Getting enough calcium with no milk

[incensed]

Hi All

Just wanted to pick your brains. My 14 mo DS has allergies to CMP, eggs, Nuts and mildly soya. I am BF so have also cut out all these. (No plans to give up BF despite respected Paed consultant telling me my milk will have no nutritional value at his age, but that's another story...!!!)

I am on calcium supplements and give DS a Calcium/Vit D chewie daily which apparently provides a third of his RDA. I have recently found 'Wot no Dairy?' in Holland & Barrett which he likes and provides 352 mg of calcium in one pot- over his daily RDA. He has Oatly on his cereal, and lots of green veg but not much calcium overall from unprocessed dietary sources. Unsurprisingly he is not keen on sardines!

I just wondered how others make sure their CMP allergic LO gets enough calcium? I know that supplements are never as good as getting the nutrients from dietary sources and I am worried about giving him a pot of Wot no Dairy every day as it seems quite processed. He is mildly soya intolerant which is not really a problem as I have heard about the possible problems with soya for infant boys.

Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated x

Have a week of rotting up calcium to make sure he's not getting it from various sources - sounds like you may have done that already. I have some calcium content values for various things from dietician ages ago which I can post if you like - but I bet they're all on google. Sounds like you are working hard to be creative and it may be that it all adds up :)

If he's short, GP can prescribe Sandoz Syrup which is dairy free and will give him his daily recommended dose in one small gulp. My son had it and it was good to be able to stop counting morsels of calcium high foods while he grew out of his CMPA.

Have you tried tinned salmon with bones in? It's less strong than sardines and goes down well with my DD who has it with egg free mayo or mashed avocado as a sandwich filler.

Hope that helps.

I was advised by the dietitian that as long as DS has 3-4 good feeds a day from me there's sufficient calcium in his diet and not to worry about it. Its more the iron and vit D that we need to pay attention to in his diet.

I try and give my daughter some tropicana orange juice with calcuim, as well as supplements and other foods.

its tricky as her teen brothers tend to drink it!

My dd has exactly the same list of allergies, still breastfeeding and she loves sardines, but don't want to go overboard with them due to toxins. She's not great at eating green veg either. We're still waiting for a dietician appointment but I'm going to have a look for these wot no dairys - is it yogurt?

You dont want to give him too much calcium as that can be rather deterimental.

You BF will be enough.

I recently had my 19 month old (16 months at the time) blood tested, I asked him to check his calcium levels too as he had CMPA and is bf.

His calcium was fine. Good in fact. Had I been adding calcium supplements Id have probably not been doing him any favours at all. I think it causes kidney stones or similar. Most unpleasant.

I was bf my son regularly though (i.e not just morning and night like some at the same age).

Green veg is good, the darker green the better and Oately with added calcium. But even then, I wasnt doing that, bf is truly enough.

Also, I was put off by GP's and even specialist re bf.
It went against my instincts so I researched what was in alternative milk and what was in mine. Mind was better 100 fold - quite literally.

Ive since asked a top London specialist who confirmed bf was the best thing I could be doing.

Excuse my language but people suddenly become uneducated fuck-witts when it comes to the subject of bf.

You literally could not be doing anything better for your CMPA baby.

(The last rant was HCP's, no one on here of course.)

Reading with interest. DS is 15 months and 9 weeks into a no dairy no soya trial. I make custard with oatly and put loads in his porridge every day. He will only bf first thing in the morning and just refuses now at other times. He actually cried at a party today when the other children tucked into cake and cheese cubes :-(
Without many bf's I am sure he isn't getting enough calcium. He is a sturdy boy but has dark shadows under his eyes and a very pallid complexion. We go back to hospital in Jan for reassessment and it cant come soon enough (for me and my need of dairy products at least)

Sandoz syrup isn't dairy free, my dd reacted too it, and despite a dietitian (not my dds regular one) telling me it couldn't be derived from dairy after I insisted she contact the manufacture she confirmed that some of the calcium is derived from dairy!! Another fantastic example of non IgE allergies not been taken seriously, as I was told, "it can't be from dairy or our anaphylactic patients would be dropping dead"

For my dd we are struggling, especially as she can't have the only syrup available on prescription, I'll probably have to buy floradix whichever vegan so definitely dairy free, but my chemist told me to ask about a bespoke formulation, which I will at our next appointment.

Babylily thr dark shadows under his eyes are likely to be 'allergy shiners'.

Ohforducks....Had never heard of allergy shiners, but having just googled images...Yes that is absolutely what he has.

Yep many of us on here have very pale children with panda eyes :( I can generally spot an allergic child from 20 paces these days!