Reasons to eliminate milk

February 15, 2008

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There was question about eliminating milk and how you would know if

this was an issue for your child? I did some searches on potential

reasons why one would eliminate milk from a child's diet.

Here is the links and information I gathered.

Hope it helps,

Tina

Children prone to ear infections:

http://surefoodsliving.com/2007/07/16/ear-infections-and-milk/

So, back to ear infections. According to pediatrician Dr. Greene, " Of

the kids who are prone to ear infections (about 1/3 of kids),

allergies are the underlying cause about 1/3 of the time. Cow's milk

is the most likely non-airborne culprit. Presumably, it causes

inflammation of the Eustachian tubes — the tubes that normally keep

the ears clean and drained. It can also change the nature of the

secretions. "

Ears and allergies

http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/earinfections

*Allergic Causes* Otitis media is commonly associated with colds.

Since colds and allergies can have the same physical effects on the

ears and nasal passages, many experts suggest that allergies are the

culprit behind some cases of otitis media. If a food allergy is

suspected, eliminating milk and milk products, chocolate, tomatoes

and tomato products, citrus, sugar, wheat, and/or eggs from your

child's diet may be helpful.

Information on milk allergy and milk intolerance

http://www.allergysa.org/milk.htm

Milk contains many protein fractions (allergens) that cause allergic

reactions. The two main components are whey and casein, and an

individual may be allergic to either or both. The casein is the curd

that forms when milk is left to sour, and the whey is the watery

fraction which is left after the curd is removed.

http://www.asehaqld.org.au/Leaflets/is_it_really_milk_allergy.htm

Information on Milk allergy, milk intolerance, and lactose

intolerance.

Information on symptoms of milk allergy or intolerance.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032100.asp

The protein in cow's milk is what provokes the allergies. Because

milk is a species-specific protein, cow's milk is suited to bovine

intestines. Exposure of human intestines to bovine protein may cause

irritation and damage to the intestinal lining, allowing these

allergenic proteins to be absorbed into the circulatory system. The

immune system recognizes these proteins as foreign and attacks them,

causing the usual allergy symptoms of wheezing, runny nose, or a red,

rough, sandpaper-like rash, especially on the cheeks. Milk allergies

are often the underlying cause of repeated colds and ear infections,

due to fluid building up in the respiratory passages, sinuses, and

eustachian tubes of the ears. Milk allergy has been implicated in

subtle behavioral changes, such as irritability and nightwaking.

There are degrees of lactose intolerance, depending on the supply of

lactase in the gut. Some children and adults can tolerate one glass

of milk, but not two or three; or they can drink milk with a meal,

but not separately on an empty stomach. Many can tolerate yogurt and

cheese, but not milk as a beverage. (The lactose in fermented yogurt

is somewhat predigested.) Lactose intolerance is more common than

allergy to the protein in milk. Allergic symptoms usually involve the

skin and respiratory systems, whereas lactose intolerance is limited

to abdominal symptoms.

Behavior and allergies

http://borntoexplore.org/allergies.htm

Can Allergies Cause Behavior Problems?

Asthma and allergy symptoms

http://www.newstarget.com/010443.html

In Get Healthy Now, Professor Null explains a milk allergy's changing

symptoms: " Even if the symptoms are not the same, the underlying

allergy may be. A child who has suffered milk-associated asthma, for

instance, may have severe acne as a teenager. The milk allergy is

still there, but its symptoms have moved to a different organ system,

often misleading the patient and physician into thinking that the

original allergy has been outgrown. " According to Alternative

Medicine, up to half of all infants may be sensitive to cows' milk.

As a result, symptoms of an underlying milk allergy may start as

early as infancy, only manifested as eczema, a symptom that may

remain later on in childhood and adulthood. Furthermore, in addition

to asthma and eczema, an underlying milk allergy may manifest as

bronchitis, sinusitis, autoimmune disorders, frequent colds and ear

infections and even behavioral problems.

February 15, 2008

The Gang at NACD ask anyone with a child with any type of auditory processing

issues to do a milk elimination trial as well as to get tympanograms on a

regular basis to determine causation.

Our children did not end up without the ability to 'hear' for no reason. To

reiterate the thoughtful piece below, the most common cause of an non-airborne

allergen or intolerance with may affect the Ears, nose & throat is cows milk.

Ask any ENT!

Now, 3 years ago before I became enlightened about auditory processing, I would

have said this: " My child doesn't have hearing issues, I have taken him to the

audiologist many times and he has always passed the test with flying colours! "

Yes, my child ALWAYS passed the tests but in reality, he couldn't hear

everything he should have been hearing. The audiologist screening is just

that.... a screening. I believe someone on this board posted that the English

language is based on over 10,000 tones and there is no way that an audiologist

tests for this. This is why so many of our children have seen such success with

programs such as The Listening Program (TLP) or other auditory integration

programs.

One quick way to tell if your child has some type of auditory processing issues

is by testing them with digit spans. Here is a link to an article that explains

digit spans and how to test. Look specifically at auditory digit spans. If you

have any questions, please ask the board since there are many of us who do digit

spans with older kids or sequences with younger kids to work their auditory

memories.

http://www.nacd.org/more_information/journal/learninghow.html

If your child not performing the digit spans or sequences according to his/her

age level, then you should be seeing a red flag! There is a problem and you

need to find out why. Your child is not 'processing' auditory information as

he/she should and the underlying cause is the root to remediation! Now, quite

often that cause stems from 2 sources: a physical problem with the ears or an

environmental problem with the ears. Any physical problems with the ears should

be addressed by an ENT. An environmental problem with the ears indicates

congestion of some type. Congestion can result from infection or it can result

from an allergen or an intolerance. I know of no other methods that cause

congestion to the ears. If anyone else does, they can chime in here.

If you have chronic congestion resulting from infections, your ENT will probably

suggest Tubes. This should be suggested as the child is now at a point of

becoming permanently developmentally delayed as result inadequate hearing. If

you have experiences with ear infections of more than 3 in a year, tubes should

really be considered. If you have congestion that is not from infection, then

this is indicative of an allergen or intolerance that the child is exposed to.

You need to find it and GET RID of IT! This may be inconvenient but believe

me.... it is far more inconvenient to have a developmentally delayed child;

particularly one that has lost the ability to follow instructions in a school

room, drools all of the time, falls all of the time because his vestibular

network has been compromised, etc. etc. For many of our children milk

sensitivities are a ROOT CAUSE for a lot of problems. Those problems do not go

away until the cause of all the trouble is removed.

We have learned a lot in the last 10 years and I hope that we have made some

progress that future generations can benefit from. Those of us who have milk

compromised children will tell you..... things don't get better until you remove

the intolerance! I did well over 10 years of therapy with few gains.... please

do not go down my pathway without at least investigating this possible issue

with your child. Yes, a special diet can be a pain in the neck but if your

child begins to get better, you do see its worth.

So....

If ALL of our children have speech issues and possibly as much as 50-80% have

auditory processing issues, would it not make sense to perform a milk trial to

just see if this could be a cause of your child's issues? In particular if your

child has poor auditory memory and sequencing, it is absolutely worth the 3

weeks of milk deprivation, imo!

Personally, if it is the root cause of your child's auditory issues, it is the

most beneficial 3 weeks you will ever have spent. If it is not the cause of

your childs auditory issues, then you can pencil it off the list and move on to

the next item that you need to investigate. But at least you will know!

This is the last I want to say of this subject. I feel well qualified to speak

here as my son is one of those who did NOT get better until we removed the

intolerance. I gave the therapy plenty of time to kick in..... 10 years of

continuous therapy to be exact! The improvements were minimal until we dropped

the milk. My son was told he would be in special education 'forever'. With the

home program that NACD supplied, we eliminated milk and within a year he

reentered the regular classroom. No vitamin E, and no fish oils during this

period. Today, it really doesn't matter which vitamins I give him.... if I give

the child milk or ice-cream, he is quite ill.... period. No exceptions.

So.... had I just continued on without trying this, my child would have been

handicapped forever. I am so glad that we are delving deeper and determining

how to truly make him better medically as well as getting better therapy that is

specifically directed towards his needs. I'm running out of time. I trusted

the 'traditional' approach for too long and it did nothing but let me down.

Janice

Mother of Mark, 13

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