dairy & soya free child. How to up the calcium intake???

[simpson]

Hi

My DD (3.7) is dairy, soya, oats and barley free atm.

She drinks neocate LCP as her main drink. I had a dieticians appt today and they have registered concern at her calcium intake.

We last tried a yr ago to get her on to neocate active which she did not tolerate (diarea ) and also she had the same reaction with a calcium supplement.

Dietician wants to try her again on neocate active but am going to leave it till half term in case she reacts iyswim.

In the mean time what can I give her to boost her calcium intake??? She loves all food and eats loads of broccoli, leafy veg etc....

Anyone else been in same situation?? TIA

We have had a major break through as she seems to tolerate lacto free cheese but not the milk

Only thing I can recommend is calcium supplements - if she reacted badly with one, can you try another??

There are NO substitutes for the calcium in cheese, milk, yog. :( Other foods are very evry low in calcium compared to them.

Think there is only one type that is in as syrup. Which she did react v badly too but it was a yr ago so maybe best to try it again....

Just scared to as the fall out (literally with poo etc sorry TMI) is a lot

There are some ideas in here

I know of a couple of liquid calcium supplements - osteocare (which I think is ok for kids but not sure how young) and [[http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/salus-kindervital-multivitamin-fruity-formula-for-children_1_52541.html kindervital] - and there are various chewables too.

One food which I don't think is mentioned in the article above, which my mother used to feed me a lot when I was a dairy-hating child (not allergic, just fussy and before the days of soya products and supplements!) is fish with edible bones - tinned salmon, pilchards, sardines. I think I owe my own bones to those and living in a hard water area!

Have you asked her consultant at the hospital?

almonds have loads of calcium in them. orders of magnitude more than broccoli, and much more than milk.

Thanks for the ideas

Yes asked dietician and she basically said that her diet is healthy etc but that most kids her age would be on the other milk by now.

She does eat sardines on toast and tinned salmon.

Almonds are a new one though Off to buy loads!!

When DS saw the dietician she gave us a list of calcium rich foods, by far and away top of the list was porridge. Broccoli was also up there, my kids are not overly keen on eating it whole, but will wolf down broccoli soup.

Oops ignore me just retread OP and she can't have oats, sorry!

Have you tried Kara dairy free made from coconut milk? It's enriched with calcium (120mg per 100ml). My DS has it every morning on cereal. Also hemp milk -- a company called Braham & Murray do one called Good Hemp. I haven't tried it but I've heard some toddlers like it and you can get it from goodness direct.

Orgran do a range of calcium-fortified cereals which don't contain oats or barley (or so I remember, anyway).

My DS gets a lot of calcium from eating tinned sardines twice a week, and dried figs: a medium one has about 50mg. Whitebait is also amazing for calcium (almost 700mg per 80g).

Sesame and chickpeas are good sources too, so houmous which combines the two is brilliant.

There are also apparently some mineral waters which are fortified (e.g. Danone Activ).

I disagree with Cocktail Queen (sorry!). While it is true that milk-based products have loads of calcium, the protein in cow's milk (and meat) actually causes the kidneys to 'leak' calcium. I have read in several books on nutrition that cow's milk is therefore not as good a source of calcium as other foods.
Also, there have been studies in the US, I think, which indicate that in older children at least, it doesn't matter if the daily calcium target isn't reached as long as the child does enough exercise, which makes a massive contribution to bone density, especially in teenage years.

DS is dairy and soya free. I put tons of Tahini on toast for him, and he seems to like it.

Also, forgot to say: molasses have more iron and calcium pound for pound than most other foods (if not all other foods). Sometimes I halve a bunch of apples, put a teaspoonful of molasses in each half and bake them, then mash them up and mix them in with DS's porridge.

Ds had a glass of Calcium Orange by Tropicana in the chiller cabinet with the fresh juices. It claims to have the same amount of calcium as milk. He is now the tallest in our family!!

We buy the mineral water with the highest levels of calcium (we are in Luxembourg so I don't know the UK brands) and DS1 only ever drinks that. I always feel I have to explain to visitors why the rest of us get tap water while he opens his special bottle :)

Although dairy products are well known to be calcium-rich, cows' milk is not the best source as it also contains saturated fat but contains no fibre, iron or vitamins C, E or beta-carotene. And despite all you read, drinking cows' milk is no guarantee of healthy bones. The animal protein in cow's milk causes calcium to be lost from the body. Avoid meat for the same reason.

Calcium-rich diets include regular servings of dark green, leafy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, watercress and parsley; pulses, seeds (especially sesame and tahini - sesame seed paste) and nuts (especially almonds) are unlikely to be calcium deficient.

Daily calcium intake should be 350mg (toddlers) to 700mg (adults). So, 100g tofu (of course to be avoided by your DD though) contains 510mg calcium; 1 slice white bread 45mg; 100g broccoli 40mg; 25g almonds 60mg; 5g serving tahini (sesame seed paste) 34mg; 100ml serving fortified soya milk 120-140mg (compared with 115-120mg for cows' milk).

I second the suggestion of Kara milk. Also, plenty of time outdoors for the vitamin D to help absorb the calcium.

Kids often like almond butter (in a sandwich with jam, or on toast or with apple slices). White beans are quite high in calcium (put them in soup/pasta or use them to make a hummus-type spread) and second the rec. for dark leafy greans. Could you sneak them into some sort of non-dairy smoothie or juice? Try googling "green monster" for ideas.

My kids like to sprinkle sesame seeds onto things.

loads of ideas thanks!!!

Especially liking the calcium orange drink

The good news is that I have braved it and tried her with lacto free cheese and she has been fine!!!

Odd though as she is lactose intolerant but cannot tolerate the milk

My dd2 who is allergic to dairy eats loads of sardines (canned wirth the bones). I buy the ones tinned in tomatoe sauce, mix with homemade tomato sauce and serve with spaghetti. She loves it.

You can also serve in a sandwich.

Our dietician was very helpful on this and also recommended baked beans, chickpeas, mackerel, tahini.

But for us tinned sardines is far and away the most succesful. DD2 has the pasta meal at least once every week

Hovis best of both bread is high in calcium, my dietician said 2 slices is equivalent to a glass of milk.

rubbish.. just checked the ingredients and it has soya flour in. Sorry

@ garlic lover your statement about :
'While it is true that milk-based products have loads of calcium, the protein in cow's milk (and meat) actually causes the kidneys to 'leak' calcium" .

This is incorrect. Meat is certainly not classified as a high source of calcium and the protein in milk proteins and meat does not cause cause the kidneys to leak calcium. I am a registered dietitian and have worked as a clinician for many years in all specialist areas and never in my degree or clinical practice have found this. I worry that people give out incorrect advice / statements. Sorry to say this but it worried me that people would believe this and compromise themselves avoiding foods that they may not need to do.

loladola, many thanks for pointing out possible inaccuracies in my post. If you had read a bit further, you may have noticed my caveat: "I have read in several books on nutrition that...". Which implies that I am not an expert, merely an avid reader of books on nutrition; whoever reads my post, therefore, can decide whether to accept the information I provide as fact, or as something they can investigate further and ignore if they wish.

I was concerned about another poster's claim that there is no substitute for the calcium found in dairy products. This, surely, is untrue.

Another point to bear in mind is that the OP had already eliminated dairy from her daughter's diet. I would never dream of advising the mother of a non-allergic child to make such a drastic change to their child's diet without good reason!

Furthermore, most people who read this allergy thread are intelligent, well-informed women who can make up their own minds about these things. And, in case you may have missed it, every post has a mumsnet statement at the top: "Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications, experience, or professional qualifications of anyone posting on Mumsnet Talk...If you have any serious medical concerns we would urge you to consult your GP."

Forgive me for sounding impatient and blunt, but I have had it up to here with patronising advice from health professionals who parrot the line about not cutting out dairy from your diet unnecessarily etc etc. If only I had not listened to that advice when I was breastfeeding, I could have saved my DS (who has CMP allergy) quite a few months of suffering. Moreover, I have had woefully poor advice from a registered dietician who has been, quite frankly, of NO help when trying to advise me on how to manage my son's very restricted diet. One thing she did say was that my son probably had a better and more varied diet than most children his age. But I have had to find my own way, like most mothers who follow this allergy thread.

Humans are the only animals who use dairy products after weaning. As far as I know we are the only animals with osteoperosis.
Some sea weeds are very rich in calcium.

Garlic lover sorry you have had not such a good experience with health care professionals. My intent was not to offend you but nearly trying to point out true facts.

I make 'sardine biscuits' for my kids (sounds disgusting but they love helping to make and then eating them) - get some ready made jus-rol pastry - which I wouldn't have realised was dairy free until another mum told me (avoid the all butter one obviously) add mashed up tin of sardines, squish together and roll out, cut with various shaped biscuit cutters, stick in the oven for 15 minutes. A tasty savoury snack packed with calcium.

I also buy haliborange calcium softies (like strawberry sweets) which are thought of as a huge treat in our house - full of sugar as well as calcium but I give them with a meal so hopefully not rotting their teeth too much.