|
Taking Control When Your Baby is Allergic to Dairy |
 Babies are not the only people who have allergies that are triggered by dairy products. Many adults cope with the problem, which can be a tricky allergy to deal with. The biggest problem is that dairy products are pervasive in the foods we buy and eat. So learning how to avoid dairy for your infant can become a full time job.
It is a mistake to dismiss your baby's dairy allergy as simply an allergy to milk and let it go at that. While cow's milk is the primary source of the allergens that bring on the reactions that you see in allergic babies, it is important to be on the guard for any dairy product that might set off an allergic reaction in your infant. But it is important to maintain that diligence because if the little one's dairy allergy gets severe, you could be dealing with a serious medical crisis if your child has an allergic episode as a result of consuming a dairy product.
There are three elements that are present in dairy products that could be the source of a dairy allergy in your baby. Whey protein, lactose sugar or casein protein could be the allergen that is causing the problems in your infant. Your child does not have to be allergic to all three elements to be considered allergic to dairy. Any one of these elements can cause the problem. It is important to understand that if lactose sugar is the source of your baby's daily allergy, that does not mean that your child will be lactose intolerant for life. Lactose intolerance and infant dairy allergies are two entirely different problems that happen to share a common source.
Sometimes it is easy to have problems diagnosing an allergy to dairy in your baby because the symptoms may be confused with other common infant health problems. Also dairy allergies in babies surface in a wide variety of ways including skin problems like hives, breathing problems which resemble a cold or asthma or digestive problems such as vomiting, diarrhea and stomach aches.
Dairy allergy symptoms in babies often cause severe discomfort so if an allergic episode occurs, it will cause significant concern in the parents. While you don't want to eliminate colic, the flu or other possible causes of the symptoms, keep the possibility that your little one is allergic to dairy products as a possible cause. One clue that the problems are allergy related is that a dairy allergy in a baby does not "pass" like a flu the cold does. But unlike a disease, infant daily allergies can be cleared up very quickly by simply eliminating dairy from the diet of the child.
The "cure" for a dairy allergy in your baby is simply to eliminate all diary from the little one's diet. As we mentioned, that means more than just leaving cows milk at the store. It also means taking cheese, butter, cream, yogurt, sour cream and ice cream out of the diet of your infant entirely. And since many of these elements are used in meal preparation, the impact on how you prepare foods for the baby and for the family can be extensive.
It is also important to take similar action even if you are breastfeeding your infant. If your newborn is diagnosed with an allergy to dairy products, mom will have to stop consuming those products or even foods prepared with dairy products. It is a bit of a sacrifice to take dairy out of the kitchen of your home entirely. But it is best to be thorough and a error to the side of excessive caution than to allow even a small amount of dairy to get into your baby's diet and set off an allergic episode.
|