1) We use store bought organic cow’s milk to make our milk kefir. We avoid ultra-pasteurized milk and try to use whole milk whenever possible. My wife sells her rapidly reproducing kefir grains to folks that have had lots of success using them with goat and sheep milk as well.

2) At two months Lex’s pediatric gastroenterologist strongly recommended that we give him Culturelle with Lactobacillus GG, this was even before the milk allergy was diagnosed. We never ran milk kefir by any of his pediatricians before we started it at age 3.5. My wife has infused it with the Lactobacillus GG strain and as a result we have stopped regular doses of Culturelle.

3) We only make our own milk kefir. Everyone agrees that most any store bought milk kefir is significantly inferior in probiotics to what you can make yourself.

4) I can send you the guide that my wife sends to her buyers (let me know if interested). It has some good instructions and a few recipes. The best website of all for kefir is Dom’s About Kefir in-site. Lex likes milk kefir most when we remove at least 60% of the whey (reduces lactose significantly) and make it like a yogurt consistancy. We often mix this with juice and make what he calls “milk juice”. He won’t eat it plain. Kefir absorbs flavors well and works very well with agave. If you have a yogurt lover you could easily make a fruity yogurt and sweeten with agave for a perfect dairy snack.

Reason being – although we have experienced some mild success as of late – after eliminating cheese, yogurt and cow milk/adding in goat milk and almond milk – my success is being challenged by my spirited, sensitive daughter

She has decided after almost 2 weeks that she does not like goat milk at all. Tonight she had a meltdown asking for cow’s milk at the dinner table. Ahhhhh, the challenges of trying to do the “right” thing for her eczema management, nutritional needs and food tastes. Poor thing – she is only 3.5, I don’t want her to be traumatized by this!

So, that brings me back to why I am so interested in learning more about milk kefir. Here are just a few of my questions:
-Do you make your milk kefir with cow’s milk?
-Did you confer with your pediatrician prior to starting Lex on milk kefir, and if so, were they supportive? Any concerns they had?
-Have you always made your own milk kefir or ever purchased at a natural foods grocery store?
-Any tips for how to make it or good websites on this? Also, any special recipes Lex particularly likes? Or, do you just always offer it plain?

Any insight and experience you can share is much appreciated.

Kefir grains can be used in goat’s milk as well, and MANY people do this. Milk kefir can easily be made into yogurt with a little effort and practice too. I understand your hesitance because of the yeast content in milk kefir; however, I can tell you that my wife thinks she has a yeast sensitivity and has found that she can eat milk kefir (with much of the whey removed) just fine and she also uses straight milk kefir as her yeast to make her own bread, which she believes is MUCH better for her and great tasting. You may consider this if you are trying to avoid bread yeast in your daughter’s diet.

We are heavy milk kefir consumers in our household for 1.5 years as of now, and I can tell you that Lex can now drink an entire chocolate milk, or eat an entire ice cream cone without any Lactaid of other digestive supplement and he has no issues whatsoever! 3 years ago I would never have believed this to be possible.

My daughter is 3.5 and suffers from bad eczema. Recently we are trying a dairy elimination diet to see if her skin condition improves. After just over a week, we have noticed drastic improvement. Now, it is about getting her used to some new items in her diet, most notably, goat milk instead of cow milk. She is missing yogurt but we are finding new things to keep her occupied and full:) However, my bigger concern now that I have identified dairy as a trigger for her eczema, is ensuring she gets the proper nutrition, as you mentioned.

Thanks for sharing your experience on the supplement, I will definitely look into that. Along with additional calcium rich foods.

Similar to your son, she also had colic. She was breast fed exclusively for 4 months and then I began supplementing. I ended up using soy formula after she spit out the milk formula, and then beyond that we did end up using some Relux meds on her when she was quite young…..in hindsight now wondering if that messed up her digestive tract and caused her to have issues now….that are leading to the eczema flares.

Also interesting to hear about the kefir, I will look into that more as well. I am a little hesitate only because we think she is also sensitive to yeast….but we definitely give her a dose of probiotics at each meal – giving throughout the day was recommended to us by our pediatric chiropractor.

Thanks again – I appreciate you sharing your story. I too, like your wife, am one determined mother in my fight to give her excellent nutrition and high quality of life.

I am writing an article about the HUGE success we have had with giving my son milk Kefir. I wonder if your son would do as well on it.
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UPDATE NOV 1, 2010: The article on Treating my son’s Milk Allergy with Milk Kefir is published now.

Your son is a bit young for this, but we use chewable “Lactaid” (partial tablets) when our son (3.5 years old) consumes very much dairy and that seems to reduce the symptoms that diary causes him. Nevertheless, we give our son regular doses of Culturelle’s pro-biotic and we like to think this helps him digest small amounts of dairy without any trouble (when he was 1 he couldn’t touch a spec of dairy and drank only “Elecare” formula).

Most doctors seem to think that the best diagnostic method with suspected food allergies is to withdraw the suspected allergen from the diet and observe the results. Ultimately if you still suspect the milk is the issue you will have to stop it (after giving it at least 2 weeks to allow for usual digestive system adjustments) and see what happens.

Please do provide an update when you have one. Good luck to both of you!