WWYD?: Temporary lactose intolerance

I decided I should start a special category for questions for which I have no answer. Since I'm turing it over to you, the readers, I'm going to call this category "What Would You Do?". If you have any experience with this, please weigh in in the comments.

Janie writes:

"My 10-month old son has had diarrhea for 18 days now.  (Don't worry - he's not dehydrated and I have had him checked by two pediatricians!)  Over the weekend I was finally able to conclude (with the help of my U of Google MD) that he is suffering from temporary lactose intolerance.  It seems he had a virus or something in the beginning, and now that is gone, but his intestines were damaged such that now he can not tolerate milk products.

I nursed him for 9 months, he spent at least one month on the milk-based formula with no problem, he then suddenly developed diarrhea and we put him on Isomil DF (soy-based).  Once he improved, at the doctor's suggestion, I re-introduced his regular formula (half and half with the DF).  Within 24 hours he had awful diarrhea again.  Went back to soy formula only, and the problem is resolving.

Of course, the doctor's office has not been very helpful - we actually switched pediatricians over this when the first one just told me to wait the diarrhea out (on day 11!).  The second doctor is much more caring and agrees that this sounds like temporary lactose intolerance.  I plan to keep him on soy formula for 4-8 weeks while his intestines heal.

So, my question is - do you or any of your readers have any experience with this?  I am finding it unnerving - I am happy to finally know what is causing the diarrhea, though, because that was quite scary for me and very unpleasant for the baby.  He developed a horrible burn-type diaper rash which has now receded, thankfully.

I guess I'm just looking for advice, support, personal experience with a lactose-intolerant child.  I am particularly sad because the baby loves cheese and now his diet must change so much."

Oof. Your poor little guy. It's good you were able to nurse for as long as you did, or the problem might have been even worse. And how about you for figuring out what was going on! Yay, Tiger Mama.

I've got nothing for you here except that of course you know he'll be fine and perfectly healthy even if he can't have milk. He may be able to tolerate yogurt, but even if he can't for awhile (or ever), he'll still grow up normal and healthy.

Now, readers. Anyone else have any experience with this? Or just with having to put a baby/toddler on a restricted diet? Any advice for weathering this?

Comments

[Em]

My daughter is lactose intolerant. She's been on soy formula/milk since she was 8 months old (she's now 3 years, 3 months). Periodically, I experiment with cow's milk (because she loves the taste) and she always gets awful diarrhea within 24 hours (I really should stop trying...)

What I have found over time is that she can tolerate small amounts of cow milk products (yoghurt, cheese, icecream) just not large amounts of milk to drink. There is also a huge array of soy products available now that are generally pretty tasty. I hope this helps somewhat...

[Carla]

Sounds like what happened to my son when he was around that age.

My pediatrician recommended giving him Culturelle (lactobacillus) to put back the good bacteria in his intestines that the diarhea takes out, we also switched to Soy formula for a while. It took care of the problem pretty Quick.

We were able to switch back to milk based formula though after a couple months.

[Julie]

Definitely check out some of the other soy products. A coworker of mine is lactose intolerant, and she eats soy cheeses that she says are almost like the real thing.

[Audrey]

The post-diarrhea lactose-intolerance thing is really only temporary. The infection has wiped out some of the cells lining the gut, and once they regenerate, all should be well. Takes maybe a week or two. Good luck!

[Linda B]

Right around the time I was transitioning my daughter from breastmilk/formula to cow's milk, she started having bouts of diarrhea. I think I may have introduced the dairy too soon or too much at once because I noticed the diarrhea subsided after I decided to mix it up during the day with either breastmilk, formula or cow's milk.

Obviously, 18 days of diarrhea signals more of a dairy intolerance than for my daughter. Your poor little guy :( My friend's son is highly allergic to everything - dairy, soy, wheat, etc... Have you noticed any other changes in your son, such as skin rashes or breakouts? They finally had to take him to an allergist, who ran a bunch of tests to finally determine that he was allergic to all those things.

[erika]

I don't have any experience with this, but just a question: have you tried Lactaid milk products?

[Kat]

We knew from very early on that my daughter was allergic (or at least sensitive) to dairy simply from the horrible reaction she had to my breast milk after I drank milk or had any dairy myself. So I had to eliminate all cow dairy from my diet her first 18 months while I nursed her. And as a result, we never really introduced cows milk for drinking.

When she was about 12 months old, I introduced goat milk (vanilla flavor) which seemed easier for her to digest. At some point along the way, maybe 18 months, we were able to introduce cow cheeses, in moderation. And I no longer make her avoid all dairy... I just keep it to moderation. She's almost 3 now, and she seems to have outgrown the sensitivity, though we still don't give her glasses of milk to drink. She gets enough dairy from 1-2 yogurts a day, and plenty of cheese. For her cereal in the morning, I still use rice dream even though my husband thinks I'm being silly... but cows milk in it's straight drinkable form is just so hard to digest. Cheese and yogurt are easier because their structure is a little different.

Regarding the diarrhea, it's possible that the initial cause of the diarrhea was some sort of yucky bug, and the dairy irritated it. Or, it could have been the dairy as the root cause. But either way after 18 days of diarrhea, her lining is obviously irritated, and it does take a while to get better. And when the balance in the GI is out of whack, all sorts of non-beneficial organisms can take over, making it all worse.

To help her GI recover, I'd recommend getting ahold of some Lactobaccillus made for babies and children. We always used "BabyJarrow Dophilus" from a brand called "Jarrow" (we found it at Whole Foods) but any natural food store will have something like it. We mix it in her food or drink once a day... it's basically the live organisms that are in yogurt, but in concentrated non-dairy format. And it helps restore the good flora and fauna of the gut to keep the GI working well and in balance. Her Pedi approved, and even my GP recommends taking acidophilus after any bout of diarrhea or after a course of antibiotics.

Good luck!

[Janie]

Thank you all for your great comments - I do have lactobacillus for him, but the package said do not use if you have a milk sensitivity (!!) so I am waiting until he's had a week or two totally dairy-free.

I hope to get some products like Em and Julie suggest - soy treats and cheeses, etc. to help keep some variety in his diet.

I didn't know that diarrhea could wipe out all the good bacteria and lactase production in the intestine until I started researching his extended problem with it. I wish the doctors had pointed this out early on because I was quite alarmed that it continued for so long.

Thanks Moxie for the props, but you guys know how it is -- when our little ones are in distress, we don't rest until we find answers! Thank goodness for the internet. It sure has come in handy in all aspects of child conceiving, bearing, and raising! Your site is a great resource - thank you for your work!

[Toni]

My first daughter had milk sensitivity...when I nursed, I couldn't have dairy - otherwise she had issues.

We switched to Goat's milk (actually more expensive than formula) at one...and kept her on that for a year!

She's okay with regular milk now at 2.5...but not all kids 'outgrow' it. Hope this helps!

[Erin]

My son is allergic to casein, developed at about 9 months old. When I was nursing him (up to 18 months), I had to keep all dairy out of my diet or he would start vomiting horribly. But he could always tolerate yogurt--just not if I ate it. We feed him yogurt every morning for breakfast (Stonyfield Yo Baby), and put him on rice milk rather than soy when he was a year old (I worry about what the high phytoestrogen content of soy could do to his hormonal development since he's a boy). We did do soy cheeses, though we didn't feed him those often. He's now almost 27 months and has, in the last 2 months, started to tolerate cow's milk cheeses and milk-based sauces on food. Apparently 80% of kids with the type of allergy he has grow out of it by age 3, and I think he'll be one of them.

It's not easy to deal with an allergy to milk at this age, but you can probably find substitutes easily enough for him. I would try to see if he'll tolerate regular yogurt along with the lactobacillus since that can also put the good bacteria back into his digestive tract. Hopefully he'll grow out of it quickly!

[Janie]

Erin said, "I worry about what the high phytoestrogen content of soy could do to his hormonal development since he's a boy"

--- Eek! I will look up some information on this - thanks for the tip.

I'm going to go on the assumption that it's just a temporary intolerance rather than a sudden allergy. We have no history of allergies in our families, but I know that doesn't always matter these days.

[Lisa C.]

Janie, to echo what Kat said above (I'm not sure if you caught it) Jarrow makes a probiotic called Baby Jarro-dophilus that is vegan and safe for people who are lactose intolerant. We use this brand and I've found that it is very helpful in healing the gut. Good luck.

[Maria]

Cheese does not have lactose in it, so he may be able to tolerate it. It may be a radical suggestion, but you could try re-lactating. It is possible to do, and breast milk is excellent for sensitive digestive tracts. You could contact La Leche League or a lactation expert to ask about it.

[Blythe]

Our son went through this at about the same age. We cut out all dairy products, then at some point (maybe a month later?) slowly reintroduced what I would call processed dairy: cheese, yogurt, etc. He was able to tolerate these fine, and even seemed ok with cooked dishes with milk in them. At some point in the last two years he has become ok with all dairy products, though it took a long while till he could tolerate plain milk - and he still prefers soy milk.
One other thought - we used a homeopathic remedy that seemed to help. Consult a practitioner if you're interested. Also used one at about 2 months when he was having trouble when I drank milk. That one was like a miracle! All of a sudden, no more screaming all night.