Milk Allergy - Atkins,AR

Updated on April 20, 2009
L.B. asks from Atkins, AR
16 answers

My son could not handle his formula when he was born. So they put him on Nutramagin. When he got on that he was wonderful. When he turned 12 months we tried putting him on whole milk, which was awful. We then tried goat, soy, and Lactaid. The doctor has decided to put him back on formula at 14 months old. He has constant diaprea, his bottom is so red from all of the milk that he couldn't handle. He has an allergy test next week, but I am so afraid that they are not going to find what is the matter, because once I got to reading about food allergy's it is so complex, and they usually only get 1 out of 5 babies right. The problem is I am having a horrible time finding things he can eat. There are so many things that have milk in it. Does anyone else have babies with food allergies, help please!

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answers from Birmingham on

I give my daughter who is 15 months rice milk (which is not milk at all) it has all the vitamins they need. I dont give my daughter any dairy at all mainly because I dont think its all that good for us. I also give her almond milk, hemp milk, vegan cheese. etc.

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answers from Fayetteville on

Here's what I wrote to another mom a few weeks ago who had the same problem:

Oh, you've got a lot to look forward to!

As a near-vegan, I have found that what others consider to be a restricted diet is actually a door to a lot of fun experiments and a whole world of everything else but chickens, pigs, cows, eggs and milk on my plate and in my cup. Since your son is only "restricted" from milk protein, you will have a lot less experimenting to do, but you have every other food on the planet except cow's milk (and foods with it in them) to feed your son. That's a LOT!!

As for calcium, plant-based foods generally provide a more absorbable form, anyhow, so there is no need to worry.

You can find a list of high-calcium foods at (look at the *second* chart; the first one is obviously animal-sourced calcium). You might want to print this chart out and keep it on your fridge till you get really familiar with the great variety of foods you can offer your son.

To introduce new foods, mix some of your choice of his usuals with whatever you're serving him for the first time. He is very, very used to his "comfort" foods, and you don't want to set yourselves both up for food fights and, especially, an aversion to trying new things. I wouldn't worry about this too much. The main thing is to always keep feeding times pleasant and no-pressure. Keep offering him new things - even the same new things - because we all tend to reject flavors that we can't relate in our brains to familiar ones. This is partly why kids say no to new foods. It's a survival trait. We get a taste, our brain says "Whoa, I don't know if this is safe or toxic or what," and we automatically decide we don't like the taste of it. If we try it again after a few days or a week or a year or whatever, our brain then says, "well, I didn't get sick or die the first time, so maybe it's ok...."

For really great ideas, check out Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Here are some ideas off the bat:

Swiss chard!! mmmmm...
sweet potatoes (Japanese ones are amazing)
barley cereal
brown rice
winter squash
green beans
summer squash
tahini (condiment, say, added to unsweetened soy yogurt)
ground nuts, seeds (condiment)
brewer's yeast (condiment)
split peas
Brussels sprouts
beans (if canned, drain and thoroughly rinse), mashed or blended to reduce choking hazard
soy yogurt

I got these from Yaron's month-by-month (up to age one). What I have found is, I can just combine pretty much anything with pretty much anything else (assuming it's cooked and soft or blended or ground/blended or soft/chunky or whatever, but of course, not just coined like carrots and not just the way we prepare it for adult meals, at least not till he's used to increasingly thick, etc. consistencies, because that's a choking hazard), and add some of those "condiments" (Yaron calls them "healthy extras"), and even *I* like 'em.

Today, for example, I fed my baby quickly grated, peeled apple, added the juice, and stirred in some tahini and pumpkin seeds (ground up very fine, as all nuts and seeds should be). Took all of 3-5 minutes to pull out the coffee grinder, grind the pumpkin seeds, wash, peel and grate the apple, and stir in tahini.

Other combos: soy yogurt with any fresh fruit, plus ground-up seeds. Any bean in the world (canned is fine) with any grain you like (quinoa is great because it cooks in 15 minutes; amaranth is probably even less). Blend, or mash, and voila. Lunch. Avocado with powdered kelp sprinkled on. Etc.

MAKE SURE TO WAIT FOUR DAYS BEFORE INTRODUCING EACH NEW FOOD. This way, you can observe your son for allergic reactions - anything from a clear, runny nose to an unexplained diaper rash, to more severe reactions (don't worry, severe reactions are very rare when first introduced) - and be sure of which food caused what. This is how I noticed that my baby is allergic to pears.

Baby calls! Good luck!

Ok, later PS now that the baby is back to sleep. By the way, I read the other post, and don't want you to worry about protein. Veg-heavy diets like your son's are commonly believed, mistakenly, to be lacking in protein, or unbalanced (no offense to the other poster. I understand that this is just what we've all been told, all our lives). But it's just a myth. I'm a vegan who has logged intensive hours and hours of research on diet and health, over the past decade, and my mom's an expert nutritionist for the WIC program; I've consulted with her exhaustively on all things food-related, as well. Your son is doing just great. We humans get protein from everything. Just like the animals do. It doesn't have to be combined in any special way, either. Do you know the word for protein deficiency? No? :) That's because it's almost unheard of in the developed world. It's kwashiorkor. As long as a person is getting enough calories, s/he's getting enough protein. And feeding your kid lots of beans is just great. You don't really need them for the protein, but they're healthy and a perfectly good food.

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answers from Tulsa on

I have a little one (not so little anymore at 7) who is allergic to milk also. If you would like to email me, I would be glad to let you in on some of my "secrets". Got lots of tips and tricks. My email is mandak (take all of the spaces out) BTW my daughter was tested at 1.5 years of age and showed to be highly allergic to milk. She is slowly outgrowing her allergy, but we have learned a LOT along the way.



answers from New Orleans on

My 7th son has the milk protein allergy. Search mamasource for more discussions. He is 12mos. He does tolerate Soy Milk. I feed him pasta a lot. Rice and Beans he loves. Hummus and crackers. grapes. he did not tolerate strawberries well. Broccolli. Becareful with the bread you feed him most have some milk in them. Casein is in alot of pre-packaged things. is a good general article. It's kind of a pain. But there are ways around it. Once you get used to cooking and looking at labels it becomes second nature. best of luck to you. I just sent out an mamasource request similiar to yours about a month ago.



answers from Huntsville on

Hello there we had to buy Nutramigen for 10 of the 12 months for our son too after he was extremely fussy, constipated and broke out with eczema. We bought it on Ebay for $10 per can though which saved us so much $$. He is now 13 months and on Lactaid Whole Milk which doesn't constipate him but I know you already said you tried that. There's already a fantastic list of foods that a mom provided below but it just takes some creativity and planning. Our son loves fresh chicken/brown rice soup w/ plenty of celery, onion, carrots and parsley, steak and potatoes, turkey meatballs with homemade mushroom gravy, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (with his Lactaid added), squash, zucchini, all fruits except not lots of banana (makes him constipated also) and tons of natural applesauce. He snacks on fruit and toddler puffs and plain cheerios. I cook on Sunday and freeze it so that it lasts through the week. I hope you find a long-lasting solution. People think we're crazy when we go out and he doesn't get to eat restaurant mashed potatoes made with milk or cheesy broccoli and lasagna LOL - Oh there are more and more studies showing that whole milk has more growth hormones than our kids need - not that there's anything wrong with regular milk though. I wish Lactaid was cheaper though :D



answers from Baton Rouge on

There are different parts of milk that you can be intolerant or allergic to. Most people are lactose intolerant. There is a much smaller poulation that is casein intolernt or allergic. Casein is the protien in milk and is in almost everything processed. Products that claim to be dairy free are usually lactose free but few are casein free. You have to be very careful. The best help I obtained was from two cookbooks used mostly for kids with Autism. The recipes are great if you have one or more food allergies and the food is appealing to kids but can be used for the whole family. Special Diets for Special Kids book I and II by Lisa Lewis, Ph.D. Don't know where you are from but a great doctor to diagnose alergies and other causes is a Dr. Stephanie Cave in Baton Rouge, louisiana.Hope some of this helps. I have a son that is casein intolerant. Also the tests are done through blood work, urine samples and hair analysis not the old "back" test.



answers from Birmingham on

We had nearly this exact same problem with our son. Off formula, had to be taken off whole milk and back on formula for a short period (ugh ... because the special formula was very costly!). Our dr. recommended buying the milk that is powdered that you mix with water. It is usually sold around the canned Pet Milk. Carnation or store brand makes no difference. He could drink and tolerate it wonderfully and continued to drink it for many years. When he entered school the small amount he would drink during lunch of the chocolate whole milk didn't bother him at all but I continued to do powdered milk for home. It also has many of the nutrients they need in this powdered milk. We had allergy testing done at about two years old and it revealed our son was allergic to corn products (corn syrup/starch, etc. was very hard to avoid in products and even chocolate was slightly sensitive on him). It really did help us to avoid as much as possible and his health but we couldn't avoid them 100%. I hated the testing process because it is done on their sweet little backs but they bounce right back. Good luck!!!



answers from Tulsa on

Jeff had milk allergy when he was a baby and I can feel for you. I can also tell you art 25 he can handle some milk. At 12 months I put him on regular food because he started to toss up his formula again. We had gone thought 3 different formulas and the fact that my milk dried up. He eats lots of vegs and fruits. He did not o and still does not have any other problems with food. I know it is hard to found prepared foods that met any special needs all I can say it read labels and try to make things on your own.



answers from Oklahoma City on

I hope the testing goes well! I have 3 kids. My oldest has no food allergies, my middle one is allergic to dairy and peanuts and my youngest cannot have gluten.

If you have a person allergic to cow's milk the recommendation is NO animal milks whatsoever as they are all very similar. My dairy allergic child has never had goat's milk. Lactaid is cow's milk just without lactose. A person truly allergic to cow's milk will not be able to handle it as it contains all of the other proteins. sorry about the soy. That's a hard one as it is in so much. Glad the pediatrician went back to formula! Check out They are great.

Also, there is a support group that meets once every other month in Edmond. If you would like that information send me a private message.



answers from Tulsa on

Hi!-This is very similiar to what we went thru with my son(He's now 3). Since nursing didn't go well we tried formula only to find he was allergic and also used Nutramigin. We pushed back tring milk until he was 18 mos.old but, he couldn't handle it we tried diff. kinds-etc.
He also had an allergy test around that time I was afraid to use soy milk b/c I'm allergic to it. But the allergy test indicated he was fine with soy and had a mild milk allergy. *The allergy test will be good to give you an idea on the range -Mild to Severe-etc. For us it's worked out fine using soy and although we try to avoid dairy all-together it's fine if he has a little bit-It's really hard about the cheese -He loves it-But,can't really have it. I also agree checking out local health food places to find things that are dairy free and checking labels for whey,casein,etc-It is difficult! Also 1 thing we tried we got from a nutritionist is probiotic pills to try and help him-We only did it for a little while -It was pretty expensive and once we figured out we could use soy-etc-But, you might look into it. And also of course making sure he's getting enough vitamins(use a multi-vitamin-etc)and other ways to get calcium thru -Broccoli-etc. Have you had any problems w/ his weight? We found it difficult to keep his weight up with these issues-But, that's a whole other story.
Anyways -I hope you find what works for him -Good Luck! :)



answers from Shreveport on

My nephew (he just turned 2) is actually allergic to milk, soy, and nuts so my SIL has a really hard time finding things because EVERYTHING has soy in it these days. She has to go to the health food store and just looks at all the labels. She goes to Sunshine Health Foods. They have a lot of options there, more milk-free than soy-free. You can get chicken nuggets and fish sticks and pop-tarts, cookies, crackers, just about anything. Anything by Amy's is vegetarian so it shouldn't have milk and they sell that at Brookshire's. Hope this helps!



answers from Biloxi on

we did this with my son, too. Pretty much EVERYTHING has to be cooked fresh; fresh fruits, fresh veggies, broiled chicken or chicken in the slow cooker. My son loved cheese so it was really hard to get him to give up cheese. Now, he loves fresh apples for his snack. Be careful with toddler foods, such as gerber chicken sticks. They have whey protein and I never would have thought they contained dairy!

Check with your local whole foods/health food store. They were so helpful to me in getting casein and gluten free foods. She had a list, and she would also special order for us!



answers from Tulsa on

This will help you. We have one of these for our daughter with Milk Protein allergy and son with Egg allergy. We had a plastic one. Hope this helps.



answers from Biloxi on

Take a look at this site Do some research regarding pro-biotics. I think that this will help your son's allergy. If not it will get you started in the right direction. The site is very informative and on the left there is a list. Click on "health benefits" and you will see a breakdown of all of what probiotics can do. If you want to learn more read the "about pro-biotics". It is very interesting to say the least! My only problem is that they are expensive but from what I have found this company has the highest potency cultures. My daugher (6 mos) and I are both taking this because while pregnant I had to take antibiotics and after she was born we both did. (I got the flu shot and we both got sick UGH!) Antibiotics destroys the flora in your gut and that is where your bodies biggest immune system is.
Hope that I was helpful.
good luck



answers from Jackson on

When my oldest son was born, milk based formula was a no no. When he was twelve months they wanted him on whole milk. That was a no can do to. So I put him on Non-Dairy Powdered Milk. (like another response mother suggested)We were able to progress to two percent but no further. But walmart also puts out a non dairy powedered drink that we still use. Good luck on your journey!



answers from Tulsa on


go to walmart and get PEDIASURE



my son loved the vanilla flavor .

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