DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

She's a very picky eater and most of her favorites are dairy. I don't really know where to begin. I'm hoping someone has some advice/info they can share?

She has taken very well to the soy milk, thank goodness. The doc gave us a list of what not to give her but not a list of suggestions.

I guess I just need some helpful websites, books, advice, etc. TIA!

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

I cant remember too much as of what i gave them but here are some things :


when making mashed potatoes I used soy instead of milk

I gave them sherbert instead of ice cream

they looooved the chocolate soy milk

if I think of more I will fm you :) all 3 of my kids had this issue but grew out of it by the age of 3-4 yrs !! My youngest is 6 months so I get to start over again lol she is on the soy formula

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

I'm sorry. I felt very overwhelmed in the beginning.

I like the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network for information. Their downloads section has a really useful list of ingredients to avoid in their "How to Read a Food Label" section. Also be sure to sign up for FA alerts - they let you know when manufacturers inform them of undeclared food allergens in food.

I also like Kids with food Allergies You have to pay to join, but it's well worth it IMO. The boards here are great. Be sure to sign up for their allergy alerts also. I've emailed them with a question about an ingredient I wasn't sure about and they got back to me within an hour.

I used to be on the Babycenter Food Allergy board a lot. Lots of other families dealing with FA, from newbies to very experienced. Found a lot of great support and ideas there, and it's nice to be able to "talk" to people who understand what you are going through. No real reason I'm not on much anymore other than I feel more comfortable and don't need to ask many questions anymore.

As far as cookbooks, I have some from FAAN, some I've gotten off Amazon. Most of them aren't really "kid friendly" foods IMO. I've learned to make things he likes with dairy free substitues. There are a few margarines that are safe, some breads and breadcrumbs, etc. I'm super anal and don't give him any of the ingredients on the FAAN how to read a label list. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.

Good luck! Feel free to FM if you have any specific questions or want to borrow some of the cookbooks. I promise it will get easier.

Message edited 2/13/2009 4:32:37 PM.

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

Dana can I ask how you knew that she had a milk allergy rather than something like lactose intolerance since it seems she had been eating dairy before she was diagnosed?

FM thedrums2005 - her son has a milk allergy (as well as some other food allergies). She has had a hard time but is now pretty adjusted with it and can help you out. Tell her I told you to FM her.

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

babycenter?

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

How did you find out she had the allergy? We are going through something similar here.

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

Posted by christy

How did you find out she had the allergy? We are going through something similar here.

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

no advice but wanted to send some

i hope you find some great alternatives

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

My DS is allergic to dairy. A few of my friends have also found out their kids are allergic to dairy so I've emailed them suggestions and what Brendan eats. Hope you don't mind that I just cut and paste some info that I've shared with others...

Breakfast
instant oatmeal (the kind in the packets) Usually apples & cinnamon or plain
cereal-cheerios, fruity cheerios, chex, shredded wheat, kix with soy milk. Lots of cereals are safe. Brendan just discovered Lucky Charms!
pancakes or waffles that I make myself. Some of the "complete" mixes that you just add water to are dairy free. ShopRite, America's Choice (from superfresh here in NJ, but I think Waldbaums maybe has AC brand?) and Walmart brand mixes are okay. Whole Foods has a 365 Organic brand of waffles that he can eat too.
Toast-a lot of bread is safe. Brendan loves cinnamon sugar on it too! Most margarines have dairy in them. The ones I've found to be safe are Fleishmann's unsalted margarine (It comes in a green package), America's Choice Soft Spread (it's the superfresh store brand-looks just like country crock. country crock has dairy in it, but the store brand doesn't), and Healthy Sticks (I get these at Whole Foods).
For bread I find that a lot of the Arnold varieties are dairy free. Pepperidge farm almost always isn't. Also PF pretzel fish have dairy, but most other pretzels don't
fruit
soy yogurt-Silk or Whole Soy & Co. Don't get the Stonyfield soy yogurt! It has dairy in it
bagels with Tofutti cream cheese, jelly, or hummus
I make Jiffy corn muffins, but substitute soy milk for regular milk

Lunch
Soups-chicken noodle. chicken and stars, vegetable
Jelly sandwiches. I've started giving him soy nut butter on them too...I'm afraid to give him PB.
Ham or turkey sandwiches. I only buy Boars Head cold cuts now. After Brendan had a reaction to some Dietz and Watson turkey I found out that some brands contain dairy.
Leftovers from dinner
bagel
soy yogurt
fruit

Dinner
I try to give him what we're having, but in case it's not good for him sometimes I'll give him Tyson chicken nuggets, or a hot dog (just check the label) Kosher hot dogs shouldn't have any dairy. Brendan will eat Nathan's, Sabrett, or Oscar Mayer.
Brendan likes lots of veggies so I give him lots of those. He eats them completely plain so no problems there.
I make meatballs and meatloaf with either 4C Kosher breadcrumbs or Jason's breadcrumbs. You can make chicken cutlets with those too or use corn flake crumbs. When I bread his I just dip it in egg yolk, but you could dip it in anything else wet if you have to be more careful with egg
chili with rice
I make a lot of stews and soups with chicken or beef and lots of veggies
Pasta with sauce and peas
pasta with meatsauce
pot roast
hamburgers
hot dogs
Brendan loves rice & beans
I make a dish with orzo and sausage and broccoli that he loves
couscous
stir frys
fajitas
tacos
chicken breast
turkey
sweet potato fries
french fries
pasta salad

snacks (okay so some of these aren't the healthiest, but at least there are some ideas!)
rice cakes (lightly salted, not flavored. some of the flavored ones are okay, but it depends on the flavor and brand. superfresh apple cinnamon and caramel are okay. they also have store brand mini ones in BBQ flavor that are good.
pretzels
chips
veggie booty
fruit
soy yogurt
cereal bars-Whole Foods has a Nature's Choice brand that is the only one I've found to be okay. Kashi TLC cereal bars
apple sauce
nabisco arrowroot cookies
oreos
Healthy Times makes some other snacks that are dairy free. They're sometimes in the organic food section.
crackers (saltines, wheat thins, triscuits)
Teddy Grahams
super pretzels

For cooking for me it's been easier to just substitute ingredients than to find dairy free recipes.

I usually take food along with us when we're out because it's hard to know what ingredients are in things. Sometimes he'll have a kids ham or turkey sandwich from Subway (just meat and bread) or a hot dog from Nathan's. A hamburger from McDonald's or Wendy's is okay too, but I've heard that the chicken nuggets from McD's have dairy in them. Everything at Chick-Fil-A has dairy in it, even the grilled chicken! They also fry in peanut oil. I never give him anything breaded when we're out because there's usually dairy in it. At a restaurant we usually order him a kids hamburger and fries and make sure they don't put any butter or margarine on the bun. Sometimes we'll get him pasta with marinara sauce, but always make sure they don't put any cheese or other dairy products in the sauce.

I used to keep some Gerber graduate meals on hand for when we were at someone else's house. They come in a little microwavable container. I think the chicken and turkey stew/soup ones are the only ones that don't have dairy though. Now he'll eat a whole can of Campbell's soup by himself.

Be careful with soy cheeses. A lot of them contain dairy ingredients. I've tried giving Brendan soy cheese, but he won't eat them-just the Tofutti cream cheese.

Some brownie and cake mixes don't have any dairy in them so I'll let him have that for special occasions. At Whole Foods you can also get mixes from Cherrybrook Kitchens that are dairy, egg, and nut free (but they're expensive). Duncan Hines has a few that are safe-devil's food cake and yellow cake are okay. i think one of their brownies are dairy free too, but i forget which variety. i use duncan hines chocolate fudge or white frosting too. the superfresh brand has brownies that are okay too. if you need to avoid the eggs you can substitute a can of pumpkin puree for the oil and eggs in cake mix. Christine makes them like this and they're really good and even more healthy for you too!

I check labels on everything. Besides the obvious dairy sounding ingredients whey and casein (or anything caseinate) are the other big ones to look for. If you do a search there's a lot of websites for food allergies that list all of the ingredients. Here's a good list that you can print out for your wallet or family members http://www.foodallergy.org/downloads/HTRLsheet.pdf


HTH!

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

You might want to start shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's they are good at stocking up and labeling dairy free products.

Re: DD was diagnosed with a dairy allergy...can I ask for some help?

I also think go to Whole Foods and check out the dairy free selections. Try almond milk and Earth Balance butter spread