ANyone living in France with a CMP allergic toddler? can't find any suitable "milk"...

[eskimomama]

Hello,

I just moved back to France with DH and our dairy-allergic DD who is 15 months old.
I am totally struggling to find any replacement milk for her - I want to avoid soy formula and soy milks.

In the UK there was an oat milk brand with calcium that seemed to be suitable, but it's not sold over here. All the oat milk brands I found contain bloody salt .

I am still breastfeeding as a result.
I tried looking for an informed dietician but couldn't find a single one familiar with dairy allergy.......

I would welcome any tips or feedback from anyone - including advice on alternative drinks to offer her instead...

thanks!!

I did find a formula in a French Chemist which was suitable (not soy and not CMP based) but I can't for the life of me remember the name and it was pretty foul tasting but they do have it. I spoke with the pharmasist and she thankfully understood my rather basic french and understood that I wanted non vache! If it is something you want to buy in supermarkets I would suggest you contact the producers of the "milks" here in the UK and ask if they have a distributor in France

Pepti Junior formula was what we used for ds2 - we were in the uk though and got it on perscription. Neutrimagen (?sp) was the other option.

Thanks both - I'd like to avoid the equivalent of Neocate as she'll never have it anyway. she's very allergic to dairy and can't have nutramigen or pepti, so I think I'll stick with oat milks if nothing else...

We had Neocate Advance prescribed by the French hospital specialist and then had to collect it from the hospital each month (fully reimbursed by social security).

Why do you say she'll never have Neocate? do you mean she doesn't like the taste? From what I can gather it is the best nutritional option if they can't have nutramigen or pepti, if there is any way of getting her used to the taste. We had to get DS1 used to it at 18 months when we moved to France by mixing it with previous milk and gradually upping the proportion of Neocate.

If you get an appointment with an allergy specialist they should be able to refer you to a good dietician. What part of France are you in?

thanks weta - we live in the Alps - whereabouts are you?
She refused Neocate at 7 months and tbh I never tried that hard as I prefered to BF anyway. I was thinking as she gets closer to 2 she doesn't need "infant formula" anyway, so why bother going back to Neocate, iyswim...
I'd rather go the "cereal milk" road but can't find 100% reliable info on them.

We are now in Luxembourg but were in the Languedoc for several years.

I understand why you would prefer cereal milks but I guess it depends what you can find (and I definitely think it is worth talking to a specialist and dietitian about it). I would avoid soy milk and also rice milk is supposed to be best avoided in large quantities until they are 4 or 5 I think.

Our specialist in France would have continued to prescribe Neocate until the end of childhood (!), although we had to change to rice milk when DS1 was 6 as we moved to Luxembourg and the Neocate was way too expensive.

I bf both mine to 15 months and then managed to get one used to Pepti and the other to Neocate (after a few months on rice milk as recommended at the time in NZ). Don't want to sound like I'm pressuring you, but just to say it may be more feasible than you think.

But check out lots of different health food shops and you may find what you are looking for. I think almond milk is another (expensive) option but we were advised to avoid as it could encourage an almond allergy...

eskimomama; unless yr DD is allergic to soya IMO the organic non gm alpro is good, the Japanese wean their DCs on it and have done for thousands of yrs.

Thanks Weta - i will try to find a well-informed dietitian but in my experience all they know if neocate and soy milk...

ppeatfruit- wow I didn't know that in Japan they used soy milk for weaning! thanks for sharing that

sorry typo - not if but is

We live in our 2nd home in Vienne and there're good shops called Pois Tous Vert there may be one near you

Hello Weta, I thought you were moving to Belgium?

Hi Longtime... that was a long time ago, no?! I did the exams for the EU and was kind of assuming any job would be in Brussels but in the end it turned out to be Luxembourg...

Hi Weta, yes, I guess it was. I just remember you asking about Brussels. Hope the job's going well :)

Yes, fabulous thanks - very happy here (though I'm sure Brussels would have been good too)!

That's great! Brussels is very different. Has its advantages and also disadvantages compared to Luxembourg. Glad you're happy :)