9 month old with milk protein allergy

[hophophippidtyhop]

Just been to dieticians about dd's recently discovered allergy. Luckily it's not too bad - by cutting out milk, cheese and yogurts alone she has stopped being sick. Dietician said as this was the case it wasn't worth worrying about me being dairy free - still bf and will do til she's one. What I am slightly baffled by at the moment is I am substituting milk with soya milk for cereals,which is fine. She queried that maybe I shouldn't switch to alpro junior milk as that's for 1 year plus, and that once I stop bf at 1 year to change to a soya formula milk.
So what baffles me is this - surely the junior milk from one year just means that it can be used as a drink from that age, as you would with cows milk, just not to use as a substitute for breast or formula under 1. And the formula for when I stop bf - surely as long as I'm giving her a varied diet I can use the alpro junior in the same way as when I stopped with dd1 and gave her cows milk instead. It feels like I would be using the formula after 1 years old in the same way as some people would use follow on milk. Is my thinking right on this? Is there any logic to giving the formula? She has not dropped weight at all and is happily following the 2nd centile.

[trixymalixy]

I don't know specifically about the nutritional content of the alpro junior milk, but normal soya milk is not nutritionally adequate enough as a main drink to replace cow's milk. I bf my DS until he was 2 as up until that point he would have had to have a hypoallergenic formula had I given up breastfeeding.

It could be that Alpro has designed this milk to fill this gap, but I'd check the nutritional content against cows milk.

[trixymalixy]

info here It looks like it can be given as a cow's milk substitute from age 1.

[trixymalixy]

The only thing is that a lot of CMP allergic develop soya allergy as the proteins are similar, my DS did, so you might want to be careful about how much soya you give.

[trixymalixy]

The only thing is that a lot of CMP allergic develop soya allergy as the proteins are similar, my DS did, so you might want to be careful about how much soya you give.

[freefrommum]

Personally, I would steer clear of soya milk as not only is the protein very similar to milk (about 50% of children allergic to milk are also allergic to soya) but it also contains phyto-oestrogens. Your GP should prescribe a hypoallergenic formula such as Nutramigen but if not, then as long as you are still breastfeeding regularly, oat milk should be OK for cereal etc. Don't use rice milk or goat's milk.

[Whelk]

I second the hypoallergenic formula. My milk allergic dd is on Neocate. She loves it!

[hophophippidtyhop]

sorry for not replying, forgot I wrote this! She is showing no reactions to the soya - she has one yoghurt and enough for cereal each day, and the dietician was fine with this. It did look like the alpro junior was to fill the gap between 1 and 2 years as it had a higher calcium content, but the dietcian seemed to not know about it. Think I'll swap to it to increase calcium intake and take a carton along to my next app to see what she thinks. I think it is a fairly new product.

[lukewarmmama]

We used soya milk from age 2, and nutramigen up to then (after stopping bf at 1 year). But if the Alpro Junior had been around then I definitely would have used it from age 1, especially if no weight issues or reactions to soya.

All very well saying steer clear of soya as well, but its hard enough to have a varied diet if you're cow's milk allergic, without cutting out another ingredient just in case. All for the easy life me....

[trixymalixy]

Just a warning. I was giving DS two soya yoghurts a day on the advice of a dietician. Then one day he started reacting to it and that was it, no more soya. It's very very hard not being able to give cow's milk or soya.

If I were you I'd save soya for those things that can't be susbstituted e.g. Yoghurt and use an alternative to soya for a drink. I can't help but think that we overloaded DS with soya.