Advice on dairy-free foods for a four-year-old with eczema

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After 3 years of increasingly worsening eczema, we finally have a proper plan from a GP which includes cutting out dairy completely. I'd be really grateful for any advice or product recommendations that are dairy free without risking calcium deficiency in my growing 4 year old! Thank you in advance.

P.S. I also put this on the Vegan board before realising there was an Allergies one - apologies for double posting!

Hi! my DD is 2 and has a dairy allergy, here’s what works for us (but she may be less fussy - she hasn’t quite reached the fussy stage, and also for many of these, she’s never had the dairy version so that may have helped us!)

So I think leafy greens (kale/spinach) have calcium. I have a recipe for spinach and sweetcorn muffins which my 2 year old quite likes.

Alpro does vegan yoghurts, which have calcium in. Similarly, they do a “growing up milk” which I think is targeted for 0-5 year olds and I give my DD that instead of real milk.

We give her a vitamin supplement in her bottle every night. I know night bottles aren’t as good for their teeth, but it is helpful for vitamins!

Finally, and you may want to wait until the eczema is under control, but we found she is only allergic to cows milk - she can have goats cheese and feta (sheep’s cheese), so she has those as a snack. I introduced them cautiously - wait until eczema all under control, then I did 1/8th a teaspoon, and doubled the quantities until she could tolerate a tablespoonful which I felt was as much as I would give her at snack.

Multivitamin that contains calcium.

alpro do a wide range of yoghurts etc that are dairy free.

you can also get dairy free “cheeses” although they do not taste much like cheese. The babybel ones are fairly good though.

Thanks so much for the quick replies!

I've got to find a way to get more leafy greens in him - I'm afraid he's fully at the fussy "yuck it's green" stage now, despite being great as a baby/toddler. Will give muffins a try.

Just checked his existing multivit and no calcium so will change that.

Will go Alpro for yoghurts then.

Any links to non-dairy meal recipes would be brilliant if anyone has them please? I have a limited repertoire for him at the moment.. I also need to consider whether I'll be cooking two meals - one non-dairy for him and one for his (currently eczema free) younger brother!

I don’t have any great non-dairy recipes. I tend to cook as normal, using a combo of these substitutes:
Dairy milk - alpro growing up soy milk
butter - either margarine (Flora is good, check the ingredients as some margarines have milk powder in!) or coconut oil
cheese - either feta, yeast powder, or I’ll just leave the cheese out entirely.

I have heard Chat GPT is quite good at editing recipes, but not used it myself. I tend to cook fairly plainly though, so salmon and potatoes, spaghetti bolognaise, toast and beans are all frequent favourites and all naturally dairy-free!

Tofu is very high in calcium and protein. Hundreds of recipes out there. Two types of tofu too: firm and silken, they have different properties

Oreos and party rings are dairy free, which might be more familiar to him and also cheaper than specialist foods.

Voilife was the best cheese alternative for us, it was closest to a milk cheddar, they do slices and a block and also a parmesan style and a cream cheese style. Phillidelpha also do a plant based version.

Oatly milk. Oatly cream to make things like a carbonara.
Coconut colab yoghurts are lovely - but expensive. Tesco used to to do a dairy free fromage fraud style pot.
Birds custard powder is diary free so use that to make a dessert with any alternative milk.

If it's cows milk protein issue it's very common to also have a soya allergy so we try not to rely on soya products.

You can make almost any recipe just substituting for a dairy free alternative ingredient. Mac cheese is about the only thing I couldn't do!

Lots of kids do really well with dairy-free once you find the rhythm, it's mostly swapping rather than starting from scratch.

For calcium without dairy, fortified oat milk or Alpro in cooking and cereal covers a decent chunk. Tinned salmon with the little bones really mashed in is surprisingly kid-friendly and has more calcium per serving than milk — works in fishcakes, pasta or sandwich filling. Tahini in dressings and white beans in soups or muffins all add up too. The Alpro growing-up milk is worth using in porridge even if he won't drink it straight.

Meal-wise the things that are naturally dairy-free and 4-year-old-friendly without much faff — any Asian stir fry or fried rice with soy sauce, bolognese with olive oil instead of parmesan (honestly barely noticeable), jacket potato with baked beans and dairy-free spread, coconut milk curries that freeze really well. Once you've got 10 trusted meals it gets much less stressful.

Hope his skin settles down quickly!

Vitalite spread is dairy free and better for baking than "dairy free" alternatives. Chocate bourbons are often dairy free. For main meals, Chinese inspired options rarely have dairy eg sweet and sour, stir fry. Coconut cream (often found in block form) can he used to make creamy sauces / desserts.

We used Wellkid calcium and vit D liquid which was an ok taste (kind of bananay/orangey), or Haliborange do strawberry gummies. Saves you stressing too much about sourcing through diet.

Re alternative milks, most are fortified with calcium.

I find oat milk is great in cooking white sauces but I add a heaped spoon of nutritional yeast flakes to add a nutty/savoury flavour otherwise it can be a bit sweet.

Flora block is better than Pure/soft spreads for cooking because the water content is lower so it holds better in the mixture, especially for cakes and biscuits.

I loved recipes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz when learning how to cook for DS's allergies: she doesn't rely on soya in everything and uses plain ingredients. She has a website that might be good to look at. https://www.theppk.com/

Her mac and cheese using sunflower seeds (I use half sunflower/half cashews) is delicious but it is a faff!

No idea why my post has been hidden but hopefully it will be released - maybe they don't like mac and cheese 😂

Thank you so much everyone for these suggestions. Really helpful. As someone said, I am definitely finding it’s more about swaps than cutting things out so far, which is great. Though it’s taking some getting used to not just chucking our “favourites” in the online shop.

I like the idea of just working towards 10 failsafe meals (and then always having the ingredients in for a few of them at a time) and then the stress coming out of it. Expecting my slightly fussy 4 year old to have a wider repertoire than that would be asking a bit much of him anyway..!

Glad you’ve finally got a clear plan in place that’s often the hardest part.
If you’re going fully dairy-free, look for fortified plant milks/yoghurts (calcium + vitamin D) and include foods like leafy greens, beans, tofu and fortified cereals to help cover calcium needs.
It may also be worth checking in with a GP or dietitian just to make sure your child’s nutrition stays well balanced while you trial the change.