For the past couple weeks, my 2 year-old son has had diarrhea and/or very soft stool on and off, and also very smelly gas. I don't recall giving him anything different that he'd be allergic to, and he doesn't have any allergies that we know of. I'm wondering if maybe he's developed lactose intolerance. Does anybody know the symptoms for this or have had any experience with it? I have no idea if this is what the problem is, but he loves to drink milk and always has since he turned 1. Any advice would be great!

Cristy

When my daughter was younger, if she had any intestinal bug that caused diarrhea, she couldn't drink regular milk for a couple weeks afterwards. The ped. said that the diarrhea can strip the enzyme in the intestine that breaks down lactose in milk. So we had to give her lactose free milk for about 2 or 3 weeks to let that enzyme build back up again. After that she was fine to go back on regular milk.

Why don't you try lactose free for a little while and see if it helps. Give it a couple weeks though. (I already went back too soon. Thought it was better and then diarrhea again) Then if it's better, try regular milk again and see if it reappears. If it does, you've got your answer.