My 2-year old son recently developed acid reflux, and I suspect it is the result of a milk allergy. I switched him to Lactaid, and while his cough has gotten substantially better, he still coughs regularly each day, moreso after he drinks milk or eats. The coughing often causes vomiting. If he does, in fact, have a milk allergy, would Lactaid be the appropriate milk for him, or should I switch him to an alternate such as goat or rice milk? Does this also mean that I should steer clear of cheese and all other forms of dairy? Finally, would you be able to recommend an alternative method of allergy testing that does not involve drawing blood? I am terrified of needles and have cried several times over the thought of my son having his blood drawn to test for food allergies. Thank you ever so much for your time and assistance. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

My five month old daughter has been on Neocate LCP for a few months now but lately she is refusing to drink her formula. Is there anything we can add to her formula to make it more appealling and how much can we add?

My 13 week old daughter has been having diarrhea now for 2 weeks. It initially started off where she'd poop a normal yellow, but with mucous along with every feed (6x-8x/day). She's been on Nutramigen since she's been 2 weeks old without a problem. The MD felt that it was a virus, and put her on Pedialyte for a day. She with that was pooping all day! Sorry for the graphics, but it would just squirt out of her! and not to mention her poor diaper rash by this point! nothing seemed to work! after a day of that we went half/half with the formula and pedialyte - still the same thing. she was pooping with each feed, and it cont'd even after resuming back to just formula. So, here we are back at square one. MD did a stool culture and it came back (-). He feels that it's a virus that has left her bowels inflamed. Thankfully - she kept her appetite throughout all this. Went back to the MD after a few days b/c the situation wasn't getting any better. He put her on Neocate. She's down to 3-4x poops. Not runny anymore (at least not yet); however, they're dark green with some yellow seeds in them and still a bit of mucous, and for the 1st time in the last 2 weeks has this horrid rotten eggs smell. It also seems like she's in pain/cramping? right before she poops. She so miserable on the Neocate! She'll drink like 2-3 ounces and be really fussy/crying for just about an hour after her feeds. She normally drinks 4-5 ounces a feed. Reflux? gas? pain? I hope this is not a serious issue....I can't imagine how she feels! :0( HELP!

My daughter is 21 months old and just recently got a horrible rash on only her arms, legs and small areas on her cheeks. I applied some Deet free bug spray on those areas and thought it was from that - but I have not applied it in 5 days and the rash is not getting better, nor is it getting worse, except for a little more bumps on her face in the past day or 2. The pediatrician said it was hand, foot and mouth rash? But her teachers at infant care said that is usually on the hands and feet and mouth only. No fever, she is as active as ever and I don't know how to help her feel better - what does it sound like to you? They are raised little pimpley, regular rash bumps. Thank you so much!

Hi there,My son nearly 2 years old and has had a milk allergy since we started weaning him at 4months. He came out in a red rash that covered his whole body. He was breastfed till he was 1.On a couple of occasions he has accidentially had milk. The first time was when my mum fed him 1/2 pot of yoghurt without realizing that it was ordinary yoghurt. And the other time was when he grabbed some cheese off someone elses plate at nursery. On both these occasions he has had no reactions what so ever. The strange thing is that every time he has had a skin prick test at the hospital the result comes out positive. I can not understand why there hasn't been any reactions when he actually has eaten the diary food. How reliable is the skin prick test?

My son is 9 weeks old and was diagnosed with a milk allergy at 3 weeks old. He was put on Similac Alimentum which showed no results, and then started Enfamil Nutramigen, which helped greatly at reducing the fussiness (almost 100%) and he even started sleeping 6-7 hours through the night. At about 6 weeks, he started having bouts of fussiness again and started waking all through the night. At 7 weeks, we went to the doctor and switched him from Zantac to Prilosec to see if it was reflux related. At this visit, we tested his stools again and the tests still came back positive for blood, but the doctor said that sometimes it takes awhile for the blood traces to disappear, so we're still on the Nutramigen. Things have not gotten much better, and for the last 4-5 nights, he seems to be having abdominal cramps, preventing him from sleeping much (I tried gas drops & gripe water thinking it was gas, but no change). Since he was 3 weeks old (when we found the milk allergy) he has had horrible eczema on his face. It helps to put aquaphor on it, but it comes right back and never truly disappears. I now believe that the eczema is a result of the milk allergy. He also has developed a red ring with red blisters just around his anus in the last month. Only a special cream from the doctor seems to help, but it comes right back. After researching diaper rashes, it appears this might be another allergy rash.Should we continue to "wait out the allergy" to see if it's still working it's way out, or should we visit a gastroenterologist? Except for the decrease in fussiness (which still arise every now & then), other symptoms (rashes, abdominal pains, poor sleeping) still seem to be present.

My son is almost 8 weeks old (6 weeks premature) and I was told the day he left the NICU that he has a milk protein allergy so he was put on Nutramigen Lipil. I am still not sure of this diagnosis or if the formula is working properly. He has GERD and is transitioning from Zantac to Prilosec but I don't think the symptoms he is having is related to his reflux. He still has specks of blood when he becomes constipated or his stools turn to a clay consistency, he becomes extremely fussy crying for almost 20 mins when he can not get his stools out, is very gassy, his stools changed to a tan color with a cheesy smell for 2 days, i've seen some mucous looking streaks, he is very congested and is constantly clearing his throat when he sleeps and he has a diaper rash that just won't go away. I go to a military hospital and they keep telling me he's fine but I do not think so if he screams for 5-20 mins tryin to pass gas. I am wondering if he has a milk allergy or a lactose intolerance. I want to try the Nutramigen AA formula but I am not sure if it will have any effect. Are these symptoms normal? I can not stand to see him in such pain. Thank you.

My son is 8 months old started out with enfamil , started having rashes , switched to Similac Alimentum, same issue , switched to gentlease , same issue. Finally found he is allergic to milk , now he is on neocate infant formula. But he is very constipated, did not poop now since last 6 days. Some time he passes a very small hard dark green bowl very painfully. I have tried apple/prune juices, does not help. Please advice

Our son is 14 weeks old and he had blood in stool so his doctor recommend neocate. We have try this for a few days but he seems worse then before. He now spits up almost every feeding, cryes for 15 to 30 minutes around each feeding time (he didn't on soy) and he barely takes 3-4 oz instead of the 4-5 oz he took on soy. Our doctor continues to tell us to stay on neocate and that it takes up to a week to help. We are desperate. He was put on Alimentum before but didn't do well on it (same symptoms) and neocate (same symptoms). He didn't seem to have the symptoms on Soy (except for the blood in the stool) but when he was scoped from both ends no tears or blood were found yet somehow it was found in the stool.

My son is 10 weeks old and was 5wks premature. He is exclusively breastfed. Two weeks ago, he went from having normal bowel movements to having large, watery, mucousy, darker colored and foul smelling poop. The dr said there is also blood. He also gets rashes on his face, has terrible gas that wakes him up all the time crying, and is very congested in his nose and throat to where he gags on the mucous and breathes very loudly. The gi dr recommended avoiding milk and soy and sent stool samples in. My concern is that it seems like there are many other foods that i am eating that may be causing these symptoms. What length of time avoiding milk and soy will prove / disprove the allergy suspicion? I also eat a lot of cereal and nuts (almond milk, peanuts, peanut butter)...couldn't these be bothering him as well? Thank you so much.