horrible diaper rash that resulted from the irritating diarrhea.    Finally
I changed pediatricians.  The new doctor put me on a breastfeeding diet
which eliminated all known irritants, including dairy products.  I didn't
see any immediate improvement, and I couldn't take it any more, so I just
quit breastfeeding and put him on soy formula.  He did wonderfully after
that.  When he got older, I started giving him milk.  He is 6 now, drinks
milk all the time and has never shown any symptoms.

        So for the past six years, I have been heavily consuming dairy products
with no symptoms.  UNTIL I got pregnant again.  This time the lactose
intolerance started right away in the first month of my pregnancy, and is
more severe than last time.  I can't even tolerate butter on toast.  My
problem is easily manageable, but my concern is the baby.   I want to
breastfeed, but I am afraid to chance it.  I don't want to put another
child through that kind of suffering.  Another thing I have wondered about
is that since I am only lactose intolerant when pregnant, could it be the
some sort of rejection by the fetus?  If so, could I be causing a milk
allergy or lactose intolerance or harming the fetus by consuming dairy?  I
have talked to my obstetricians and they tell me not to worry, but it is
also clear they have never heard of anything like this.  Has anyone here?

        Thanks, Miranda