Snack/Meal Ideas for dairy and egg allergic toddler

[Jayan]

Hi all,

This is the first time I have posted on here. I have an 18 month old son who was diagnosed with milk and egg allergy at 8 month.

We have been managing the allergy really well but I am a bit concerned about the lack of variety in his diet now that he is getting older.

He eats toast & porridge for breakfast, baked beans, spag bol, sausage casserole, roast dinner, risotto, pasta (basically whatever meal we have) for dinner/tea but I am really stuck on snacks for him.

He will eat breadsticks, lots of fresh fruit, fruit pots, oat bars and raisins but he seems to have the same things virtually every day!

Does anyone have any ideas of other things that I can try him with? I have tried houmous, vegan cheese, potted meat & alpro soya yogs but he doesn't like any of these!

Another thing that worries me is he always does really sloppys poos, (sorry) does anyone know if this is normal, I thought it might be due to the amount of fruit that he eats.

Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading :)

Jayan

Rice cakes (organix do apple ones that are just lovely), waitrose brand rich tea biscuits are a nice treat (no milk or eggs), not sure what he is drinking but my ds has oatly oat milk and they also do a cream which is great for cooking with, nature valley do really nice granola bars, organix gingerbread men. I have also found as he is now over 2 that he tolerates dairy a bit easier in moderation so we do now give him some cheese & chocolate both of which he LOVES. He is due to be retested in September. Have not tried him on egg yet (his reaction to this was way worse than dairy) but he does tolerate cooked egg in cakes/muffins. Try houmous on his bread (instead of spread) and he might enjoy it. Alternatively I use pure spread. And my DS loves cucumber sticks with houmous. And Vegemite (I am an Aussie) but my kids love it and it is nicer than marmite on a sandwhich. :o

Hey Ticklebug, thanks for replying. Some great ideas there, definately going to get some of the rich tea biscuits and granola bars. We have given him the rice cakes and he loves them (although I end up eating about half the pack!). He drinks oatly and absolutely loves it thankfully! He is due back at Alder Hey in October to be retested so fingers crossed for some positive news!

I have always done lots of home baking - DS1 is now 7 and I still have a constant rotation of cakes in the freezer (cut into slices). He is allergic to dairy and was also allergic to egg until he was 2. You can buy an "egg replacer" powder (called Orgran I think) from health food shops - the cakes are still a bit crumbly but not too bad. I also used to make biscuits with him, and things like scones and flapjacks are good as they don't need eggs.

But you're probably worrying too much about variety - I used to too but then a dietitian at the hospital pointed out that adults have the same breakfast every day and in fact quite a lot of repetition in our diet, and it isn't a problem. Do try different things, but don't stress too much, and it's great that he eats lots of fruit and the same kinds of meal as you in the evening.

DS1 also used to like carrot sticks, chopped cucumber or a little bowl of sunflower seeds with raisins. For a treat you could try that Swedish glace icecream too.

My dd loved the Organix savoury snacks (carrot sticks, sweetcorn rings) which are dairy free, cream crackers, corn thins. As well as houmous I also did avocado sliced or mashed to make a dip, cherry tomatoes, olives, ham and cucumber.
For sweet things Plum also do spelt biscuits which are dairy and egg free, and you could try other dried fruit such as mango, apricot, apple etc (though mind the fibre intake). As a treat I make dairy free chocolate cornflake cake which goes down a storm with everyone, and in Tesco and sainsburys they sell dairy free chocolate buttons in the free from aisle.

Holland & Barret do a really lovely dairy free pate. Also, some supermarkets have similar. DS2 loves his oatcakes & pate!

Jelly

Thanks for all the great ideas, I will give them a try!

Rice cakes, breadsticks, raisins, biscuits (easy to find ones without dairy/egg, usually the 'value' brands as made with oil not butter, or the organix etc ranges). Houmous, peanut butter, avocado. Baked beans, heinz spagetti (wiggly worm pasta! NB not the hoops). The 'nak'd' range of raw nut/fruit bars are much loved by my two (one allergic, other one isn't).

For puddings, the alpro soya puddings are nice (vanilla, choc, caramel). If he doesn't like soya yog, you could buy the plain one and mix with his favourite fruit yourself maybe? Waitrose essential range hot cross buns. Co-op iced buns or donuts (but probably too sugary for his age).

To be honest, at 18 months, there isn't that much variety needed, if he's getting his meat and veg and fruit anyway then he's fine.

Also - took me a while to twig this - but dairy and egg free is basically vegan (but with the meat, iyswim). So google any vegan recipes for great ideas eg here is fab especially the kids hedgehog cake, which I made this morning for DD2's birthday.

Re sloppy poos- I actually know what you mean! DD1 (the allergic child) was like this, really awful and I actually wondered if there was another allergy/intolerance we hadn't picked up. However, its got much better as she got older (3.10 now), maybe as she started having more biscuits rather than fruit .

ooo, also, v nice recipe on MN for sugar free flapjacks here

DD is CMP intolerant. I've just made her some tuna croquettes to keep in as a snack- the recipe is in the Baby-led Weaning book. You need a tin of tuna (In oil or spring water), 2 large potatoes (peeled, cut into chunks and boiled or steamed then mashed). Mix them together with a knob of butter (I use pure dairy free), then shape them into sausage shapes and coat in breadcrumbs ( from dairy free bread of course). Then pop the in the oven for 20 minutes. They can then be frozen and when I need them I just reheat them in the microwave. DD loves them. I felt the same as you at first about a lack of variety for snacks but I've found some good ideas in baby cookbooks- usually in the finger foods section -and just substitute milk and cheese etc for dairy free versions.

Thanks ladies for all these great ideas, I am learning from them.

My kids love popcorn, it's quite good as if you make your own you can control the fat/sugar/salt content depending on what you put on it.

The co-op does dairy and egg free pate. My kids also love homemade mackerel pate. In fact they love anything fishy especially prawns and smoked salmon!!

The co-op also does egg and dairy free doughnuts which are great for a treat.

Most supermarkets stock the dairy and egg free mayola which is good for making dips and also for doing tuna Mayo for sandwiches and toasties.

The kids love making pizzas, we just spread some passata on a wrap and put tuna/ham/sweetcorn/pineapple/olives on and bake in oven for 5 mins. So quick and easy and healthy without cheese on.