10 Month Old Allergic to Dairy

Updated on February 13, 2008
A.C. asks from Cape Coral, FL
18 answers

I have recently discovered my 10 month old daughter has a milk allergy. Whenever she has anything dairy (yogurt, cheese, formula, cheese puffs, etc.) she breaks out into hives all over her face. I have no experience with this so i'm unsure of ways to balance her diet. Any suggestions or words of wisdom are welcome. Thanks! :)

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So What Happened?

Thanks to everyone for all of the helpful info.! She is still exclusively breastfed, so I won't be trying soy or rice milk for a couple more months. I am going to try some of the soy yogurt. I appreciate all the support :)

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T.N.

answers from Tampa on

Amanda,

Both of my daughters have a list of food allergies. My oldest is allergic to milk among other things. What you need to do is - avoid milk and milk components included in other foods. The best substitutes that we found for milk are Pacific Rice milk, Pacific Oat Milk and Vance's Dairy Free Milk (it's potato based). Out of all of them Vance's is closest to cow's milk by taste in my opinion. It's also a little cheaper since it's sold in powder. You can buy it at http://www.vancesfoods.com/. We also buy juices that have calcium added and give them vitamin supplements.

You probably need to go to an allergist to do some blood work to see if she is allergic to anything else. We go to Sher Allergy on Seminole Blvd.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

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I.V.

answers from Fort Myers on

Hi,
I recently discoverd too, that milk is really bad for everybody, not only if you have an allergy, I have been reading and searching on the internet about dairy. I'm trying to eliminated from our diet, is very hard. Go to this website www.milksucks.com or www.forgoodnesssake123.com, you can get additional resources on going dairy free. Good luck!

Ivanys.

1 mom found this helpful

M.S.

answers from Ocala on

Hello Amanda,

I completely understand what you are going through.
I have 3 kids. The youngest is a boy and right now he is 22 and 1/2 months old and he is also allergic to dairy.
I had to give him breast milk until he was 20 months old.
Right now he is not having any milk. He can not have dairy.
He can not have Apple Juice either that gives him really bad diarrhea. He can not eat anything from McDonalds. The oil that they cook with, is not good for him. It makes him have REALLY REALLY bad diarrhea.

He can not have ICE CREAM OR CAKE. 

I give him fruit and Veg's, Meat, bread, crackers, rice, soup, chips. Cereal (with no milk). All of the stuff that is good for you.

Don't worry it is not as hard as it seems.

I am thankful that my son does not have anything serious like cancer or anything else that can hurt him. “So that helps me handle this food allergy.”

My son’s sweet foods to him are banana’s and purple cut up seedless grapes.

He drinks O.J., water, sweet tea, Lemonade, sprite, Cool aid, white grape juice.

God Bless your little one, and you and your family.

From one mother to another.
11-09-07

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C.L.

answers from Tampa on

My daughter was born allergic to dairy and I used soy formula. When she turned 1, I started her on soy milk and soy yogurt. She has have never had a problem with either one.

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A.T.

answers from Fort Myers on

I share your pain. My son's like that but only bad tummy aches. There is a milk she can have it's called Lactaid. You get the same vitamins as in milk. Also make sure she takes vitamins

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M.L.

answers from Jacksonville on

The best way I know to balance the diet is by eating more fruits and vegetables. I have been teaching nutrition for years and the only product that I have ever recommended is Juice Plus - it is 100% whole food nutrition - fruits and vegetables in a capsule, a chewable, a gummie bear, and in a powdered protein powder for shakes and smoothies. Please check out my web-site www.juiceplus.com/+ML81601 where you can learn all about the product, listen to medical professionals, and review our extensive research.

I have a Health Education Meeting next week and my speaker is an MD specializing in General Pediatrics and Wholistic Medicine. I would be glad for you to attend. Please contact me.

Marge L ###-###-#### ____@____.com www.juiceplus.com/+ML81601

K.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

I know you have gotten alot of advice--so I will try to make this simple...first--you can test for allergies anytime--as young as 6 months even...
Any pediatrician can order a blood allergy test, and most insurances pay for it. This test will cover not only dairy, but a wide range of foods to make sure that dairy is the only one she is allergic to. My son is also allergic to dairy. This was easy to remove..its just catching all the different words they use--thankfully, now the companies have to list a warning of the top allergies.
I use Pacific Rice Milk--it has all the calcium of cows milk...too much soy is harmful to a human..especially babies...please remember that soy effects the hormones, and a lot of other things in our bodies...Rice bread is good too for kids.

I can send you lists of products to get to make cakes, cookies, waffles, pancakes, breads, muffins, safe fudgesicles (no allergens--including milk), and other safe foods that we all love to spoil our kids with...whats a b-day without cake? Namaste foods is a great brand to buy...its a mix, and you just add a couple things and make them...its easy and very convenient.
Let me know if you need any other help--or go to the local Native Sun and ask for a tour--they also have all their shelves labeled--look for ones that say Casein free...

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F.R.

answers from Pensacola on

There are a lot of ways to avoid dairy. Mostly soy products. If she hasn't been properly diagnosed, you will want to take her in to her pediatric doctor to make sure that's what it is. A lot of children that are allergic to dairy are also allergic to wheat. This is something that you will need to talk to a medical professional about. You don't want to be self-treating her for one thing and end up causing more harm. There's a lot of information on the internet. Google it.
Also in small children, they may have allergies to something that will eventually go away with age. Good luck!

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M.A.

answers from Orlando on

Hi! I am sorry to hear about your daughter's allergy! Dairy allergies run in my family. Here are some ideas: soy yogurt, fresh fruit and vegetables (no butter), pasta, rice milk, soy milk, most Duncan Hines cake mixes and frostings, rice cakes, Triscuits (I think), baby oatmeal mixed with water, rice or soy milk.

Publix is great for snacks. Check their Greenwise section for fruit leather, veggie stix, dairy free crackers, etc. Target also has Cherrybrook cake mixes. They are more expensive, but great for allergy sufferers. I also recommend CHamberlains or Whole Foods.

I hope this helps! Take care and best of luck!
M.

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L.M.

answers from Fort Myers on

I feel so sorry for you and your daughter! My little sister is allergic to milk (not hives, explosive diarrhea and she is still allergic at 23 years old...) and my mom had to do the same thing. You will find that many, but not all, products say if they have milk in them (you might have to do a lot of internet searches of the ingredients). For now, just cut them from your child's diet (and while you are at it, you might want to stop using any soap, shampoos, conditioners, or laundry detergents that have milk parts as an ingredient, not because she will eat it but she is only 10 months old and they do end up getting into everything and might get hives from playing with it). Ask your ped. about a calcium supplement, most of these are either made from ground up cow bone or shellfish (seashells) so you should be able to find one that your daughter can handle.

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L.L.

answers from Sarasota on

If you have not been to an allergist, you need to go right away. Milk allergies can be mild or they can be severe. And the more contact a milk allergic person has with milk, the more severe the reaction can become. If she's having hives now when she eats anything with milk, her reactions could easily worsen to anything, including anaphylactic shock. I'm not trying to scare you just for the sake of scaring you (who would do that?), but you need to be very concerned and seek professional help immediately. My daughter has multiple life-threatening food allergies. I have taken her to three different allergists, including Duke University Children's Hospital - all the way from Florida to NC - because they are awesome! But here are the facts... any allergy can be serious, and you don't know how serious it will become. I've heard the rumor as some people stated on here, that she will probably outgrow it by 3. I wish that was true, but at Duke they said you never know when or if they'll outgrow an allergy. My daughter has outgrown a soy allergy, but she still has milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts. She's just 2, so I'm hopeful!

PLEASE don't give her goat's milk!!! My (old) pediatrician told me I could do this and I tried it. Thank God she didn't drink it (didn't like it - only had about 1/2 a teaspoon), because I found out that 90% of the time if you are allergic to cow's milk, you are also allergic to goat's milk. I had her tested and yep - very allergic to goat's milk. It probably would have killed her. I didn't have an EpiPen at the time. I do now. Also, no Lactaid. That's just lactose free milk, but it still has the protein, which is what she's allergic to.

It sounds like it's a moderate allergy as of right now, since all she gets is hives when she eats these things, but you absolutely need to start reading food labesls on every product you buy, because like I said, the more exposure a person gets to an allergen, the more severe their allergy becomes.

I don't mean to sound like a crazy person, lol! But I've dealt with this very severe issue for a while now and it's incredibly serious. Not to be taken lightly. You should join a support group online. They've been an incredible amount of help and support to me.

Take care!

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E.

answers from Panama City on

My 2 year old has a milk and whey allergy. She was diagnosed at one...at first I found it really hard to find things for her, my first trip to the store after we found out about her allergy took me almost 3 hours so I could read every label. Now, I am used to what she can and cannot eat...here are a couple of suggestions: Silk milk, it is soy based...and my daughter loves it now I just cook with it so every receipe calling for milk gets Silk, and they all still taste the same. If your daughter likes oatmeal, make it with silk...but make sure you read the oatmeal box because some of them contain milk products! Graham crackers and Ritz are good snacks and all fruits and veggies are OK. For dessert try popcycles or they also make soy yogurts too. And if you live near specialty food stores like "Whole foods" you can by vegan cheese, which I think is gross, but my daughter eats it. Be careful of the soy cheeses because many of them contain milk products too. They say about 95% of kids grow out of milk allergies by 3-4 years. My daughter is 2 and still really allergic, she has GI problems thouth. Good luck!

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A.C.

answers from Tampa on

I put my daughter on Soy formula as soon as I stopped breastfeeding because regular formula gave her diarrhea. She drinks milk now without any problems.

Everyone has said Soy and I recommend that as well, however, my nephew is allergic to Soy. Allergy testing cannot be done until a child is almost 2 yrs old. Her pediatrician is the best source of information in this case to determine a true allergy (based on what you said, it definitely is).

Good luck.

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N.W.

answers from Gainesville on

My daughter was allergic to milk until she was 18 months. I ended up nursing her until that time. If you aren't nursing, then soy formulas should be fine, if she isn't allergic to soy. I made sure she got her calcium through other foods, like broccoli, blackstrap molasses, flaxseed, tahini, kale, beans(great northern, navy, black), tofu, soy yogurt, etc. also I had to make sure that she got a lot of fat from her food sources. lots of whole grains and pastas, and tahini, etc.

I would also test her allergy by putting a little yougurt on her face to see if she reacted, then would test her formally in the doctor's office at one year, 15 months, 18 months, etc. just in case we needed an epi pen etc. At her 18 month appt. she did not react.

Most children with a milk allergy will out grow it by age 3, if they do not, then they will most likely have the allergy all their life. If she is only having hives, then she is allergic to the proteins found in milk so she CANNOT have lactaid, etc. You might be able to try goats milk but they have 2 of the same proteins found in cows milk, so you could get lucky and she could be only allergic to the one that isn't in goats milk. (FYI - If they are having diahrrea and no hives then they are allergic to lactose, and can have lactiad or take a supplement to help her break down the lactose whenever they have dairy.

I feel for you. It was very hard to not be able to just give my daughter food whenever we went out - i would always have to ask "was this cooked in butter?" "can i see the ingredients list" and always have to read the labels on whatever i bought. Did you know that some breads have milk in them? ugh. But i just got used to making her food and bringing it with me.

I have a 7 month old now and am waiting to see if he has the milk allergy as well, so I could be right back in your boat in no time. :) I hope this helped and God bless!

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N.W.

answers from Orlando on

Hello Amanda,

My daughter is allergic to Milk too. Many said to give her Soy milk so she has dairy in her diet but turns out she is allergic to Soy as well. So, while she was on formula I had to start giving her " Alimentum" when she turned one I started giving her "Rice Milk". You can buy it as the grocery. And she has been drinking that as her dairy for the past 2 years. She will be 3 in February and I am hoping she grows out of the milk allergy. Most kids do. I try giving her regular milk every now and then to see if she outgrew it and she throws up every time.

Good luck :-)

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M.M.

answers from Gainesville on

We have had wonderful results with my grandson with raw milk kefir as his first food. When your baby gets old enough, you might want to try it. For more encouragement along these lines, check out http://www.realmilk.com

For young children or anyone with digestive issues, fermented raw milk is best. You can buy kefir culture, or make it into yogurt (skip the heating instructions, just add the culture and let it sit out for a day or two). GEM cultures has some fantastic cultures for buttermilk and other wonderful things (http://gemcultures.com/)

There is also a home remedy for allergies that is a blend of massage and acupressure, and is easy to do. It cured all of my many allergies - I couldn't breathe out of my nose for 10 years, and got horrible stomach cramps from eating broccoli! That's all gone now, thank heavens. If you email me I can describe it to you: ____@____.com
I am willing to share this wonderful home remedy with any parents who are interested.

You are asking a very good question. This country was born when the cows came over, and the national health is highly dependent on dairy. Unfortunately, modern industrial agriculture and food processing has made one of nature's best foods into a health hazard. There are, however, many parents demanding real milk for their children, and it is available in many states.

M. Minno
Gainesville FL

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J.W.

answers from Orlando on

Good Morning Amanda,

Food allergies are real common, the good news is she may out grow it by the age of 3 or 4 years old. My oldest daughter was allergic to peaches and especially peach juice until about the age of 3. Don't get me wrong, she loved peaches but would breakout in rashes wherever the juice touched her skin. That make me wonder what it was doing to her insides.

My second daughter had more allergies than the first. She was allergic to cinnamon and strawberries would breakout in raised hives all over her body in less than 5 minutes. Also she had reactions to huggies products, some detergents and lotions, this caused an all over rash. As she got older and could tell me what was wrong, she described it as making her skin crawl, even though we could no longer see the rash you could feel all the bumps. Poor thing lived on benedryl until we realized what was causing it and eliminated it from her diet and our house. It also made me learn to take the time and read ALL labels. Since she has gotten older she has outgrown most of them, she is now 5 yrs old, she still has some problems, for example if she eats too much cinammon then she itches all over. But if she eats it in small doses she seems okay. I just keep giving her a small amount then taking it away for awhile and trying again as she gets older.

The little G. I watch has milk allergies as well. She used the soy formula and now drinks Silk soy milk. When cooking her mother and I just replace regular milk with soy, for example when making mac'n cheese. My youngest son so far is okay and doesn't have allergies, but loves drinking the very vanilla silk soy milk more than regular milk!

Some rice milks are good as well like Rice Dream, I believe I have seen this at Publix. I found a kid-friendly food allergy cookbook through One Step Ahead: http://www.leapsandbounds.com/catalog/product.jsp?product... ~ this teaches you how to cook without using wheat, gluten, milk etc... The best advise that I received from our allergist was to keep a journal of everything you feed her / gave to drink. Make sure you write down the time it was given and leave a spot for 'reaction'; if anything happens write it down under reactions.

You will do fine and your daughter can still mantain a well balanced diet.

Take care,

J. W

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B.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

My husband's family has milk allergies i.e. his brother and my neice thus I would never introduce milk into a babies diet until they are 1 year old. They have done research that proves by introducing milk into their diet later (after 1 yr old) it significantly reduces their changes of having the allergy. That information is a little too late to help you but remember it if you have a second child. What we do with my neice is give her soy milk, soy yogurt, they have cheese and sour cream without milk in them as well. You get a lot of good nutrients from soy milk, some doctors even say it is better. Make sure she takes vitamins and has other sources of calcium. Once they get older they can take calcium supplements too. The allergy is very common and the hardest part isn't staying health it is not eating such great tasting foods. It is hard to not eat ice cream or cheese but the items they have without milk make it easier for a child to follow the diet. We always make these brownies for my neice that have no milk in them for birthday and stuff so she doesn't feel left out from having cake. It will be hard to adjust your life style to not cook and include products with milk but it can be done. Good luck!

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