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Hello,

My seven year old son has had a problem with tummy pain and constipation for almost a year. It has become very significant and over half term we will have to go through a 'disimpaction' regime, as advised by an NHS paediatrician,

He has a very good diet, drinks alot of water and does loads of exercise, so we have struggled to understand the cause of the constipation.

He has had blood tests for gluten intolerance amongst other things- all were negative.

When his pain was at its peak (this involved at least two hours per day on the toilet and lots of tears- but he was still passing alot of watery stools) I read that constipation can be caused by dairy intolerance. We immediately significantly cut down on dairy, but did not eliminate it totally. At the same time I cut out his multi vitamin which contained iron.

Within days he had significantly less pain, though his stools didn't change much.

He is still on much reduced dairy and his pain is alot less.

Is there any way that we can definitively find out if his constipation is caused by dairy intolerance? We have not cut out 100% of dairy as this would cause difficulties at school etc, but we are happy to do it if it will help.

As I said, since reducing dairy his pain is alot less- and though he still has watery stools I would assume that even if the cause of the constipation is eliminated, the problem would remain until he is disimpacted.

FYI he has mild asthma and eczema and we have a family history of eczema and allergies.

Many thanks.

Hello
It sounds like cow’s milk may play a role in your son’s constipation and abdominal pain given the improvement in his pain since you reduced his dairy intake.

However removing cow’s milk from his diet, particularly at this age, is a big undertaking, as you have no doubt found. Its something that should ideally be done under the guidance of a Paediatric Dietitian to ensure that he is getting all the nutrients that ne needs whilst avoiding cow’s milk and to advise you on suitable alternatives e.g. calcium enriched milk alternatives, meal and snack ideas etc.

It is worth talking this through with your NHS Paediatrician - I would usually recommend a trial period of 4-6 weeks strict cow’s milk exclusion followed by reintroduced of cow’s milk whilst monitoring his symptoms with and without the milk to give you a clear idea if removing milk really does have a positive impact. I understand that this can be tricky with school and so it may be useful to start this during a school holiday period.
Regards
Rachel