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. ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]