What are some signs/symptoms of a dairy allergy?

[runzbarrel]

DS will be 8 mos old next week. I have been wondering for some time if he has a dairy allergy. My DD (different Dads) was lactose intolerant and was on soy formula as a babe. He's got real stinky gas, and toots A LOT! His poops are brown and icky smelly! He doesn't get hardly any solids right now. The occasional bite of mashed potatoes, or I'll make some oatmeal if he is interested. Sometimes he is very fussy for no obvious reason. I eat A LOT of dairy. Milk, cheese, cream cheese, sour cream etc...I eat it all!

[neonalee]

I EBF and can have some dairy (cheeseburger for example, btter on bread). When I have too much (lots of holiday chocolate for example ) DS (5 months) is very fussy and doesn't sleep well. Those are the only signs I get, so not too bad, but really tiring!

[runzbarrel]

Bumping for more info

[Beth.]

For my DD (formula-fed), it was really stinky gas and poops, "foamy" poop, and a head-to-toe scaly/blistery/gross rash. Her allergy to soy was extreme diarhea (3-4 times with each feeding), but not stinky at all. Extreme fussiness and almost constantly wanting to eat were also signs of big issues ahead. DD (8 months) has severe food allergies. HTH!

[runzbarrel]

Hmmm maybe it's worth cutting it out then just to see of there's a difference....That will NOT be fun lol

[Beth.]

No, not fun at all. From my experience with DD, I believe it takes 2-3 weeks for the dairy to be completely out of baby's system. So, guessing it's the same for you .... I would think it would be at least 3-4? weeks of no dairy on your part to really get a definate answer. The good news is, almost all kids outgrown dairy allergy by 1, and of those that don't most do by 2. Only a small percentage of kiddos have a dairy allergy after age 2.

[Mommy2mypeanut]

I'm EBF my DD and I am currently 100% dairy and soy free due to food allergies. I'm personally allergic to dairy, so I've always been dairy free. We started seeing blood in her stool at about 3 weeks. Our pediatrition suggested that I try to cut out soy and within 2 weeks, the blood was gone.

So in our case... her symptom was blood in her stool. I didn't really notice anything else. And it took about 2 weeks to clear the soy from my diet.

As far as going dairy free... just be careful because dairy is in everything. If you really want to determine if it is dairy, I'd go 100% because halfway might not be enough. If you search webmd for dairy allergy, they have a good table listing dairy ingredients. The website for the magazine Living Without is another great resource for dairy free.

HTH!

[aaiya]

For us, red ring around the anus is a sure sign of dairy exposure...that and really crappy sleep (waking up a lot).

Good luck!