all you mums of allergic babies/children

[jenk1]

please help....

im absolutely stuck for meal ideas, dd has just spent the last week in hospital and she has hardly eaten anything so im desperate to get her eating again.
The consultant at the hospital said ive got to get her eating normally or she,ll end up back in hospital on a drip and thats the last thing i want
Her allergies are dairy,egg,wheat,citrus fruit and tomatos, ive exhausted every recipe that i know and she wont touch it, can anyone help with some new ideas.

Thanks in advance from a very worried and desperate mum

What about soups?

They always go down well here as it's so easy to eat.

rice dream? i've heard of it but not touched it. soya yoghurts? how old is she? *(about 18months iirc?)

yes she,s 18months old, she doesnt like soups ive tried a few and she wont touch them, the consultant said as well that if she continues to lose weight then she will have to go back on dairy etc, when i said but that will make her eczema bad he said-but eczema can be treated and is not as serious as underdevlopment which can affect the rest of her life, just hope it wint come to that stage

Dont they have a dietician that can help you?

ha!
she last saw us 2 months ago and "discharged" dd saying that she was fine, i had to ring her up about 5 weeks ago to say that dd wasnt putting on weight and she said that she was to have multivitamin drops but still said that she didnt need to see her.

Consultant wasnt impressed when i told him this and has asked for an urgent referral back to the dietician but i dont reckon much to her ability, we have asked for skin tests for dd and she said theres no point as we already know what she reacts to however, as the consultant is in the picture now maybe something will be done but its the between appointment times that are concerning me, its like dd has gone off food and isnt interested in eating at all.

Does she like the gluten free pasta? (not sure if you can get it eggfre??) with a home made bolognase sauce?
birds eye fish fingers... (not the batter ones)
It must be really hard for you, do you do a lot of your own cooking??
Home made chips...

What happens if she comes into contact with the rest of the ingredients??

Will she eat avocado? They are full of calories and very nutritious, plus quite fun to eat out of the skin. Cut in half lengthways, prise stone out with tip of knife, and hey presto a dish in its own bowl.

Jacket potatoes, ordinary or sweet potatoes.

Roast roots - peel and chop any roots (either baby ones or chop them into finger size sticks or comfortable chunks), boil for 3 minutes, dry on kitchen towel, toss in oil with herbs and roast in a single layer on oven tray for 45m-1h. Doesn't need to be just roots, either - butternut squash, courgettes, fennel, garlic, all good (but don't pre-cook the courgettes).

Can she eat oats? Dd loves proper porridge with a teeeny tiny sprinkling of muscovado sugar. The sugar gives a lovely toffeey taste without being excessive, and melts very appealingly on the porridge.

Can she have goats milk/cheese/butter etc?

Forgot to say the point of the roots (not just nutrition! ) is that by cutting a mixture of discs and fingers, you can make people, dogs, flowers etc on her plate.

How about Polenta? My kids love it. Cook it in water or stock for about half an hour, then serve with a sauce or cool, cut into bits, and fry or roast in oil. Yummy.

Hmep milk is nice (when you get used to it) especially with honey added. It's also brilliant nutritionally.

I make hemp milkshakes and the kids love them. It also fills them up. Small effort and forthought required but nothing major...

I soak the hemp seeds overnight.
Also soak dried fruit (apricot, prunes)
Also soak cashew nuts.

To make hemp milk, whizz up soaked hemp seeds and water (it'll go white) for quite a while in the whizzer. You're getting the soft bit out of the husk. Then you need to sieve through a very fine sieve (or muslin). Experiment with the strength. You want a nice milky liquid.

Then whizz it up with the soaked cashews, dates, apricots, banana etc.

It's gorgeous. You can put frozen rasps or other berries in it too.

Grrr. HEMP I mean.

thanks everyone for the ideas.
rummum- when dd eats any of the allergic ingredients she gets very bad eczema and starts wheezing and if its egg she has anaphylaxis.

sainsbury's milk free chocolate? Daughter doesn't have to be milk free but still likes it better than other chocolate. Fruit jelly - make up with the juice from the fruit. Soya ice cream - you can get it in Sainsburys. Make your own lollies with fruit juice. Wouldn't worry about a blanced diet for a few days until you've got her eating again and after a spell in hospital she may need some tempting. Haven't checked any of these are wheat free, we don't normally worry about that one.

Have just discovered Bisto best is a gluten free gravy powder if you wanted to try making her normal food wetter.

Not wise to put nuts in a recipe for a child under 5 with allergies, unless you want an extra allergy but the milk shakes sound like they'd be good without them. Wonder if I can get hemp seeds locally.

How about some comfort foods like potato (if she is allowed nightshades) mashed with olive oil, it should be bland enough for her to start with hopefully and get some calories etc into her. Just go at her pace and try not to get caught up in the weight (says the mum of a failure to thrive also on a hunger strike at the moment) Offer the food and try not to get stressed if she refuses. Try to give her immune boosting drinks like carrot and apple freshly juiced if she will take them. Anything she accepts celebrate, anything she doesnt just try again. If you take it at her pace she hopefully wont associate food with stress and eventually come back to it. Incredibly stressful situation which I can completely relate to but I have faith (most of the time) that my boy will come around in his own time.

gluten free sausages
rice bubbles
cornflakes
Freedom Foods do a dairy, wheat, egg free pancake mix
Banana Muffins - substitute for free from foods
gluten free toast fingers with honey etc
air popped popcorn
corn thins with free marg & jam/honey/banana
corn cruskits with promite
potato crisps
banana, apple, melons etc
vegetable sticks with natural soy yoghurt dip
beef and pumpkin risotto
chicken and broccoli risotto
tuna patties and vege

oops - should have said its only ONE type of bisto best that is OK, the roast onion flavour.

thanks mymama thats given me some new ideas!

you can buy dairy-free chocolate in health food shops.
flapjacks made with dairy-free marge an lots of lovely honey.
soya yoghurts
chips with mayo-style dip (sure you can buy egg-free soya mayo)
crisps
rye bread/crackers with peanut butter and jam

"pure" soya butter is a godsend because it can be used as a spread or an ingredient, and of course is dairy free. Polenta often contains parmesan and so isn't dairy free.
I can also recommend the "swedish glace" dairy free ice creams. I know they are not exactly a balanced diet but they might work as an incentive!

You can get quick-cook polenta (rather than ready-made) in Tescos etc, and it only takes about 5-10mins to cook. It's also good for dusting patties (eg burgers, fishcakes, or even whole pieces of stuff) before frying or baking to give a crunchy coating. Totally unlike batter or breadcrumb coating, but nice texture.

Alpro do puddings (like angels delight type) and custards. Very nice.MMMMMMMMMM

Bettythe builder where do buy the swedish glace ice cream from please?

www.goodnessdirect.co.uk is a lovely website for allergies.

Cloe2Jay - we have the ice-cream in our fairly-small Tesco's. It is in a flattish black hexagonal box.