Cows milk & egg allergy over 12 months

[RedRobyn2021]

I'm hoping there's another mum out there or professional that can offer me some kind of advice

My daughter is allergic to cows milk and to eggs too. I do breastfeed on demand but I'm going back to work 3 days a week.

I'm so worried that she's not going to get what she needs because she can't eat cows milk products and eggs

Has anyone else been through this? What did you do?

Not a mum but I’m allergic to those things too. I turned out fine. There are plenty of plant based milk replacements and even egg replacements now. Didn’t really have those when I was younger and it did me no harm.

DD is allergic to cows milk and eggs. She started nursery at 18m, and two different nurseries and her primary school have thus far catered for her absolutely fine meals wise. They're used to doing this nowadays.

At nursery they put dairy free milk on her cereal in the mornings and adapted the lunch menu for her.

I breastfed DD until 23m. When she was under around 18m if she was being babysat I would leave a bottle of expressed breast milk for her.
I removed daytime feeds a few weeks before she started nursery so that she wouldn't be dealing with the loss of the breastfeed as well as the challenges of being in childcare.

Several of DD's nursery pals are dairy-free. They cater for them just fine, so don't worry! All childcare settings will be well used to it now. We are having a party at a local soft play for DD tomorrow and they asked immediately if any kids were dairy-free or had another requirements. Not uncommon at all.

My youngest son is 16 now and has been allergic to eggs, dairy and a variety of other things since infancy. He's perfectly well nourished. In fact back in the day when we were seeing a dietician she commented that he had a far more nutritious diet than most of the children she saw who had far less restrictions. Neither cows milk nor eggs are an essential part of the human diet. They are convenient (and tasty!) of course, but there is nothing important in them that can't be obtained from other sources.
I never bothered with any milk substitutes really - I breastfed til self weaning and he had water or fruit juice when I was at work - but after 12 months most of the milk alternatives are ok to use - just not rice milk because of the arsenic content. There's also a good selection of non dairy yoghurts etc available now. Try to include lots of non dairy calcium sources in her diet too. There's lots of info online, though to be honest I would expect you to have had some input from a dietician. If you haven't, I would ask. Who is looking after your DD from the allergy point of view - they should be able to refer you. Also, have they discussed when and how you should start trying reintroduction eg the milk ladder? The vast majority of babies with CMPA will outgrow it before school age so it may not be a problem for you longer term. You need proper advice about that though.
Try not to worry too much. There are loads of foods she can have. . Mostly I cook foods that are naturally free from my sons allergens - when you think about it there are lots of perfectly ordinary meals that don't contain eggs or milk - but there are lots of substitutes available nowadays too.

My son is allergic to eggs and dairy too. I use the alpro oat growing up milk (money on it) it's fortified with calcium, vitamin d and iodine.

@MrsAvocet
Thanks 🙏

I had a telephone appointment a couple of weeks ago with a Paediatrician (I waited 5 months for this appointment) I'm now waiting for a call to book an appointment for DD to go into hospital for some tests, they said they would put the allergens on her skin and monitor her.

The amount of support/advice I've had is awful

If they could even have pointed me in the direction of a book or website so I can try to make the best choices, but I'm just guessing all the time.

If it was just for myself I wouldn't care, but it breaks my heart that I could be making the wrong choices for her because I don't know any better

@Notbluepeter

My son is allergic to eggs and dairy too. I use the alpro oat growing up milk (money on it) it's fortified with calcium, vitamin d and iodine.

Yes I was planning on giving her this as a drink after 12 months whilst I'm at work, she has it in cereal atm

Sorry to hear that you have had such poor support RedRobyn2021
Services are very patchy round the country and Civid has made it even worse I imagine.
There is a lot of information online but it isn't all high quality unfortunately so try to stick to reputable sources. Allergy UK is a very helpful organisation
www.allergyuk.org/living-with-an-allergy/
And this one is from the Royal college of paediatricians
what0-18.nhs.uk/professionals/gp-primary-care-staff/safety-netting-documents-parents/milk-free-diet-babies
Quite a lot of hospital Trusts publish their guidelines online too so try Googling something like "dairy free diet nhs"
Hope that helps a bit and that you get some real life support soon.