Milk-free weaning?

[fabian's ma]

Does anyone have any good recipes for an 8 month old who can't tolerate dairy? He had very bad 'silent' reflux when younger and was diagnosed as being intolerant to dairy. He now has three bottles of specially prescribed formula milk a day plus three meals a day (we're doing about half and half spoon feeding and baby led weaning). He absolutely loves his food and is a good eater but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to think up meals which don't include dairy products. I tried him with eggs yesterday and they didn't seem to agree with him either! He's under the care of a dietician at King's so I'm not looking for medical advice - just some ideas of nutritious meals which aren't too time consuming. I'm worried he's not getting enough protein as I can't give him cheese. If anyone out there has had a similar experience would love to hear what food ideas you had.

Many thanks.

[sophiechristophy]

Hi fabian's ma - on the protein front, are you giving him meat and fish? Also, hummus is a good one.

[fabian's ma]

Hello, I'm giving him chicken and a little bit of mince. Haven't tried fish yet but will do. I have been giving him hummus and he loves it but was worried it was a bit salty. I could have a go at making my own hummus I suppose!

[sophiechristophy]

homemade is really easy, just a tin of chickpeas (rinse them), some tahini, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil and you are away!

[Fidgetsmum]

Have pm'd you.

[EDTutor]

I was your son! I was brought up vegan, so my mam has a litany of recipes...apparently my fave when tiny was cashew nut custard with mashed banana (fab for protein)...things've moved on a lot since I was young, too, and there are a lot of quick and easy non-dairy alternatives out there...Provamel do loads of brilliant soya products, inc. vegan yoghurts and naturally flavoured soya milk. In terms of bigger meals, ou can do pretty much anything with tofu - the pre-marinaded stuff with sesame seeds is lovely, and you can marinade your own in soy sauce and peanut butter too. Cubes of this with Thai-style veg or stir fry is delicious. Nut butters generally are great for protein injections (almond and cashew butters are particularly lovely), as is anything made with lentils. Halva is good for treats. Dried apple rings, mango etc are good for snacks and as he gets older Whizzers (the vegan alternative to Smarties) and any carob product will satisfy a sweet tooth. Hope this helps!

L x

[fabian's ma]

Thanks so much everyone - especially Fidgetsmum - I'll reply to your PM as soon as I get a second!

Alice x

[shaunag]

Hi Alice

My little one is on a wheat, soya, eggs and dairy free diet. Would you mind forwarding on any recipes you come across as we are up against the same issue. I sympathise completely!

Many thanks

ps my LO developed a soy intolerance when I switched to soy after being told to give up dairy (she is still bf) - if you are using a lot of soy/tofu just watch out for it in your little one (I was mistakenly told my baby had gastroenteritis repeatedly when it was actually a soy allergy)

[newtoedf]

Hi, my little boy has a dairy allergy too, it's surprising howu much of it there is around. It's early days with weaning for us and he is still mainly interested in milk. I switched to oat milk rather than soy as someone had mentioned the chances of soy allergy were higher. I chatted to a health visitor about it recently. She recommended pulses, humous, fish, chicken and not worrying. But did say I should ask my health visitor for a referral to a dietician, haven't done that yet but will do soon.

[Fidgetsmum]

Hi Fabian's Ma - no problem at all. No need to respond, unless you have more questions or just want to allergy-chat!

[mcgowankim]

Hi all,

Sympathies to those with sensitive little ones. Most of the stories ring true with my LO who is now 10months and allergic to milk and egg (also had reflux when breastfed and think my high dairy diet caused it as I am coeliac!). He too developed a soya intolerance after we swapped to soy formula and he is now on a special cows milk one which he is fine with thankfully.

I was going to post a similar question as I too am struggling with what to give him. I find his diet is very low fat and when most kids are chomping through yoghurt and cheese most meals I am concerned his diet is a bit light. Have spoken with the excellent dietician at Kings for a few ideas, but wondered if anyone would mind sharing what they have.

BTW - he started off BLweaned and we're now half and half with spoon feeding as he loves to feed himself, but has recently got SUPER fussy and spends most of his time dropping stuff off the side.

Look forward to some inspiration. Thanks in advance! Kim

P.S. Anyone fancy a coffee to share war wounds let me know.

[susyp]

my daughter is now 3 and is highly allergic to dairy and soya intolerant. She can tolerate small amounts of soya eg in bread but we try and make our own as much as possible (this intention comes and goes). as i understand it they get all they need in the special milk so you don;t need to worry about what you feed them anymore than anyone else. I do try and feed her a lot of lamb, and eggs for the iron. And she has calcium fortified oj but doesn;t drink much of it to be honest.

watch out for beef intolereance- i haven't tried my daughter on it again yet but when she was 9 months she was definitely intolerant. intolerances can take a while to show up and are more difficult as you can't treat them with antihistamine.

most babies do seem to grow out of it by a year or 2. My daughter is still very allergic and has hives on her face if she eats chocolate etc. She throws up at night if she has had it and i don't realise (my husband once omitted to tell me she had had a load of buttercream) but antihistamine deals with it if i do know. i try not to expose her but don't sweat it if we are somewhere and she eats a piece of chocolate cake if there is no other option as i don;t want her to miss out on stuff other children do. but often i can reason with her - eg we were at a playgroup where all the kids were given chocolate- i eventually persuaded her not to eat it and bought jelly beans on the way home - now she knows that if other kids are given chocolate she can tell me and i will give her other sweets. i explained her allergy to her when she was 2 and she totally gets it now.

she has very little fat as no cheese etc and is definitely not a skinny one. I don;t think fat is a huge issue unless they are already skinny - she has never been thin!

good luck with it

Susypx

[stina]

Our 2 year old daughter is vegetarian and we eat a lot of vegan food at home (as my partner is vegan). We found this book very useful when starting weaning:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-Your-Vegan-Infant-Confidence/dp/0907337295

It has meal ideas for the different weaning stages and all you need to know about nutrional requirements and how these can be met with a non-dairy diet.

We used a lot of nut spreads, tahini, lentils and tofu...

Stina