BLW dairy (milk) allergy - any suggestions?

[barbareebaa]

ds 7 months is doing really well - so far loving all kinds of fruit and veg but i'm running out of ideas. can't really give him what we eat in case of sneaky hidden dairy. Anyone recommend a good dairy alternative? tried soya yoghurt but he was sick - not sure if coincidence though. waiting for refferal to dietician but any help in the meantime would be most gratefully accepted! also trying to avoid common allergy foods (wheat, eggs etc) (is that right?)

thanks in advance

bx

[DidEinsteinsMum]

The soya yoghurt has added bacteria and we were recommended (different people have had diff advice) not to give to ds until he was five yo as his body wasnt big enough to properally process the quantity of bacteria.

Could email you some info if you like. I have some standard lists and info that we use for people asking about ds' diet. It will be hard though if you are trying to avoid common allergy foods as soya comes under that category.

I would try basic meat, vegatable soups (home made), we used to use smushed veg to thicken things like shepard pie. Don't use gravy granules as they do have often had milk. We use stock cubes which are thickend with pureed smushed veg. Taste pretty good once you get used to it.

[DidEinsteinsMum]

Can't email -email down, so here goes, sorry it'll be long.
Anything containing:
? Milk
? Milk powder
? Caseinates
? Hydrolysed casein
? Whey
? Milk solids
? Non fat milk solids
? Casein
? Hydrolysed whey protein
? Whey syrup sweetners
? Lecithin E332 unless stated as soya

Milk free diet.

First things first. It is really daunting to start off with but once you get into the swing of it, it does get better and easier.

Under 1 year.

Generally not recommended soya based products but depends on specialist seen as cousin of my son was given soya based formula at a very young age. He is galatisemic not milk protein allergic and I think this was relevant. We had 2 formulas that were milk protein altered (non-allergenic) peti-junior which we didn?t get on with and nutramigen which was ok but smelt foul (actual both smell foul!). You can use rice milk which is both milk and soya free.

General.

There are a number of milk free products available ? we even found that if we hunted there were some baby jars that were milk free.

Milk:
We use soya milk generally, there are lots of different brands so if darling child doesn?t like one try another as they taste very different.
We use rice milk and a teaspoon of cinnamon to make rice pudding (mum is allergic to soya, and boy to cows milk protein)

Spread:
Vitalite is both milk protein free and soya free and can be bought in most Tesco stores and some others. Most cake recipies work well with vitalite (have found 1 or specialist ones which have tasted of soap as relied on butter taste so test if wanting a fancy recipie for a big occasion!)
Watch: olive oil spreads often contain milk protein (whey) even though you wouldn?t expect them too.

Baking:
Most recipies can be adapted to be milk free ? exceptions being cheese cakes. Cream based cakes should be ok as you can buy soya based cream ? Alpro main brand but another for wipping cream (yet to test) Actually tastes ok.

Yoghurts:
The soya yoghurts are actually quite nice but watch out with giving several in a week as the added bacteria can give dippy tummies to little people.

Soya based custard:
Many different brands ? we use the alpro out of personal preference and it tastes like normal carton custard.
Watch: some food you would expect to contain milk does! Example gravy granules, fruit juice ice lollies. Recommend you get in habit of checking everything (its hard at first but now I do it even when the boy isn?t with me and the food is for me its that much of a habit) and expect companies to improve recipies! When they do so they often add milk and don?t always advertise the fact that they have improved the recipie!

Oh and thought I would pass this on Aldi sell ice cream cones which don?t have milk in so my son had his first ice cream cone this year ? aged 4! And he knows about his allergies as we have made it clear when he couldn?t have something that it was because it had milk, he is now so in control of his allergies he tells adults when they get some thing wrong and if he wants something he asks does this have milk in it. So makes it easier when he starts school in sept.

[barbareebaa]

oh thank you so much - i really appreciate your takingthetime to type that post!
feeling a bit lost about it all really but so reassuring to see how it can be dealt with!
fantastic that your son has had icecream at last

btw am just avoiding common allergy foods as don't know exactly what ds is allergic to - hoping will be able to get to the bottom of it with this referral.

thanks again!

[DidEinsteinsMum]

Hun it gets so much of a habit i have been know to check the tomato ketchup for milk when out with friends and ds is safely elsewhere It becomes your first reaction to look for the ingrediants. You'll be amazed how healthy your food will become once you realise what is actually in it

p.s. it was a c&p job

[barbareebaa]

hmmmm.... i still managed to come home from sainsbury's with a large bar of dairymilk today!!

[DidEinsteinsMum]

Oh i do that. but as they get bigger you cant eat it in front of them and if they have a sleep problem like ds then the opportunities to eat it will shrink

[barbareebaa]

things do not bode well i fear - i sit here with small boy asleep on my lap! still perhaps i will be able to get into my jeans again sometime

[DidEinsteinsMum]

ah but the soya custard i am rather fond of, and the milk free ice cream, the soya cream stuff, the milk free chocolate, green & blacks does some which is milk free he has dark i have milk. You find ways round it but you find that meals will tend to be more along the line of meat two veg rather then shove in microwave ready meal. Tomorrow we're making milk free pizza

[barbareebaa]

yeh - i rather liked the soya yog - couln't tell it was different from the dairy actually! hope your pizzas went well! BTW any tips for stuff on toast/ sandwiches/ breakfast? was thinking banana on toast?

[gomez]

You should consider this re: rice milk www.food.gov.uk/science/surveillance/fsisbranch2009/survey0209

My DS's consultant has advised that there have been no reported cases of ill-effects however and the advise is based on lab. tests. Probably not a big deal given your son is still young but worth thinking about before you start using rice milk.

Regards weaning we were advised to avoid egg along with dairy - but no other food group, unless of course there has been a reaction. I would go easy on soya substitute products TBH they can be full of additivies/sweeteners etc. never mind the concerns around soya itself.

Fruit and vegetables, grain and protein (i.e chicken) all needed at this age - in addition to whatever form of 'milk' your son is getting.

[barbareebaa]

Thanks Gomez! He's just getting breast at the mo. And that's helpful to know what you were advised about avoiding. I'm just super cautious - drs I've seen don't seem to kno what to suggest so am thankful have finally been referred. I did have doubts about soya tbh after reading threads on here but hv and dr were suggesting it.
Just checked out the link - definitely worth knowing- thank you!

[Jenne]

Hi,

Our son (14m) has just come off a dairy-free diet (hurrah!!!), but I still find myself reading the labels to everything. Some things we found really helpful were the Oatly products - they're oat-based (obviously!) and they do 'milk' fortified with calcium, a cream alternative, and chocolate milk for me! They all taste much better than the soya stuff, as far as I'm concerned, and ds really liked them. The milk just tastes a bit like porridge, and the chocolate milk tastes really good, as long as you shake it really well.

Our dietician was happy for us to use it with cereal etc, although she didn't think it was any good as a breastmilk substitute - which now means I need to find a way to wean him, as he won't drink cow's milk, and I really think he's too old to breastfeed, especially as any day now he's going to work out how to undo the clips on my bra...

Hope this helps,

Jenne