3 week old with a milk allergy

[ruth1104]

I'm new mum to a 3 week old and after a rather stressful weekend at the hospital we've discovered he's got a milk allergy. I'd like to keep breastfeeding as long as possible but now my lovely organised freezer full of batch cooking is totally useless as I need to be completely dairy free. I will be seeing a dietitian, hopefully this week but in the meantime I'm still starving all the time without much time to cook or get myself snacks etc, any ideas?

From what I've read and been told, it's often advised to give up soya at the same time as dairy so until I've spoken to the dietitian I'll be doing that but it doesn't leave me with a lot of options! I'm currently filling up on rice cakes, nuts and raisins and peanut butter on toast (after reading the bread label very carefully..). Any ideas for meals or snacks would be appreciated!

I have also put this post in the food and recipes section but would love to hear from anyone else who's managing this - my rl reference is my cousin whose baby had a similar thing and only managed a week of the dairy free diet before finding it too hard and heading to formula (her baby was a good bit older before they found it though) but we've been getting on so well with breast feeding and I really love doing it (never thought id say that!) so don't want to give up just yet.

[tiktok]

Are you absolutely certain your ds has a milk allergy?

It's quite difficult to diagnose in a baby as young as this.

It's good you are seeing a dietitian soon - do check with him/her about the possibility that this is a mis-diagnosis.

[jalopyjane]

It does seem very early to diagnose... how did they diagnose exactly? And what are the symptoms>

There are loads of dairy free things you can eat if you have to though - try the allergy board instead for lots of helpful suggestions: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/allergies

I gave up dairy, egg and nuts when dd1 was 7 months old due to her allergies, and it was hard at first (checking labels on everything!) but you soon figure out what works. There are loads of meals and snacks - no need to go hungry

[jalopyjane]

By the way, I've had two dairy-allergic children and both were fine with soya, so don't rule that out automatically.

[ruth1104]

thanks, i didnt realise there was an allergy board thats really helpful. He had blood in his stool, explosive poos and clearly in a lot of pain; pediatricians said milk allergy was the most likely cause but ive got a follow up appointment on thurs to see if its made any difference, they did mention the possibility of further investigations.
Good to hear soya might still be an option!

[jalopyjane]

I'm no medical expert but that really doesn't sound an allergic type reaction to me! However you would hope the paediatrician knows what he/she is talking about... In my experience at least allergies don't cause pain, explosive poos or blood in stools, but perhaps it's possible? Hopefully someone else can advise!

[addictedtosugar]

OK, you need some fat in your diet.
So, avacados - cut in half with vinagrette in the "hole" where the stone was.
Oily fish - tinned sardines on toast.
Tuna sarnie
jacket potatoes with beans
cold boiled eggs - batch cook, and then peal as you need
Nut butters - so peanut, and others when you can get to a health food shop
dried fruit and nuts as snacks

Its worth reading biscuit packets. iirc, bourbons are milk free, as are ginfer nuts, and some rich teas. Its worth reading the supermarket branded ones, as even if the branded ones have milk, the own brand often don't.

Its possible its cows milk protein, rather than milk that is the problem (not that it matters at this stage!)

I'd suggest cutting out soya initially, and then when your baby's digestive system calms down, consider introducing the soya (or dairy - butter on toast for me) very, very slowly and occasionally, and see if you get a reaction from baby. Obviously, the suitability of this depends on how sensitive your baby is to milk. Mine wasn't very (and I could have butter on toast for breakfast, and the occasional milk chocolate)

XXX

[bronya]

Make your own bread. No need to have milk in it. Or check labels. Hovis Wholemeal is dairy free, as is their soft white. So bread and jam/marmalade/ham with vegan margarine for breakfast. Then a meaty sandwich for lunch (meat, vegan spread, normal sandwich veggies) or jacket potato and baked beans. Or you could just keep back a portion of the previous night's dinner to reheat for lunch.

For dinners:

Carbs
Oven chips are fine if nothing added (basics range ones usually are good for this)
Baked potatoes
Pasta
Rice
Home-made pizza base (omit any milk in recipe and replace with water)
Mash/boiled potatoes

Meat
Any meat is dairy free. Check processed things (e.g. sausages/burgers) but they usually are too.

veg
All fine.

ready-made sauces
Tomato based sauces are fine, and some curry based ones. Gravy is fine too (I just check the label on Bisto anyway!).

I'm guessing though that you're mostly missing snacks. Have a larger portion of each main meal to help, then try vegan baking recipes. I love the vegan choc brownies here:www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/blogs.php?title=vegan-brownie-recipe-as-seen-on-the-grah virtually lived on them when I was pg and throwing up most normal foods! We got our aduki beans and flaxseed from Waitrose as nowhere else round us had them in stock.

You can get dairy free choc spread (e.g. Tesco finest dark choc spread), peanut butter is dairy free, jam is dairy free. Pure sunflower oil marg is fine and you'll have bread so can snack on that any time. Potato waffles go in the toaster if you've run out of bread (toast twice), and you can put a little tomato sauce on them or peanut butter or something.

Go on the website for your preferred supermarket and check through the different varieties of the things you usually eat. There'll be one without dairy for most things.

[happypotamus]

I have the exact same problem! DD is 5 weeks and diagnosed last week with the same symptoms. I was given no advice except don't eat dairy, wasn't told about soya but have read it on the net since. One Dr said she would always be dairy intolerant and we would need to see a dietician when weaning her, another Dr said i only need to avoid dairy for 4 weeks as most grow out of it. We have no follow-up so I don't really know what to do. I miss all the foods I usually eat, especially cheese and chocolate. I also don't like nuts or rice Cakes, and need quick (quick enough to make around DD's cluster feeding) vegetarian family meals. DH came back from the supermarket earlier and said he couldn't find any dairy-free chocolate even though I found loads of different kinds on Friday. I nearly cried at the lack of chocolate. It's a good job i love DD. I wouldn't be giving up chocolate for many people.

[ruth1104]

Well 2 weeks later we are definitely seeing an improvement! no blood in the nappies this weekend, thank goodness. happy if your DD has the same symptoms its pretty odd you dont have any follow up? Ive got my dietitians direct phone and email; the 2 pediatricians and dietitian we saw said it was very common symptoms for a milk protein allergy (although unusual to find it so early) but if that was ruled out and he was still bleeding they would have to look at other investigations. They seemed to be fairly concerned, and wanting to get to the bottom of it (unlike my hv who seems to think im making it upâ?¦) green & blacks 70% dark chocolate is dairy free :)
thanks addicted, will be adding baking potatoes, avocados and chocolate bourbons to my shopping list

[Phoenixfrights]

Milk allergy can very definitely cause pain and blood in poo although agreed it is early. But you've been seen by a paed so presumably they would know if it was more likely to be something else and would have excluded those things?

Hope your little one continues getting better.

[Phoenixfrights]

Send DP/ friend/mum into kitchen with this recipe and then eat all of it yourself :)

More boringly, tahini is quite nice on toast. Alpro does a diverse range of non-soya milks like almond and hazelnut now.

Dietician will be able to advise you on keeping healthy and on milk challenge for your little one in due course.

[clownumbrella]

My DD (now 4) still has a milk intolerance - she had blood in her poo as a newborn, which disappeared once I was on a dairy free diet. We also used nutramigen formula as I didn't produce a lot of milk.

Dairy free is surprisingly easy once you get your head around it - you can have any fish, meat, or (for vegetarians) any vegetables and carbs you want - just be careful with processed food, as a surprising amount have milk products in them. I would be careful as a vegetarian, as without soya/tofu, you would need to makes sure you are eating plenty of protein.

I REALLY missed my cups of tea and milky coffee but switched to herbal and green tea, which is more healthy anyway!

PURE dairy free spreads are great in baking/ sauces -anywhere you would use butter- and have some fab recipes on their website.

COOK ready meals have a dairy free range. I have collected a huge number of dairy free recipes now - from casseroles to carrot cake.

Oat milk/cream tastes great in porridge, almond milk on muesli and rice milk makes an awesome rice pudding. Any creamy sauces can be made with these or coconut milk/cream. Get an ice cream maker as all of these make yummy ice creams.

I see Ruth has already added Green and Blacks 70% (DD's favourite!) She also loves jelly snakes.

[happypotamus]

ruth DD was diagnosed in A&E, and the paediatrician just said we won't need any follow-up. Maybe I will try to get the GP to refer us to a dietician at least. Thanks for the tip about the green and blacks. I love 70% dark chocolate anyway, and maybe DH will be able to find that!
Fortunately, I don't really like milk anyway, so always have eaten my cereal dry for example. I don't really like tea either, but had started drinking it to survive the sleep deprivation brought by a newborn, so I find it doesn't taste any worse without milk. Unfortunately, I love cheese.

phoenix Thanks for the recipe. That looks great. My mum told me she has been searching out recipes for dairy-free cakes to make me (even though she doesn't believe the diagnosis). I saw that Jamie Oliver has a recipe on his website for chocolate mousse made out of avocados and dairy-free chocolate instead of dairy products. I am intrigued and will try that just to see if it works as avocado seems like a crazy thing to make mousse out of.

[ruth1104]

pheonix that looks amazing!! yes the paediatricians said the most likely thing is a milk allergy, certainly he's not had any blood since friday which is a big step forward! clown thanks, i have been told that most babies grow out of it but he does seem to be having a severe reaction like your dd. It must be difficult as they get older and dont get the things other kids around them do :( I never thought of using the almond milk etc for ice cream! i will dig out the ice cream maker..