Committee on Nutrition for the American Academy of Pediatrics published a report that says parents shouldn’t completely exclude dairy products from their lactose intolerant kids’ diet. Dairy products are rich in calcium and vitamin D, which the kids need to keep them away from bone problems in the future.

The experts recommend that dairy foods like yoghurts, cheeses and even milk should be gradually introduced to the child to determine how much dairy food he can tolerate. These dairy foods when consumed with other kinds of food may not cause too much discomfort to the child. Letting the child eat small amounts of dairy foods in fact can treat lactose intolerance, they say.

A lactose intolerant person’s intestine does not produce enough enzymes called lactase, which is needed to digest lactose, the sugar found in milk and other dairy products; hence, after eating food with lactose, he suffers cramps, abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhea. Symptoms vary from one person to another, depending on the amount of lactose consumed, the extent of lactase deficiency and other factors.