Today's solids tip is from our Plunket nurse, Yvonne. She has helped me overcome dietary intolerances in both of my children and today, her tip is about milk intolerance.The first time I noticed that something was up with Isobel and milk was when we switched from formula to organic cow's milk when she turned 1. She began to get these inflamed, itchy eczema-like patches on her abdomen and thighs. After a few days, it became pretty clear that it was the milk as it got progressively worse and milk was her only new food during that time.
Even though she was 1 and well past the starting solids stage, this emphasised how important it is to introduce new foods - one at a time, for a few days - and keep track of any changes in behaviour or skin appearance during that time.
The good news is, you've got plenty of options if your baby has a milk intolerance:
-boil the milk: bring to a boil in a saucepan. The act of bringing it to the boil takes care of that harsh protein that causes the intolerance, brilliant! We have been doing this, it is easy and it does work. I boil about 500ml a couple of times a week for Isobel, let it cool and store it in the fridge in a glass bottle.
-go back to formula. I had wanted to eliminate the formula altogether by this stage, but she has it a couple of times a week in her Safe Sippy. I notice now, at 15months of age, that she is starting to wean herself from formula and only has about 100ml anyway.
-drink goat's milk! Although theoretically the same chemical composition as cow's milk, goat's milk does not cause this sort of intolerance and people who suffer from allergies or intolerances to cow's milk swear by it. Our friend, Mel, also recommends it :)
More good news for Isobel: this is not an allergy to milk and she will very likely outgrow this milk intolerance. How do we know that? Well, she is fine with formula which comes from cows, no problems with cheese or yogurt either, thank goodness. We'll try her again with cow's milk when she is 2.
I hope this has been helpful! If you have any tips that you would like to share, please add your comments below.
Wow how interesting about boiling the milk. Had never heard of that. We are a long way off from trying cows milk but will try to store that in the memory banks...
ReplyDelete