How Do You Know If Your Child Is Lactose Intolerant

Hi T.,

There are blood tests for food allergies. If this has not been done I would insist on it with the doctor. Besides dairy, there is also the possibility of wheat (gluten) intolerance. Blood tests can show this too.

I am gluten intolerant and am on a gluten free diet. Within 3 weeks of the change I felt 100% better with more energy than I remembered having.

I would go to an allergy doctor and have allergy tests run first. They will be able to tell you if it is a food intolerance.

T.,
I have been lactose intolerant since I was born. I've never felt nausea. The symptoms are usually very gassy, bloated, stomach cramps and either diarrhea or constipation. Also, it happens right away either while eating the dairy product or right after.
L

Lactose intolerance should've shown up earlier...especially as a toddler. I would get her blood sugar tested. She would feel that way if she was hypoglycemic...a condition that can escalate as you age. I noticed mine when I was in jr high. That nauseous feeling happened a lot. If she does better eating proteins before sugar...you know her sugar is imbalanced. The worst thing is going too long between meals, drinking sodas, fast food, and bad sugars like sugary cereals, etc. I am 34 and will still feel sick all day if I try to eat pancakes w/ syrup for breakfast. I'm okay as long as I eat protein first! Best of luck. The test is very simple. Her dr will have her come in w/ an empty stomach. She'll drink a few oz of an orange, sugary tasting drink. Then they'll wait 30 min or an hour and do a blood test. Nothing too dramatic!! And it's a situation easily preventable!!

I'm sorry about your daughter's discomfort, T.. Many traditional doctors may miss these signs, so I recommend seeing an alternative doctor or visiting a wellness practice. I was very leery of these doctors until last fall when I was so sick and desperate and a friend sent me to one. I discovered I had allergies/intolerances to gluten, dairy, soy, and eggs. I highly recommend Dr. Jeff Ulery at Whole Body Health, www.ulerywellnesscenter.
com. He's a fantastic person, chiropractor, and works with lots of children (and adults) with allergies. Hope this helps!
Tami

That sounds like me when I was growing up. I used to get in trouble for not liking anything. But, I now know I am allergic to a LOT of things. Ginger naturally helps aid in digestion and nausea. She could drink a ginger tea w/her food that may help. I suggest going to a naturopath. If you are interested, I can give you the number for a really great one in Houston. I have been helped immensely by going vs a regular dr who told me it was all in my head. I sure don't want her to go through that!

Blessings,
M.
Mom to 5 Wonderful Kids
www.4MyChildrenSake.com

Try to get her to eat only foods without milk. its hard i know because im lactose intolerant. I had to do the same thing when i was a teen. I figure she could try it and then go ahead and buy lactose pills at walgreens or walmart. It might not work(the pills) but u can try.

food allergy test are very unreliable (this is from the nurse that was going to test my kid). The best way is get her off dairy completely for at least 2 weeks, see if it makes a difference. Then reintroduce it early in the day and only once a day until you see if there are any patterns. You may have to do this with soy and gluten. Everything has at least one of these in it if you don't pick it and cook it fresh so read-read-read ingrediants. I know it sucks and she is old enough she will have to learn too and avoid pizza and fun stuff for a short time but if you know what it is you can deal with it. Good luck!

I know this sounds horrible - but don't overlook any possibility that your child may be abused by someone. She probably isn't, but one of the symptoms a child will complain of is stomach issues.

Otherwise, have you tried Mylanta? My daughter takes the Mylanta Supreme Cherry regularly for nausea.

My daughter (who is now 8) complained about stomach aches for probably two years before we figured out she was Lactose intolerant. We tried Tums, Rolaids, Pepto.....everything. Those things helped, but never "fixed" the problem.

Finally, last year we took her to the doctor because I was also worried about an ulcer (resulting from what we called a "nervous stomach") or food allergies. Her pediatrician suggested we take her off of dairy and that it might be Lactose intolerance....which no one in our immediate family has.

Within one week of banning dairy, she was "cured" of her stomach aches. She used to LIVE on string cheese, yogurt & milk! Now we both know that if she is going to be eating anything with dairy that she needs to take her Lactaid. We have the chewable Lactaid tablets and those really work!!!

Try the "no dairy" diet for a week and see what happens...also make sure you check the ingredients in packaged foods. A lot of them contain dairy even though you wouldn't think they would. Most of them list dairy under, or even within, the ingredients.

Hope this helps.....GOOD LUCK!! :)

I have lots of stomach issues and so do 2 of my kids. Most drs. do not recognize the signs of specific stomach illness so you can suffer unnecessarily. I have found that it is best to find a good internist. I know one good one in the south of Houston area. Where are you located? Also, a gastroenterologist might be able to help. I have found they only concentrate on the stomach and miss the way that the stomach affects the rest of the body. They tend to not get the WHOLE problem solved because of this. Therefore, an internist is usually better as they look at all the body as a whole.

Another thing you might try is switching to Organic Milk or Soy Milk. I have 2 of my kids on Organic and that works well for them. When one of my older kids were small he drank soy milk only and that worked for him. What ever his issue was, he outgrew.

You could also take all dairy products away for 2 weeks and then reintroduce them one item at a time. Only introduce one item every week, to find out what her level of tolerance is to each item. You might find out that it is a combination of items that are causing the issue. Such as maybe to much milk, cheese, and eggs in one day. Good luck!

I think that the only way to do it is to take it away from them for a while and see how they respond. The inexpensive way to check for food allergies is to do it like we do with our babies--giving them one thing at a time for a week or so and see how they respond to it.

My personal belief (based in science and what I think is common sense) is that milk is not good for any of us after we're weened from our mother's breast. It only serves one purpose when we're young. After it becomes unnecessary, it starts to go into the realm of unhealthy and can actually break down our natural defenses. Particularly healthy bodies actually reject it. Isn't that something?

ENTERLAB out of Dallas look them up on the web. It's the best way to get your daughter tested.

Lactose Intolerance does not cause nausea...it causes diarrhea or, in rare cases, constipation. However...a dairy allergy does cause nausea and sharp pains in the abdominal area. If you want to test the dairy allergy, switch her to Soy milk, or rice milk or almond milk, and change her diet to remove all dairy for a couple of weeks. If she no longer has the stomach pains or nausea then you know she is likely allergic to dairy and will need to manage her diet accordingly. However, to determine if it's an ulcer (and yes young children CAN develop ulcers, mine had one at 7 yo) there are tests that can be run. She needs to be seen by a pediatric gastroentologist. I do not know which you want to do first. Or if you want to try them simultaneously. The problem with doing them siimultaneously is that if they treat the symptoms of an ulcer with meds without running the tests you will never be sure which thing it is when the symptoms go away...

Good Luck!!!

Hi T.,
It doesn't sound like intolerance to me, it sounds more like reflux.
What kind of test did the DR take, if he did't do an upper GI I suggest you have one done.
I have lots of nausea due to reflux, it happens regardless of what I eat or drink. Believe it or not the only thing that really works for me is TUMS Ultra 1000. I keep it with me, the only problem is in the future there is a risk of calcium build up.
You can also try B6 and ginger, or ginger root.
Aloe Vera caps, this will tear her stomach up for a few days, but once her stomach gets coated its wonderful, it will help with a number of things. My mom had an ulser, and she drinks the juice, it completely healed. One of many uses.
Good Luck.
M.

I see you live outside the Houston area, so I'll give you a general idea of what has worked with us. My now 17yr old niece began having morning stomach complaints & nausea at about age 11, and it seemed to be eggs that did it, so we stopped the eggs. Then, this last year she couldn't tolerate any dairy products in the mornings, even yogurt or kefir, without the cramping, so we stopped that. I noticed she was taking in caffeine through coffee drinks and caffeine pills (eek), and got her to stop that. Her pediatrician, who takes a very traditional & quick-to-diagnose approach(give 'em pills), was stumped, and the expense of a traditional allergy specialist was out of the question, especially since she is healthy in every way. I located a really great holistic doctor, a chiropractor, who does muscle-testing and other evaluation techniques. She determined there were missing elements in Lauren's diet, gave samples of the herbs and powdered greens to add to L's food, and she has been fine since then (if she remembers to add the herbs and greens, that is). She ate salad at lunch and green veggies at dinner during the school year, which helped in her case, too.

Look for a naturopathic or homeopathic doctor, or someone else in your area that does muscle testing or hair analysis.
Good luck.

I actually had a similar issue in high school. The doctor felt I wasn't eating enough of the right foods. I was eating healthy at dinner, but at school and for breakfast it was usually sugary cereals, sodas, and other junk foods. Consequently, everyday when I came home from school, I felt sick. At on point, I missed 3 days of school because of it. I was put on a more whole grain, and higher protein diet. Also, if your daughter is under stress at all, it can manifest itself as nausea.

Have you talked to your daughter about peer pressure and bullying? She is at a very common age for these issues. Ask her if someone is being mean to her at school. Be open to what she might have to say and listen. You know her best, but I've had many a friend who have experienced the same issue only to dicover their son or daughter was being bullied by a classmate...

Hi T.,

Well I am 32, but I have had these symptoms off and on for years, I just had my gallbladder removed (2 weeks ago) and now I am fine. I could not eat dairy or fat in general. I could not even look @ ranch salad dressing. I am not saying for sure but if you can get an ultrasound to see if there is blockage do so....Jess

I'd recommend being tested for food allergies. I tried to go the traditional medicine route for my problems, but they just shrugged it off and basically told me the tests were too expensive to run. So I went to Dr. Terri Beim in Austin TX. She gave a blood test that showed 18 different allergies to foods I commonly eat such as beef, eggs, cheese, cows milk and wheat. I'm not sure if insurance will cover it, but if I feel better, it's worth every penny! You might check for a doctor in your area by checking the website www.betterhealthusa.com - you'll also find a lot of information there that might help.

Good luck!

You might want to talk to her about drugs and alcohol, if she is doing any of that, it could be affecting her stomach, also some eating disorders can effect it as well, even not enough sleep can make some people nausea. Now before you say, "MY DAUGHTER IS NOT INVOLVED WITH DRUGS OR ALCOHOL, OR HAVE AN EATING DISORDER" just because you think that you know your daughter and what she is or is not involved with, let me tell you, that teens and even pre-teens are always involved in more things than you think that they are involved in! Just let her know that these things could be causing her distress "IF" she was involved with them, she may not even know that they can be the culprits! and she may never admit to you if she is involved, but if she is, it just might get her to quit! or to decide that she needs help to quit, "IF SHE IS INVOLVE" I'm not saying that she is, I am just suggesting that it could be a possibility!Best of luck with your daughters stomach issues.

You probably should take her to a specialist, but while you're waiting for an appointment you could start keeping a food diary. Write down everything she eats and note the times when she feels nauseous. See if you can find any patterns to her symptoms (ie always sick after eating dairy). When you think you might have identified a culprit try eliminating it from her diet for a few days to see if it helps. Make sure you only eliminate one thing at a time so that you can be sure about which one it is.

Good Luck,
K.

I don't think she is lactose intolerant! I have been having the same problem for a few months now. I went to my Dr. and he put me on meds for IBS! Also, I have horrible allergies and part of my nausea was from drainage. Is she having any diarreha (sp?). I would ask the Dr. if it could be her colon or stress. I am sorry this is happening to you and your daughter. It's so hard to watch them suffer.

Hi T.,,
the best way is to take her to the dr.
L.

The easiest way is to cut all foods out of her diet that have any milk or milk products in them. Within a week of no milk products in her diet if there is noticeable improvement, then she probably is allergic to milk products. You can introduce them into her diet slowly to see which might affect her...my daughter is allergic to most milk products, but can eat some cheeses.

You might look at her diet and see what she is consuming a lot of (i.e. too many cokes each day, too many egg products, too many fried foods) and cut back on those items to see if there is any improvement. Too many fried & processed foods and dairy certainly can give the same symptoms.

I just saaw this post and I haven't seen any response like this, because it's unusual. My daughter would have severe cramps and unexplained nausea at irregular times. When she was 5, I kept food diaries, took her off milk. Nothing. Finally, in 4th grade, her teacher said she'd missed 17 days of school. We-finally- got an appt. w/gastroenterologist. First, he stopped the vomiting. Then, from March - late May, she went thru lots of tests. Diagnosis: Fructose Intolerance. You don't see this often. She went on a 6 wk. sugar free diet. Then, shopping became really challenging: try to find foods w/no High Fructose Corn Sytup. It's everywhere ! She was on meds. for years, and then grew out of it. Good Luck.