How would an intolerance to milk present itself (11yr old)

[BeatTheClock]

My ds (11yrs) has always loved milk. But over the last year or so I've noticed sometimes if he has it in any quantity he seems to have stomach problems within an hour.

3 times in the last term I've been called into school. He has the runs, crampy stomach, feels ill. I get him home and within a few hours in bed he's feeling better. Of course the school's first thought is that it's a tummy bug. Mine too. But I'm starting to see an association to milk.

This doesn't happen all the time. Indeed he has it every day on his cereal with no problems. But not infrequently he has this; it happened again yesterday. The last time he had a big milkshake, up it came again within 5 minutes.

I'm 100% sure there are no problems at school which could account for this. If anything he seems annoyed at being sent home. Also he is at me cos I'm suggesting he should maybe cut back on the milk, because he really likes it.

[Iggly]

Really liking milk can be a sign - your body can crave things that it doesn't agree with

when he has it with cereal how much does he have?

can you try him with an alternative? e.g. oat milk/coconut milk/almond milk?

[BeatTheClock]

Really? How bizarre and yet strangely makes sense

He has a big bowl of cereal Cheerios or Shreddies and lots of milk and often also a mug of it too.

Yes, good idea I could investigate other sorts of milk. Not sure he'll like them.

[Shattereddreams]

Symptoms sound about right.
Try oat milk, Oatly, it's closest to normal milk. Texture wise.
On his cereal and as milkshake otherwise. There is a chocolate drink too.
Just two weeks to start. No yoghurt or ice cream.

How many times a day does he poo? What is his poo like?

[eragon]

my daughter had upper problems with milk and soya,( as both seem to go together for some)

happy and energetic until she ate anything with milk. she looked pale tired and ezcema flared up. started to refuse milk in pure form as it 'didnt taste right or nice' but dry cereal in morning ok!

felt sick shortly after eating anything with milk and had a itchy throat, making a gargling noise after eating.

feeling sick went on for most of the time, until i made the connection.

diagnosed by immunoligist to rule out a IgE food allergy response, so intolerance confirmed rather than allergy.
told to avoid anything from an udder, and all soya.

also, btw skin prick tests for environmental allergy to dustmite and hay fever.

her diet is more restrictive and has less choices then her brother who has a considerable list of ige food allergies

in hindsight, only developed eczema when cows milk introduced at 6 months, but with family history mild ezcema seemed the norm!

skin still flares up with combo of milk, soya accidents and dustmite.

age 13 when confirmed.

[Shattereddreams]

Ask him to let you see it before he flushes! Gross I know.

[Shattereddreams]

My DD is 5 and has dx intolerance to cmp and soya. But done via elimination diet and a lactose test which was neg.
her biggest symptom apart from diarrhoea and wind is anaemia.

[BeatTheClock]

Just come back to my thread, thanks so much to all for your helpful replies. Hmm I think I'm going to watch this far more closely and try him on some alternative milk, if he'll have it.

I must admit shattered that I'm not too au fait with his regular habits. With two other dc about I only tend to get involved these days if there's a problem now they're older. Will monitor him more closely.

I don't recall anything like this with him when he was a baby. Can it develop in later life? If so can it also stop after a while?

I'm not too up on allergies, although thinking about it I also loved milk as a child, loved it right until my teens in fact, and I also remember having unexplained crampy stomach pains that would last an hour or so. But no-one persued possible reasons why back then. I don't drink it at all now. After years of loving it, I suddenly stopped liking it so much.

[sashh]

I don't recall anything like this with him when he was a baby. Can it develop in later life?

Yes, you can get any alergy / intolerance later on, I became alergic to penicillin in my 40s.

Most of the world is lactose intolerant, most white Europeans (and their decendents) aren't.

If it is lactose intolerance you can buy the missing enzimes. Also, whether it is lactose or milk many people can tolerate a certain amount when ingested with other things.