Home > Health > Family Health > Outgrowing Milk Allergy May Take Some Babies Longer Than Expected

Outgrowing Milk Allergy May Take Some Babies Longer Than Expected

Reader Comments
Back to article

I have a son who is 3 years old. He too has a dairy allergy. Both my husband and I are nurses and we decided to start him on say formula after 3 months of breast feeding. It was not until he was 10 mts old when we notice his reaction to yogurt. We had him tested to confirm our suspicion and sure enough his IgE test revealed his allergy. Since then we have been so careful, but life is so messy, we have had a few ER visit and we seem to notice his reactions are becoming more severe, where there are more body systems involvement. From respiratory,gastroistestinal and cardiovascular. Now his three and still has this allergy, we saw an allergist only to be told that he will outgrow this by 5. But my husband and I are taking this info with a grain of salt. Our own research has pointed to some studies where these kids are taking longer to outgrow dairy allergy. So in the mean time our household tries to be dairy free as much as possible. It's hard when we have a 6 mt old baby on milk formula. We have considered switching him over to soy just like his older brother but we are hesitant to do so, thinking he might end up going the same route. I'm noticing my 6 mt old is having eczema as well. My 3 yr old had his eczema at 2 mts old. So we wouldn't be surprised if he does end up with dairy allergy. It's just soo hard giving that epi shot to him. It breaks our hearts! No one likes needles even us nurses. So we'll be watching him like a hawk and jus awaite for that day when he can taste ice cream without an emergency room visit.

Leyla of CA 2:12AM February 01, 2012

My 19 month old son also has a life threatening anaphylactic allergy to milk - diagnosed at 7 mo of age. He will be tested again at 2 years old & I have been praying that he will outgrow this by at least school as he is already beginning to notice that others around him are eating things different than himself. This doesn't make me feel very hopeful. I am just thankful this is our only allergy so far.

Kathy of KY 5:21PM March 28, 2011

Our gorgeous little boy is highly allergic to Milk/Anaphylactic, As a baby he developed rather bad eczema, i kept asking the Nurses every time we went for his check and weigh ins if what i was eating could be making his skin worse, i was continually told Absolutely NOT, until when he was 6 months old we gave him some baby food from a jar*** within about one minute or less he was screaming and grabbing at his mouth, which was swelling as was the rest of his face, coughing, full on allergy, the only thing i had in the house was some cold medicine with a anti hystamine in it, i quickly gave him some and rushed him to the hospital, by the time i got there the worst had past, after a lot of hoopla i finally was able to get an appointment to go to the Royal Childrens Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia(where we live) he was tested and told he was very allergic to cows MILK, and told to remove all Dairy from my diet, and continue breast feeding, Within 1 week his Eczema had almost disappeared, I continued to breast feed for almost two years, i actually felt better myself not having any Dairy ! He has had a few full on Anaphylaxis, and a few severe allergic reactions including almost instant skin reactions, from accidental exposure, but some good news, he has just passed a peanut challenge, YAY one of his allergies he has outgrown !!!! It is certainly a very stressful thing living with a child with such a severe allergy, I myself have some allergies, but nothing like what George has to live with, it makes our life a lot more exhusting as we have to be on high allert ALL the time, as he is not our only child, we two other older children, He also has very delayed speech, which also makes it more difficult as he cannot tell us when he has eaten something he should'nt, so we have taught him some basic sign language, so he can communicate this to us, he is also very very active, i don't know if this is due to his allergies or if he is just a very active little boy, I hope and pray he will outgrow this, i worry about how he would manage if he wants to travel when he is older, and how he will go at school, how he will cope being so different when he starts school, if other children will play pranks on him by tricking him into eating something with dairy in it, we don't go out without him, as our friends are afraid to babysit, in case he has a reaction, I do not work as my job is to keep him safe, a childcare centre is not an option as all the centres the children have MILK or Foods with MILK in it, our 8 yo knows what to do, she knows his dose of Zyrtec, and how to use a Epipen, We would welcome a cure !! boy oh boy would we ever.

Tamara Currie 8:53AM March 24, 2011

@Antoinette, if your child is that allergic to milk, you should NOT be trying to introduce it into her diet. Cow milk is not necessary for humans to thrive. You should be asking your questions of your child's allergist, not random strangers online.

elisssabeth of VA 8:40AM March 24, 2011

WHAT IS THE DATE OF THIS STUDY? This article, down to the headline, closely resembles one published on CNN's website in 2007. So there should be more updated information since then, no?

elisssabeth of VA 8:38AM March 24, 2011

My daughter who will be 11 next month is still highly allergic to milk. I have lost all hope that a cure will be found or that she will outgrow it. How often should we try to introduce milk into her diet?

Antionette Britain of IN 8:19AM March 24, 2011

Thanks to the previous readers who have shared thei experiences- you have just given me a reality check, but have at the same time given me some hope. My daughter was never actually diagnosed with a milk allergy as she was not anaphalatic to it, but on advice of her pediatrician, we altered her diet accordingly. We were told she would outgrow it and to "test" every 6 months or so to see if the reactions reoccurred. I got so frustrated with this because it seemed as if it would never go away.... She is now 30 months old and we believe from the "tests" we have been doing at home that she has actually outgrown it. I just wish I had read this article when she was 9 months old and that would have given me some more patience- instead of expecting her to be able to suddenly outgrow it overnight, I would have probably waited until now to try her on milk. Instead of always pushing the issue, I would have accepted it for what it was. As my son seems to be following in her footsteps he is 9 months old), I now have a new perspective.
To get to my original point though, thank youth the other readers for reminding me how fortunate we are that our problems are not much worse, or more serious, for that matter- I hope that all your children will one day be able to enjoy life without a severe allergy!

Pmgates 8:12AM March 24, 2011

My 2 1/2 year old son has life threatening anaphylaxis to milk and has since birth, we almost lost him when he was just 8 months old as soon as some infant cereal containgn whey protein touched his tongue (we didn't realize whathe had was actually an allergy). Our allergist hasn't ever been very sure of him outgrowing because he's also asthmatic. His IgE levels just skyrocketed on his last test not only with milk but a few others, as well. I pray everyday that a cure will be found.

Linsey of UT 7:02PM March 23, 2011

My son who will turn 6 in April has been allergic to milk since birth. He gets anaphylaxis and we have had several visits to ER. We were hoping that he will overcome by 5 as it was said that 85% of the kids overcome milk allergy by the age 5. Now that he is 6, we lost that hope and the new research says it might take longer for kids to overcome. I wonder how loooooong that would be...

AJ of IL 3:06PM March 23, 2011

I have 2 sons, 12 and 13, and they have been allergic/anaphlyactic to milk products since birth. They get tested every year and their allergies still remain very high. When they were first diagnosed we were told they would outgrow it by 3 or 4 years of age, we are still waiting.... We are hopefull that they will, so we do not have to be so diligent in reading every label and questioning every thing they eat.

Kim of FL 3:07PM March 20, 2011