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I gave up dairy after doing a Whole 30 in May of last year. I figured out that it was the cause of the reflux and nausea I was experiencing regularly. I can handle baked in dairy but I can’t do straight milk, yogurt, or cheese without lots of icky symptoms now. Every once in a while I miss it, but it hasn’t been as bad as you might think to give it up.

It takes about two weeks for dairy to get out of your system, but a lot of people notice a difference in a couple of days. I would give it a full month before deciding it helped you or not. Some people are also sensitive to unprocessed milk - so drinking milk, cream, ice cream ect. but not processed milk like yogurt or cheeses. (I know processed isn't the right word but I cant think of the right word)

But I'd take out all dairy first to give your body a chance to recover and then slowly introduce dairy like yogurt and if that's okay try cheese and so forth. (look into the Whole 30 diet it covers this whole idea).

There are lots of dairy free milks out there that you can use. I get coffee and other drinks alot with almond milk because that's what my son drinks (he can't drink cows milk) They also have dairy free yogurts cheeses and ice creams. So it might be a tough month to get started but if you find it makes you feel better it'll be worth it!

@Mamaof2: I would check out Whole 30 or Paleo options for coffee. I don’t drink coffee every day and I have gotten used to almond milk so I’m no help. But I think that’s a common concern when people are giving up dairy!

I have two MSPI kiddos. It sucks. It takes 30 days to stop craving it, but it gets better. It's helpful if you can have some hidden dairy so you can have chocolate and baked goods, but even if you can't there's tons if great options.

For ice cream, Ben and Jerry's vegan or so delicious cashew milk. For coffee Starbucks has an almond milk that's super creamy. I don't do fake cheese.

Issues with dairy run in my family, so when DD was done with breastmilk I did a bunch of research on alternative milks. We've been using Ripple, and its been great. I use soy milk or coconut milk in my coffee, but never really cooked with either cuz it weirded me out. However Ripple is the most neutral tasting alt-milk that I've found, and hubby and I have now switched over to the creamer too.
Nutritionally, its similar to cows milk and soy milk - the protein was important to me.
Anyways, check it out, see if they sell it near you.

Good luck!

@Mamaof2: I went dairy and soy free for both of my kids for around 6-8 months each time and then again wen I did a Whole 90 last summer. I didn't notice any difference, health wise but at least then I could say I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that fairy does not affect me negatively. I have GERD and I still had heartburn and other symptoms when I was off dairy.

For coffee, there are a ton of almond and coconut creamers now. Same with ice cream or frozen treats and basically anything else. I never liked any of the dairy/soy free cheese substitutes so I just stopped eating cheese entirely and I don't miss it after I found new recipes I liked.