To Fiona:
You asked questions about your baby with possible dairy allergy.
It takes 10-14 days for dairy to clear the mom's system.  But
with my daughter, whose reaction to dairy products in my system
was screaming/crying (a cry that made you want to do something to
"make it all better" NOW), I felt like I saw a slight lessening in
24-48 hr. For babies that are reacting to dairy products, mom
can't "cheat" at all without some reaction from baby.  That means
your mom can't have cream in her coffee or a bite of cheese.  It's
really hard for someone who loves dairy like this mom does (& I
did).  It affects the way you cook--didn't realize how often I
would add cheese to something.  I usually recommend that moms cut
out all visible dairy--milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream,
sour cream--first, to see if that makes a difference.  If it
helps, but doesn't solve the problem, then mom had to start read-
ing labels on the food she buys.  The words she's looking for are
whey and casein in any part of the word in the list of ingredients
such as caseinate, etc.  Also any ingredient that has "lacto" in
the name is a no-no.  Symptoms that I see that are indicative of
dairy intolerance also can include any of these:  a baby whose
breathing is "snorty"--sounds like if you could blow the nose it
would help; if baby spits up at all the spit up is already clear
liquid and curdy stuff; or a baby who cry/screams for no reason
and putting to the breast (my usual answer for all things)
doesn't help. I can understand how frustrated your mom is.  With
my dairy intolerant children I waited till past a year before I
let them have any dairy.
Pat Bucknell, IBCLC
Avon Lake, OH

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p