Over the past few years, the term “milk protein allergy” has become more and more familiar to people. Babies with recurrent vomiting, diarrhea, blood in the stool, slow weight gain and even weight loss have been examined and found to be allergic to milk proteins! So what is milk protein allergy all about? What should we do if it really occurs? Before we talk about milk protein allergy, let’s first understand what milk protein is. As the name implies, milk protein is the general term for all the proteins in milk. Among them are mainly casein and whey protein. What dissolves in the whey is called whey protein, and what precipitates and coagulates is called casein. So whey protein is more easily absorbed and casein is relatively less easily absorbed. Because most of breast milk is whey protein, this is why breast milk is the most easily absorbed. How is protein absorbed by the body? Of course, the absorption is not directly in the form of protein, protein has to go through a complex digestive process in the human body, turning into relatively small molecules of dipeptide and tripeptide, and then broken down into the form of amino acids to be absorbed and used by the body. The children’s immune system is not well developed in infancy, and will mistakenly treat these milk protein components as harmful substances, which will trigger the body’s immune response to rejection, resulting in various forms and degrees of allergic reactions. Diarrhea and vomiting in the digestive system, asthma in the respiratory system, skin allergies, and even some allergic purpura may be related to milk protein allergy. How can I determine if I have a milk protein allergy? Milk protein allergy may cause symptoms detection means 1, skin prick test: This test method is to make pricks and scratches on the baby’s forearm skin, and then put milk drops on the scratches to observe whether there will be redness and swelling, which is similar to doing a skin test. This test is simple and easy, but because the child is more painful, most parents are reluctant to accept, so this method is now rarely used. 2, serum IgE test: now most hospitals can check the serum IgE, is through the blood to determine whether allergies. However, it is easy to have false negatives or false positives, and it is not easy to diagnose based on the results, but only as a reference basis. 3, avoidance test: This is currently the safest and most descriptive method. It is to let the baby avoid the allergen, that is, avoid milk protein. So how can you avoid it? You can’t stop feeding your child. Well, hydrolyzed milk powder solves this problem. What is hydrolyzed milk powder? Hydrolyzed milk powder is an artificial method of hydrolyzing some or all of the proteins in milk into amino acids that can be directly absorbed by the human body, thus avoiding the occurrence of allergic reactions. The hydrolyzed milk powder currently on the market are amino acid milk powder, deeply hydrolyzed milk powder and partially hydrolyzed milk powder. Amino acid milk powder is composed entirely of free amino acids and contains no macromolecular proteins; deeply hydrolyzed milk powder also has dipeptides, tripeptides and a small amount of free amino acids; partially hydrolyzed milk powder is only part of the protein being broken down and still contains macromolecular proteins. Therefore, amino acid milk powder is not immunogenic, so it will not cause allergic reactions. For severe allergic reactions, amino acid milk powder is preferred. Deeply hydrolyzed milk powder is considerably less immunogenic than regular milk powder and can be applied to those with mild allergic reactions, and can also be used as a transition to replace amino acid milk powder for severe allergic reactions. When your child, especially a baby under 1 year old, has recurrent vomiting, diarrhea, skin allergy, or even recurrent asthma, and you suspect that it is related to milk protein allergy, please go to the hospital promptly and use hydrolyzed milk powder correctly under the guidance of a doctor.