Weaning a baby with cows milk allergy

[lechatnoir]

DS (5.5mths) is on Nutramigen for cow's milk allergy & I'm wondering if there's anything special I should be doing about weaning aside from avoiding anything dairy & introducing new foods every few days? I am about to start BLW and have been advised by the doctors to 'just stick to fruit & veg & introduce slowly for the 1st year' but that seems very vague & surely things like chicken or lamb will be OK in a few months? And any ideas about rice cakes, bread - I'm just thinking back to all the foods DS1 enjoyed in his first year. Also, as they don't digest much in the early days of BLW can I give baby rice (or similar) mixed with his formula to fill him up as milk is no longer satisfying him.

Sorry for all the questions but I had hoped to get the answers at the specialist today but I was so late I missed his clinic & saw a junior he really wasn't helpful.
Many thanks
LCN

my baby is allergic to cows milk, this made him really picky about weaning. apparently they know whats bad good for them. anyway i got really stressed by it because he would hardly eat.
did not really eat until about ten months, but later found out this is quite normal, he didn't really eat regularly and properly til 14 months.

hipp organic banana rice pudding is dairy free - this is still a staple for us.

blw is okay as is puree - mixture is best imo.

steer clear of baby rice cakes till about 7-8 months, my ds always gagged on these.

There seem to be two different issues raised in your post - dairy free weaning & BLW.

Dairy free weaning is relatively easy, just read labels religiously, milk crops up in the most bizarre foods. Leave a gap when introducing new foods so you can spot any signs of further allergies. I can't see why you would just introduce fruit & veg in the first year, chicken and lamb and rice should be fine. I thought the current medical advice was that late introduction to foods wasn't helpful in avoiding allergies but I might be wrong.

The BLW weaning is a different matter, I think if you do it properly then you wouldn't give baby rice or anything from a spoon. I found a mix of finger foods and purees to be best for both of mine (one allergic, one not). If you've already weaned once you'll be able to make up your own mind how you want to approach it.

The advice I was given for DS2 (because DS1 has a dairy allergy) was to start with fruit and veg (this was around 5 months), then start meat and chicken at 6-7 months, but hold off wheat until 8 months and fish until a year (just because these are also common allergens). I would also wait until 12 months for eggs and take it slowly. We also kept DS1 off all nuts until age 5.

We're seeing a great guy (Adam Fox: paed allergy specialist). DD is allergic to dairy and is BLW. He has asked us to try all foods in the window before the first year - introducing late can result in allergic response. DD throws food that she doesn't like over the side of her high chair - easy.

There seems to be a real contrast in info given by health professionals re delaying introduction of foods. Wish the professionals would make their minds up!

The reason why there is such contrasting advice is because no-one actually knows what is best regarding allergies. The research is quite sparse and what there is is by no means conclusive.

DS2 has a dairy allergy (following on from ds1's egg, nuts, legumes allergy). We were told to proceed cautiously with soya and eggs as milk allergy can cross-react with soya allergy (about 45% of children with milk allergy have soya allergy), but that said, we gave ds2 soya yoghurts from about 6-7 months simply because at some points it was all he would eat and neither we nor ds2's consultant thought it was good to restrict his diet any more than necessary.

Introduce things slowly and look for patterns in reactions to ingredients in dishes as some allergies can be difficult to pin down (e.g. it took us years to discover ds1's reaction to peas was a result of peas).

That said, we had both of ours eating a more oor less normal family diet from 9-10 months oonwards, we just modified the whole familiy's diet to account for allergies.