Milk allergies in children are common, between 1 -7% of children worldwide will develop a milk allergy. Most children will outgrow this allergy by the time they hit adulthood, but before then this allergy can cause a great deal of discomfort and can turn life upside down in the family in which it appears. Milk allergies are usually an adverse reaction to one or more of the proteins in milk.

Milk consists of two parts; the Curd, which is the part that forms the chunks in solid milk, this part contains about 80% of the proteins in milk including the most common one casein, and whey, the watery part of milk, that contains 20% of the proteins in milk including whey. People can be allergic to any or all the proteins in either part of the milk.
When a person is allergic to milk their immune system malfunctions and wrongly sees the proteins in the milk as invaders. The immune system then produces antibodies whose job it is to fight off the toxic invaders. These antibodies are what release the histamine that creates the symptoms that we see as the allergy. Symptoms usually appear within minutes to hours of the ingestion of milk proteins and can last up to a day.

Symptoms of a milk allergy include skin rashes such as hives, eczema, or redness and swelling around the mouth, cramps, nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting. Milk allergy can also cause problems with the respiratory track including runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing and possibly in severe cases difficulty breathing.

In very severe cases a few people may be so allergic to milk as to cause an anaphylactic reaction. This reaction causes swelling along the airways making it difficult to breath, and can lead to swelling so bad that the person cannot breathe. A drop in blood pressure can also result, causing a person to pass out and go into what is known as anaphylactic shock which is a life threatening condition.

A person who has intense reactions to Milk should carry an EpiPen with them in the event of such a reaction; filled with epinephrine this pin will stop an anaphylactic reaction.  Use of this medicine should always be followed up with a trip to the hospital as those that have an anaphylactic reaction will often have a resurgence of allergic symptoms a few hours later.