To ask what your dairy free toddler eats and drinks on an average day?

[Newtothis2015]

I'm worried that my dd is not getting enough calcium, and wanted to get some ideas from what other dairy children eat. Dd has on an average day:
Breakfast- weatabix with soya milk and a cup of 100 % apple juice
Snack- banana, Apple, grapes
Lunch: hummus sandwich and veg sticks or baked beans on toast, cup of chocolate soya milk
Snack: a chocolate bourbon
Dinner: roast chicken dinner, beef stew, chicken pie etc. an Ella fruit pouch for pudding

does that sound enough calcium?

Does she have a milk allergy?

Enfamil has a branch of formula called "Enfagrow" which is dairy free and has all the essential vitamins and proteins for a supplement.

Best veggies for calcium is still broccoli. Can you make a saucy stir fry mixture if she won't eat them plain?

Other toddler friendly foods are: Oranges, beans, tofu, almonds, and Flinstone vitamins.

We used to throw a teaspoon of sesame seeds into porridge in the morning (would prob work in weetabix too!) and use tahini in sandwiches or on toast as a snack. Ours could eat cheese and yoghurt so it was probably a bit easier for us.

Tons and tons of calcium in broccoli, so get that down her. Soya yoghurt is also a good one and plain yoghurt can be used in cooking. Can also be frozen for ice lollies. Just make sure any dairy equivalents actually have calcium, many don't. And ditch the apple juice at breakfast, it's pure sugar and if you're worried about calcium can be swapped for a milk substitute.

I used to give my dd ready Brek at that age, it's fortified with a lot of calcium, be aware it's made on the same line as their chocolate version so not suitable for milk allergy just cmpi.

You could make milk puddings, rice pudding, custard and serve with some fruit through it to up the calcium, obviously made with your milk alternative.

My dd used to have almond butter every day on toast, it has a good amount of calcium in it.

Other good calcium rich foods are:

• sardines or pilchards in tomato sauce on toast (the type that comes in the tins with the soft edible bones).
• dried fruit such as raisins
• baked beans and other pulses.

I think most soya milk has added calcium.

Do you have a juicer? You could make fresh orange/apple juice mixtures for DD. They sell small ones on Amazon for around 35. Might be a good Christmas gift idea for "her" depending on her age.

my DD ( 5) is dairy free, too, but can't have soya, either - (luckily grew out of her wheat intolerance!)

My menus were/are very similar to yours, only extra things I can think is I give her a quite lot of pulses ( add some to stews, bolognese sauce etc) as they also have calcium.

Agree with lots of broccoli - we eat this virtually every day!

I still worry about her calcium levels - so I give her fish cakes or sandwiches made with tinned salmon ( but mushed up with a few bones - as this is a recommended high calcium option) every week/10 days ish .

Also drop a teaspoon of baobab powder into fruit smoothies ( from health food shops - another good source of calcium)

Try her with sardines mashed up on toast - I didn't expect my toddler to like it but he did!

my dairy free, soya free, egg free toddler has:

for calcium:
tropicana orange juice with added calcium 200ml per day - dilute with water and serve half with breakfast, half with dinner.
sardines on toast twice per week.
use tinned pilchards or similar fish on homemade pizza bases - use tomato puree, add tinned fish, sweetcorn or other veggies - my dd has this once a week. tinned fish is high in calcium - even better with the bones mushed in.
broccoli most days.
tahini mixed with peanut butter - tahini is really high in calcium - use as a sandwich filler, or on crackers. or as a dip for carrot stick, cucumber sticks etc.

for non soya allegic kids, buy bread fortified with calcium.

nuts are also high in calcium, so fine for older children.