Vegan Diet Breastfeeding?

[Scottishnewmum]

I am cutting out dairy because of suspected cmpa, and also soy, but what on earth do I eat? Everything has it in it, down to pasta etc? I don't eat much meat,.some chicken and fish only, so much of this diet is going to be vegan. How do I get the right nutrients? I can already feel my supply drying up.

Maybe post in the vegan topic?
There is loads you can eat. Pasta doesn't have dairy or soy in it.

Soy is a pain. I have cut obvious soy to see if it made a difference to my baby's silent reflux but must admit I haven't cut it completely. I've switched to oat yoghurt, almond milk. Trying to have meals with pulses rather than meat replacements. We eat tagines, curries, chilli, roast veg with hummus as standard meals.
Not everything is soy - for example linda mccartney sausages are but the Lincolnshire sausages are pea protein.
I am vegan and exclusively bf my 5mo, no issues with supply! I take a multivitamin and also vit d & calcium, although lots of foods are fortified.

Firstly, don't worry. Once you get into the swing of no dairy or soya, it gets easier.

If you're on Facebook, join the cmpa groups, they're great for general allergy queries, product recommendations and reintroductions.

We find pasta generally okay but we just have the dried pasta in bags from Tesco rather than the fresh filled ones.

I found fish could be difficult as quite a few had milk powder, same with biscuits.

Tesco has quite a large free from selection that I'd recommend until you start building up knowledge of allergen free general products.

A few things I've found:
Biscuits - mcvities digestives (careful with own brands), bourbons (Tesco own).
Pizza - generally not brilliant but the absolute best Dr oetker vegan is top notch.

We're pescatarian and have a bit of a rolling meal plan:
Curry - chickpea/spinach, or Quorn piece (fake chicken), or 'mince' based curries
Mexican - fajitas, burritos, enchiladas - generally ours are bean based.
Pasta - we have quite a bit of pasta because it's quick and the kids love it. Lasagna is a bit of a faff but you can make your own sauce - olive oil/flour/almond milk, then a bit of began cheese on top.
Sausage, mash and veg
Paella
Roast salmon
Fish pie

The hardest thing I've found is cheese. It's slightly easier now that I've found a good pizza, but generally vegan cheese is not good. I only tend to use it in sauce or on stuff but DD eats it just as cheese because she knows no different...

We're nearly two years into it now and I'm happy to answer any queries you have.
At first I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of it, but now it's normal to us, because although I'm starting to wean from BF, DD still has 3 food allergies!
I've never had any problems with supply. If I ever felt a little less 'full' than expected in the early days, it was always down to a lack of water so I just followed the usual BF advice about eating and drinking plenty.

I'm vegan and remained so during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Honestly, you do get used to it but cheese does tend to be thing you miss! There are lots of things which are vegan anyway.

Homemade curries/tagines/stews/pasta sauces are great. Most dried pasta in supermarkets is dairy free. Make water based curries or use coconut milk. Use vegetables and different grains/pulses as your staples. Oat milk is best in tea and coffee and on cereal. Most cereals are vegan. Get inventive with recipes you know and work out how to make them vegan, most are pretty easy to adapt. Avoid meat replacement foods if you can - these tend to be highly processed and often contain soy. Yeast flakes are nice sprinkled on top of pasta as a cheese replacement. If you eat a varied diet you only really need to supplement B12 as this is hard to get sufficient of.

In terms of treats, lots of biscuits are vegan anyway (bourbons, ginger nuts, party rings, oreos, biscoff). Most chocolate above 70% cocoa content is dairy free too. Most plainer crisps also don't have any milk in the flavouring.

It does get easier once you get into the swing of it and it's worth checking labels as you might be surprised by some of the things which are dairy free anyway!