Some of you may have followed several of my posts about my youngest child, who has been struggling back and forth with constipation, CONSTANT small bowel movements, and a crazy, CRAZY diaper rash.
I finally got her in to see her own doctor, who took one look and said she thinks she is lactose intolerant and it doesn't look like a "rash" so much as literally a burn from acidic poop.
So after literally months of painful hell for this child, after 24 hours on lactaid (not the milk, the pill...I've been crushing it and giving it to her in an ounce of liquid before she eats each meal) she appears to not only be completely healed but in a better mood than she has been in months. Thank you, Lord. I just want to cry I am so happy, and I really hope this is it this time.
Do any of you have experience with lactose intolerance in children (I know it's very rare to have a true intolerance so young, but I did when I was that age as well...oh, she just turned two, btw), what were some of their symptoms, did the lactaid work for you, etc?
(Also found out the "natural" Boudreaux's butt paste I was using had citric acid. Ouch. Switched to their original formula and seems to be helping as well.)
(Oh yes, still breastfeeding. She's two. Oh well. :)
I guess I forgot to mention she has Celiac disease...Dawn, I think you mentioned Crohn's which runs strongly on my husbands side of the family.
http://www.lactoseintolerant.org/understanding-lactose-in...
I have a sibling, who is lactose intolerant.
Uses Lactaid, successfully.
There is also lactose free milk. I see it in grocery stores.
For the diaper area, have you tried A&D ointment?
Or just regular cornstarch baby powder?
Or Desitin? Desitin really provides a protective layer.
My 3rd son has it so bad i was in LA and my husband told me that some kid in the lunch room threw milk...some milk got on my son's face and he developed these hugh whelps. I breastfed him till he was 2 (i know yuck but had such a hard time getting him to eat anything else) so I didn't notice till i tried to switch him to cow's milk that he had this problem. Good you found out early b/c now i can't seem to get him to try any of the milk alternatives...not interested.
My daughter (2.5) struggles with a milk protien allergy. She has dealt with this since birth so it is nothing new for us but i know it can be a struggle. My daughter cant even handle lactaid we have to use only soy, almond or rice milk products. She will occasionally accidentally have a sip of her brothers regular milk and will be either throwing up or have diarhea for at least 24 hrs so make sure you are careful to watch the products you are feeding her it wont just be drinking milk that causes syptoms watch for ice cream, yogurt, and any cheeses (most contain so little it wont cause a reaction but some are worse). Its kinda a trial and error for what your child can handle.
Please ask a pediatric gastroenterologist to test her for lactose intolerance. Also talk about your breastmilk. Find out if what you eat can be a part of this. If she needs a lactose free diet, you might need one too if you continue to breast feed.
I don't have experience with this with a young child, but I do have a young family member with Crohn's Disease, so I really think that it's so important to have diagnostic testing done to figure out what is really going on in your little one's intestines. Please do that.
Hugs to you both,
Dawn
My daughter's best friend has a fullblown milk allergy. She can't even have brownies. Anything made with lactose, casein, milk of any type she takes a pill to combat the consequences.
She can have a small serving of cake or french toast, etc. She cannot eat any cheeses or yogurts from the mainstream grocery stores.
She broke out when she was little, that's how they found it and now she gets very, very sick. She is 13.
I have no firsthand experience with this in my children, however, my niece and nephew are on the autism spectrum, and a while back my MIL wanted to try a GFCF ( Gluten Free, Caesin Free) diet with them. So at the time I did lots of online research and compiled a cookbook of GFCF recipes for them. If you are interested in a copy, I will send you a word document format of this book for you to use. No charge - I am just happy to help someone who might find it useful. Just Private Message me with your e-mail address and I will e-mail it to you.
Sounds like just whole foods, fruits, veggies, gluten free grains and meats, would be a great diet and just get her Dr. approved calcium supplementation. Lots of processed/boxes foods contain many minute forms of gluten and caesin/milk/lactose so it might be best to try to avoid them altogehter...even for you, considering you are still nursing.
Good Luck!
Jessie
My almost 2 year old is also the exact same way. We started noticing ocasional things while I was still breastfeeding. It seemed that after certain things I ate, he was really fussy, etc. After he weaned around 16 mos, and we tried to do whole milk, the diaper rash and fussiness were horrendous. It took me a couple weeks to figure it out, but being a nurse, I came to the conclusion that I thought it was dairy. We stopped dairy, and went to almond milk, and after about 5 days of treating the diaper rash, he finally cleared up, and got better. We continued to try and re-introduce milk about every 2 months, and each time the same symptoms reappeared, and we would go back to almond milk. I finally started on lactose-free milk for him about 6 weeks ago, and he is doing awesome. So, he gets lactose free whole milk now, and no diaper rash. He seems to not have much problem with yogurt and cheeses (which is common), but if he eats too much of any of it, his stools will get very runny, and the diaper rash comes back quick.
We figure he may grow out of it eventually, but until then, we will just accommodate his intolerance as best we can.
The best thing you can do is continue to breastfeed. I'd have given anything to have him still on the breast thru this, that way I would have known he was getting what he needed from me, and we could rely less on all other foods.
