Lactase-enzyme vs dairy free please help!

[aris99]

My 6 yr old son is probably (he's going to be seen by a GI and a neurologist in the next few weeks) either lactose intolerant or his intestines are damaged and he is temporarily unable to digest lactase. He has a very limited diet, cheese being one of his main foods. I CANNOT take this out of his diet right now (we're working on a solution) as he has lost weight and he is not doing well. Would a lactase enzyme work as well as removing dairy (temporarily)? Would it at least help his symptoms? Which enzyme should I try? I've used houston enzymes but they don't seem to help.

Any input would be appreciated!

PS I just noticed that the cheese my son eats says that it has 0g of lactose in it. Isn't that supposed to be the sugar that gives everyone problems? So if it says 0g could it still be causing problems? Am I missing something?!

[kjbrown92]

He could be dairy intolerant vs. lactose intolerant if the enzymes don't help AND there's no lactose in the cheese. Which means he's intolerant to another component of the milk (casein, whey, etc.). The only thing I know of for that is avoidance.

[KimPM]

It sounds like lactose is not his problem. Since this is a main part of his diet, have you tried cheese made from goat's milk? Goat's milk products are easier to digest than cow's milk. It sounds like his issues are perhaps mild and not life threatening, so it might be worth a try. We get some great goat cheeses that taste just like regular cheddar.

[aris99]

Thank you both for your replies. Problem is that my son is "stuck" on mainly bread and cheese. I think he has a combination of OCD/sensory issues that most people are telling me are exacerbated by the cheese (opiate-like affect) and I can't for the life of me get him off the merry go round. It has to be cabot cheddar or grated cheese that comes in white and yellow. Any deviation and he will choose not to eat. He is 42lb at 6.5 yrs so I can assure you he means it! He has diarrhea and frequent bms at least every other day and his abdomen seems to be permanently distended. I know it's the diet but all I can do is make sure he gets his smoothie (vitamins, minerals, fats, traces of juiced vegetables etc) otherwise I'm sure he would be in hospital.

I'm hoping to get him into therapy soon...maybe if we can get him onto goat's cheese it'll help. He went to an allergist when he was about 3 and he the skin test didn't show any allergies but I understand that if his intestines are damaged his inability to digest milk products may be temporary...fingers crossed!

[graceomalley]

It sounds like he is intolerant to something else in dairy - maybe casein? My son is lactose intolerant and like your son, dairy is one of the few things he eats willingly. We use the lactase enzyme a few times a week - we try to steer clear of dairy because even with the lactase he gets bumps on his skin, but it's a lesser of two evils type of thing. The bumps are the only negative thing associated with dairy so we know that dairy is not ideal for him ... but neither is starving.

Did you know that cooking destroys lactose? I often make white sauce for my son - he loves it as part of mornay and I add lots of grated cheese. I crush whole wheat crackers and mix them with grated cheese then sprinkle it on top of the mornay, then stick it in the oven for a while to give it a crunchy crust.

There's a dairy milk with added lactase here in Australia, which is a life saver for us. He hates soy (and I prefer for my boys not to consume much soy anyway) so we're really lucky to have it.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by aris99

Thank you both for your replies. Problem is that my son is "stuck" on mainly bread and cheese. I think he has a combination of OCD/sensory issues that most people are telling me are exacerbated by the cheese (opiate-like affect) and I can't for the life of me get him off the merry go round. It has to be cabot cheddar or grated cheese that comes in white and yellow. Any deviation and he will choose not to eat. He is 42lb at 6.5 yrs so I can assure you he means it! He has diarrhea and frequent bms at least every other day and his abdomen seems to be permanently distended. I know it's the diet but all I can do is make sure he gets his smoothie (vitamins, minerals, fats, traces of juiced vegetables etc) otherwise I'm sure he would be in hospital.

I'm hoping to get him into therapy soon...maybe if we can get him onto goat's cheese it'll help. He went to an allergist when he was about 3 and he the skin test didn't show any allergies but I understand that if his intestines are damaged his inability to digest milk products may be temporary...fingers crossed!

My DS went through feeding therapy earlier, because he would not and could not eat anything. Before the therapy he wasn't eating any solids. After the therapy, his diet included a lot of milk products (but at least he's eating now). He soon developed sinus stuffiness and fluid behind the eardrums. I attributed that to the cow dairy.

I was not looking forward to trying to go dairy free (what would he eat?). So I decided to try the switch from cow to goat. I didn't even announce to him that it was any different than just "cheese" like we had been doing before. I was surprised and pleased that the goat's milk products went so well for him (and that he would even eat them). I hope they help your DS. If you find a good goat cheddar, you can taste it yourself first and see what you think. Woolwich, Alta Dena and Shiloh Farms cheddar taste similar to Cabot. I don't know if any of those are available where you are at.

You probably don't want to try any of the strong flavored goat cheeses - he would likely refuse. The strong ones are usually the soft cheeses anyway, and it sounds like that texture is not something he's used to anyway.

The other thing I wanted to say is, if you're not already doing it, try getting some good probiotics into him. Since he will eat smoothies, you could put some in there. One brand that we've found that is not grown on dairy is Klaire Labs.

[aris99]

Thank-you for your input! Actually the cheese that my son eats now is supposed to be completely lactose free. It wasn't aimed at lactose intolerant people but apparently cheese is inherently 98% or there about lactose free and then if it is aged, fermented further, it loses the last 2%. I just learned this! So I think my son is reacting to casein as you said..but I find this puzzling because it seems to be having a REALLY detrimental affect on his gut and yet he didn't test positive for the milk scratch test at the allergists.

Originally Posted by graceomalley

It sounds like he is intolerant to something else in dairy - maybe casein? My son is lactose intolerant and like your son, dairy is one of the few things he eats willingly. We use the lactase enzyme a few times a week - we try to steer clear of dairy because even with the lactase he gets bumps on his skin, but it's a lesser of two evils type of thing. The bumps are the only negative thing associated with dairy so we know that dairy is not ideal for him ... but neither is starving.

Did you know that cooking destroys lactose? I often make white sauce for my son - he loves it as part of mornay and I add lots of grated cheese. I crush whole wheat crackers and mix them with grated cheese then sprinkle it on top of the mornay, then stick it in the oven for a while to give it a crunchy crust.

There's a dairy milk with added lactase here in Australia, which is a life saver for us. He hates soy (and I prefer for my boys not to consume much soy anyway) so we're really lucky to have it.

[aris99]

Thanks for your input Kim. I'm going to try some of the goat cheeses you suggested. I bought (at GREAT expense) some VSL #3 probiotic and put my son on that for a month. TMI ahead beware: he had super mucous-y poops and diarrhea w/it and now looking back on it it was probably a cleansing kind of thing but I wonder if there's a point to it if I'm just replacing the bad stuff w/more bad stuff?

Originally Posted by KimPM

My DS went through feeding therapy earlier, because he would not and could not eat anything. Before the therapy he wasn't eating any solids. After the therapy, his diet included a lot of milk products (but at least he's eating now). He soon developed sinus stuffiness and fluid behind the eardrums. I attributed that to the cow dairy.

I was not looking forward to trying to go dairy free (what would he eat?). So I decided to try the switch from cow to goat. I didn't even announce to him that it was any different than just "cheese" like we had been doing before. I was surprised and pleased that the goat's milk products went so well for him (and that he would even eat them). I hope they help your DS. If you find a good goat cheddar, you can taste it yourself first and see what you think. Woolwich, Alta Dena and Shiloh Farms cheddar taste similar to Cabot. I don't know if any of those are available where you are at.

You probably don't want to try any of the strong flavored goat cheeses - he would likely refuse. The strong ones are usually the soft cheeses anyway, and it sounds like that texture is not something he's used to anyway.

The other thing I wanted to say is, if you're not already doing it, try getting some good probiotics into him. Since he will eat smoothies, you could put some in there. One brand that we've found that is not grown on dairy is Klein Labs.

[cheryllynn]

I am not allegic to dairy but have dairy issues.

I can drink lactose-free milk and eat Greek Yogurt which I understand strains out the whey.

I definitely react to whey as I tried a whey based protein powder once and symptoms showed up after the first serving.

I do not know if there is whey in my lactose-free milk or lactose in my Greek Yogurt but so far those are the only two items I can eat.

Sadly, I react to goat's milk, so plain goat milk is not an option for me.

There are a few brands of Greek yogurt and they do come flavored. I would also add a quality probiotic in addition to the yogurt.

[kjbrown92]

Goat's milk doesn't work for everyone, because it is similar to cow (my kids can't do cow, sheep, goat, or water buffalo milk). If he's got sensory issues and all he craves is bread and milk, it sounds like you may have a gluten and dairy problem. People often crave the food that they're intolerant to. When I took my DS off gluten, he was like a heroin addict for 3 days, begging for just a crumb of bread. But since then he eats a bigger variety of food. Intolerances don't show up on allergy tests. An elimination diet is one way to figure out intolerances (eliminate them and see if the symptoms disappear). We did an ALCAT test, which tests for an inflammatory response to the food.

[lil_miss_understood]

Just popping in to give a big to everything Kathy's said.

eta: as Kim said, some people don't react to goat's milk who react to cow dairy. it's worth a shot but i would bear it in mind that it may not be the answer you're seeking.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by aris99

Thanks for your input Kim. I'm going to try some of the goat cheeses you suggested. I bought (at GREAT expense) some VSL #3 probiotic and put my son on that for a month. TMI ahead beware: he had super mucous-y poops and diarrhea w/it and now looking back on it it was probably a cleansing kind of thing but I wonder if there's a point to it if I'm just replacing the bad stuff w/more bad stuff?

I looked up VSL #3, and this is what they say about having dairy in it....

http://www.vsl3.com/about-faq.asp

" Can I take VSL#3® if I have an intolerance to dairy products?
Some dairy ingredients are used in the culture medium but are removed during fermentation and concentration. There might be trace amounts at very low levels and, for this reason, VSL#3® is not defined as a dairy-free product but as a non-dairy product. "

I'll bet the problem with VSL #3 for your DS is NOT the beneficial bacteria themselves, but the trace of dairy in it. And they would use cow dairy, not any other.


(I said Klein in my previous post, I meant Klaire.)
You might try Klaire probiotics instead:
http://www.klaire.com/
http://www.klaire.com/probioticleader.htm

We get the Vital-Dophilus Plus.

What Klaire says about dairy:
http://www.klaire.com/hypoallergenicity.htm
"Our specially produced probiotics are grown on dairy-free media and mixed with inulin or cellulose as the blending agent. The end result is probiotics that are exceptionally well tolerated by even the most sensitive patient."

You'd be able to use the Klaire labs probiotics whether you were doing goat dairy or going dairy-free. I'd also make sure he's not getting even a trace of dairy in any of his other supplements as well.

And yes, I do realize that goat milk does not agree with everyone, but not everyone can necessarily do an elimination diet and have something to eat. (I understand this, thanks to my DS's non-eating issues. There's a big difference between "just picky" and not.eating.anything.at.all.) I figure it's worth the try, in case the goat would agree with him. Aris, you are lucky that your DS will at least eat smoothies. My DS won't do those at all.

You said he eats bread. Does he eat crackers? Could you find some kind of gluten(and dairy)-free crackers he will eat? How about any sort of gluten-free breads or muffins? You could try making some of these yourself. My DH was making some SCD muffins (made with nut flours instead of grain flours) and I just about fell over when DS ate them heartily and asked for more. This, from a kid who's afraid of ANYthing new. He likes the SCD muffins better than the regular muffins I make. Let me know if you want the recipe and I'll dig it up for you. They are also dairy free if you make them with coconut oil.

ETA - DH is gluten-free, and he digests way better using goat yogurt and cheeses. DH suggested that your DS may do well with the SCD diet to help his gut healing. You would want to do either a goat dairy version or a dairy free version. There is a book that explains the basics of the diet...."Breaking the Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gottschall. There are some websites out there dedicated to SCD diet and recipes. And DH is willing to share with you any recipes he's developed. I was amazed at the breads he was able to make using non-grain flours!