Does anyone have a LO with a SELECTIVE dairy allergy?

[Sabine]

Ds seems to be allergic to some dairy, but not all, and it''s throwing me for all sorts of loops. I didn''t even know that was possible.

He has to be on Nutrimagen...the regular and gentle formulas constipated him and made him gassy/fussy and he has eczema...so we''ve wondered if he has a dairy intolerance.

He had a SEVERE allergic reaction with hives, facial swelling, etc. and had to go to the ER. I had given him both cottage cheese and raspberry sherbet. We (the drs. and I) assumed he was allergic to raspberry and I was told to avoid fresh berries until we could get him allergy tested at 1 year.

Since then, I''ve tried dairy with him randomly, and to be honest, I haven''t kept the best track of what he''s had when he''s had reactions because I didn''t really think he''d react to some dairy and not others.

He ate a grilled cheese sandwich one day and was fine. Next time I made it with white american instead of yellow, and he had a severe reaction again. Today I made it with yellow american again and he also reacted. Now I think all american cheese is out, it just took the initial exposure to trigger it.

He eats yogurt almost daily with no problem.

He''s had mozzarella cheese sticks often with no problem.

He''s had mac and cheese, cheese ravioli, and many cheddar flavored things that have cheddar listed as an ingredient at least once with seemingly no issue.

One time he seemed to have a slight reaction to colby-jack, but the next time I tried it he seemed fine.

And I think he had a reaction to provalone.

I''ll be calling the pedi. tomorrow to discuss this, but I just wanted to see if anyone had ANY sort of insight as to what might be going on here. Should I be avoiding ALL dairy, or just the stuff that seems to give him a reaction? And is it ok to try stuff out to see if he''ll react to it since the reactions don''t affect his breathing and clear up with benadryl? Any ideas of if I should attempt to try him on whole milk at 1 year (he''s 10 months now)?

 

[doodle]

I was INSANELY lactose intolerant when I was a baby, but my dairy issues tend to be selective now. I can eat Mexican food loaded with queso all the live long merry day, but ice cream tears me up (so I eat it when I''m not going anywhere because a life without ice cream just isn''t worth living, haha). From my understanding, lactose intolerance is the result of the body not producing the lactase needed to break down lactose into separate sugars; how severe the reaction to a product is depends on how much lactose is in it, so the more there is, the more lactase you need to break it down. Yogurt is usually the easiest to digest for people with lactose intolerance, and some cheeses are easier. Also, there are lots of symptoms of lactose intolerance, so your LO could be experiencing various reactions to dairy products depending on the quantity. Some products could make him throw up everything but his toe nails, while others could result in nothing more than a little gas. If he''s having a reaction strong enough to result in hives and all, that could be an allergy to something more specific rather than an inability to digest lactose, so it''d definitely be good to look into it. Poor baby! I hope you guys get it all figured it out soon, and I hope this was at least somewhat helpful!

 

[Burk]

Have you taken him to an allergist or pedi GI doc? I would maybe do that and see what a specialist has to say. I know when watching my dairy since K is intolerant there''s a chart I follow and yogurt is very low on the chart (more likely to not cause a reaction). Milk is at the top and so is ice cream. Cheese is under them but different cheeses are different. My T was able to eat yogurt around 12 months but couldn''t tolerate whole milk until closer to 15 months. Keep us posted!

 

[NovemberBride]

Sabine - I would not give him any dairy until he is allergy tested (and they can be tested before 1 year for certain allergies). There are 2 types of dairy allergies - the first and most common is the one that causes gastrointestinal symptoms, diarrhea, etc. This is called milk protein intolerance. The second, more rare and much more severe is the kind that causes hives and swelling, which can lead to an anaphylactic reaction. This second one is called IGE-mediated allergy and can be diagnosed with a blood test at any age. My DD was diagnosed with this second type at 4 months. I would suggest that you ask for a referral to a pediatric allergist who specializes in these issues. Our pedi, who is usually very good, did not think DD had a milk allergy because she did not react to dairy in my diet while breastfeeding, only to formula. It turns out that kids with the IGE-mediated allergy don''t react to dairy in breastmilk. Most pedis just aren''t experts in this area. Since you are seeing hives, which would suggest the more severe allergy, I wouldn''t give Jacks anymore dairy until you see the allergist because I was told that with the second kind of allergy it is similar to a peanut allergy in that the reaction could not be that severe the first couple of times and then all of a sudden there could be a severe reaction with breathing issues. It can be such a severe reaction that we were given an epi pen for our DD just in case. Not trying to alarm you but it can be very serious so it''s better to be safe than sorry until you find out what is going on.

 

[Sabine]

Thanks doodle, burk and november!

I called and asked for a referral to an allergist today. The nurse was in but the dr. wasn''t yet, so she said the dr. would call me back. The dr. hadn''t even put anything in her notes from our last well-check about how I had taken him to the ER for the reaction

.

Burk, if you know of an online copy of the chart you have, I''d love to see it.

Also, what kind of reactions was T having when you tried dairy before 12 months? Did you then cut it out entirely and try again at a later date? And did you just keep bfing till 15 months since she couldn''t have milk? I don''t know if the dr. is going to say to keep him on formula or try soy milk or something like that if he can''t tolerate milk. Sorry for all the questions!