Weaning - cows milk protein intolerant with reflux, pls help

[JellyNotJustBelly]

Hi, can anyone help? I'm weaning my DD, she is 7 months and is cows milk protein intolerant and has reflux. I should say she has not had any allergy tests but was diagnosed from her symptoms by our GP. I've not had any advice from a dietitian so am a bit in the dark on nutrition etc. She is fine with root veg and has been OK with chicken casseroles etc, I've not really given her much fruit apart from pear purees as advice I've picked up on this site seems to say that various fruit can make the reflux worse. My problem is that my past experience of weaning my older DD was to get her on cheese and fromage frais as she dropped her milk feeds which I obviously can't do with the youngest one. I've "tested" her by giving her sheep's cheese and goats cheese with a mega sick result. She's tried buffalo mozzarella and yogurt (not together!) which has given her some sickness and possibly some discomfort as she has woken more at night and not seemed too happy but as I say, less sick. Has anyone come across any cheese that is milk free? Has anyone got any general weaning advice in this type of situation?

[discrete]

DS1 was cmp intolerant and we weaned him on loads of root vegetables, fruit (never was a problem for his reflux, which was bad enough that he ended up in hospital with it), and various kinds of meat.

His favourite food at around 8 months was lamb bolognaise (stay away from beef). He also ate lamb or pork meatballs really well.

Lots of bready type things - breadsticks, flatbreads as well as breads. Porridge made with chicken stock.

He grew out of it at around a year old, so there's also hope ahead! Although our paed did tell us not to do another trial for 6 months if we'd just had a massive bad reaction, so I wouldn't be trying it again too soon.

[Alfiepants]

I am in virtually identical situ although a month ahead! We've been doing beef stew purée so now worrying that's bad?

My lo wakes in the night and is often wakeful which we put down to teething but maybe this is reflux? I have no idea how to tell the difference.

[JellyNotJustBelly]

Hi discrete, thanks - I'll try her on more fruit, I'm just scared of anything that may increase the sick levels, my lounge carpet can't take much more! I think I'll just avoid all dairy for a bit. She has a special formula which she is fine with (aptamil pepti) and I use that for her breakfast cereal with pear puree.
Hi Alfiepants - I think the beef thing is beause some people with CMP intolerance can't manage beef either, my mum gets terrible migraines when she eats beef but most doctors seem to say that beef allergy is a seperate thing so I'm not sure if your LO will be reacting to it or not? Not much help, sorry. TBH I'm not sure how to tell the difference between reflux and teething. My LO has had reflux since birth but was not diagnosed until around 5months and isn't on medicine any more as the GP says she should be outgrowing it, and to be fair, she has been better since she cut down from 4 milk feeds to 3 per day but now I'm worrying that she's not eating enough and how to get more calories in her (hence the trying cheese) as she hasn't put any weight on for 3 weeks. Aagh, it's all too hard to work out, there doesn't seem any other option but trial and error which seems a bit harsh on the poor child as she is horribly sick if I get it wrong.

[CurlyBoo]

My DD is CMP. She was weaned at 4 months and turns 1 this weekend. She has a lot of soya - can your child tolerate soy or have you not tried that yet? If so - porridge with soya milk and raisins; soya yoghurts; I do a lot of roasted veg mixed with pasta and soya cream cheese; avocados are filled with good calories, always a hit mixed with papaya; plenty of green veg (always steamed to preserve the goodness) for a calcium boost; bananas; have you tried peanut butter yet? I put organic peanut butter on toast and DD loves that. Not sure if you are doing baby led or spoon fed and whether your baby is doing toast etc yet but it's one for the future if not.
A great book to get is 'how to cook for food allergies' by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne - tells you what to substitute the dairy with in a huge variety of recipes, all of which can be puréed up if you are not onto lumps yet. Have you tried eggs yet? Scrambled eggs done with soya margarine, soya milk and butternut squash mixed in is a great one in our house.
Are you still breast feeding? If so, have you cut dairy out of your diet too? If on formula, which one are you on? DD been on Aptamil Pepti for 5 months now and thriving on it as it is packed full of calcium and vitamins to make up for not getting them in her diet, she will drink this until she is 2 or grows out of the allergy, whichever comes first!
So many questions sorry - I remember how daunting it is when you find out your baby is CMP but 7 months in I am so much more confident now, I'm even making her a gluten and dairy free birthday cake this weekend and the trial I made is gorgeous - dairy substitutes are so much better nowadays then they ever used to be.

[discrete]

Oh, yes avocado, how could I forget!

DS1 ate at least an avocado a day for months and months.

If you are worried about fruit stay away from citrus to start out with - not great for reflux. However bananas, apples, peaches, pears, mango, and so on were all absolutely fine for ds1.

Does she like fish? White fish mashed up with potato puree is great.

Also things like sweet potato, butternut squash and so on.

Ds1 couldn't do soya either but if soya OK then there are millions of things you can do with tofu.

[JellyNotJustBelly]

Hiya, thanks so much for the advice, I tried her on beef casserole today - sick city :[ so I guess that's another thing out!

She's on mainly purees, I'm hoping to get her to try bread soon but the poor thing hasn't got any teeth yet so I was waiting for a bit to try that. I'll give avocado a go, I hadn't thought of that yet.

She has had salmon with no ill effects, I haven't tried her on white fish yet but that's definately one of my options to do this week. She loves sweet potato and butternut squash as well as carrots and most other root veg, which is lucky.

I'm a bit wary of soya as when I was trying to be diary free when I was BF it gave me an unhappy tummy but I haven't tried LO on it yet.

She's on Aptamil Pepti formula, I couldn't keep up the diary free (no chocolate or cake!) and wanted to stop BF.

It's just nice to hear from others who have been through this as I sometimes feel I'm going nuts with it all. I'll look up the book, that sounds really handy, thanks :]

[shattereddreams]

Soya is known to be very similar to cmp.
DD is intolerant to both. She had severe reflux as a baby, but wasn't dx with cmp till this year, she is 5!

Try oatly milk, the calcium one. They do cream too. And vitalite marge is best tasting milk free one

Muffins are your friends! Make them with the oatly. Calories and fruit in them. Dozens of recipes online.

I was distraught at thought of dairy free but whole house is now more or less. I cook with oatly, made a fab parsley sauce tonight!

I would request a referral to a dietician because you need to watch the calcium intake.

[Seriouslysleepdeprived]

In the same situation here too, 7 month DS has a CMPI & problems with soy. He slso has/had reflux because if it but is much better now ive excluded it totally.

Im BFing also dairy & soy free. i tried vegan cheese which is free of both & ok. In fact there are quite a few vegan options that work. CO-yo do a dairy/soy free yogurt which is nice. Not tried DS on them yet but i will do.

I use Kara milk & love it. It's a bit sweet for cooking but great on cereal etc.