How long do we keeping dairy out of his diet?

[LoisLane]

Hi there, mamas,

I posted a while back about a possible milk intolerance/allergy and my 5.5 yo DS -- he has almost never been dry at night, and I remembered that he used to get a terrible rash when *I* drank milk and he was nursing... so we have taken dairy out of his diet for about two weeks... he has been dry FOUR nights, which is amazing, but he was sick with strep and then a chest/cough virus and so might have just been dehydrated since those happened in the first week and the last week he has still been waking up wet (although the pullup seems to be less heavy than in the past so maybe that's something?)

So....how long should we keep trying? Also, I think (maybe TMI) that the peeing happens just before or as he wakes up, as the pull up is quite warm... so maybe he's just in the habit? Should we try some early morning waking? Should we give the no dairy a few more weeks?

Our chiro is very supportive of removing dairy as DS has (virus-induced) asthma and she thinks removing milk will help that. So should we stick with it and see if it helps with that, even if it doesn't seem to address the dryness at night?

My only worry is that DS is not a big meat or eggs eater (loves fruits and veggies but won't touch red meat...) and is skinny by genetics, too, so I always felt good that he was getting that protein and calories from the organic whole milk 2X a day. Any suggestions of places to add calories would be appreciated, too.

Thanks SO much for your help on this journey...

[Alyantavid]

My 5 year old is off dairy to help with his asthma as well and its working great! I don't have any advice on the staying dry at night though. Hopefully, its something his body just isn't ready for.

My boys love beans in any way, shape or form so they eat alot of those for protein.

[chantald]

It takes at least 2 weeks for milk proteins to exit your system. I'd say give it at least a month..

My Pedi said to add 1 tsp CANOLA oil to 8 oz of rice milk and mix well. This gives it the fats similar to whole cow's milk. My littlest one is on this because he cannot drink milk or soy

[kjbrown92]

Have you taken ALL forms of dairy out of his diet? I mean ALL? My DS was exactly the same way, and it was milk. Now he can eat late and have 2 glasses of water with dinner, go right to sleep, sleep 11 hours, and wake up dry. Not a chance of that happening when he was on dairy. There are a lot of things to look for on labels. And it could be dairy AND something else. Are you keeping a food diary? Because on those 4 days when he WAS dry, what did he eat or not eat? I guess I'd look at that if it was 4 days consistently dry. C'mon Sherlock, you can do it!!

[LoisLane]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Have you taken ALL forms of dairy out of his diet? I mean ALL?

I probably was more vigilant that first week and know that he has had cheese this second week as well as ice cream at a friend's house one night. It wasn't four nights in a row -- it was one dry, one wet, one dry, one wet, two dry, then nothing since then. I have also added new supplements (new multi vitamins and a calcium/mag supplement) this second week as it seemed like it was working and that I would want to make sure he was getting enough calcium -- but (I can't believe I am even writing this) I didn't check ingredients!

I will work even more at it this next week. Thanks for the encouragement!

(My DS wants to see these smilies : )

[kjbrown92]

You've got to give it a chance to get it all the way out of his system. I'd give it a SOLID two weeks with NO dairy whatsoever, and if you're giving him supplements, you have to check those too. For example, my son could have milk on Sunday, he'd be dry on Sunday night, then on Monday and Tuesday night he would be wet. So it would take a little to get into his system, and then take a couple more days to get out of his system.
kathy