Lactose Intolerant

[derby]

I don't eat cereal anymore...period. Soy milk sucks, but the amount you have to have to wet your serial will make me call in sick for work that day  (think that, but the other end).

seriously, try almond or rice milk instead...

[duqette]

The way my son's pediatrician explained it, a body produces a certain amount of lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose, in the small intestine. Some people have plenty, enough to digest all the lactose you can eat. Others make smaller amounts, some people have none. The trick is to not eat more lactose than you have lactase; if you do, the undigested lactose causes havoc and the sudden need for a toilet.  

That's why some people can't have any lactose, some can have a little, and others can have quite a bit.

Apparently the gene that directs lactase production can "turn off" at any time, but puberty is a common trigger.

For just this month, my son has been directed to be completely dairy-free. We want to give his system a chance to recover and normalize. Then we'll hit him with enough dairy to overload his lactase production, and if he gets sick, then we'll know for sure lactose is the problem, and we can start experimenting with different levels of lactose ingestion.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I especially like the website link, thanks JB. It's perfect for him.

I, myself, am carageenan intolerant. It's a stabilizer and thickener used mostly in milk and fake milk products. So, I know what it feels like to have a digestive intolerance. The irony here, of course, is that many of the dairy substitutes my son can eat have carageenan in them, so I can't eat them.   Not that there was much chance of my stealing the soy milk.  

I talked to him yesterday after school, which was about 24 hours dairy-free, and he said he was already feeling much better.    We're reading ingredient labels like the newly converted read the bible.

[il d00d]

My son and I won't abide lactose - since he is only 18 months old, this presented some nutritional challenges.  This is what I found in my research, hopefully this helps
Hemp milk is probably the most nutritious, but also the most expensive.
I wouldn't recommend Rice milk since there have been some questions about arsenic levels.  I understand this is of more concern if you are giving it to babies, (some say the levels fall within the normal, low level of naturally-occurring arsenic) but personally, I would avoid it.
Soy is not ideal for boys - phytoestrogens are suspected to suppress testosterone production. There are other bad things doctors have to say about its effect on girls too.

Luckily Lactaid worked for my son but almond and hemp look like good alternatives for older kids.  They are just colored sugar and protein water, so you might think about supplementing with vitamin D and calcium elsewhere.

On the scale of lactose intolerance, I am probably somewhere in the middle - drinking a glass of milk would be like stabbing myself the stomach, but I eat cheese with no problem.  If and when you determine he is intolerant, you might consider experimenting with low-lactose dairy (here's a chart) to see how he does.  Good luck with it.. and give your son my condolences.

[rgramjet]

Something I've lived with for years.

I went cold turkey off the dairy for a while, but I've found that I can handle small amounts too. I don't eat cereal anymore...period. Soy milk sucks, but the amount you have to have to wet your serial will make me call in sick for work that day  (think that, but the other end).

I can tolerate some though. I'll have a slice of cheese on my sammich, or burger. I'll eat pizza if I know I'll be somewhere near a restroom in the next hour....you know....incase 

When battling Lactose Intolerance, there is no better place on this Earth than "home base"