Lactose Intolerance - Can Your Toddler Suddenly Develop It?by Heather Long | More from this Blogger 17 Sep 2006 07:58 AM I'm lactose intolerant. I have been lactose intolerant my entire life. I remember as a small child, I would refuse to drink milk or eat ice cream or eat anything that was dairy - up to and including cheese. It took me years to even try cheese. I worried about my daughter and whether or not she would develop lactose intolerance, particularly after a bad bout with a stomach flu when she was about 13 months. She couldn't hold anything down. It took about three days for her to get better and during that time she refused anything to drink outside of some bottled water. She was on solids by this point and ate very bland oatmeal and that was about it. She wouldn't touch her milk and she wouldn't sip it at all. I spoke to her pediatrician about it, after all - she'd never shown any problems with milk digestion before. Remember, lactose intolerance is not about being allergic to milk so much as not having the enzymes to help you properly digest the lactose (sugar) in the milk. When I Was Pregnant My pregnancy was the only time I had no trouble drinking milk whatsoever. I drank at least two glasses every day and during the last trimester, milk was the only thing that could put out the fires of heartburn that I had. Still, it was the only time in my life that I could drink and enjoy milk. After she was born, I didn't drink it anymore - because I'd gone back to being lactose intolerant. The pediatrician listened to my concerns as I described them and then she told me that young children, particularly toddlers, can become lactose intolerant briefly after a bout with a stomach influenza or other digestive illness. She suggested that we temporarily alter the diet and let her stomach recover sufficiently to begin producing the enzyme again. We switched her to a lactose-reduced milk for a time and reduced the other dairy in her diet except for yogurt with live cultures that the pediatrician suggested. It only took a couple of weeks and she was asking for milk again. So while your toddler may develop a brief lactose intolerance, most often it just takes time for their bodies to begin reproducing the enzyme. If you alter them to a lactose reduced diet for a time period and the problems such as cramps and bloating continue, you may want to have the pediatrician check them out for other problems. Have you ever experienced a similar issue with your toddler? Related Articles: Do I Have Lactose Intolerance? Health Magazine: World's Healthiest Foods Identifying and Treating a Milk Allergy Tips for Living Healthier With Your Baby Learn more about Heather Long  Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago. Relevantbaby tags User Comments Community Tags how to, lactose intolerance, milk allergy, stomach flu, Toddlers Discuss this article
|
Baby categories |
