Milk Allergy in Infants:
Avoiding Dairy

A milk allergy in infants is the #1 sensitivity to any food product currently diagnosed in infants and young children.

Allergies are more prevalent in infants than many people believe. Symptoms can range from mild and annoying up to a life-threatening condition. Because the baby is so small, therefore incapable of helping to determine the exact cause of distress, life can become just downright miserable for the parents.

Coping with the allergy from diagnosis to treatment though can be very difficult for the doctor. In trying to determine the exact cause (or causes) of the trouble, much trial and error, questions and answers from continuous monitoring of the tiniest details, logging and interpreting is done.

It is imperative for you, the parents, to make detailed lists of feeding times, amounts eaten, any and all reactions from the baby, time schedules if symptoms do develop, medications taken or any other products the baby has eaten or come in contact with. Every little detail, whether it is food related, dust, dirt, pollen or pets must be logged. Everything must be factored into the final decision.

After cross-checking every detail, only then can your doctor determine a treatment plan. Hopefully then, the correct diagnosis has been made and your baby can be on the path to stabilizing the condition.

With any diagnosis of milk allergy in infants, the first recommendation if at all possible from your doctor will be if you can breastfeed. Without mother's milk being your baby's first food, generally it is cow's milk. The cow was not designed to be a surrogate mother for the human race. There is a much greater possibility cow's milk will be the cause of your baby's first allergic reaction. Therefore a milk allergy in infants can usually be prevented by allowing the baby's food source during its first year of life to come from a mother's milk.

Return to "Dairy Free Diet" from "Milk Allergy in Infants".