Milk allergy and eczema ~ Culturelle question

[4busybees]

Hi all!

My 3 year old daughter is allergic to milk, mold and mildew. I would consider her eczema severe. We try our best to contain it and I have read that Culturelle may be good to take. I was thinking of giving it to all 4 of my kids ranging from 3-15. It is sooo expensive though. Can adult Culturelle be given to children? For instance can I spilt a capsule or packet amongst the 3 youngest children? Thanks in advance for your help.

[4busybees]

I would also like to add that we have eliminated milk from her diet and her eczema got slightly better but did not completely go away. I breastfed for 22 months and her symptoms did not appear until I stopped breastfeeding. There must be something else in her diet causing the issue so I have tons of other questions for other forums and hopefully I may even have some answers to help others as well :) So for now, I will just start with the Culturelle question so as not to bombard you guys. :)

[princesstutu]

I would make sure you're using the dairy-free Culturelle, of course.  I think it's perfectly fine to give probiotics to a child, however, I would personally stick with fermented foods.  I gave my now 15 month old some probiotics from a pill when she was younger and it just gave her the runs. 

Good Belly is a water-based probiotic drink. 

And, your dd is old enough for a blood allergy test.  I would suggest that, too.  It's good to know exactly what all you're working with, allergy-wise.

Good luck!

[4busybees]

Thank you so much. I have been trying to research milk free probiotic drinks. We had a blood panel done last March (2010) Would you advise that I get another one? Thanks again!

[scsigrl]

Custom Probiotics is a great brand.  Dairy/gluten and a bunch of other stuff free.  It is pricy up front but a $165 bottle lasts a long time (the kids scoop is super small!)  I think when I calculated it out the bottle will last us 10 months.  We add it to a little water and Org. Torani syrup in the morning and at night and have never had a problem getting the kids to take it.

I have hear a lot of people react from Culturelle even though they say it is dairy free (it still lists whey on it).

[capsgirl08]

Where does it list whey?  I did not see it on the box that I purchased today...I bought both the Kids powder & the adult capsules...

[deminc]

Originally Posted by scsigrl 

I have hear a lot of people react from Culturelle even though they say it is dairy free (it still lists whey on it).

 This is interesting! I didn't see them listing whey for the dairy-free one and I emailed an enquiry to them; it's supposed to be cultured on pork muscle or something. But my preschooler did react to it big time. We stopped it just after three days because his flare-up became so bad.

[scsigrl]

Originally Posted by capsgirl08 

Where does it list whey?  I did not see it on the box that I purchased today...I bought both the Kids powder & the adult capsules...

My original post was a month or so ago and I had been at Whole Foods and looked and it did list whey.  I don't remember what kids it was (kids v. adults).