Growing Out of a Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance
My older boy was diagnosed with a cow’s milk protein intolerance at about 2 years old. I believe he was intolerant for a lot longer than that but it took a long time to diagnose. More on that here. He is now five and a half and he can handle some milk in his diet. For example he can have birthday cake (which may be made with butter or milk) if he’s at a party or he could have some brown bread if it was made with buttermilk. I am quite careful and pick and choose when he is allowed it. I keep him on goat’s milk for cereal and drinking milk, non-dairy spread for butter, and goat’s yogurt when he is at home. Any treats at home are always dairy free, and if there is an option for dairy-free out and about I always choose it for him. We recently had a lot of visitors for dinner and I made sure everything was dairy free so everyone was included. My philosophy is that should always be the case when we’re at home, the same food for everyone. He is good about understanding that it is OK to have a little bit but not too much. He says his cough will come back if he has too much, that’s his way of understanding. It is really only for special occasions that I allow him delve back into the world of dairy products.
His symptoms used to be bloating, sick stomach, being unable to pass wind. He would have disturbed sleep for nights and nights after having even a small bit of dairy in his diet. Initially when we removed dairy from his diet, we used a lot of soya milk products. I tried him a few times with goat’s milk products and he had similar symptoms to when he had cow’s milk. Around age 4 I was able to change him over to goat’s milk yogurts and milk and it suits him fine.
If I try him with something containing dairy now he might be a bit wheezy or he might get some spots on his back. I imagine if he had a glass of milk the reaction would be worse. It is wonderful that he has grown out of it to this extent and it gives me good hope that his brother in time will grow out of it too. However I feel that the fact that he is asthmatic and sometimes gets wheezy after having dairy, and the fact that he gets spots after having something containing are reasons enough for me to keep him off it. I feel it just doesn’t suit his system. The worry and constant monitoring is a thing of the past though.
