Lactose Free Milk

Any milk, even lactose free, is going to be binding to some people. The only way to aleviate it besides cutting out all milk products is to drink a LOT of water. My suggestion, start adding water to his milk. Start small and don't let him see you doing it until you get to about half and half. If you do it gradually, he won't know the difference and he will be getting a lot of water and it should help to keep him regulated.

If I were you I would reduce that milk intake.
reasons:
1. Milk has 8 times more calcium than magnesium. It willl cause a huge magnesium depletion,(CA and MG compete) which will in turn cause a calcium depletion, because calcium MUST have magnesium for uptake.
2. Milk causes excessive , thick, sticky mucus to form in sinus, lung and ears. bacteria and fungus sticks easily to tacky mucus. hence, more ear infections and colds.
3. Milk has thousands to millions of bacteria in it before pasturization. once boiled, those are killed. the bacteria split opn and dump their excrement . this excrement is TOXIC to our body and makes the immune system work triple time to clean it up.

4. Milk has perchlorate (rocker fuel) in it, thilladium, arsnec, pcb's and lead.
http://thewatchers.us/Georgia-USDA.html

Magnesium can actually be a good cure for constipation. Magnesium chloride on skin, and magnesium citrate(drinkable). Look for babycalm online if you want a predosed supplement.

watch iron intake (a heavy metal!)which can cause constipation.no supps and no iron fortified foods.

Time to teach that kid that water is okay too. He won't get constipated if he has enough water through out the day. try to substitute at least one 8oz cup of milk for water and I bet it will happen less often that he is constipated. Milk constipates anyone that drinks to much of it for the most part..that has nothing to do with the allergy! Get some 100% fruit juice, Add twice as much water (When I make it I make 2 gallons of juice/water mix out of 64 oz of juice. It lasts twice as long and they get more water and less sugar per serving. Anyway, try that and some of this will go away on its own I am sure :)
To Gail I have to say that Iron is necessary for us to survive. Most things with flour in them are iron fortified..most things have calcium added too. All these things are very good for us, but we can get them from foods. Also, Milk is one of the cleanest things that comes from a cow..unfortunately Gail doesn't know that the organisms that Pasteurization kills are for the most only things that would make a cow sick and not us. Also, they are single celled organisms..they do not spill excrement nor is it likely that they excrete much of anything unless they are reproducing. Seems to me that processing is what makes it bad for us..but of course we can't have non-treated milk..because of what we MIGHT get. Sigh..dairy cows are milked and eat in almost sterile conditions compared to most of our kitchens. Really..even the hoses that the milk goes through at milking time are sterilized just like baby bottles! Not much bacteria..and humans don't touch the milk itself so no human germs. (We even had to wear a mask if we were sick)...because while a cow can't give us her cold..we can sometimes giver her ours). Anyway..on the answer to the question water is all you need I think :)

"Ditto" Heidi. Water is SO good for us. If he were hydrated enough, his stools wouldn't be so hard. (Side note: I am lactose intolerant, and just found out that I may not be if I were drinking RAW cow's milk...the enzymes to digest it are still in the milk and haven't been heated out. I'm going to give it a try.)

Our bodies are mostly made up of water, so it makes sense that water would be good for us...Anyway, from Wikipedia:

"Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight. Blood contains almost 70% water, body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. Skin also contains much water. The human body is about 60% water in adult males and 55% in adult females."

There is also a great, simple article on About.com (subcategory "Nutrition"), called Drinking Water to Maintain Good Health: http://nutrition(dot)about(dot)com/od/hydrationwater/a/wa...

Best wishes!

I'm lactose intolerant and I can't drink lactose free milk because of the gas, diarreheas and uncomfortable feeling it gives me. I drink and cook with rice milk. It does not taste like cow's milk.

I've heard of others who can drink goat milk who do not tolerate cow's milk. This didn't work for me. I like the taste of homogenized goat milk but it is somewhat different than cow's milk.

Is he allergic to milk? That is the reason that my granddaughter was put on Nutramigen. She drank rice milk until she was 5 and discovered at school that cow's milk no longer upset her stomach or gave her gas. It is possible that your son will eventually outgrow the difficulties caused by cow's milk.

My grandson, who was not allergic to milk or even lactose intolerant, was chronically constipated at that age. He had Miralax in his drinks and his diet focused on fiber rich foods. The doctor said to stop drinking milk and other dairy foods. His mother reduced the amount of diary that he drank and ate but his father (they were divorced) did not. Eventually he was constipated less often but his bms are still dry, firm pellets a couple of times/week. He's now 6. I suspect he'd have easier bowel movements if he had less dairy products. He, too, loves milk and cheese.

You could try giving him less milk and see what happens. 2 1/2-3 gals of milk every 5 days is an excessive amount and, if the calories from the milk reduce the amount of calories he consumes from other foods, is not good for him. If he's overweight it's also not good for him. It is possible that just by having less milk, say no more than 3 glasses/day which is less than 1 gal/5 days that he will be less constipated.

Also, is he drinking whole milk. I can eat real ice cream in a moderate amount without gas etc. because it is primarily cream. Cream is primarily fat and thus has less lactose. He might tolerate whole milk and less of it if he's drinking 2% or skim. He does need the fat in whole milk for brain development.

try a little bit of lite karo cornsyrup, and then juicy juice. it's a sure fire way to break constipation. a glass or 2 of juice daily should keep his body from getting too stopped up. if it doesn't work, try adding some fiber in his diet. he may not begetting enough fiber too. best of luck

Try almond milk. While my kids do well with both cow and soy milk, I do not...at all. So, I bought the Blue Diamond vanilla/unsweetened formula. It's got only 40 calories per cup (yeah for me!) and just as much calcium as the other two (30% per cup). It has only 2g total carb. (1g fiber and 0g sugar). Lots of good stuff like vit. E too. Best thing--it tasted great to me after a few days to acclimate (from soy) and even my son (2 next month) loves it. We have cow, soy, and almond in the fridge and most days he'll choose almond. Go figure!

HI mama,
Have you tried almond or rice milk? Or goat's milk ( I am not sure about the lactose thing with goats, but it is supposed to be better). I am not sure about the rate of consumption, but the diet looks really good. What about bananas? I know they constipated my nephew to no end.

Hope this helps
-E.

hi mom,
your son may be more than lactose intolarant, he's probably allergic to cow's milk. My husband was diaganosed allergic to milk after years of colds and coughs, and being asian myself (90% of us are lactards :) we've chosen not to go the cow milk route with our 13 month old. he's on organic toddler formula and normal food now and is doing AMAZINGLY well. when i do decide to start a dairy of some sort i've decided to go with good raw goats milk. its molecularly more similar to human milk and easily more digestable. if your interested in some good whole non-pasturized milk, cow or goats, try Claravale dairy at any natural food store, its not treated and if you feel the need to feed milk try to go the less processed route and you should see several changes also.

also, i'm a chiropractor and adjust several young babies and my baby see's my personal chiropractor, and results are incredible when it comes to digestive issues. i would be happy to find someone in your area if you would like to try a chiropractor also.

good luck!

While I am a mom that does think milk has a place in our diets, he IS drinking WAY too much. A child that age shouldn't be having more than 18-24 oz a day--less if he is eating a lot of yogurt or cheese. I don't see how he can possible be drinking that much and still eating a healthy diet. He certainly isn't getting enough water.

He probably ISN'T lactose intolerant--that is rare in babies as breastmilk has lactose. Nutramigen IS lactose-free, but it is also casein protein free which a much larger trigger of problems in children. My daughter was breastfed, but when I introduced milk, I rotated cow, goat, and soy (sometimes in the same day) to introduce new flavors and help avoid any problems.

Are you still using the same pediatrician as when he was an infant? Do they know how much milk he is drinking? They can't think that is okay.

Focus on pears, peaches, and prunes (skin on), avoid bananas and applesauce. Add some leafy greens something. Mix chia seeds or ground flax into his meals. But you have got to get that milk cut down!

He is drinking waaaaaaaaaay too much milk, milk should be kept to no more than 16 oz each day. He is at risk for anemia. I think if you decrease his milk intake, he will have less trouble with his constipation.

That is WAY too much cows milk for a family, let alone one single child! A gallon of milk lasts us weeks. We only buy organic milk because it also lasts longer, it can sit in our fridge for 2wks and not go bad.

My boys drink water, they have organic 1% milk on their cereal in the morning, thats it. Water the rest of the day. Cows milk is for baby cows, not for humans, and the overconsumption of dairy in this country is part of our health problem!

If I were you, I would stop giving him milk, or at least severely cut back. Have a cup of water out for him at all times, and give milk with lunch only, or dinner only. THere is no reason for a 2.5 yr old to be walking around with a sippy cup of milk all day. Its not good forh is health or his teeth. Milk in an open cup with one meal a day.

My kids get calcium the way cows do.... and the way nature intended! From greens, veggies, fruits, and they do take a daily multivitamin evne though they are good eaters.

Seriously though, cut back on the milk, thats an absurd amount for a child to be drinking. One glass a day is all he would need, and water the rest of the day. You will see his problem go away if you cut out milk.