Advice re: lactose intolerance

[Britney]

Ds (coming up 2) is being referred to paediatrican with suspected lactose intolerance. Doctor has told me to keep him off all dairy produce. I've started giving him soya milk which he appears to love - horray! Just wondered if anyone could give me any more advice about coping with lactose intolerance & ideas for meals that don't include milk, eggs & cheese. Previously, he was a huge fan of cheese on toast, eggy bread & chessy sauces. He's currently living on baked beans & tinned spaghetti for tea - lunch not a prob as he loves meat, fish & vege.

Generally, just feeling a bit crap about whole situation!

I assume you're looking for easy meals (rather than ones that take a lot of cooking!). Dd was milk allergic but outgrew it but I find we still cook a lot of meals without milk as that's what she got used to.

In terms of easy meals (without milk/eggs)
-Pasta + tomato based sauce (we often do bacon bits and tin of tomatoes + mushrooms)
-chicken drumsticks
-beans on toast
-sardines on toast
-mackerel pate with toast

You can get non dairy cheese (I think) but I've never tried it. You can also get soya based yoghurts that are actually quite nice (think they are called Alpro) and Swedish Glace which is delicious non dairy ice cream.

My dd outgrew her milk thing by 2 and a half and apparently loads of kids do so fingers crossed your ds will do the same.

hopefully if it lactose intolerance its a temporary problem. You can have temporary problems after illness or if its been present from birth many kids outgrow it. What are the symptoms that has made the referral necessary? Unfortunately you may find he develops a soya allergy too and kids given soya milk have a higher rate of nut allergy.

We haven't tried the non-dairy cheese either but generally Sainsburys is pretty good for milk free things so you could look there or a health food store.

Does he actually have a problem with eggs as my lactose intolerant person can eat them? Hence we can find the odd mayonnaise type thing. Also mini scotch eggs.

There are a few canned soups without milk if you want something quick and easy. If you're interested I'll check the cupboard. We sometimes have pitta bread with the remains of a joint and salad. Also do instant noodles and stir fry veg for a quick meal.

Non dairy probiotics help the immune system and may help kids outgrow milk problems.

Britney have you tried hummous with pitta bread or toast? DS consumes huge quantiaties of it and its high in protein.. Avocado is also a good spread on toast.

If you make a big batch of pasta sauce (put finely chopped up bacon in to increase the protein content) you can mix it with cous cous or those italian potato balls (which i cant spell) both are really quick to cook.

DS who is 1, also loves curry (with shocking amounts of chilli in) and rice but that takes a bit more work cooking!

have you tried "pure" soya butter? you can get it in any supermarket and use it wherever you would use butter, i.e. in mashed potato or in baking.
I'd advise you to check labels of everything for hidden milk products such as casein. even things like sausages, gravy granules and wafer thin ham can have lactose in.
On the other hand, if you have a waitrose nearby they have a comprehensive list of all their lactose free products that you just need to ask for.