milk and constipation/sore bum?

[spaceal]

Hi. I know this isn't really weaning but I thought people here might have some ideas...

My 23 month old DD has never been a big milk drinker (was BF, weaned at 6 months, a couple of BFs a day to about 15 months) and when we started weaning (BLW) she used to get a topical rash, kind of like hives, not terrible but noticeable, when she spilt or drooled dairy (yogurt, cheese, milk) down her chin/front. We cut back on the dairy for a bit but then reintroduced it and then there was no sign of the hives. Since then, she's had yogurt, cheese, milk in things, cereal with milk etc. and has always been offered cups of milk. She's drunk those with varying enthusiasm over the months, but significantly increased the amount of milk she was drinking after starting nursery part-time (about 4 months ago).

That's half the story. The other half is that she's always struggled with constipation a bit, strained to poo, gone for a few (2-3) days without a poo sometimes, had big clay-like poos. When her milk intake increased she started having a lot of 'slightly soiled' nappies, often after straining quite hard, and ended up with a very sore bum. When this happens, I think she gets a bit out of sorts, and loses her appetite a bit.

In the light of all this, I reduced her milk in take for a couple of weeks - no real change with the constipation, but the 'slightly soiled' nappies and sore bum stopped. However, I had a doctor's appointment to talk about all this and the doc reckoned the constipation/sore bum would have nothing to do with dairy so I upped the dairy again - and we're back to slightly soiled nappies and a sore bum.

I really think it's the milk/dairy - does anyone else have any experience that chimes with this or any other ideas?

Otherwise her diet is pretty good - lots of roughage, fruit, veg (sometimes perhaps not quite enough) - but sometimes a bit unvaried (she can be quite picky).

[ticklebug74]

Constipation is a sign of a dairy allergy. Please insist on testing. My ds suffered with terrible constipation, even when ebf. His stools were so horrendous he had anal fissures and lots of blood. He was not diagnosed until 15 months. He is now 4 and we reintroduced dairy slowly at about 2.5 under supervision. I still think he is somewhat intolerant but without a blood test again we will not know but life is manageable. Occasional hard poo ( but hasnt needed movicol for over a year), sometimes a little red in the bum, and still drools !!!

[spaceal]

Thanks ticklebug - how did you get your DS tested?

[Iggly]

Yes it could be an intolerance or allergy. You can't test for intolerances.

I'd cut out raw milk and just give yogurts and cheese - my ds would react worse to milk but better with processed dairy. Or switch to calcium enriched non dairy or soya milk (soya can cause the same reaction)

Also add other sources of calcium - spinach, legumes, sweet potatoes, green veg. On their own not very high but means you can have a little less dairy.

[ticklebug74]

It was unfortunately a blood test which was awful to put him through.