4 year old going dairy free - please help!

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After 3 years of increasingly worsening eczema, we finally have a proper plan from a GP which includes cutting out dairy completely. I'd be really grateful for any advice or product recommendations that are dairy free without risking calcium deficiency in my growing 4 year old! Thank you in advance.

My 6 year old has fortified oat milk on her cereal and the dairy free petit filous yoghurt,which she loves. Would recommend.
Mine also loves the dairy free cheese (the supermarket own, not the cathedral city which is apparently horrible), but have a peg for the fridge because it smells. She doesnt know any different though because hers is an allergy rather than a later change.

bony tinned fish (anchovis for rxample)
(I know this is the vegan topic, but with growing children you need to consider nutrition carefully)

Dairy free cheese/yoghurt/milk is generally fortified with calcium etc.
I agree the petit filous yoghurt are lovely and we use alpro growing up oat mill.

Allergy Uk and Anaphylaxis Uk websites ate great resources as well

Sorry, are they just going dairy free or full vegan?

not helpful for the calcium question, but if you use a 17% coconut milk you can make creamy sauces that taste very similar to dairy sauces. the trick is to use a high fat percentage.

Check levels on all the labels on alternatives in the supermarket.

It’s the only way to ensure you are getting the best of what’s available to you locally

Plenish Enriched Oat Milk is v high in calcium for a plant based milk, more so than lots of others

I am surprised they aren't prescribing calcium supplements. My children were dairy free (due to anaphylaxis) and were prescribed calcium supplements.

Does the calcium in supplements actually get to the bones? I know in osteoporosis studies they found it can go all over the place not neccesarily where you hope.

The British Dietetic Association has good calcium info on their website.

If you stay away from organic the most substitute products have calcium fortification. As does readybrek and lots of other cereals. Cereal is a good way to get one serving in every day.

Not to be that annoying person, but as a mum of a child who had horrific eczema and anaphylaxis allergies, please don’t completely cut out dairy, not at least without speaking to allergy specialist or dermatologist. Children with eczema are at a higher risk of developing allergies and completely cutting out a food group increases this risk. We’ve had many sleepless nights for months on end, hospital trips and ended up in bandages with eczema, but I’d still take that over having to deal with anaphylaxis for the rest of her life. Even if you keep some in in baked form it will really benefit their chances of not developing an allergy. Allergy Support with Dr Helen is a really good group to join, she answers questions on this and there is a lot of eczema support.

On the flip side we cut out dairy * because of anaphylaxis and it completely cured my son's s eczema. He had eczema from the cows milk proteins passing into my breast milk. He had anaphylaxis to his first taste of cows milk. But the plus side was when we cut cows milk out of my diet his eczema (which was really angry) vanished within 2 weeks

Appreciate that's not likely to apply with a four year old but i think the picture isn't quite as simple. The debate still seems to be raging about early /late exposure etc and the advice keeps flip flopping

Absolutely cutting out dairy can help! But my understanding is that’s why the suggestion of even keeping it in the diet in baked form a few times a week can be a good idea. Hopefully if it is dairy causing the eczema this will be mild enough to only have a smaller eczema reaction, but also can keep anaphylaxis at bay! But then my daughter went into anaphylaxis after regularly eating nuts, that’s the hard thing about allergies, you can never really predict what will happen!

Glad it worked for you, eczema is horrific.

I have a daughter who is now 9 and she suffered with the most awful excema. We didn't cut out all dairy just the cows milk, cream and ice cream as I figured out (throughout the years) what her triggers are. I suggest cutting those out to start with, allowing your child to have cheese and cooked dairy and then see how you get on. Another one is don't use steroids, they make it worse and use really deep moisturising creams. My daughter has oat milk in cereals etc (you can buy ones with added calcium vitamins etc), ice cream = sorbet or vegan ice cream and dairy free whipped cream but tbh I don't ever give her WC. Yoghurts she can have one every so often. She's healthy and happy and her excema went from full body bleeding etc to a tiny bit every few months. If i do however accidently give her one of the above it comes out like she's got a disease all over her body. Find a milk she/he likes oat milk is the best for calcium though but please do NOT use goat milk its the same as cows milk for excema.

Please don’t assume that calcium can only be found in dairy! This is an old wives tale passed down mainly from 70s and 80s advertising about milk being so important for growing bones.
calcium is widely found fortified in cereals and dairy free milks. But it is naturally found in green leafy veg like kale and broccoli. Also tofu

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! I’ve noted all the product recommendations, and as some people said, I’ve seen from my shopping so far how many dairy free products are fortified with calcium (and b vitamins and iodine as I gather they are important too).

I definitely recognise that it’s extreme to cut out dairy completely. The good thing is it’s initially only for a couple of weeks then if he has a flare up again we know it wasn’t the dairy and he can go back to it. GP has suggested a blood test at that stage. He has also advised to cut it out completely for now, because even a small amount can cause a flare - it’s about how the body reacts to the dairy rather than the amount of dairy, or something.

Also I assume no calcium supplements have been prescribed because it’s potentially only
a a short term experiment. Plus he’s unlikely to be deficient with the fortified non-dairy and other sources (like green leafy veg). We’ve been telling him for about a year that broccoli makes him strong… he likes biting into it then asking us if his muscles are growing 🙄

We wouldn’t be trying it we hadn’t tried absolutely everything else. I’ve been a woman possessed eliminating potential triggers and I feel so sorry for him when I’m
slathering creams on his poor skin every day and he’s so uncomfortable.

Any other product recommendations or favourite recipes gratefully received! But thank you for all the advice so far.

Has he been tested for environmental allergies ? My son’s skin was horrific , he’s got multiple allergies , currently waiting for a hazelnut challenge in hospital !

Anyways , we got him tested for cats dogs etc , turns out he’s got a severe allergy to house dust mites ! Just worth a mention x

Have you tried goat’s milk? My child also had terrible eczema and switching from cow’s to goat’s milk really helped. Years later it is still the first choice and only had cow’s milk when it’s the only available. Not a fan of other dairy products but has normal ice cream and cheese now with no issues. Hopefully your child will outgrow it eventually as it seems to ne often the case but it is really hard until they do and I sympathise with you. I hope it gets better!

If it turns out the DS is actually lactose intolerant rather than allergic to milk,you can buy a full range of dairy foods without lactose from most supermarkets. My eczema was caused by lactose and it took years to work that out with many GP appointments involved. I also found that I react less to milk with A2 protein. You can also buy lactase in different forms to add to dairy products.