Hi Heidi.  I read your post, and thought maybe it would be nice to
correspond with you.  I have 4 kids, one of which is milk allergic - his
allergy was not identified until he was 2.5 years old, had 2 surgeries for
ear tubes, and was diagnosed as mildly autistic.  The good news is that
since we have modified his diet, his health has improved so much that he
has responded to all the various therapies (speech, etc) and is now no
longer considered to have an autistic spectrum disorder.  It is amazing how
much better he is without dairy.  However, it is clear that he still has
some sort of digestive problem - he was tested for Celiac this past week,
we are waiting for the results.  As I understand it, his milk intolerance
may be a result of a gluten intolerance (casein and gluten have similar
molecular structure); if you have ever read the autism page, you see a lot
about keeping the kids off not only milk (casein), but wheat (gluten), and
what a dramatic difference it makes in their improvement.  I thought
keeping him off milk would be impossible.  Now, we are 5 months into the
dairy free (and, egg free, too - my son tested positive for allergy to
eggs).

If it wasn't for rice milk (Rice Dream, Enriched), I don't know what we
would do.  I make him muffins, pancakes, etc. with egg replacer (Ener-G)
and rice milk instead of regular milk.  He doesn't drink it straight,
though.  He is more of a juice drinker, (calcium enriched apple and orange
juice).

The way we really realized he had a problem with milk was the fact that he
took in little else, and had excessive bowel movements (4 to 6 per day).
It really cleared up when dairy was removed; however, he still has the
problem from time to time, which prompted another trip to the
gastroenterologist to determine why - he recommended the celiac screening,
since the casein and gluten have such a close connection.  We are in for a
real challenge if he tests positive - it is one thing to tell his preschool
teacher, please, no milk, here is a juice box for his snack time - and
quite another to somehow avoid all gluten!  We will do anything to have him
be healthy, so we will find a way.

How old is your son, and how did you find out he was allergic?  We still
don't have a good answer as to milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance
- actually the thought of challenging him with a dairy product scares me, I
don't want him sick again.  Did your son have a RAST test?  What type of
doctor diagnosed him?  Our allergist was very little help; the
gastroenterologist was actually the most helpful.

Carolyn, Spencer's Mom
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