New to dairy free. Hold my hand!

[PickledMoomin]

New year, new start. Have been advised to trial DS (3) on a dairy free diet for a month.

I'm going to try him with Tesco own brand multigrain hoops and Quakers sachet with golden syrup. I can't find any dairy protein ingredient in them- does anyone know if they are safe?

I was told that Helman's mayo was dairy free but there is a cream powder in it. I've bought a Heinz one.

Can anyone recommend a gravy?

[JoleneB]

Hi try looking on here
cowsmilkproteinallergysupport.webs.com/free-from-foods

also if your on facebook join this group for support www.facebook.com/groups/Allergy.diet/

unless they've recently changed it Helmans original mayo is dairy free, the light versions are not.
I'm not sure on the oats, I use pure porridge oats.
I think most gravey powder is dairy free, though my dd2 is also soya free so our only choice is Colmans in a tube.
cereal wise there are loads of dairy free ones on the site I linked you too

[PickledMoomin]

Thank you for the link. It's really helpful.

We're three days in, and it's been fine so far

[clorna]

My 6 year old DD has been dairyfree since she was six months, I can imagine how you feel but honestly there are a lot of options. For gravy I use bisto favorite gravy granules. if you are looking for dairy free treats then Asda and Sainsburys do chocolate buttons in their freefrom section. You can also get icecream called Swedish Glace. Hope this all helps!

[PickledMoomin]

I had a look at the Tesco free from range, and I've been label checking constantly but I'm worried I'm missing some of the hidden milk ingredients.

In the contains part of the label, is it safe to assume it's dairy free if it doesn't say milk there?

Should I be giving a calcium supplement?

I've been giving him alpro with added calcium

[clorna]

I would say it is, but I do sometimes just check all the ingredients. What sort of things are you not finding that your little one is missing?

[PickledMoomin]

Cheese. He adores cheddar.

[clorna]

I would suggest you find a local allergy testing person as this is how I found out what was causing my DD's allergic reations. She is able to have sheeps cheese and so I buy Sainsburys Parlick Fell sheeps cheese. She adores it, it isn't cheddar but it is a nice alternative. But this won't help you if your DS is allergic to sheeps milk.

[PickledMoomin]

How do they test? And how do you go about having them tested?
We recently found out from blood tests that he was anaemic due to poor absorption and his eosinophils (allergy strand) were elevated.

[clorna]

I used
maycameronallergytherapy.co.uk
but as you may not be local you will have to find someone in your area. If you look up the website you will be able to read about the method she uses for testing.

[PickledMoomin]

I'll have a look into that. Thanks!

[trixymalixy]

Dont pay for an allergy test, ask your GP to refer you.

Generally the labelling is reliable although I know that after eights for example contain butterfat but only say may contain on the label, so probably safest to check.

My dairy allergic DS eats Quakers porridge with no problems. We use bisto beef gravy, but be careful as most chicken gravies seem to contain milk for some reason.

[trixymalixy]

Kinesiology as preformed by the woman that clorna linked to is quackery. Your GP will be able to refer you for skin prick or blood tests. With skin prick testing they drop a solution containing the allergen onto the skin and prick with a scalpel type thing, it doesn't hurt according to my DC. You then wait to see if there is a reaction.

[PickledMoomin]

DS appears to be intolerant to dairy rather than allergic. Would this show on a pin price test?
The main reason for going dairy free now is to see if his bow repairs. He may not even be intolerant anymore, but the consultant said his bowel would have been damaged by three years of dairy.

[JoleneB]

Allergy testing will only give results for an IgE allergy, non IgE allergy and intolerance will not show up in tests, the only way to diagnose is by elimination diet and later food challenge. If the consultant has advised dairy free to allow the gut to heal just go with it, there would be no point in testing. Cheese wise see if you can get some Vegusto, it's the closest to real cheese, available from health food shops and online via their own website, the links are on the page I linked too.

[clorna]

sorry if I have suggested something wrong but my DD also had skin prick as my GP didn't believe she was allergic to the things I said so we went through the whole process of skin prick and they say at the end of it Oh she seems to be allergic to cows milk!!

[newyearnewattitude]

we were referred to a paediatrician at the hospital and they did blood tests which showed DD was allergic to cows milk protein and soya protein (apparently its very similar) and so we are now dairy and soya free and hoping she will grow out of it but it's not likely as she is now 3 (and finally gaining weight and has lost the eczema on her face)

We use Oat milk (not recommended to use rice milk under 5) and waitrose do a normal loaf of bread that is dairy and soya free. We use the 'Pure' sunflower spread as butter and her nursery are fab at cooking her meals to meet her needs. I use coconut milk in things like curries and she has Jelly instead of yoghurts. Bourbon biscuits are also dairy free which is a bonus!

The only problem is they have to have been eating the dairy prior to the blood tests so that may be your next step, if he improves without dairy you can either just keep him off it or ask for a paed appointment and put him back on dairy for 3-4 weeks before....

[PickledMoomin]

The paediatrician didn't mention any allergy testing to us, just a month trial of dairy free. He's currently taking movicol for constipation (which we're continuing with) and his appetite already seems to be improving.

From birth (EBF) he had green diarrhoea many times a day, and a peri oral rash when dairy was introduced. He's always been slight, but has steadily gained weight so the doctors have never been too concerned.

I'm hoping the constipation subsides and we can reduce/remove the need for movicol.

[PickledMoomin]

I'm off to find some vegusto!

[PickledMoomin]

Day 6 and the child who usually has no appetite is polishing off everything on his plate. He's also slept through every night since being dairy free- he normally wakes up to five times.
He had loose stools last night so I'm wondering whether to reduce the movicol?
Is this coincidental? It can't be, surely?

[trixymalixy]

That's great pickled!! DS was a terrible sleeper. The day we cut out soya he slept through and from then on was a great sleeper. I guess you have your answer!!

clorna NICE guidelines do not recommend pseudo science such as kinesiology for allergy/intolerance testing.

[PickledMoomin]

I'm so pleased!

Have you reintroduced soya? Or do you have plans to?

[trixymalixy]

We reintroduced soya about a year later. He said it was giving him a sore tummy so we kept him off it again for a further 6 months iirc and then he seemed fine with it. I tried to keep soya to a minimum so he only really had soya yoghurts and ice cream and we used oat and other milks rather than soya.

[PickledMoomin]

I'm guessing it'll be a long time before we reintroduce milk if it's working this well so far.

Is it worth seeing a dietician? Consultant said he'd refer us if dairy free made a difference but I've done lots of reading and am trying to get green leafy veg and added calcium into him.

[trixymalixy]

The dietician we saw was pretty crap. She recommended rice milk and had never heard it was now not suitable for under 4s due to the arsenic content. I was .

[PickledMoomin]

Would have been useful to have seen a dietician before starting. Will see what the consultant suggests.

He ate lactose free cheese for dinner on toast. I had a nibble and it wasn't too bad