I am looking for some words of wisdom/experience on eliminating dairy. I have been trying to gather some unbiased information because of two separate (kind of gross, sorry) issues with my 3-year old:



1) Seemingly constant congestion/boogers. She has been tested for allergies and has none.

2) Poo that is rarely actually formed, and sometimes accompanied by bellyaches. The nurse at the pediatrician's office said the unformed poo may be attributed to her extreme regularity, but I'm not so sure.



If we eliminate dairy, should we go cold turkey or ease out of it? How long will it take to see results? And, any other tips or sources of information? If it helps to know, we are new lacto-ovos, but our cheese consumption hasn't increased since "converting."



Thanks so much for any help!

I dont have children just yet, maybe next year, but have always had a problem with dairy. I get such headaches, sinus congestion, fatigue, constipation, I am so much worse when I have dairy. It's definitely something I am better off without!

Bovine mammary secretions, milk, are known allergens in homo sapiens. Lots of good info here http://www.notmilk.com/

Could be a allergy to casein (the milk protei). Let me just tell you this, I had a problem with my stomach a few months back and I gave up dairy for like 1 or 2 months and tried to get back on dairy and would get constipated. In other words it got even worst when I tried dairy now. I talked to a nutrionist and she said its possible that it gets worst when you eat dairy now bc you gave up milk/dairy for a long period of time and I might of lost my enzyme and ability to digest milk. So in other words once you give it up your child may not ever be able to tolerate it again. With that being said, do some tests with her diet. Maybe its just milk bothering her, not cheese, or vice versa, etc..At worst if yall have to eliminate dairy, soy milk is great! I like the omega 3 one better then reg milk. They also got decent soy cheeses, so no worries there are tons of alternate options in todays world! Also remember that many products contain milk; like dorritos, many breads have milk stuff like whey or casein, but maybe your child will be able to digest those fine bc there's not a ton

I'd definately try to eliminate dairy from your diet if you can't think of anything else she could be having health problems from. I'd slowly ease her off of it. I went cold turkey from being an omni to a vegan, and let me tell you, I had some belly aches. A child would probably suffer a little more unless the dairy is what is causing the suffering. I'd eliminate cheese and milk first, then slowly get rid of products that contain milk.

Thanks for the replies! We have cut back on dairy over the past couple of months, and I've been giving the kids alternate milks for their cereal, etc. We've never done a lot of milk straight from a cup. I think we'll keep moving in that direction and maybe we can watch for improvement as we go. I don't necessarily want to give it up completely (at this point), but if it gives her relief I'll be game.



Thanks again!

I strongly advise you and your family to eliminate dairy, for the sake of your health as well as the animals that are abused and made to suffer to produce milk for human consumption.



Have a look at this in depth report as to why animal milk is bad for you:



http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/campaig...ies/index.html





Also check out The China Study for further proof.



If that doesn't convince you, then take a look at the immense cruelty involved in the dairy industry:



http://www.milkmyths.org.uk/report/index.php

Wow, compelling stuff.



I am a new vegetarian (so my kids are too, obviously) and the more I learn, the stronger I feel about the decision. We have been a meat-free home for only about three weeks, and elimination of other animal products may be in the future for us.

I can't answer your "should" question, but wanted to mention that one of my children is very lactose intolerant, and when we found a doctor to deal with it, he first told the whole family to give up dairy completely for a week to see if there was a difference. (That was pretty hard at the time, since we didn't have a good handle on how many things have dairy in them.) Since there was a difference after a week, the doctor sent him for testing, and he was indeed very lactose intolerant. (It showed up right away.) It took a while for him to work out a new diet for himself, and he still occasionally will have some milk with cereal or an ice cream or cheese or something. It doesn't affect him so much if it is an occasional thing. He just does his best to avoid it when possible, but doesn't make a big deal out of avoiding it. We listened to the doctor and read up on diets, but I let him choose for himself when and how to make the changes. He was already around eight at the time, though, so much older than your child.