avoiding wheat and dairy, need more ideas for teatime asap!!

[alibo]

anyone with a strong fh of allergies, asthma, excema etc out there at the moment? need some ideas for ds's tea other than potatoe and veg. have benn given some recipes using rice, ie rissotto type thing. he needs something quite filling, ie carb at teatime. Also how can you add calories to a meal, if not using cheese or butter yet??

how old is your ds?

You can get loads of calories in things like avocado. Is he old enough to have meat yet?

Otherwise, things like pulses, lentils - I used to make a mean bean casserole for dd when she was young that really filled her up.

hi foxinsocks, he's 8 months, started weaning at 6months.

alibo, as my kids are much older (nearly 3 and 4), I can't remember what you can give them and when!! I think at 8 months he can have some meat can't he? If he can, make lots of casseroles - I used to bulk out with sweet potato which is very good for them. They are also easy to divide into portions and freeze.

The bean casserole I used to make had flageolet beans and butter beans (another good bulk food). I used to boil potatoes or sweet potatoes then mix with the cooked beans in a pot and add either some cooked tomato (is he allowed tomato at that age?) or water (or the 'milk' he drinks) to mash.

Make a vegetable soup then add butter beans/lentils at the end till they are cooked and mash.

Alibo, I would certainly keep bumping this during the week because there are plenty of people who have children younger than mine on the allergies board who will no doubt have a better memory of what they used to cook! Mine is very hazy!!

We don't have a fh of allergies but ds has eczema, milk intolerance and now egg allergy. Have you got any of Lucy Burney's books? I have 2 of hers and have found them very useful and I've used them as a guide as to what to introduce when.

I started ds on tomato at around 8 months and he's been fine and it's been a godsend as it has expanded the range of foods I can give him. Some of our staple and quick teas are: avocado, banana and beetroot; organic baked beans (from hfs) with brocoli; courgette soup; rice and millet pasta with homemade tomato sauce.

As for adding calories, an issue I have because of ds's intolerance, then I add a teaspoon or two of olive oil to his tea. This is advice I was given by his dietician. Avocado and banana together is packed with calories and a tsp of olive oil doesn't affect the flavour.

HTH, I'll post if I can think of some more ideas.

Meant to add that I tend to give ds his protein at lunchtime and keep tea veggie.

I didn't give ds wheat or dairy until 12 months either. He had lots of rissotto which I always added a fruit to (apricot is great), lots of root veggies (sweet potato and pumpkin) and when he was a little older (maybe 10 months) meat and potato pie (really not a pie, just diced or mashed potato and mince). My mum hates pasta and so growing up we had lots of meat and two veg type dinners, ds just got the same really.

I always added a generous slug of olive oil to the meal to add fat and calories, and I used mince (nice stuff though) because I thought that would have some extra fat on it.

I also made rice pudding with just water and then added fruit and maybe some EBM if I had any.He loved that.

I found it harder not to give tomatoes TBH. They are in everything!

thanks for those ideas guys; portree, which brand of rice/millet pasta did you use? foxinsocks, what kind of quantities would i use for a bean casserole, ie how much potatoe, beans etc? toddlerbob, could you give me any more details of your rissottos? wi think you've advised me on the alergy threads before, just remind me is bob allergic to ordinary formula milk?, as my ds is ok with formula , so still unsure whether to proceed with other dairy products like yoghurt and cheese?? had thought of rice pudding, and have got another thread on making this.

What about coconut milk - there's a fab recipe in Suzanne Olivier's book for a chickpea and spinach thing cooked in coconut milk with a bit of cumin (and maybe some coriander). My dd loved it and was definitely getting it from about 8-9 months. Like you I was being careful on the allergy front - avoiding cows milk, potatoes, citrus fruit etc.

She also adored Karmel's lovely lentils at that age (and still does now, age 2!).

Also - remember they don't actually need that many calories at that age. They're getting most of their calorie requirements from drinking milk.

Another thought - following Suzanne Olivier who is SUPER SUPER cautious and doesn't introduce cows milk until about 18 months if I remember correctly - she DOES recommend natural yoghurt from 9 months. She even explains why it's so much less problematic on the allergy front than normal milk. So I went with that - trying a really small amount at first and dd loved it. We gave it to her every night for months. Just plain, not even any fruit added to it.

thanks for that pidge, had thoufght i might try a lentil recipe for lunch, when he has protein, instead of a meat dish. thats good to know about the yoghurt, as at the moment hae has danone baby yoghurts, and seems ok with those(made with follow on milk not cows milk). which brand of yoghurt did you use, there are so many different types in the shops.!! also does s.oliver mention about introducing cheese?

also is coconut milk ok, if dh has nut allergy??

sorry here again pidge, when did you finally introduce cows milk, ordinary potatoes, citrus?

Coconut is not a nut (just confusingly named, as are pine nuts) ... again Suzanne Olivier seems to be ultra-cautious about this ... she doesn't introduce proper nuts for ages.

We tended to buy Yeo Valley Organic Natural Yogurt, we always have a huge tub of it because I have banana and yogurt every day for breakfast, so it was easy just to spoon some out for dd. Tried other brands of natural yogurt, e.g. Rachel's Dairy but thought they didn't taste as good and eventually realised this is probably because the Yeo Valley one has the highest fat content! Yum. But since yogurt is such a low fat food anyway, we've stuck with the yummy Yeo Valley brand.

I'll look up the cheese recommendation for you this evening, as I can't remember off the top of my head.

Just crossed with your last message! We tried cows milk in food at about 12 months, prompted by being in France and not having access to my EBM freezer supplies! So dd had it on her cereal from then. This was earlier than Suzanne Olivier's plan, which I think rules it out till 18 months. But frankly I was working 3 days a week and needed to be practical, so figured we'd just try it and since there was no problem we carried on. We did cheese at about the same time I think.

I think citrus fruits we tried at about 14 months. And potato too.

I will look up what SO says about all this in my book this evening and give you the age she says for each food. I regarded her as the most ultra-cautious person I read. My whole approach really relaxed at about 12 months, because dd was totally eczema free (whereas I was covered from 2-3 months), and was showing no sign of problems with any food, or any allergic tendencies generally.

The only thing I haven't let up on is the nuts (she's 2.2). She's had contact with them a couple of times by accident due to both grannies and the childminder letting her have them. But I'll hold off until she's at least 3-4.

My youngest is 4 and has had asthma and allergies to nuts and eggs since the age of 1, found out 6 months ago that he has a mild allergy to cows milk, so stopped all dairy, he still has an asthma attack when he gets a cold but the rest of the time he is wheeze free! He drinks soya milk, soya choc milk (which he loves) he eats cereals, bread, potatoes, loads of fruit, soya yogurts, so has a very limited diet, but he is gaining weight and very happy.

Bob was breastfed with no formula and so he didn't have any dairy at all in his first year. I would imagine you can make the rice pudding with formula.

Okay my stew/risottos were ; get a large pan and finely chop up some onion and any other veg that keep their shape (bob loved beans, zuccini and swiss chard), cube pumpkin or sweetpotato or potato or any other starchy veggie that will "melt". Boil up in a pan with protein (lamb, chicken or lentils all worked great - the dahl lentils from indian shops were the best, some water (keep adding more if necessary. I used rice if I hadn't put lentils in. Add a generous slug of olive oil. It's hard to describe, but the consistency when cooked was like a chowder. It freezes well, but I just made enough for a couple of days and served it for lunch and tea. Bob didn't seem that bothered about eating the same thing 4 times.

My other recipe was to cook a cubed pumpkin with minced lamb and coconut milk and a few raisins. Once he was a year I added some curry powder and then it was proper curry. It was great on it's own, but could be served with rice also.

this thread is great! I have been wondering what i can give dd, who is almost one... think shes bored of my stuff! she is wheat free and largely dairy free (has natural yogs) because of sever wind problems. I havent tried lentils with her... can someone tell me about them? are they a source of protein? which ones are best to use? any book reccomendations for wheat/dairy free? tia. spod

alibo, I think with the bean casserole I added a tin of flageolet beans and a tin of butter beans (drain and rinse them first, don't add the liquid that is in the tin) to a pot and boil with some plain water. Now at this point, I used to add some tomatoes (or tomato puree) and mix together. If your ds has a sweet tooth, add some sweet peppers (like yellow or red peppers).

Boil potatoes and mash with formula milk/cows milk/water. You can also used sweet pot if you like.

I used to feed this to dd when she was quite young, so I added the bean mixture to the potatoes and mashed it all up. You can roughly puree as the butter bean skin can be quite tough so if you like, puree the bean mixture then mash it into the potato.

To this day, dd can almost polish off a whole tin of flageolet beans if I serve them with lamb!

lentils are a good source of protein. I think around 1 cup of lentils has 18g of protein (goodness knows why that stuck in my brain).

I don't know which lentils are the best. There are a fair few vegetarians on this site and they will probably have a better idea. I always end up getting the red ones but I'm not sure whether they are any better than the other ones!

spod - for wheat and dairy free recipes I really recommend Suzanne Olivier's "What should I feed my baby" - she is ultra cautious about when to introduce particular foods, so can be taken with a pinch of salt (so to speak) if you're not too worried. I found her book a really great combination with the more standard Annabel Karmel tomes, which seem to have milk in EVERYTHING!

Also Suzanne Olivier will tell you all about the nutritional value of different foods in great detail.

Lentils for instance are a great source of iron. Personally I've always used the red ones as they're so quick to cook and go into a nice mush for young babies. We also use puy lentils for us, but dd has never been so keen on those.

Right, alibo, hopefully better late than never, I promised I'd post for you Suzanne Olivier's schedule of introducing foods, so here it is. NB the book dates from before the 6 month weaning recommendation, so I guess some of this advice would get pushed back a couple of months.

4-8 months
Veg (except the deadly nightshade family, see below)
Fruit (except citrus)
pulses and beans
rice, buckwheat, quinoa, millet
poultry, meat, fish*
egg yolks

9-14 months
oats, barley, corn, rye
live yogurt
deadly nightshade veg (i.e. potatoes, tomatoes, aubergine, pepper)
whole eggs*
soya products*
shellfish*

15-24 months
oranges,
wheat
dairy proudcts
seeds*
nuts* (not peanuts)

5 years: peanuts

NB the asterisks denote the foods most commonly associated with true food allergy, which she distinguishes from food intolerance or sensitivities.

Interestingly she actually introduced some nuts and seeds to her son's diet at 8 months on the grounds that the risk of true allergy were very low, she did it very carefully (within reach of medical help) and the nutritional benefits are great. I think with a non-allergenic history maybe that's ok, but with my nut allergies, I'm not going to be risking it with my dd for quite a while longer.

She does make the good point that with a true allergy the child is unlikely to grow out of it, but with food sensitivities you can often remove the offending food from the diet and successfully re-introduce it later in small quantities with no ill-effects.

She also recognises that for most people with no allergenic tendencies in the family there's no need to worry about this kind of timetable, and if you've happily fed your child at 6 months something that she wouldn't introduce till 15 months, then great, no problem. Her recommendation is just for those of us who think there's a reason to be careful, or who have suspected their baby might have problems with certain foods.

Sorry this is so long!

pidge, thanks for all that info, it must have took you ages to type it! might try him with some of the yoghurt soon, as the baby ones with follow on milk have a lot of sugar in them. thanks again !

spod, i am avoiding cows milk also at the moment, which kind of natural yoghurt do you use?

Alibo - I'm a demon typist, so didn't take me long!

alibo, I think if your ds is OK with formula (if it's the normal milk based formulas) then you should be alright trying some milk-based products like youghurt (especially in cooking) because those formulas are based on cow's milk proteins.

At that age, dd would react violently to milk based formula which is why I didn't try any other milk products. And even when she reacted to milk (at 18 months), she was still OK with yoghurt. She outgrew the milk problem but she still won't have lots of dairy (doesn't like the taste!).

You can get some quite nice soya yoghurts in main supermarkets. I think the live yoghurts are those probiotic ones you get in the supermarket (that are made with cow's milk).