Does light brown, mushy stool indicate lactose intolerance?
Patient: My 13 month old has been having light brown, mushy stool for about 3 weeks now. We've been trying to get him to drink milk for the past month & a half & he's refused So he's been eating a lot of baby cereal with milk, whole milk yogurt, and cheese.  Does his stool indicate he could be somewhat lactose I tolerant? Doctor: Hi...by what you quote I feel that it could be a cow's milk protein allergy.I went through the history points you have provided - I was expecting that there should have been a history of cow's milk and formula feed (this too contains cow's milk protein) given to the baby. I feel that your baby is having cow's milk protein allergy. Unusually babies grow out of this sort of allergy by 1 year of age. My suggestions for you - 1. Mother should go off cow's milk protein completely. This means that you should avoid consumption of anything and everything related to cow's milk - like - milk/ curds/ ghee/ butter milk/ chocolates/ biscuits/ ice creams etc. Even while buying commercial food products, you need to see the ingredients and if they contain milk - do not consume them.2. If this is followed scrupulously - the baby will stop having diarrhoea in another 3-4 days and then start gaining weight too.I request you to keep me posted about the recovery of the baby and follow of the case.Regards – Dr. Sumanth