Weaning Baby With Milk Allergies

For the first 6 months, I was exclusively breastfeeding my little one. When she hit the 6-month mark, I was advised to start her on semi-solid food and begin the process of weaning her. I continued to feed her and start introducing fruits into her diet.

The trouble began when I introduced cow’s milk as part of her diet. Initially, I thought it was just her digestive system taking time to get used to the new kinds of food I was introducing every few days. But when I saw that she was throwing up after every feed and had diarrhoea constantly, I knew that I should get this checked out. So we went to her paediatrician who diagnosed that she was allergic to milk. In India, we’ve all grown up drinking cow’s milk. How could my daughter be allergic to it?

What Is A Milk Allergy?

A milk allergy is the body’s response to the proteins present in cow’s milk. This protein is called casein and whey protein. A milk protein allergy typically appears in the first year when the baby’s digestive system is still not developed properly.

2-3% of kids under the age of 3 suffer are allergic to milk from some kind of food allergy. In India, 3 out of every 100 babies suffer from cow milk allergy. There is a high probability that if you or your partner is susceptible to allergies, your baby may have the risk of them too. The good news is that in most cases, they outgrow the allergies or it becomes quite manageable.

Lactose Intolerance and Milk Allergy Are Not The Same Things

Most people think that lactose intolerance and a milk allergy are the same things, however, there are some significant differences.

Food That You Should Avoid Giving Your Infant/Child

In India milk constitutes a huge part of our lives. If a child doesn’t drink milk then that’s a cause of concern for us. We assume that milk is a remedy for a lot of things – for strong bones, getting a good night’s sleep to home remedies for a cold and cough. However, there are kids who can’t digest milk without a reaction. So here’s a list of food items to be watchful of. If you buy anything from the market, it’s very important to check the labels to make sure they don’t contain products that your baby could be allergic to.

What Are The Milk Alternatives Available To Infants

Milk and other dairy products provide a number of important nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, and minerals – especially calcium – that are important for our bones and teeth as well as supports growth in children. However, there is no cure for this allergy. You need to completely eradicate milk and milk products. The first step would be to stop consuming it yourself if you’re still feeding your baby. If you eat or consume a milk product, then it’s going to go into your baby’s tummy via breast milk.

For babies under 1-year breast milk and/or special formula as advised by your doctor For babies, over 1-year- old the alternatives available are soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk, and almond milk. Some try goats milk, but this does a little of the cow protein so it could give you the same reaction.

Instead of buying any of these alternate milk varieties from the market, you can quite easily make them at home. You’ll find the recipes for Almond Milk and Coconut Milk below: