Dairy / Soya Free - 'Go To' Food Recommendations

[HLBug]

DS (2.11) was on nutramigen as a baby due to suspected cmpa. Went through the milk ladder at age 1 and all fine. Absolutely fine in fact - drinking lots of cows milk and pooping regularly.

Fast forward a year or so ago (age 2.2m?) and he became very constipated - 9 months later and various GP referrals have put us back to dieticians whilst we wait on a v.long gastro waiting list. Dieticians have suggested 4 week trial of going dairy / soya free again to see if that helps. I'm dubious but will obviously give it a go (DS currently only poos every 5-6 days despite being on stool softener and laxatives).

So - we've done the diet before, but I've forgotten (blanked) most of it. Off to shops today to buy oatly, coconut yoghurts etc etc - but does anyone else have any 'must have' (tasty) diary / soya free recommendations? Crumpets were good last time, as were potato waffles... what else should I get?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Only just seen this. What did you get?

[HLBug]

Hello, not so much from Sainsbury's at the weekend, but did manage a good haul from M&S today. Highlights include coconut yoghurt and coconut ice cream. Bread seems to be a bit of a problem though! Everything seems to include soya, boo! Also still need to track down some fake cheese -again all the ones I've found so far are soya based. Will try holland & barrat tomorrow.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Can't help with the fake cheese sorry as my CMPA has left me with a life long aversion!

[imelda3]

Violife fake cheese is soya free it says - it's ok but not amazing. Fake cheese is a tall order! It's on Ocado - so probably in Waitrose too.

[imelda3]

Bfree bread is also soya free and nice because unsweetened but ruinously expensive, as all the free froms are. You can get it in most supermarkets.

[INeedNewShoes]

Most bread contains soya. I'm also allergic to palm oil and between those two the only bread I can buy is pitta breads, ciabatta rolls and Waitrose soda bread. I bought myself a bread maker...

[PorridgeAgainAbney]

Waitrose do a lovely multiseed sliced loaf (clear/turquoise pack) - it's great for kids as it's high in fat and also has protein and calcium from the seeds. It can go a bit squashy after a couple of days so I always put it in the freezer then just snap off a couple of slices as I need them.
They also do a wholemeal sliced loaf, I think it's called Yorkshire something or other, but I don't often buy it as my son has the opposite problem to yours so too much fibre isn't good for him.

Sainsburys - Taste the Difference ciabatta with black olives is really tasty.

Part-baked baguettes are a nice treat for weekend lunches.

White sauces for cooking - get a tub of nutritional yeast flakes and add a tablespoon full after you've made the sauce, it makes a massive difference adding a nutty/cheesy flavour as I find Oatley can make a sauce a bit too sweet which doesn't sit right when eating a chicken pie!

Sainsburys fish fingers - it's nice to be able to do a quick meal that doesn't take any organisation once in a while.

I'll see if I can think of any others and come back later .

[PonderLand]

You probably will laugh at this (I laughed at my mum when she suggested it) but you could make your own bread and slice it up and then freeze it for toast/sandwiches. Some basic bread recipes require flour, salt, yeast (dried), water and oil.

[HLBug]

Thanks all. Although I live in a city with access to most things...the nearest Waitrose is 2.5 hrs drive anyway but next time I'm home visiting my parents (who do have a Waitrose nearby) I'll pop in.

If the 4 week trial proves a success then I'll definitely have to invest in a bread maker I think. Gluten free bread is just meh in comparison- especially for the price!

Coconut yoghurt wasn't a massive hit on its own tonight, but he was happy to dip some strawberries into it, which was something I suppose. I'm paranoid about making sure he's still getting enough calcium so trying everything I can. Oatly just seems to pass straight through him though! I've hardly ever seen such heavy wet nappies! Anyone else find this?

We had a poo yesterday (which was expected as it was Day 5 of nothingness) but nothing today. Still seemed a bit windy / bloaty but I'm assuming it'll take at least a week or so for all dairy / soya to leave his system and for us to tell if it's making any difference.

[user1490649478]

Hi

On the bread front the soya flour is a real pain but try:-

Bakery bread - both the local ones near us don't seem to put soya flour in any
Supermarket bread I've only found some wheat germ from tescos and some soft white rolls from m&s which are soya free
Alternatively wraps and potato cakes are handy substitutes

Cheese, the violife as suggested but it's not great tasting. Cashew / peanut butter, egg / tuna mayonnaise

Oatly stuff is brill and tastes surprisingly ok I think. Milk and the custard go down well in our house.

Chocolate bourbons and Oreos are milk and soya free if your looking for quick treat!

Good luck

[desperatelyseekingcaffeine]

Jacksons bread is fab and soya free. Most of tesco finest range also safe. Oreos have soya but tesco now do their own safe version. Oatly do a lovely vanilla custard and a creme fraiche (both tesco - I don't work on commission honestly!) Choc shot for hot choc and choc spread.

[PonderLand]

It takes upto 3 weeks for all dairy to leave the system unfortunately. With my DS he started improving on week 1 slightly but the biggest difference was to be seen in week 2.

Can I ask, how long has your DC been having these issues with bowel movements? My son is going anywhere from 5-10 days, he's 9 1/2m now but this started at 5m. We've also tried all the over the counter stuff, fruit, veg, lentils, massage! I spend my days preparing for the arrival of said poo

[HLBug]

Picked up some Violife in Holland & Barrat today. Went with the 'for pizza' stuff as it was the only one not in sliced form. Will only be grating a wee bit on top of pasta etc so hopefully it'll be ok.

Ponder we had issues with constipation (and a lot else) from birth. He was put on nutramigen at about 8weeks and was, literally overnight, much better. Pooing everyday and much happier. When we reintroduced milk again at age 1 he was absolutely fine so I just assumed he'd grown out of whatever milk issues he had had. That's why I'm a bit dubious that milk / soya is the problem

[Blondie1984]

You can get a brand in most supermarkets called B:Free - they do wraps,bread, rolls etc and I believe don't contain gluten, soy, egg, dairy and lots of other things

[wonderwoo]

For soya free bread, I find that the sliced seeded breads usually don't have soya in.

Pure sunflower margarine is good.

And Oesteocare calcium suppliment (the bottle, not tablets). Although, I probably wouldn't worry too much during the trial, but if he stays dairy free, it would be good for his calcium intake.

[INeedNewShoes]

One thing I'd like to mention is that if your DS does end up dairy free, don't assume that he has to be for life. I was dairy free from a few months old on the advice of a GP but when I was 9 we reintroduced dairy with no problems at all. I do wonder how much earlier dairy could have been reintroduced. I'm sure it caused problems for me not having dairy in my youth.

I now have osteopenia (stage before osteoporosis) in my thirties; I had weight problems as a child which I now put down to the sweetness of the milk replacement products we used giving me an insatiable appetite for sweet things; I hit puberty two years earlier than my friends and had polycystic ovaries as a young teenager which I put down to 9 years on Soya.

Be especially wary if you decide DS is dairy intolerant but fine with soya and be sure to use other dairy replacements (coconut milk, almond milk etc.) as well as some soya. High levels of soya in diet have been linked to hormone imbalance which in girls is not so serious but it has been linked with impotency in men.

[PonderLand]

I've just made some porridge fingers, really easy! I'll post the link, just increase portions for bigger kids :)

healthylittlefoodies.com/porridge-fingers/

I used coconut milk.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Rice pudding made in the slow cooker with coconut milk is nice too ponder.

Lidl do sone cinnamon and raisin bagels that are good toasted and spread with pure.

[HLBug]

Thought I'd post an update. Frequency of DS poos have not changed this week (but I know we're still in the early days) - but we had an absolute poonami situation tonight. His last poo was on Sunday so this was his 'normal' poo day (day 5). Poo was out of nappy and down his trousers and out onto carpet (both sides / legs). Required an emergency shower, full change of clothes, changing mat in the shower and load into washing machine. We were both a little bit traumatised!!

Anyone have any idea if this is a good or a bad thing?! Is going dairy / soya free known to change poo consistency?! Any experiences to share?

Sorry for the poo chat - but that's really all our lives revolve around at the moment!!!

[ZaziesPaws]

Koko coconut milk has added calcium.

[HLBug]

Thanks zazies - I actually managed to track down some of that (strawberry flavoured) and some oatly custard today at Tesco. Also very happy to have found that a lot of wholemeal / seeded in store bakery bread doesn't contain soya flour - this makes a massive difference! Unfortunately still no great progress on the poo front - he's not been since last Friday 😢

[PonderLand]

I'm making tomato and courgette soup today, I'll attach the link if anyone's interested. It smells good so hopefully it will turn out okay!

I made a potato and leek gratin yesterday which was really nice, can see it going well with Sunday dinners! I'll attach the link for that too :) it tasted quite creamy despite no milk!

http://neilshealthymeals.com/tomato-and-courgette-soup/

http://www.artisaninthewoods.com/2012/04/22/potato-leek-gratin/

I hope your son goes to the toilet soon, my DS went on Monday. We're trying to give him movicol in his drinks but not having much luck with it. He's got a good sense of taste it seems.

[PonderLand]

I've just seen your post jilted, I'll hunt out a recipe for that. What kind of rice would you use? I'm guessing it's a 'special' kind.

[HLBug]

Ponder is your DS dairy/soya free but still having constipation issues? Any idea of the cause? Does it get worse with dairy / soya? Our docs refuse to give us movicol in case he gets too dependent on it - we're just on senocot which does fuck all unfortunately. We got a poo out of him tonight (Day 6) by promising that he could eat a (d/s free) chocolate sweetie in the bath. I actually recorded the poo on my phone to show docs - it took over 20 minutes. Sigh...

[PonderLand]

That's right HL, when he last had some dairy by accident he did 4 poos in a day. I'm not sure why he is always so constipated, it started at 5 months before the introduction of any solid food.

I've taken him to the gp three times over it, the last time it had been 10 days!? It's frustrating as they can't really do much and they don't seem interested on investigating the cause either. My GP said it's worry if it happens a lot as they're bowels might of 'forgotten' how to function? I've not really looked into that yet so not sure how accurate that info is.