Cooking for an allergy toddler :/ Stuck!

[Jemima14]

My daughter is 13 months. She is allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts, sesame and chickpea. Although she has not been tested for it I also suspect coconut.

Our meals are getting boring. She is very very fussy, she used to love mashed potatoe would eat the whole lot, now wont look at it. If I make pasta / beans / sausages she ususally eats all of that. But most of the stuff I sweat over, delicious & nutritious, goes in the bin!

I think I need to step my cooking skills up a bit. I have just found it so hard with everything we have to avoid. Has anyone any suggestions of receipes or books or what you are giving?

Tia.

[MayfairMummy]

Jemima, there are several allergy friendly recipe websites around, tho i'm afraid it's probably best to google and find the ones that suit you. Most tend to be based around their own child's allergies, and some are more useful than others. We've got multiple allergies too (yours (except sesame), plus some). I tend to just buy loads of cookbooks and scan for things i like. doesn't necessarily help; my son is getting super fussy too - refusing things he used to hoover up :-/ Have taken to cooking a lot of the 'same' things, but making sure they're full of hidden veg.

good luck!

[MayfairMummy]

also several allergy cookbooks! try and see the pages on amazon and read reviews before you buy. some just don't suit!

[starfish12]

There's a Facebook group called cmpa for weaning with lots of ideas and support from people in the same boat. It's for all allergies not just cmpa

[trixymalixy]

My kids love chicken pie. I make a roux with a heaped tablespoon of flour and a heaped tablespoon of pure spread. I then whisk in a litre of chicken stock a ladleful at a time to make a smooth sauce. Then you can add cooked chicken and whatever veg you want, I usually add cooked carrots and sweet corn. Put in a pie dish, too with ready rolled puff pastry and bake at 190 for half an hour.

I also let the kids cut shapes with cookie cutters to put on top of the pie which is fun for them and possibly more likely to encourage your dC to eat it!!

[bananaandcustard]

Can I just mention that children over 1 year sometimes eat less as they have passed the quickest phase of growing. keep offering safe food that they have previously eaten as well as adding new safe meals to your range.

One to the biggest positives out of being an allergic ' family' is that you invest more time in safe, and healthy meals. Starting to include your child in food prep/play is a great idea from other posters.

our family meals have changed over the years to include new allergens in now 2 of of my 4 children and we do have favourite meals which we tend to stick to or change slightly when we can.

I buy individual packets of spices and fresh herbs to add flavour. Kids often love stronger flavours, like olives, so dont keep food bland.

Sometimes i cook one meal which I change with regard to allergies, sadly it creates more washing up, but provides a meal most enjoy. For instance my whole family love a chilli, but I only make that when I can concentrate on avoiding the beans and yogurt ! I cook the meat etc without the kidney beans first, then remove sons portion, and take care to avoid adding the yogurt to daughters food at the end.

Risotto is my standby for cooking with one pan and using up fresh veg, allergy wise can be easy to change.

sweet potato wedges are easy to make and make a change from potato. you could change taste of mashed potato by adding some sweet potato to change the taste.


For treats try a look at vegan web pages, we have vegan brownies, when we miss chocolate or chocolate cake!