Anyone reason to not give LO Lactaid milk?

[Annie Mac]

I buy the milk with lactase in it, as I am lactose intolerant. Lately, I've been feeing the LO (10 months) bits of cereal soaked in milk. Is this an OK idea? Any chance I could be creating a lactose intolerant child by doing this? She also eats yogurt and cheese (regular) and doesn't seem to have any problem with it, so I think she has the enzyme to digest dairy. By introducing more in an artificial way, do I stand to do any harm? Weird question, I know. The things one thinks about very early in the morning :)

[noahs.mom06]

Not giving an infant cow milk isn't about the lactose, or potentially causing the child to be lactose-intolerant. The main sugar in breastmilk IS lactose... Infants' guts in general aren't able to handle the protein component of the milk (casein), from what I understand, and that is the reason you aren't supposed to give an infant milk... That and it doesn't have the right amounts of stuff and can cause organ problems/failure.

[Annie Mac]

Thanks for your reply. I actually meant was there any reason not to give a child Lactaid milk -- milk that comes with the enzyme that my body doesn't produce, which makes dairy products unpleasant for me. I wondered whether giving her the artificially-created and added enzyme was OK when her body seems to produce the enzyme naturally. If I would somehow decrease her body's production of said enzyme because it has been introduced via milk, like your body will do with other substances, like serotonin, leading to problems down the line. But what you're saying is that dairy is a no-no altogether because of the casein? For how long? And for all babies, or just sensitive babies? I had a friend whose son was allergic to casein as an infant. It sent him into anaphylactic shock, and it was to any dairy product or anything with casein added. He has since grown out of it, thankfully, but other than kids like him, I wasn't aware dairy was verboten. Most baby food guides say they can have cheese & yogurt at 9 months, so to be honest, I figured the "no milk until a  year" decree was actually a blanket statement to prevent people from doing something silly, like weaning the child from breastmilk or formula onto the cheaper cow's milk. No? 

Well, I hardly give her any milk at all anyway. I can just cut out the milk-soaked cereal. But the yogurt and cheese -- good sources of protein and she loves them. Should I stop those too? She doesn't seem to have any adverse reactions.

[~Amy~]

In my opinion, any milk a child receives should be whole milk and processed as little as possible, so no, I wouldn't give a baby Lactaid milk.  I can't imagine that it would cause her body to stop producing lactase, though. 

There's no reason to stop the yogurt & cheese if she's tolerating them.

[Annie Mac]

Thanks Amy! I think I will have to start buying separate dairy items for her -- for the whole fat if nothing else. She still eats more breastmilk than anything else, but as time goes by this will start to matter more. 

[daisymommy]

Usually if there is no milk allergy, children can digest the Casein protein after 1 year.  But before that it can cause stomach problems.

Casein and Lactose is partially digested and is in smaller amounts in cheese and yogurt (especially yogurt actually).  It just happens as a part of the culturing process of the food.  That's why at 9 months babies can usually tolerate cheese & yogurt fine, but often still not milk.

I have never read that by giving lactase the body will stop it's own production.  But I do think the Lactaid milk is too processed for a baby.

Happy to help!