Chronic Vomiting - I Think My 2.5YO Daughter Has a Milk Allergy

Stop giving her whole milk! Try soy or something else. I was allergic to milk and didn't drink it for 6y. I finally grew a tolerance for some milk.

Take her to an allergist and have her officially tested. They can tell you the extent of the allergy, if any. Its possible that she is not allergic to the milk protien, she just can't handle whole milk. Or that she is allergic to the milk protien and that she can't have any dairy or milk period. The answer will affect how restrictive her diet will become.

Begin reading all food labels!

Also take her back to the pediatrician and have her tested again for acid-reflux. Its possible that if she's on medicine for it that she needs a higher does or something different.

There are a few possibilities. It could be a different allergy. Vomiting is a response to Celiac's (gluten intolerance) as well. As for milk, there is a difference between intolerance and allergy. If the symptoms are within 20 minutes, it is an allergic reaction. If symptoms take longer, it is an intolerance which is a lack of ability tp digest.

My suggestion, take her to an allergist. I had no idea what was going on with my daughter for 3 years. On her 3rd birthday we went to an allergist and she tested positive for a casien (milk protien) allergy. If only I had done it sooner....

Even if your daughter tested negative, a good allergist will be able to help you detrimine her intolerance and guide you to the right steps to solving the problem.

Try Lactaid if its available in your area. This is just regular milk with the allergy causing enzyme removed. You should be able to find it in any Safeway ( I forget what the store is called elsewhere in the U.S.). Or if thats not available (And you have taken her to the doctor and they still cant tell you whats going on) try other milks. Like soy, almond, or rice milk.

If this doesn't work, you should either take her to an allergen doctor who can do a series of tests to see what she -is- allergic to, or you can yourself start eliminating one thing at a time from her diet as a process of elimination to see what it is. Try keeping her from having the thing you eliminate from her diet for at least a week as it could take that long for symptoms to go away.

:) My daughter ended up having both excema and was lactose intolerant, and the doctors told me she wasnt, so if been through a few trial and error stages myself. Best of luck to you and you poor little baby's tummy!

Updated

Try Lactaid if its available in your area. This is just regular milk with the allergy causing enzyme removed. You should be able to find it in any Safeway ( I forget what the store is called elsewhere in the U.S.). Or if thats not available (And you have taken her to the doctor and they still cant tell you whats going on) try other milks. Like soy, almond, or rice milk.

If this doesn't work, you should either take her to an allergen doctor who can do a series of tests to see what she -is- allergic to, or you can yourself start eliminating one thing at a time from her diet as a process of elimination to see what it is. Try keeping her from having the thing you eliminate from her diet for at least a week as it could take that long for symptoms to go away.

:) My daughter ended up having both excema and was lactose intolerant, and the doctors told me she wasnt, so if been through a few trial and error stages myself. Best of luck to you and you poor little baby's tummy!

Having H pylori infection in the stomach can cause repeated vomiting.

Taking to much iron will definitly cause it.Many babies who have reflux have it because of iron overdose.(it is in baby cereal, it is in formula, and then they give supplements on top of that). Iron is toxic and lethal in high doses.
in fact, iron overdose actually feeds bacteria. The bacteria needs iron to reproduce. So iron supplementing can increase chances of h. pylori infection.

Having low adrenal hormones can cause it. (addisons disease). Addisons can be caused by any trauma to the body or shock or bleeding or a bacterial infection that didnt get treated immediately,.

Electrolyte imbalances.

Google giardia. That could cause recurring vomiting .

Take her to a naturopath. They can put her on a probiotic and that could help tremendously, especially if it is reflux.

My dd had silent reflux (no vomitting) and it took a long time to treat her. We tried the meds and it helped a touch. I took her to a naturopath and she was better in 2 days after starting Bifidus (probiotic) and Glutemine.

My ds would spit up constantly and had horrible gas pains. We started him on Bifidus at 2 weeks old and he improved within 2 days.

A probiotic can help the good bacteria in the tummy. Kids often don't have enough in their system and have tummy trouble. I think a Naturopath could really help to get to the bottom of the issues. I also think they listen better sometimes.

Absolutely stop giving her milk, cheese, yogurt, and check the ingredients in processed food for whey and casein. I just googled this quickly to help you find milk related ingredients
http://www.healthcastle.com/children_milk_allergy.shtml
Fleischman's makes a vegan, parve margarine in a stick that's great for baking and tastes pretty good as a butter substitute. Try soy milk or almond milk if you don't think she's allergic to those. Visit an allergist or a GI dr. to discuss this more. If eliminating milk doesn't seem to work, explore Gailski's ideas! Poor thing! I hope this works!

Have you tried any other kinds of milk . . .
almond? soy? rice?
Poor baby.

Don't beat yourself up!! It's not like you didn't bring it to the doc's attention or that you ignored it. The doc didn't pick up on it either. Your doing the right thing by eliminating certain things from her diet first to see if there is an improvement. Good luck!!

Oh mama, don't beat yourself up! Recognizing a food allergy is difficult--and admitting it to yourself can be even harder because it demands such a major shift in your lifestyle. It makes everything a little harder... especially in regard to homecooking demands, increased food costs (for specialty diet foods), etc. Accommodating food allergies can seem terribly over-whelming at first and you're not the only parent to reason yourself out of the idea.

My daughter has a cows milk protein allergy (which is different from lactose intolerance; lactose free foods still may contain cows milk protein, so i agree with other posters that you do need to know which food allergy you're dealing with). She had to have all forms of (cow) milk eliminated from her diet, which means I read food labels and nix anything containing "milk, butter, cheese, whey, casein.". However, some children only need to have direct forms of dairy eliminated and not do the food label reading... If it's a milk protein allergy, you'll have to gage the level of diet restriction.)

For my daughter, instead of cow derived dairy, her diet relies on goat milk/yogurt/butter/cheese (and sheep cheese). Meyenburg is a nation wide goat milk brand... And thankfully we have Whole Foods where we live.

A cows milk protein allergy is very common among infants and toddlers; usually they outgrow it by age 3-6. I have heard of other kids that vomitted from it (mine only vomit from cheese). Some children can't digest cow or goat dairy (because the animals are closely related, the milk protein is similar) and soy/almond milk is the only option.

Good luck with everything!

I think that is an excellent idea. Also, I just found out (I have had allergies all my life and finally getting rid of them) about a treatment called NAET that should address the allergy problems. Simple, easy treatment. Go to www.naet.com and check it out. It is probably in your neighborhood. You don't have to see the person except for NAET treatments. Nutritionist, Chiros, Naturopaths do them. Go to the website and check it out.

N.

Here is the truth about cows milk. It is meant to put 1,000 lbs on a calf in a year. We have trouble digesting all the fat in milk. If you are Afro-American, Chinese, Jewish or your family has not lived on a farm or in dairy country for four generations you cannot digest milk. You have not got the enzymes to do so.
And while you might notice it's milk you drink it is also sour cream, cheese, and other dairy products made from cows milk.
Yogurt may not cause these same reactions because it has been broken down by the enzyme cultures used to make it. Butter for most lactose intolerant people is okay as it contains only the fat and a tiny amount of whey.