To be confused with feeding a dairy free toddler

[Backtonature]

My little one was diagnosed as cows milk protein intolerant at 12 months by a consultant. I was told she needed a pint of milk substitute a day (she was previously on normal formula with lots of problems chronic constipation on movicol etc) I was told to try soya, she wouldn't drink it or any other milk substitute. So she had no milk or dairy alternatives at all until age 2 :( which was when she suddenly decided she would drink soy milk! I feel so bad she had no milk for a whole year (and no cheese yogurt etc). Now she is drinking 2 cups of soya milk a day. This equals 60:/: daily calcium intake. I'm reluctant to add in a third cup as I have read that 2 cups of soya milk is the maximum a toddler should have a day due to the hormones? Would it be beneficial to add a glass of calcium enriched tropicana a day? This would add another 30:/: I found it in sainsbury today. I'm so worried she is not getting enough calcium and fat? I thought of changing to almond milk due to the hormones in soya milk but was told it is too low fat for a toddler. I'm so confused it's a mindfield?

our consultant advised us to use calcium enriched oat milk, plus 200ml of tropicana orange juice per day.
also try food such as tinned fish with bones, such as sardines on toast.
tahini in place of peanut butter is very good - we use a dip for salad sticks to make it more fun.
green leafy veggies.
(we are soya free too).
hope that helps.

Thank you for responding, can I ask you how many ml of the oat milk you used per day? Or how many cups? I currently use 2 cups of the soya milk a day (about 400ml) but not sure if this is right? My consultant just said a pint of milk substitute but that's an awful lot of milk? Or is this normal?

My DD (no allergies) stopped drinking formula at 10m. Wouldn't drink cows milk and still doesn't at 4. You can't force these things. She doesn't particularly like yoghurt either! Cheese is about all the dairy she has.

In fact, she's eats such a limited diet, if I worried about her calcium (or protein, or whatever) intake, I'd never sleep for worrying

Targets are all well and good, but I wouldn't worry too much about hitting 100% RDA every day, you know?

Dd is cmpi and drinks this. Sometimes, when she's not being stroppy :)

Can you get neocate subscribed? My ds who is cmpi has been on it since baby. We also give him supplements for calcium.

toasty fingers how much does she drink a day? That is the one my dd has!

3 cups on a good day, but more often than not just 1 cupful and some extra with cereal or in porridge.

She's never been keen on milk though, she was breastfed till about 18mo and since then it's been a nightmare to get any into her.

You dont necessarily need milk/calcium enriched OJ

1 tree of broccoli has 15mg in it,
1 sardine WITH bones has 50mg in it
25g tofu has 90g in it

Almonds, figs, dried apricots, green leafy veg and sunflower/pumpkin seeds also have calcium in it

My dd will not eat any of the above :( she does eat baked beans about 3 times a week but that's about it!

Sorry to hear your lo is so fussy backtonature, it must be tough.

How old is she? When she was younger dd would eat anything if I told her it was Mr tumble's favourite.

Oh she's not fussy she eats loads of meat, fruit, veg etc, but she would not eat things like tin fish, seeds, pulses etc, apart from baked beans!

Although I notice she eats less now that she drinks the soya milk?

Ah fair enough, load her up on broccoli then I guess,
Not sure if the reduced appetite is from the soy milk, dd would eat all day long if I let her.

My DD was diagnosed with this when she was 1 YO.
I gave her rice milk which she always likes.
forward wind a couple of years and she was fine.
Not dairy intolerance at all.

Will she eat cereal or porridge? My ds doesn't drink that much soya milk but he has cereal in the morning plus porridge at bedtime.

How about goat?

My friend is cows milk intolerant and just substitutes goat milk, works so much better than the milk alternatives, particularly in cooking (cheese sauces/ puddings etc) most supermarkets do goats milk, butter and cheese and waitrose stocks goats cream/ ice cream and chocolate milkshake.

I'm surprised you weren't given more advice. I would try swapping to something like oat or almond milk and then giving her soya yoghurts maybe (tho actually not sure if they have calcium in - check).

Or keep her on the soya she has now and have more dried apricots, hummus, green veg, beans, etc.
Google food with calcium in.

I know the thought of getting substitute milk on prescription is interesting if you have a child who is milk free, but have you every smelled , let even tasted them? Neocate and the like are.... Interesting ( Ie horrible!) .you can get small babies to take them if they know no better, but toddlers - no chance ( and I'd be fearful you'd make them suspicious of new stuff even more than thry are already!)

Not all children have that experience Helen, neocate also somes in various flavours for toddlers.

My paediatrician wouldn't prescribe Neocate once ds turned two so I would surprised if they started prescribing it now.

I wasnt prescribed it at 12 months, I was told normal soya milk would be fine?

We used Oat milk from the beginning but the Koko or Alpro coconuts ones are better for cooking we find. Always check the calcium levels - e.g. Oatly organic doesn't have added calcium.

Hovis best of both has calcium as do raisins, the Tropicana with added calcium, hummus, cheerios. We try and do breakfast of cheerios with fresh fruit, raisins and Oatly and then either hovis for lunch or tropicana for drink for later or milk. Custard is also a good one as so easy to make with custard powder, sugar and any milk you like (the oat doesn't work so well for this). You can add cocoa powder or chocolate drops to make it more interesting.

Fat should be ok. I hope. DS has always been a string bean and was told was due to lack of the dairy fats which make other babies/toddlers have that chubbyness. They never said it was a problem, but prob wouldn't have done as plenty of other things for me to worry about and nothing that could be done I guess, but he isn't a huge child.

DD2 is 4 and allergic to dairy and egg. She was also a pretty picky eater when smaller, although she is a lot better now.

I never got too stressed about calcium levels after the initial panic (and the occasional wobble now and then). At 2 she drank about 2 cups of oat milk a day. I also made her porridge with oat milk, and cooked for the whole family with it. We eat broccoli fairly regularly too, and she likes the Alpro soya yoghurts now (she couldn't eat them when smaller as too much soy seemed to irritate her stomach a bit).

If your DC is a fussy eater, I personally would step back from the food, let her eat what she wants (and try to encourage new things occasionally) and find a good multivitamin with calcium in it.

Her diet will get broader over time & this stops you panicking about calcium levels.

Children who aren't intolerant don't even need 1 pint of milk per day. We are told that 300 MLs of full fat cows milk will provide the required calcium for children aged 1-3 years. (350mg required). There would be other non dairy sources of this calcium too.

yep, I was super worried about my dd's calcium only for the dietician to explain she didn't need thaaaaaat much, especially compared to me who was breastfeeding (so df/sf as well) and not having nearly enough.