What to do if your baby is allergic to milk protein

Allergies occur when the body's immune system overreacts to naturally harmless substances in the air, water, contact objects, or food. Food allergy is an adverse reaction caused by an inappropriate immune response to food proteins. Infants' allergy to milk protein is actually an allergy to the milk protein in milk. So what should we do if babies are allergic to milk protein? The editor below will reveal it to you.

2. How to prevent infant milk protein allergy?

Generally speaking, breastfed babies have a lower risk of allergies than babies fed regular infant formula containing complete cow's milk protein, so breastfeeding is a more convenient way to prevent infant cow's milk protein allergy.

Because the protein in breast milk is the same protein as the baby, it has a very low allergenicity; breast milk also contains probiotics such as bifidobacteria, which can help the baby establish a healthy intestinal flora and train the baby's immune system, thereby reducing the risk of allergies.

Therefore, all international authoritative organizations around the world recommend that babies should be exclusively breastfed for at least 4 to 6 months after birth.

1. How to treat infant milk protein allergy?

Through the detection of allergens, if it is confirmed that the baby is indeed allergic to milk protein, how should it be fed and treated?

2. Avoid foods containing milk ingredients

If your baby is allergic to milk protein, you should adopt a dietary elimination therapy, that is, strictly avoid eating foods containing milk ingredients in the next 3-6 months. Not only can you not drink regular formula milk, you can also not eat foods containing milk, such as cream cakes, bread, salad dressing, bovine colostrum, milk candy, and milk-containing biscuits, until the results of the "exclusion-provocation test" turn negative. Therefore, when choosing food for your baby in the supermarket, you must carefully read the ingredients of the food.

3. How to arrange diet?

1. Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding mothers should not drink milk. Although breastfed babies are less likely to develop allergies, they may also develop cow's milk protein allergies. If the baby has an allergic reaction to milk protein, the mother should avoid dairy products for 4 days. If the baby's allergy symptoms are relieved, the mother should continue to not consume dairy products and take calcium supplements if necessary to avoid calcium deficiency.

2. Formula feeding

Choosing deeply hydrolyzed protein formula can effectively prevent infants from being allergic to cow's milk protein. If the baby is allergic to cow's milk protein and the mother does not have enough milk or has no milk, the preferred substitute is protein-processed, extensively hydrolyzed formula milk. Deeply hydrolyzed protein formula milk uses a special process to cut the large-molecule milk protein in milk that causes allergies into small fragments, which can be directly absorbed and utilized by the human body without inducing abnormal immune responses. Therefore, it can be used to treat babies who are allergic to milk protein.

In short, allergy is a chronic disease that seriously endangers children's health. Whether it is milk protein allergy, gastrointestinal symptoms, eczema, asthma, or allergic rhinitis, parents should carefully observe the changes in their baby. When allergic symptoms are found, they must actively prevent, diagnose early, and treat early to allow the baby to grow up healthy and happy.