What you need to know about milk, dairy allergies

Officials are trying to determine if the death of a 3-year-old boy in New York City was due to a dairy allergy, here's what you need to know about milk allergies.

According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, milk allergies are one of the more common things to be allergic to and it affects between 2 and 3 percent of children younger than 3. Despite its commonness, death from a milk allergy is extremely rare.

Milk allergy symptoms

• Hives
• Stomach upset
• Vomiting
• Bloody stools, especially in infants
• Anaphylaxis, a rare, potentially life-threatening reaction that impairs breathing and can send the body into shock

Allergies to food (including milk) are the most common causes of anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. Symptoms include swelling of the airways, impairing the ability to breathe, and a sudden drop in blood pressure, causing dizziness and fainting. An allergist will advise patients with a food allergy to carry an auto-injector containing epinephrine (adrenaline), which is the only treatment for anaphylactic shock, and will teach the patient how to use it. If a child has the allergy, teachers and caregivers should be made aware of his or her condition as well.

FoodAllergy.org recommends that you stay away from the following foods:

Butter, butter fat, butter oil, butter acid, butter ester(s)

Buttermilk

Casein

Casein hydrolysate

Caseinates (in all forms)

Cheese

Cottage cheese

Cream

Curds

Custard

Diacetyl

Ghee

Half-and-half

Lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate

Lactoferrin

Lactose

Lactulose

Milk (in all forms including condensed, derivative, dry, evaporated, goat's milk and milk from other animals, low-fat, malted, milkfat, non-fat, powder, protein, skimmed, solids, whole)

Milk protein hydrolysate

Pudding

Recaldent(R)

Rennet casein

Sour cream, sour cream solids

Sour milk solids

Tagatose

Whey (in all forms)

Whey protein hydrolysate

Yogurt