>Do you all believe that babies have can lactose sensitivity? Can they
>really be intolerant of something that is naturally occurring in human
>milk? Or is the lactose of the various ABMs of a different form than
>human and that therefore can cause sensitivity?  I've always felt that it
>was the foreign protein that usually caused trouble with ABMS, not
>lactose per se.

Lisa, my understanding of this is that sensitivity to foreign protein can
cause subtle damage to the gut lining (as can infection, ie gastro), and
since the lactase-producing cells are on the very tips of the intestinal
villi, they get lost, hence secondary lactose intolerance. Lactose is just
a sugar, the same in every mammal, so it cannot be 'foreign', as such.

True primary lactose intolerance does exist, but is extremely rare. I
suppose in ages past, these babies would just have died - part of natural
selection.

******************************************************************
Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************