Is your baby lactose intolerant?

[gorgeousmumof]

I have been told by friends since my baby was newborn that all his problems could be down to this! The dr refuses to test him. I am still having problems with him at nearly 6 months old. He is very very unhappy.

I just wondered for those who have babies who are lactose intolerant.. please can you tell me the symptoms they had... how you managed to get them tested.. and which milk they were then put on and how much of an improvement was seen? or any other solution that was given?

 

[Linzi]

Hi hun

My son was lactose intolerant

It started when he was quite young, he had bad colic (I was breastfeeding) and a lady on here told me to try cutting out dairy out of my diet, so I did and within a few days, the colic was 10 times better. I didn't think anymore of it really, just kept dairy out of my diet.

During this time he was in hospital twice with dehydration. He had bad diarrhea and couldn't keep a lot down.

It got worse at 4 months when he started taking solids as well as breastmilk. The only thing I could give him that he would keep down was blended vegetables. I got in trouble off the health visitor because he was dropping down his percentile lines and not putting on weight (loosing it at one point) and she blamed me because I wasn't giving him a lot of dairy.

When I went back to work he was 8 months old and that's when it came to a head. We took him off breast milk completely and he went on to formula and ate the same diet the kids at nursery did. They keep notes at nursery of what the kids were eating, and also their pooing & weeing patterns. We got called into nursery a lot in the first few weeks because he would just lie there and scream in agony and then either be sick, or have a loose nappy. He was in so much pain with it. We sat down with nursery and eventually tied together that it was about 20 minutes after a bottle or portion of dairy (yoghurt/cheese) that he would turn poorly.

We took him straight to GP who did a stool sample for viruses but said there was no point checking for lactose intolerance, because it wouldn't be that. Samples came back clear and we were told it was probably some kind of bug. He was hospitalised again (two or three times) with dehydration and they suggested lactose intolerance. He was badly underweight because every day he wasn't keeping his food or milk down.

Eventually I walked into the Drs surgery with him, sat down and basically said "Im not moving until you test him for lactose intolerance". I took his slips from nursery and a record of his eating & nappy/being sick patterns and literally did not move from the spot until he agreed.

Suprise suprise - he was lactose intolerant. We think it may have been triggered by gastroenteritis he suffered at a few weeks old.

It took us a LONG time for him to be diagnosed, and a lot of pressure to the Drs. HVs always were telling me it was my fault, I wasnt feeding him properly etc and I put my poor boy through this for months I feel horrible for it now. But how was I meant to know!!!

Dr didn't give us anything really, so we just switched his whole diet to lacto free (we used cow & gate lacto free formula) and we could see an improvement in days really.

When he is poorly now, it sends him a bit the same way, but on the whole he has been back on full dairy for a year roughly now.

If you do think your LO may be lactose intolerant you need to put your foot down for testing. I don't know why Drs don't seem to take it seriously.

Good luck hun xx

 

[louise1302]

Archie is lactose intolerant. he was never actually tested for it but GP and hospital dietician came to te conclusion at 3 months after watching his symptoms
we think archies started at 10 days after a bad stomach bug left him in hosp and his symptoms were more or less what linzi said, he had terrible colic. to the point he was screaming al the time (not just normal evening colic crying) his nappies were absolutely vile and he was sick frequently
the doctors gave us soya milk which literally turned him int a different baby overnight and then they decided he had other sllergis so he was given nutramigen formula which suited him perfectly
he still doesnt have dairy as it gives him bad stomachahes and the run but we are slowly trying to give him litrtle bits to see if we can build up his tollerance of it

hth x

 

[Linzi]

It really upsets me thinking about it now because he wasn't diagnosed until he was a year old, and the whole time I'm giving him full fat milk, to get his weight up because everyone was telling me thats why he was underweight, even though I KNEW it was making him poorly.

If you've got any concerns, just put pressure on your GP. Its a stool test, takes 5 minutes and results come back in 5 days. Well worth doing..




xxx

 

[louise1302]

linzi a year is a long time.poor little man and poor you

 

[carly_mummy2b]

Vinnie is lactose intolerent, i kept asking and asking for my doctor to test and he wouldnt so my health visitor told me the best way other than the doctor testing was to buy SMA Lactose Free milk and give it to him for 48 hours if he was lactose intolerent i would be able to tell almost straight away.

Within a few hours the colic was soooo much better and now he has no trouble bringing up wind and the horrendous nappies that were occuring several times a day stopped and he become a much happier baby

If your doctor wont test your baby buy a tin from bigger boots stores and give it a go

Carly x x x

 

[pinklizzy]

We've just started the SMA lactose free in the hopes it will help. I don't think she has the 'classic' signs of intolerance-she isn't sick all that often and is gaining weight but for the last 10days-2weeks she has had fits of screaming with what look like abdominal spasms/pain about 2 hrs after a feed-just while she's digesting it.
She did well on the Aptamil Comfort but now it seems as if it has stopped working for her? She isn't constipated but only has a dirty nappy every other day, rather than every day previously and passes a lot of painful wind.
Fingers crossed this helps her as she's such a happy baby usually, it's awful to see her screaming in pain

 

[sjb1985]

We've just started the SMA lactose free in the hopes it will help. I don't think she has the 'classic' signs of intolerance-she isn't sick all that often and is gaining weight but for the last 10days-2weeks she has had fits of screaming with what look like abdominal spasms/pain about 2 hrs after a feed-just while she's digesting it.
She did well on the Aptamil Comfort but now it seems as if it has stopped working for her? She isn't constipated but only has a dirty nappy every other day, rather than every day previously and passes a lot of painful wind.
Fingers crossed this helps her as she's such a happy baby usually, it's awful to see her screaming in pain

Will you let me know how you get on hun as Chloe has EXACTLY the same symptoms as your LO xxx

 

[pinklizzy]

Of course hun, sorry your little one is suffering too, so hard isn't it

 

[kmac625]

Clara wasn't lactose intolerant, but she had a milk protein intolerance. Her poo was always runny/mucousy (sorry if tmi) but because she was breastfed the midwife said runny was the norm so I didn't worry about it. She is a happy baby and didn't seem in pain or have los of gas either. Then she had a little blood in her poo and I freaked right out! Her doctor told me to cut all dairy out of my diet and it did the trick. After a few months of being dairy-free I tried some and Clara has outgrown the intolerance. Good luck with your lo, I hope you solve his tummy issues soon.

 

[NG09]

My LO is lactose intolerant, he was colicy, had reflux, always very congested, unsettled, the worst thing was that he was continually sick night and day. It took 3 months of back and forth to the docs until I demanded they prescribe me lf milk for him, within 24 hours he was a different baby. Try the lf milk, won't do any harm x

 

[smam]

My LO is lactose intolerant, he was colicy, had reflux, always very congested, unsettled, the worst thing was that he was continually sick night and day. It took 3 months of back and forth to the docs until I demanded they prescribe me lf milk for him, within 24 hours he was a different baby. Try the lf milk, won't do any harm x

My little man has exactly the same symptoms as your boy... I changed him to C&G comfort a week ago and to begin with he was better than on SMA gold but now he progressively getting worse again, unsettled all the time, bad tummy, reflux and has been snuffly since he was born, but I just put it down to being a winter baby and being colicky etc but I might ask the doc tomorro at his 8 week check...

Is there any chance that it could be hereditary? I have a slight lactose intolerance and my OH's mum and half sisters are completely LI?!

 

[NG09]

My LO is lactose intolerant, he was colicy, had reflux, always very congested, unsettled, the worst thing was that he was continually sick night and day. It took 3 months of back and forth to the docs until I demanded they prescribe me lf milk for him, within 24 hours he was a different baby. Try the lf milk, won't do any harm x

My little man has exactly the same symptoms as your boy... I changed him to C&G comfort a week ago and to begin with he was better than on SMA gold but now he progressively getting worse again, unsettled all the time, bad tummy, reflux and has been snuffly since he was born, but I just put it down to being a winter baby and being colicky etc but I might ask the doc tomorro at his 8 week check...

Is there any chance that it could be hereditary? I have a slight lactose intolerance and my OH's mum and half sisters are completely LI?!

Same here hun, he was on C&G premium which was terrible for him, I thougt it was colic so put him on aptimal comfort, things were still as bad, got so sick of docs not helping me I googled his symptoms and everything pointed to LI. I went to the docs, told them I thought that's what was wrong, she did me a prescription and we have never looked back.

I can really empathise with how you are feeling, the first 3 months were horrendous, I felt like the worst mother in the world as my son was so so sick all the time.

If they won't give you a script you can buy it. My LO is on SMA lactose free.

I think it could be, my mum is ill with anything milky, my sister was always sick as a LO afetr milk etc and my niece was a proper screamy, sicky baby. I think she has a LI too.

Update how you get on tomorrow, I really hope you get some answers but it does sound like it could be LI x

 

[Foogirl]

It took them 8 months to diagnose my nephew, by which time my sister was suffering pnd. He screamed a lot, was sick a lot and barely gained weight.

Forget the docs, switch to a lactose free formula and if it makes a difference go back and tell them you want it prescribed.

 

[smam]

Thank you so much! I'll deffo question the nurse and the doc tomorro bout him... I feel so terrible for him when he's sick, I've done everything, changed bottles, teats, milk, upped feeds, lowered feeds, gripe water, infacol, changing how I make the feeds, I could go on forever and feel like I'm pulling my hair out cos my family reckon he's just colicky but I hve never heard of colic at 11 am? x

 

[Foogirl]

Thank you so much! I'll deffo question the nurse and the doc tomorro bout him... I feel so terrible for him when he's sick, I've done everything, changed bottles, teats, milk, upped feeds, lowered feeds, gripe water, infacol, changing how I make the feeds, I could go on forever and feel like I'm pulling my hair out cos my family reckon he's just colicky but I hve never heard of colic at 11 am? x

I have heard of colic at 11am! But "colic" was what they told my sister for months. It's a real fight to get them to listen. Just ask them what the harm is in changing formula to rule it out.

 

[FLUMPY1984]

If its from birth then it could be a lactose intolerancy. My gp told me that babies that are lactose intolerant isnt usually a permanent thing. my son got tested for it and it came back lactose intolerant but he had had a tummy bug at about 3 months and had dioreah for about a month. A virus in the tummy can destroy the lining and the enzymes used to break down the lactose in food/milk. We were just about to change his milk to lactose free when his poo got much better so we didnt bother. He didnt have any other symptoms apart from the dioreah x

 

[FLUMPY1984]

if hes not gaining weight and screaming after feeds i would get him tested x

 

[Lara310809]

I thought my LO had colic, but when I mentioned her behaviour to the HVs they just told me to feed her more, because she was "obviously hungry" I ended up self diagnosing and changing her onto Cow & Gate Comfort milk, and changing her bottles to MAMs. It helped, and she seemed to get better, but at 4m she was going off her milk; refusing to eat much, and getting fussy with her bottles; but not liek she had been with her colic.

We had to see a dietician because LO went off her milk at 4m. She was also fussy with the bottle, arching her back, crying etc, so the dietician put her on a milk designed for lactose intolerant babies; called Nutramigen (here it's pronounced "new-tram-ee-jen", but I don't know if that's the proper way of saying it). She didn't think my LO was LI, but some of the things we said made her wonder, so she just wanted to eliminate that before contining with her treatment. It turns out LO isn't LI, because she didn't improve with the Nutramigen.

But perhaps it's worth speaking to your HV and asking to be put onto Nutramigen for a month or so and seeing if your LO is any better. I got mine on prescription; without prescription it's really expensive

 

[Foogirl]

If its from birth then it could be a lactose intolerancy. My gp told me that babies that are lactose intolerant isnt usually a permanent thing. my son got tested for it and it came back lactose intolerant but he had had a tummy bug at about 3 months and had dioreah for about a month. A virus in the tummy can destroy the lining and the enzymes used to break down the lactose in food/milk. We were just about to change his milk to lactose free when his poo got much better so we didnt bother. He didnt have any other symptoms apart from the dioreah x

It's actually hugely uncommon for babies to be born with an intolerance and is almost always as a result of infection or illness. Most grow out of it by the time they are 2 and as you've discovered, some do before that.