Advice on Dairy intolerent DS's diet.

[Charleesunnysunsun]

After a looooooonnngggg dr's appointment yesterday in refrence to DS1's generally shite health, we have not only been refered to 4 diffent depts in the hospital we have also been asked to completley cut out dairy in DS1's diet.

This isn't new as he was on a dairy free diet from being weened and its only the last year and a bit hes been alowed dairy, he was on Nutramagin milk and at that time he was still on fruit and veg purees and very basic cereals ect.

Now he's 2.3 it's proving difficult to find things for him, he's having calcium enriched soya milk in his bedtime bottle and in his cereals ect, but he's a fussy eater as it was, he will eat limited fruits really only bananas, peaches and pineapple. he does eat the friut peices in juice in the little pots you can buy.

apart from potatos or in a tinned stew he wont eat any veg at all he just refuses point blank.
He also wont eat sandwiches or anyhting like that, the only thing he will alwas eat is yoghur which i have now switched to soya ones.

Any ideas on getting him to eat more and providing more variety?

I am also a little worried he might be a bit on the big side, weight wise he is 12.4kg but hes quite short for his age, he just seems quite podgy next to other kids.

Oh god please do excuse the appaling grammer and spelling i was nursing DS2 whilst typing!

Charlee I am rushing about today but will try and think of some ideas when I am less busy tomorrow or Monday.

Hope someone else might be along soon as well

Thanks

Are you meat eaters csss? If so, you could make a fruity chicken risotto using chicken, chicken stock, rice, peaches (then if he likes it try apricots instead to broaden his range) and sultanas.

How about a chicken liver and apple casserole? I have a recipe in an NCT book if it's of interest? My dd seems to like chicken livers as they have quite a milky flavour.

His weight doesn't sound a lot to me, as my 9 month old dd weighs over 9kg, but have no comparisons of his age.

Am sure franny and others will be back with lots more ideas for you, and I'll see if I get any further inspiration.

Yes we are meat eaters. Thanks for your ideas.

I found quite a good range of free from dairy food in Sainsburys today. It's just so hard because he is really fussy!

not much help with the food tbh but just wanted to say weight wise i don't think you've got to worry, my dd is 10kgs at 21 months and is drastically underweight (she weighs no more now than at 14 months when the doctor mentioned she was underweight but put it down to me bf til one year.) so 12kgs for a 2.3 year old sounds perfectly fine.

can he have goats milk btw? my dd reacts to cows milk but not goats so she has that in hr bedtime bottle, cereals and food and eats lots of goats yogurt

No Goats milk is just as bad as Cow's.

Thanks for the posts about his size, i am never sure how much on avarage he should wiegh, he is quite short so i suppose that makes him look a little bigger than he actually is.

Hi again Charlee, I have been having a think and if I was you I would concentrate on finding any really nutritious foods that he will eat. If you try all of the following and he enjoys even one or two of them then that is great, you have added something very nutritious to his diet.

SMOOTHIES: most children enjoy these and to make it more exciting you can put in a special cup, with a curly straw etc. Use soya milk and banana as a base for sweetness, then you can add all sorts : soft fruit such as peaches which you already know he likes, but you could sneak in berries as well: blueberries are very nutritious. If you have a vitamin powder (this one is very good}) for him this can be added to the smoothie. Tofu does not taste of much but adds thickness and a lot of nutrients to a smoothie. You can also try things like wheatgerm, molasses, extract of malt etc which all add sweetness or extra nutrients. Whizz it all up with a blender.

BAKED BEANS: lots of good things in here and many children enjoy them. If you make your own they smell fab in the oven and you know there is no extra sugar or salt in. I have a recipe if you like.

HUMMUS: has lots of calcium and iron in. Popular for dipping little veg pieces into, even if the veg doesn't get eaten it is fun for them to play with and looks attractive. Get as many different colours as you can: carrot, red pepper, baby sweetcorn, beetroot, broccoli.

PUREED APRICOTS: just simmer dried apricots until soft and then whizz with a blender together with some of the cooking water. You can add this puree to yogurts or cereals (apricots are a good source of calcium, iron, vit C and vit A) or blend it with some tofu to make a sort of yogurt type dessert.

THINGS ON SKEWERS: you can do this with fruits or lightly cooked veg, just thread chunks of it onto the wooden type skewers and break off the sharp points. For some reason ds would always try anything that was on a skewer!

THINGS IN WRAPS: Tortilla wraps and pitta breads were also very popular if ds is allowed to stuff them and roll them up himself

PINWHEEL SANDWICHES: Ds is not a huge sandwich fan but has always loved tiny pinwheel sandwiches. Cut crusts off one slice of bread and roll very flat with a rolling pin. Put filling on (squishy things work best) and roll up the bread like a swiss roll. Either cut and serve, or if you want them to stay in shape for longer, wrap clingfilm tightly around the roll, and refrigerate for a while before slicing up. You get a pretty spiral pattern and they are perfect little bite sized portions for children.

I would also try to get him involved in buying and cooking food with you to see if it helps him become more interested in trying new things.

Hope any of these help.

We use Provamel rice milk to replace cow's milk. It has a more palatable flavour than soya, IME, and you can also buy it with added calcium.

We use it in rice pudding, Yorkshire puddings, milkshakes etc.

Baked potatoes are quite popular with my DS when I scoop out the middle and mix it with other things eg: tuna, beans, chilli. I often add some pulses in there too, and he eats it quite happily.

F & Z's ideas below are very good, especially re the fruit smoothies.

hi F&Z's suggestions are great. My ds1 was cow's milk intolerant. In the past year or so he has started having goat's milk cheese and recently we have allowed him to have pretty much everything although at home we usually stay away from cow's milk. If you look on the vegan society pages you can see some ideas for non-animal sources of calcium, which is pretty much the only thing you're missing out on by not having cow's milk.

I would also suggest varying the kind of milk substitute he has, as it's not good to depend too much on soya. (My ds developed a soya intolerance as well.) We use calcium-fortified rice milk a lot at home, and you can also get 'milk' made from quinoa, almonds, 'chufa' (a Spanish cactus) - try to have a look in a healthfood shop.

Ds1 is quite fussy but also loves the 'speciality bread' that F&Z has mentioned. He used to make up weird combinations to go in his tortillas, like bananas and honey! He often has honey on one half and marmite on the other.

We use hoummous a lot. He likes dipping carrot or cucumber sticks in it, and sometimes chopped up bits of pitta bread.

Have you tried meatballs or felafel? If they prove a hit, you could make your own, 'hiding' bits of veg in them. Also spaghetti bolognese can be made with quite a high veg content

better go as the boys are banging on the door

Hi again, other things we do with ds1 are:
as far as possible we eat as a family and give him the same as everyone else, so that he can see he's not being treated differently. If he chooses not to eat his broccoli that's fine. If I know it's something he really doesn't like I only put a tiny bit on his plate.

I know other people disagree with this, but we don't let him eat a 'sweet' (usually a cereal bar in our house) unless he's eaten a reasonable amount of the main stuff on his plate. This usually involves having at least a few bites of whatever veg is there, as well as whatever is his favourite thing on the plate.

I like making pizzas with the boys. You don't have to add cheese, we often just put tomato sauce on the base and then add veg. Sweetcorn, seeds, sultanas, chopped baby tomatoes, cooked broccoli, pepperoni, sweet peppers can all go on top - I put the various toppings in little bowls and the boys can choose what they want to put on their own pizzas. It's great fun kneading the dough and making it into a pizza shape, but if you don't want to make it yourself you can buy ready-made pizza bases (just watch out as some have added milk powder).

We do a lot of baking together. Even if it's cakes and biscuits you can make them more nutritious by using wholemeal flour or other speciality flours, brown sugar or fructose, and reducing the sugar content.

We often have baked sweet potatoes, or sweet potato mash. Lower GI than normal potatoes (so the energy release is longer, leading to less fluctuation in blood glucose levels and hopefully fewer mood swings).

I also try to make sure ds1 drinks lots of water and keeps active.

I think lots of kids are fussy at this age, but I try not to indulge ds1 too much as I don't want him to end up with too much of a limited diet. He does have patches (sometimes very long patches) where he goes off something, and then he'll decide they are okay again. Currently he doesn't like apricots, cherry tomatoes or raw carrots, which he has eaten in great quantities previously. He's back on to broccoli now which is a great relief as it's so good for iron and calcium, but still says 'eergh' when anyone mentions spinach or mushrooms .

p.s. ds2 was 2 in July and is about 12kg as well, and I think he's below average according to the charts in the red book.

also I have somewhere a document where I wrote down the dairy-free (and soya free) foods we ate over a couple of weeks, so can forward it to you if you're interested

and two books i recommend are 'Finger Foods for Babies and Toddlers' and 'Optimum Nutrition for Babies and Young Children' which has lots of dairy-free recipes. (Ignore the one review for Optimum Nutrition, there are a whole load of recipes suitable for the whole family.)

F&Z I would be interested in your baked beans recipe!

Thanks for all your suggestions and Franny i promise to rejoin the 10/10 club soon, i have a stinking cold at the moment so i will wait for it to clear.

I found a few bits in Sainsburys and also foun alot of vegitarian stuff has no milk in it so i got DS some Linda McCartney Veggie pies which DS loved and some 'sausage' rolls. He also really likes root vegtable waffles.

He loves smoothies so i will make him more of them and he is a huge baked bean fan so i would love the recipie! Not a fan of Hummus but i will deffo try the sandwiches tomorrow in his lunch box.

Thanks again

Baked beans

Home baked beans

8 oz haricot beans
1 lb toms, skinned and deseeded (I used tinned and it is ok if maybe a little runny)
2 tbsp tom puree
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp mustard powder
3/4 pint hot stock (that's three quarters, not 3 or 4!)

Soak beans overnight in large bowl covered with cold water. Drain well, put in sauce pan and cover with cold water by at least 2 ins. Bring to boil, skim surface, cover pan and cook at rolling boil for 30 mins. Drain well. Preheat oven to GM 2. Put beans in lge casserole and stir in all remaining ingredients. Mix well. Cover casserole and cook for 2.5 hours. Stir gently and cook for another 35 mins or until tender and sauce thickened. (normally takes up to 4 hours to get really tender and not too runny IME).

Freezes well and is popular with dads as well as children. I normally cook at least double and freeze lots.

I second the Optimum Nutrition book - I use that a lot especially the cakes section and am always posting the banana cake recipe on here.

Charlee we have missed you and your sunnee sun sun-ness but just come over and say hello occasionally if you get a chance, don't feel obliged into rejoining us if you don't want to

i'm going to try the baked beans in the next few days... they sound fantastic.
any tips on getting a 2.9 year old to eat them if heinz baked beans are their favourite food?

They are not too dissimilar - I would mix them half and half and slowly reduce the amount of Heinz

There was something in the paper today about how soya milk isn't advised for kids with dairy intoelrance as there are hormones in soya similar to oestrogen which they are now realising are causing a lot of health problems for children when they get older (fertility mainly I think).

DD had an intolerance to cow's milk when she was little and we gave her soya. She could manager cheese, yoghurts, etc fine though - very strange.