I began subscribing to this list in the midst of the iron-in-milk debates.  Glad to see things calming down.

I am the mom of a 18-month-old son who breasffeeds and seems to be allergic (intolerant?) to casein.  It was a long and rough first 15 months, but removing casein from his (and my) diet in late December  has brought welcomed relief.  I just have so many doubts, questions, concerns.

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.  By five months of age, Michael had eased up on the colic, but still had awful bouts of gastric pain throughout the night.  He had many night wakings (sometimes as often as every hour) and we would hear him thrashing about in his sleep from the discomfort.

When I approached my pediatrician about the night wakings, she simply said that I now had a child who was "normal" and awoke at night.  She told me I was "spoiled" by the unusual sleep habits of my daughter, born 3 years prior.  It didn't seem right, but I got no where and began to believe her.  I belong to a LaLeche League group, and received much support for our struggles, but no specifics.  (My leader has since given me much info on milk-free diets and feels terrible that she didn't think of milk allergies in the early days.  And so we all learn. . .)

Now that we are off milk products, Michael has become an engaging, delightful little boy.  He awakes only once at night, without distress, and nurses back to sleep easily.  We no longer pace the floors with him or spend our nights crying along with him.  When I 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.  She said if he digested the lacto-free then we would know he was lactose intolerant.  But she never asked what any of his symptoms were!  And since we have been having good days and nights, I hesitate to introduce anything into his diet that may cause the pain (and sleepless nights) to recur.

BUT. . .is he casein allergic?  casein intolerant?  And what about lactose intolerance?  We decided on the casein connection because of info I received through LaLeche League: namely, that lactose intolerance in breastfed infants causes diarrhea, whereas casein causes cramping and gas.  Any thoughts?

From information I read in "The Baby Book" by William and Martha Sears, 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?  (My husband has been a real sport about it, but I must admit that if Michael weaned tomorrow, my first order of business would be to order a large cheese pizza.)

Since he lived with this condition for over a year before we realized it, is he over-sensitized in any way?  Could his allergy have been made worse because we kept feeding him dairy products?  Is he likely  to outgrow this allergy?

Help.

Marsha Celmer
Mom to Michael,  age 18 months and Elizabeth, age 4