9 month old with dairy/egg problems - recipes sought

[porolli]

my 9 month old ds has been diagnosed at allergy clinic with dairy allergy. I'm sure he also has egg problems. I'm having real trouble getting him to eat anything other than mashed potato with sweetcorn and for puddings pureed fruit. I'm still b/f and I'm really looking for ideas to fill him up as he still wakes 3x night (possibly hungry) and I'm exhausted. he seems quite picky and I admit that with ds1 and dd I filled them up a lot on fromage frais/egg custards/cauliflower cheese etc. does anyone have any ideas or can recommend any allergy friendly recipe books? he seems to have a really sweet tooth and has hit the stage of not wanting anything new...
Thanks

Hi porolli

I have three kids (ages 7, 4 and 2) all allergic to dairy and egg (amongst other things). Have to admit, I've struggled to find good cookbooks.

You might find this website useful though

www.kidswithfoodallergies.org

It's US based with an annual subscription of $25. Members post recipes which, on the whole, are kiddie friendly and quick to make. Other fillers I've relied on:

• porage oats made with rice milk - add some mashed banana/pears other fruit.

• Ripe plantain, sliced and fried in olive oil. It's sweet and can be mixed with savoury food (e.g rice). You can try sneaking in other foods that he's not so keen on in the same mouthful.

• Provamel/Alpro soyal desserts. Various flavours (chocolate, vanilla) and with added calcium.

Hope this helps...

Ooh Wimmily - would you really recommend those Alpro desserts for a 9 month old? I bought some and then realised that they are mostly sugar, so am forced to eat them all myself .

Porolli - I also have a 9 month old with dairy allergy, although she is thankfully (as it seems to be one of her favourites) fine with egg. You can still make cheese sauces - just use soya milk and 'fake' cheese - cheezly is fairly widely available (Tesco def sell it, as do Holland and Barrett (Sainsbury's don't do any dairy free cheese)). It's not as nice as proper cheese, but your ds won't know the diff!!

I also wouldn't bet on his night waking being genuine hunger at this point - more a 'learned hunger' because he's got used to being fed at those times. Not easy to break the habit, but if you want to then either try controlled crying or take a look at the 'no cry sleep solution' thread on here.

Dairy triggers eczema in my ds, so feel for you. The most brilliant food I have discovered for him is quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). You can get it from all health food shops and even from some Tescos these days. It is like couscous really, in that it takes only a few minutes to cook (you soak for a couple of minutes if it is in flake form, and boil for 10 mins otherwise. It doesn't taste of anything so it's a great food for babies and its packed full of PROTEIN. It's a superfood apparently, whatever that means. You can add it to savoury and sweet dishes. My ds has it mixed with veg slop and also with fruit slop. It really pads the food out and seems to fill him well. Couscous is another good one to try - you could try adding it to some sort of casserole first so that it's nice and mushy.
Hope this helps!

we survived on casseroles at that age. I can't remember what the weaning guidelines are (when they can have meat etc.) but this is roughly what I used to do....

brown any meat in a pot, add around a small jug full of water and then any veg that you like (at that age I think I used to use the ones that mash well) - sweet potatoes, butternut, potatoes, carrots, parsnips...anything you fancy. Put in the oven for about 2 hours (180C) and take out and taste. All the veg should be soft enough to mash/be lumpy and the meat should be v tender.

If you don't want to use meat, I used to make casseroles but with beans or lentils. Sometimes, if you fancy a stronger taste, you can use tomatoes instead of water to make the juice for the casserole.

For puddings, fruit salad was a staple - sometimes I would give them jelly or the dairy free ice cream (is it called Swedish Glace I think). You can also warm up bananas and mash them in with that ice cream.

thanks so much everyone for taking the time to reply. there are some really good suggestions here. I usually shop at Sainsbury's and haven't been able to find fake 'cheese' but this may explain things..! is it soya based? I'll give them all a go, even if I have to put sweetcorn in everything to make it go down.

Moroccan lamb casserole - add a bit of cinnamon , few raisins and dried apricots to appease the sweet tooth. It tastes delicious when pureed.
Would second the cous cous.
Also ready brek made with breast milk or oat milk (or just water) for breakfasts.

p.s they often grow out of it - my DD was egg allergic and milk intolerant. She is now almost three and can have both. There is light at the end of the tunnel!!
p.p.s if you're BFing and dairy free yourself - bourbon biscuits, lemon sorbet and nougat are my top recommendations for dairy free 'treats'

just got out my old recipe book:

also - fruity fish: basically white fish casserole made with desicated coconut/coconut milk, pureed fruit cocktail, pinch of five spice powder (or mild curry powder) and thickened with baby rice

chicken casserole: use apple, broccoli and carrot for sweetness, thicken with mashed potato

just experiment - its quite fun really...