cow's milk v. cow's milk casein allergy?

[wild_reilly]

My son (one year) just had some allergy testing done. I was a bit overwhelmed with information at the allergist, and didn't ask some of the questions I should have asked... so I have an appointment in a couple weeks with my doc (who I love), but thought I would post some questions here in the meantime.

He had a positive reaction to cow's milk but not to cow's milk casein. What does this mean? I totally suspected a dairy allergy - it was one of the reasons that we went in. Does this mean that he can have foods that have some of the milk-derived ingredients (casein) but not foods containing whole milk products like cheese?

If anyone can provide clarification, I would greatly appreciate it!

[Alyantavid]

Its a protein that he doesn't appear to be allergic to. My youngest can have whey but not casein.

I know there's lots of milk allergy moms on here so hopefully someone else will have more help for you.

[Chinese Pistache]

Casein and whey are both proteins in cow's milk products. I'm pretty sure that all whole dairy products contain casein, but only cultured products contain whey, too (cheese, yogurt). http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-whey.htm Whey is sometimes separated from casein, in the case of protein powder.

One thing to realize is that allergy testing isn't completely reliable in children under 4, so even though the results said your child isn't allergic to casein, I wouldn't take that as gospel unless you can observe as much when your child consumes it.

[gilamama]

it may mean that your child reacts to the lactose (sugar) in milk but not the casein, protein. My dd1 is like that. butter and real cultured dairy will have no-less lactose, but still have casein. The only dairy without casein is ghee or clarifies butter or some kefir if it is cutured long enough with lactobaccilus casei. (i think that is what it is called)

[nick&jonmom]

I second what the last Mama said. Just because the test results showed no allergy to casien, only seeing how your little one responds to it will tell if he is allergic to it or not. There are many dairy alternative cheeses that are made from soy protein or rice but also contain casien. That's the only thing off the top of my head I can think of that only has casien in it and not the whole milk. If you are looking for a cheese alternative for him , the rice cheese could be a good substitiute but start very small so as to see if he is going to react to the casien. Personally, with the severe food allergies I still am contendiing with my 6 year old son, I would hold off even on casien so as to try and prevent him from developing an allergy to that as well. Early exposure is usually what causes the allergy to surface. I regret that when my ds was a baby, I wasn't careful about what I ate and exposed him to through my milk and also allowed him to be occasionally, (maybe 10 bottles in all), supplemented with formula by my sister while she watched him so I could go to school and finish my college degree. I've since learned that those early exposures may be what caused him to have asthma and be so terribly allergic to so many foods. I did things much differently with my little ds and he has no allergies except a very mild one to wheat, the one thing I didn't avoid during his first 6 months. Anyway, my point is that since your son does have food allergies, I recomend avoiding any highly allergic foods for as long as possible. Sorry, I know I went off on a tangent, but I am so passionate now about food allergies and how to possibly prevent children from having them. Good luck!

:; ; considering :; :;: Mama to Nick (5-23-01) and Jon (12-21-05)