On Sat, 10 Apr 1999 15:49:56 -0400 Marsha Celmer
<[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Michael's early months included colic, extreme gastric distress (which
>began about 45 minutes after nursing -- particularly nursings from
>late afternoon until morning --and lasted up to two hours), and
>crankiness on all our parts.

Ah, yes.  I remember those days....  We had similar problems, but
fortunately with the help of my allergist figured it out  a bit sooner.
As we found one food intolerance and removed it, another reared it's ugly
head until we traced that down.

>told our pediatrician about my thoughts that he was milk allergic, she
>gave me two cans of Lacto-free formula and suggested that he drink
>that instead.  I was still nursing, so I didn't understand what the
>value of the formula would be.

Breastmilk is actually high in lactose.  If he were LI, he wouldn't be
able to tolerate breast milk either.  He just wouldn't have the enzyme to
break it down no matter what the source.  I'd avoid the formula,
personally.  I had the same experience with my ped.  She just kept
handing me cans of formula (lactose free, soy) whenever things looked
kind of ugly.  I never used any of them and it turns out to be a good
thing since we have a corn intolerance also and they all had corn.  My
daughter had very bad reflux and vomitted constantly - sometimes entire
feeding all over me.  It turned out to be mostly caused by the foods.  I
must have a gut that looks like swiss cheese bc every protien seemed to
go right through!  As we found the problem foods, we were able to cut
back on the anti-gas and reflux meds.  Had we found the last culprit
earlier, maybe we could have eliminated the meds altogether.

>I figure we should avoid whey also.  True?    How have others
>maintained a milk-free diet for part of the family?  Is is easier to
>have everyone go milk-free?

We tended to have more problems with whey protiens than with casein.  It
just depends on the allergy/intolerance.  My daughter does not show
positive on a skin test for dairy, but she sure reacts to it.  There is a
symantecs issue with allergy vs. intolerance sometimes.  Ours has been
termed an intolerance and not a "true" allergy.  To me it's only a
technical difference bc the treatment is pretty much the same - avoid all
dairy :-)

I developed a dairy intolerance from being off dairy for the year that I
nursed.  So, that makes it a bit easier to keep things dairy free in the
house.  Mom cooks and can't have it - nobody gets it!  Dad gets his pizza
at lunch and we do keep other frozen foods that are only for him.  Of
course, he doesn't want to touch some of the things I've found for Alyssa
and myself.  It does get easier over time, but I still miss certain
foods.  I cook a lot from scratch and have a big freezer  so that I can
make big batches of things.  My intolerance seems to be lessening, but
I'm going to have to go dairy free (along with several other things)
again in June when the second one is born.

Good luck,
Kathy P.

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