Lactose intolerance is an inability to process milk sugars (lactose). If your suspicions of a lactose intolerance have proven correct, you can, with your paediatrician's approval, use a lactose-free special baby milk (SL formula) to continue your child's nutrition.

If a cow's milk allergy has been confirmed, your child cannot process the protein in cow's milk. In this case, baby milks that contain broken down (hydrolysed) cow's milk protein or amino acid mixes are usually recommended. Alternatively, after 6 months, infants can be fed a special baby milk (SL formula) that doesn't contain any cow's milk protein. Instead, as their source of protein they contain a purified soy protein isolate that has been especially developed for infant formulas.

Coeliac disease is an intolerance of the small intestine to gluten. In Germany, about 1 in every 500 people have coeliac disease. The exact cause of the disorder has not yet been conclusively determined. What is clear is that there is a genetic predisposition that, along with external factors, leads to the disease.

Indications of gluten intolerance:

• The main characteristic is the inability to gain weight or even chronic underweight because of the damage done to the function of the small intestine due to coeliac disease.
• In addition, the child expels large quantities of fatty diarrhoea in which valuable nutrients from their food are excreted before they have been digested.
• Loss of appetite, irritability, bloating, stomach aches and vomiting are further common symptoms.

A quick and clear-cut diagnosis is often made very difficult due to the atypical, complex set of symptoms.

If you suspect that your child suffers from coeliac disease, you must consult a doctor. Their diagnosis will decide whether it is necessary for your child to follow a gluten-free diet, i.e. that all types of grains containing gluten and any products made with them will be removed from the menu. Normal grain baby-porridges, bread or baked goods are also unsuitable. Under a strict gluten-free diet, the mucous membrane of the small intestine will regenerate and the symptoms will subside within a few weeks.

The Humana Parents' Service will be happy to advise you which products are suitable for your child's gluten-free diet.

• Coeliac disease usually begins two to four months after your child's first contact with foods containing gluten (e.g. in the form of baby porridges containing gluten).
• The first appearance of symptoms of coeliac disease from the point at which gluten-containing foods were introduced (e.g. porridges containing gluten) is highly variable. It can range anywhere from a few weeks to a few years.
• 10% of affected children under two years have a temporary coeliac disease that disappears again after the age of 2 or 3.

If patients suffering coeliac disease continue to eat foods containing gluten, the mucous membrane of the small intestine will be damaged and this will impair the overall function of digestion and the absorption of food. Through constant contact with gluten, the villi of the small intestine (finger-like protrusions on the interior of the intestine) start to atrophy. The intestinal surface becomes smooth and can only perform its task of transporting nutrients to a limited extent.