What do you feed your dairy free babies?

[User5252727]

My son has to have a couple of dairy-free weeks for medical reasons. He is nearly one, and usually has a good range of cheese, yoghurt, butter, milk etc.

We have been advised to substitute cow's milk for a barista style oat milk. Can anyone with dairy free babies let me know what your preferred alternative is for things like yoghurt and butter?

Are you allowed soya products?
There is a soya 1+ milk that is fortified for thatvage group. You also get soya and coconut based yoghurts

Houmous or mashed avocado on toast
Peanut butter ( if no allergies)
Dairy free cream cheese
Olive oil spread
There’s various dairy free yogurts available now, ie oat, almond, coconut, soya. Depends on preference or any other allergies

I think we're fine with soya - he hasn't shown any allergy to it before, and it's lactose the GP thinks he might have developed an intolerance to.

Thanks for helpful suggestions so far!

I used to get pure spread for butter and there were some coconut based yogurts I tried but tbf my dd never really liked much of the dairy free options but now loves cheese, yogurt etc

@User5252727

I think we're fine with soya - he hasn't shown any allergy to it before, and it's lactose the GP thinks he might have developed an intolerance to.

Thanks for helpful suggestions so far!

If its lactose then you can get lactose free milk and cheeses that still contain cows milk protein. What are his symptoms?

Lactofree is cows milk with the lactose broken down. Think there's cheeses and yoghurt too

Why does the GP think lactose rather than cows milk protein issues?

His symptoms are intermittent diarrhoea for the last few weeks and some very sour smelling stools. He has been tested for things like norovirus and come back clear.

The GP says sometimes when babies have had a bug it can make them temporarily lactose intolerant, so we've been advised to cut out dairy for two weeks to see if that improves things.

Previously he has eaten dairy with no issues, and I've eaten dairy the whole time I've breastfed him, so I don't think CMPA is in play.

Could you go lactose free rather than dairy free? If he's still on formula then you could use a lactose free one and it would still taste like his usual milk.

If you were going to give oat milk then Alpro now does a fortified oat milk for age 1-3 as well as a soya one.

Other non dairy milks don't have the right nutrients for that age of baby

He's breastfed so no issue with formula. Lactose free might be a good option - I'll check with his GP whether she wants him totally dairy free or if just avoiding lactose is enough.

That's really helpful to know about the fortified milk, thank you!

My son has alpro soya growing up milk, violife cheesespread, peanut butter, alpro custard (which is lovely!!) Alpro vanilla yogurt (again-lovely!!) And alpro 4 pack yogurts that are fruit flavoured I just can't remember what off the top of my head. Tesco do dairy free from age frais, they're quite big pots not like petit filous size. He loves a Yorkie pud made with soya milk and a roast dinner to go with it, we use vitalite for his mash, flora buttery used to be milk free, they're in the process of changing it back again now.

I'm yet to find an actual cheese he will eat, we have the violife grated and vitalites new one in the fridge, he's not a fan but I might try and sneak some in his mash!!

The thing is that breast milk also contains lactose so you wouldn't be able to cut it out completely. Maybe you could try colief drops as that would break down lactose in your breastmilk

These days you can get alternatives for everything. Just cook as normal but substitute for dairy alternatives. That said dairy free cheese is on the whole pretty vile; violife is probably the best alternative.

Are you going dairy free for the duration?

Oatly is usually recommended as it has iodine added, other than that there are lots of great groups on Facebook if you use it, and ideas online it's worth a Google.

The OP going dairy free would make no difference to the lactose content of her breastmilk

The GP has said there's no need for me to go dairy free.

Thanks so much for these suggestions, I'm making a shopping list! Don't want to go crazy if it's just for 2 weeks but he usually has a reasonable amount of dairy so would be good to have nice replacements.

Does he still breastfeed a lot?
He will still be getting lactose through your milk. As I said colief can help break it down but I don't know how strict you are going to be.

I wonder if a probiotic would help too

GPs often have really crap knowledge about cows milk protein allergy/intolerance. Your breastmilk contains lactose and it’s incredibly rare for a baby to be lactose intolerant and they would be failing to thrive. It’s far more likely to be an issue with cows milk protein. In which case don’t replace dairy with soya as these are very similar. Join the CMPA support for weaning Facebook group for lots of food ideas.
We use
Oatly barista
Pure buttery
Violife ‘cheese’

Whoops just seen your post about temporary lactose intolerance and no issues with dairy before. In that case someone else mentioned colief for your milk to help baby digest the lactose in that.

There are loads of work arounds available now. Basically anything vegan. Swap to plant milks like coconut or oat, applewood vegan smoked cheese is actually nice, as are coconut yoghurt. Margarines like flora are fine too. Biscuits like jammie Dodgers and Oreos, plain crisps or oat crackers. You just need to check the ingredients for milk or butter in any form, these are usually highlighted in bold.
The soya alternatives are often not tolerated well as they have a distinct taste. If it's only 2 weeks maybe just omit the dairy and it's substitutes and increase with fruit and veg, breads, meats etc as lots of the substitutes are oils, so not the healthiest. Also be ware of processed meats, these can have hidden dairy in too.

@Meandmini3

GPs often have really crap knowledge about cows milk protein allergy/intolerance. Your breastmilk contains lactose and it’s incredibly rare for a baby to be lactose intolerant and they would be failing to thrive. It’s far more likely to be an issue with cows milk protein. In which case don’t replace dairy with soya as these are very similar. Join the CMPA support for weaning Facebook group for lots of food ideas. We use Oatly barista Pure buttery Violife ‘cheese’

Failing to thrive isn't a given - my ebf 9lber never lost any weight and was 18lbs at 5 months, and yet she was severely lactose intolerant.

I'm vegan now and I'd say Flora spread (not the buttery one anymore but all the others are dairy free), Violife cheese generally or Vitalite cheese slices and the Asda own brand cheddar melts nicely, and Alpro greek yogurt for snacks or Asda own brand for cooking.

Good luck!

Oh and if the no dairy seems to help, as the GP for a reducing sugars test in a stool sample. That's the way to test for lactose intolerance.

My daughter is lactose intolerant and can't have soya either. We used lactosefree products or coconut milk based products. Our favourites are the tesco free from range for yogurts and milk. There is a company called oatly that do vanilla custard and yogurts too. Flora margarine is 100% plant based so we use that instead of butter x