Milk Protein Allergy - Grand Ledge,MI

I've never had good luck mixing formula with milk. You could try just straight up milk and see if you get the same result. Maybe just try one bottle of milk and the rest formula for the day.

With all the information coming out on milk protein (casein) it may well be a blessing in disguise that he can't drink it. Plus no children should have cow's milk before age one as it can lead to diabetes.
All the plant based milks should be fine, hemp, soy, rice, almond or my fav--So Delicious coconut milk.
If the movie, Forks over Knives is showing in your area, I highly recommend it. A book by the same title is coming out in two weeks.
The China Study is also good, but you will have to wade through alot of info to get to the point.
Good luck and God bless
Victoria

Try goats milk, its cheaper than formula and for sensitive children. My son drinks it. he has an allergy to both milk and soy and he does great on it. we gove it in addition to his formula since he is under one year. for more info you can look at the website www.myenburg.com

Tell the Pediatrician, to refer you to a Nutritionist.
THAT way, you will get info and menus and food ideas, for your child.

There is lactose free milk, as well.
If the lactose is a problem.
I have seen this in the grocery stores.

We found out about our son's allergy when he was 8 months old, and he's almost 3 years old now. I don't know if your child still has a milk allergy, but I know it can be very limiting. Our son has an allergy to casein specifically, and he can tolerate at least some amounts of whey.

Here are some of his favorite foods:
--Eggo mini waffles and french toast sticks (only have whey in them)
--unfrosted Pop Tarts
--Earth's Best mini meatballs
--chicken nuggets (Earth's Best, Banquet, Perdue Simply Smart, Great Value, etc. (check labels for other brands))
--kidney beans (yep, plain kidney beans)
--honey-roasted peanuts
--popcorn
--chips
--vanilla wafers
--fish sticks (check ingredients)
--Nature's Bakery fig bars (best value is at Sam's Club)
--raisins
--Annie's graham bunnies
--fruit snacks (I usually buy Mott's Medley's (made with fruit and veggie juice))
--graham crackers
--Lance whole grain cracker and peanut butter sandwiches
--different kinds of crackers
--Veggie Sticks (the crunchy kind you can find near chips at Walmart, local grocery stores, at Sam's Club, etc.)
--Great Value honey buns (just the glazed ones)
--cereal (usually give him off-brand cheerios)
--oatmeal
--yogurt (Silk yogurt and So Delicious yogurt)
--fries
--hamburgers
--fruit (grapes and clementines especially)

I haven't bought any for him yet, but Oreos are all milk-free.

If you're struggling with veggies, try fruit and veggie smoothies (banana, frozen fruit, spinach, a spoonful of orange juice concentrate, and a nut-based milk (or rice milk))

Rice milk, almond milk are fine. There is also raw milk. And it has been known to make a huge difference in allergy issues. It's better for you, it's natural, NON PASTEURIZED! And that does make a difference. It's about 7 bucks a gallon, but considering the health benefits, it's worth it. If you go online to Hick's organic foods or dairy all the information is there. Hick's is located in North Branch.

My 5 year old daughter has a cows milk protein allergy as well. I am working with a nutritionist and have a list of safe foods from various stores such as Kroger (breads, cereals, etc) that you can buy. I have to find it in my email and I am so tired right now with a newborn. If you message me to remind me I will find the list and send it to you. I highly suggest working with a nutritionist through your pediatrician if possible.

Work with a nutritionist and/or pediatric GI. Soy proteins intolerance often goes hand in hand with milk protein intolerance, so watch for that.

Alimentum contains 2.2% Casein Hydrolysate. If he's tolerated that well, he can probably tolerate small amounts of milk proteins in other foods and/or smaller proteins like those in goat milk, so I wouldn't panic.

My daughter switched to Silk brand Coconut milk and is thriving wonderfully (been doing this for 9mo) and has not required any supplements (probably due to the great diet that she eats). Pediatrician said if she becomes more picky and refuses vital nutrients and vitamins I could add a toddler vitamin. Her allergies and sensetivities caused her to have diarhea and vomiting and eventually failure to thrive. After the long road of adjusting her diet, tests, and trying every milk substitute and formula available they were going to admit her to children's hospital to try some different things administered through a feeding tube and monitored. We chose to try some "natural" alternatives instead and found that coconut milk worked great for her, resulting in no more digestive issues and she began healthy weight gain.

Did they do a test when they diagnosed him the first time? We also just found out about a month ago, my son has a milk allergy. Silk has a soy milk. You will want to rotate it with rice milk and/or coconut milk. They will get constipated if you don't. Also DON'T give him ANYTHING with MILK in it. It messes with the immune system just as bad. If you keep him off the milk for a year or 2 he may out grow it. If he gets even a little bit of milk it can set you back 6m to 1yr. Here is what a friend sent me. She deals with this stuff. She even works for a health food store! Hope it helps!
My advice is to try reallly hard not to get overwhelmed! You didn't cause it, there's nothing you could do differently! There are also alot of options that you can give him to replace dairy. There is a high likelihood with lotsa of work on your part that he will outgrow this allergy. Isabella had 7 of the major "7" allergies and outgrew all but eggs.

Aside from soy milk, try almond milk and coconut milk. Those are actually my favorite (vanilla flavored) and rice milk as well. Almond has actual nutrients... I'm not a fan of soy because if he gets alot of soy to replace dairy, he may develop a soy allergy. Keep it varied, soy here, almond there, coconut milk, little rice milk.

His pedi may recommend he need some supplementation b/c kids so frequently get so many nutrients from their milk and calories. However, really keep in mind that while we all get alot from dairy we are the only being on earth to drink the milk of another animal... so that said we don't HAVE to have milk. However, kids are kind of built to breastfeed until they are 3 or so while we have them off of formula or bm onto cow's milk around age 1. So, at his age right now he needs some type of replacement but if he doesn't outgrow it, he doesn't "need" milk as an adult.

You'll find dairy in alot of stuff, I mean alot. However the first month will be the hardest. You'll find the staples he likes that you can afford and it'll be smooth sailing from there. However, get used to a lifestyle change if you guys eat out alot. Most national chain restaurants post allergy info online, but you will find cross-contamination issues, etc. It's honestly safest to eat at home or take him some "safe" food. Food allergies are very challenging until you get yourself into a new routine and get your family "broken in". They'll want to act like it's not a big deal because he doesn't drop dead when he eats it. It's still a big deal. Dairy allergies can play havoc on his immune system, digestive system and development. IF you can eliminate ALL dairy from his diet for 2-3 years, there's a very very good chance he will outgrow the allergy. Small accidental exposures can set you back a full 6months to a year. I'm not trying to freak you out, I'm sharing what I wish someone could've told me when Isabella had sooo many. I was very alone in it all. MOST pedis seem to not even be as educated about food allergies as they should be. They leave it in mama's hands to manage.

A word of caution is that while his allergy doesn't cause huge, major reactions now like breathing problems or hives, etc, after he is off of dairy for a month or so, if he comes across some in his diet, his reaction will be quicker and typically stronger. Those little antibodies will stay on full alert even while there is none in his body and go into FULL blown attack mode at the smallest sign. Currently he only has so many antibodies and they're kinda tired of constantly attacking and so it's a broadbased irritation he has. I kind of picture in my head as a little war. He has world war I, longterm war going on right now with troops spread thin and weary. After a month of being CF (casein free) it'll be like hiroshima... all the power concentrated after some rest. Does that make sense? I'm not saying he'll have anaphalaxsys, just that his reaction will be a bit stronger than currently and come on much more quickly. You'll know he was exposed!

As far as goodies, there's lots of coconut milk ice cream that's THE BOMB! There are some tofu cheeses and stuff. They are gross. Just skip the cheese altogether. As far as butter, IDK about cf butter. I'm sure there is some from soy. I'd suggest going with coconut oil like we discussed before. It's yummy, ridiculously healthy for a child his age b/c of the good fatty acids and tonnnsss of other awesome stuff for him. You can put it on pasta, bread, oatmeal, anywhere you'd normally put butter. It has an oily consistency but still great!

That's all I can think of right now. Really just take it day by day, take stock of what you have in your pantry that's "safe". If you see a particular product that you wanna know how it tastes at healthfood store, ask me, I've probably eaten it, lol. They even have cf hot dogs ;-)

You could also try goat's milk, rice milk, almond milk (which I have found taste very similar to milk) get the vanilla flavored.

An intolerance and an allergy are two different things. You can test for an allergy (your child is not too young) but not an intolerance. It is worth testing to see if he is truly allergic.

I have three kids. Two have been dairy intolerant (rashes, eczema, tummy pain, and bloody stool) and my middle was actually allergic to dairy as well as eggs and nuts.

My oldest dairy intolerant son was able to switch to milk (from nursing) at 13 months. He threw up the first time he had it but was fine after that.... Never had any additional problems. So he basically did outgrow his sensitivity at about a year.

My allergic daughter didn't outgrow her dairy allergy until she was closer to 3. I was also worrid about her getting enough fat and protein after I stopped nursing her. A pediatric nutritionist we visited had me put her on next step, or toddler, soy-based formula. This ensured that she would be getting all the calories, fat and protein she was missing by not drinkng whole milk. When she turned two we switched to plain soy milk.

My youngest is also dairy intolerant but has no allergies.

It is true that the dairy and soy proteins are similar and if your child cannot tolerate dairy, soy could also be a problem. You can look up "MSPI," or milk/soy protein intolerance to learn more.

Good luck and do look into true allergy testing so you differentiate between an intolerance and an allergy (you may need an epi-pen if this is an allergy).

It does sound like he has an allergy to milk protein. Rice milk is good. Other sources of protein are soy products (yogurt, cheese, etc). As long as the soy product is organic, you are safe with the soy. You only want organic as the others are genetically modified.

There are liquid and powder (you can mix with a liquid) forms of vitamins. Insure the vitamins are organic/whole food. So it would help to have your son on a good multi vitamin, which should have Vitamin D, calcium and magnesium (magnesium and vitamin d help caclium absorb into the body).

Things like this happen for a reason. With him having this allergy will enable him to have an even healthier diet. Cow's milk really isn't good for us, due to all the things they give the cows.

Hope all this helps.

There is a test. My son was resistant to milk proteins as well, but grew out of it by a year, thankfully for us! My pediatrician said he was hesitant to test anyone under a year for food allergies b/c the test is unpleasant and it is common to grow out of it, but if he's still having issues, then I'd probably go ahead and talk to his doctor and see if you can schedule it. Good luck!

Does he eat yogurt or cheese? If he does then I might try using less milk in his bottle and going even slower to increase his milk vs formula ratio. If you haven't tried cheese or yogurt yet, I would try that first. Probably try it without giving him additional milk and see what happens, but he may be able to tolerate that.

M.--I am a health and wellness educator taking a series of classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. Don't worry that your little guy won't/can't drink cows milk. So that you understand why that is ok, I recommend that you visit www.pcrm.org and put dairy in the search box. Also these websites have some very interesting, based on long term research information that may be of help to you.
www.thechinastudy.com and www.notmilk.com.

I am a reformed milk drinker myself. It does seem very strange that cows milk might not be the health food that 'experts' would have us believe. I'm not going to get into the politics of agribusiness, but it is about politics and making money.

Having said that, all plant milks are fortified, just as cows milk is. I prefer almond as it has fewer carbs than rice milk. I don't drink any milks...only water (and my red wine and barley pop) but I will rotate between all of them for cereal. I don't care for the taste of soy milk but will use the plain when I cook. And soy is a perfectly healthy food (must be organic as usually a genetically modified crop) of an overall healthy and varied diet... even for boys. I will send you whatever info you need if you want to explore that subject.

As far as calcium and other nutrients? Again, if you are eating a varied, plant based diet, you will get all of those nutrients that you need. Some good sources of calcium include broccoli, kale spinach and bok choy. Sesame seeds are great source, so anything made with tahini (ground sesame...like peanut butter...is used in hummus) is good. Almonds have calcium as does soy. A great snack could be edamame, the immature soybean which can be found in most any grocers freezer aisle.

I have a great chart that tells you how much calcium is recommended for a 1 year old boy...all ages in fact. Feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to share that with you.

BTW...I also know of an excellent food based supplement, containing the concentrated powders of 17 different fruits, veggies and grains. It is our family's nutrition insurance...and it is backed by numerous independent studies to show that it impacts many aspects of good health...like a strengthened and balanced immune system, DNA protection and repair and a huge reduction in disease causing oxidative stress.

Good luck as you decide what to do next. Please be sure to visit those websites before. Be well, D.