Reducing childs dairy consumption, suggestions please.

[ImFree2doasiwant]

It's been suggested that I reduce dc2 dairy consumption, to see if it eases his very windy rather explosive stomach. He has a lot of loose poops, very windy when he goes. Occasional tummy ache just before. I'm happy to try this out in the hope that it works.

He's not ill with it. It's just not very pleasant and there no chance if him learning to wipe his own bum the way it is.

He has cereal with milk most mornings.
Occasionally will have milk to drink.
A Greek yogurt most days, or other form of yogurt. Often a fromage frais pouch if at childcare.

I had cereal with almond milk this morning and think I could get that past him.

Any other palatable suggestions for milk and yogurt replacements?

He does eat cheese but not huge quantities.

Thank you.

Has he been checked for coeliac disease as he could be sensitive to gluten rather than dairy

How old is he?

I second checking for coeliac disease - which incidentally can cause lactose intolerance if untreated.

Try Alpro soya yoghurts (they do kids ones) or if he likes coconut there are quite a lot of non dairy, coconut-based yoghurts around at the moment as it seems to be trendy.

I’d go for fortified soya milk rather than almond or oat, if he’ll accept it, as it’s more nutritious.

It can be easier to just avoid substitutes and go for something different - so a squeezy fruit pouch instead of a squeezy yoghurt, and porridge made with water instead of cereal and milk. You can get vanilla soya custard which is nice on porridge, and cools it down.

Is he over 1?
I have used oat milk and Alpro growing up milk for my dairy intolerant dcs.
Also Alpro yoghurts
Flora buttery spread is dairy free

I wonder if he were to use Sheep or goats milk if that would reduce the symptoms?

Violife cheese is a good non dairy substitute my son age 6 loves it and his friends have enjoyed it when they tried it to.

@BlueRaincoat1 be aware they have just changed flora buttery back to include dairy products. The rest of the flora range are still dairy free.

And for cows milk, perhaps Jersey milk which has A2 protein and is apparently easier to digest

My son is allergic to milk.

He has alpro soya growing up milk on his cereal / to drink
We use flora dairy free as a butter.

He doesn't like yoghurt or cheese really so don't use those. Avoiding dairy is pretty easy now a days

He's 3. I've spoken to the GP 3 times, each time told to "keep an eye on it. ". As theres no blood, or pain, and he's still young, they dobt seem that interested.

If Lactose i tolerance is suspected the Arla Lactofree range are really good. The milk is pretty indistinguishable from normal milk.

I prefer oat milk substitute rather than soya ..no added sugar type

@ImFree2doasiwant

He's 3. I've spoken to the GP 3 times, each time told to "keep an eye on it. ". As theres no blood, or pain, and he's still young, they dobt seem that interested.

My son had a similar experience when he was about 2 .... totally turns out I'd got my brands wrong and was giving him a biscuit with milk in when we already knew about his allergy ... oops.

Cut out all dairy and see what happens

Or it could just be 'toddler diarrhoea' which they tend to grow out of. Often told to increase fat in the diet and reduce fibre. Avoid fruit juices.

@BeaufortScale he does love porridge so I'll try it with water. He's not a big fruit fan though but I will try a fruit pouch. The pouch is just for ease at pre school. And because the spoons never come home!

I think the GP thinks it's something he'll grow out of. Pre school are kicking up a fuss about it and have started sending him home. Despite it having been like this since he came out of Nappies.

DS (almost 2) has Oatly barista oat milk, flora spread, and Alpro plain yoghurt (the flavoured Alpros are very sugary). There are lots of other vegan yoghurts out there too, just make sure they are fortified with calcium as some aren’t.

For cheese, we use Applewood smoked cheese or Violife, although he doesn’t like violife as much as applewood. I make cheesy sauces using nutritional yeast and I also sprinkle it on his pasta, but he often just eats it off the spoon!

Both the Oatly and Alpro custards are nice for a treat, but the Birds custard powder is also dairy free and you can make it up using non dairy milk.

(Obviously if he’s celiac oat milk wouldn’t be suitable for him).

FWIW, a friends 2 year old has similar symptoms to your son including chronic constipation, and moving to oat milk cured it within days.

Oops baby brain, I reread the OP and your DS has diarrhoea, not constipation, but the switch might still help. Good luck.

My dc is allergic to dairy, so we tried many different alternatives. He likes almond/oat/coconut milk rather than rice/soya. They all taste different, so try them out and see which ones he likes?

We use oat milk, Alpro desserts, and no cheese. We've found with DS that as long as we exclude the pure dairy, he can cope with dairy in biscuits, Yorkshire puddings, cakes etc, which is a good enough compromise for us. He's still a bit loose and occasionally windy but he toilet trained fine and never complains of tummy ache.

Oatly barista or Alpro fresh sweetened milk
Coyo coconut yoghurt or alpro greek style
Vegan cheese alternatives

Definitely check for coeliac if not already done so.
Dc1 has coeliac but for a while was dairy free too. Alpro soya desserts and yoghurts, dairy free ice cream, dairy free cheese, can get egg replacement if baking etc, we used almond milk it was the only one he'd tolerate, can get dairy free chocolate but dc1 didn't like it. You'll have to totally eliminate dairy for several weeks to see if it has an effect so also check for hidden dairy. It's much better now than it was even a few years back - check out the free from Isle but also the vegan section.

Is it dairy completely or just lactose you need to avoid? If just lactose then try the Arla lactose free range, Tesco stock most of the range and it's expanding so you can gets loads now, milk, cheese, yogurts and cream etc

I have a child that's gluten intolerant and a child that's dairy intolerant. Its actually the gluten intolerance that caused the symptoms you are talking about, dairy intolerance was more constipation, eczema and hayfever symptoms.

There are lots of lovely soy and coconut based vegan products now, ice creams and milks etc As well as nice gluten free products. Have a look on Ocado they sell a good range that has reviews. Use hummus or olive oil instead of butter.