Lactaid milk just contains the enzyme lactase which aids in the digestion of lactose. According to our Ped GI, lactose intolerance is extremely rare and he has very few patients who truly are lactose intolerant. If a patient presents as lactose intolerant, it’s usually secondary to some other digestive problem such as a gluten intolerance.
The gold standard for lactose intolerance testing is an endoscopy. They can also do a test called reducing substances from a stool sample which will detect undigested sugar in the stool and this can indicate a lactose intolerance although it could be other sugar intolerances as well. It’s a tricky test because the stool has to arrive at the lab within one hour and cannot be exposed to any urine. There is also a breath test but it’s hard to do in babies/toddlers.
Our regular Ped suggested trying Lactaid because even though lactose intolerance is rare according to the Ped GI, some toddlers do better on it for whatever reason just like the lactose free formula.
I don’t think I’d make any changes though until you figure out what’s going on at night. I hope the Ped GI can figure something out!
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