Milk Allergy Questions?

Someone mentioned a gluten allergy, which is associated with Celiac Disease (http://www.celiac.org/cd-symptoms.php). A blood test can detect this. My friend's daughter has this, and although changing her diet is painful (!) b/c almost everything has gluten, she's done much better.

Soy milk is what's left over when they make soy based products. I've heard it's pretty much useless nutritionally. Dr Oz was on Oprah yesterday saying if you're allergic to cows milk go with goats milk. It's different enough from cows milk that people who are lactose intolerant can drink it and be fine. He said availability is growing, I assume(!?) because a lot of people need it. There's lots' of lactose intolerance going around! He also recommended it for adults. says it's better nutritionally than cows milk anyway.

-S

Hi K.,
I agree that the symptoms could be related to an allergy, but are you sure that is a milk allergy? The symtoms you mention are very common for a number of different allergies. Has she been to an allergist for testing? You don't mention.
Please schedule an appointment with an allergist. They will talk to you about your concerns. They can also give her skin test for environmental and food allergies.

Good luck.
M.

Others have made some good comments, so I'll just add two things:
--When grocery shopping for prepared/boxed foods at the grocery store, look for the kosher symbol: Pareve or Parve on the front of the packaging somewhere. This means that it is dairy free, even down to all the weird-name ingredients.
--I always recommend the website for FAAN to folks who are dealing with a food allergy - it has tons of resources, information, and recipes to help you work with it. The site is www.foodallergy.org

Good luck!

K.,

There is a place called Trader Joes (TraderJoes.com) that has a lot of food that is specialized for you. You can get dairy free foods. I shop there all the time since their rice milk is cheaper than walmart. Rice milk is a dairy free drink that does have vitamins A and D in it. My son can't have a lot cow milk as it gives him diarrhea. I don't like cow milk anyway, but I'll drink rice or even soy. Goat's milk is good too. Hope this helps. God Bless.

depending on how severe her allergy is you could just try eliminating straight milk to start with. Like sub soy milk in cereal and mac and cheese and baking. but as for stuff already made at the store i think they use powdered milk and i am not sure if that would have the same effect on her or not.
also look into a gluten allergy, thats common now as well.

Good luck in finding out what is causing your daughter's symptoms. It is difficult to read labels and figure out all the ways dairy makes it into food. Be aware that whey is also a milk byproduct so if that is an ingredient you should avoid that as well. There are a number of soy alternatives to dairy. My daughter was sensitive (major eczema) when she was a newborn to my eating dairy since I nursed her so I had to eliminate it for a while. I found Silk yogurt and milk were okay and certain brands of soy cheese were tolerable -- they were better if mixed with other flavors rather than just eating plain cheese. There are soy cheese mac and cheeses and pizzas as well. Again, good luck!

K.,
These could be symptoms of any food allergy. Please look carefully when testing. Skin testing is NOT a good indicator. Either blood tests or hair testing is the gold standard. Also a naturpathic doctor would be my suggestion. In the meantime, I can give you tons of help with dairy free info. I've been a vegan for over 20 yrs. My whole family is completely dairy free. Yes, many breads crackers and other mainstream grocery foods do contain dairy. It's a good idea to rotate foods. The health food store is your best friend. My Organic Market in this area has the best prices. Rice Milk and Almond milk are the milks that I prefer rather than soy. You can easily get bread without dairy and you can get soy yoghurt as well as soy and rice cheese. Please contact me, by email, and I will be happy to sit down with you and share whatever I can.
L.

My son is allergic to milk, soy, wheat, and corn. My son also started out with a lot of congestion. I get a milk substitute from his allergist called Elecare. My son's diet is more limited because he can't have pasta or breads. But I do feed him lots of fruits, veggies, meats. You can go to Whole Foods and get non dairy cheese and other foods for allergies. I hope this helps.

you're a smart mom to be thinking ahead as well as having testing scheduled. and i'm betting you're right. it sure does sound like a dairy allergy.
trader joe's is a great one, and so is MOM's (although it's more expensive), both tend to have lots on hand for those trying to avoid dairy. i'm betting that even if you do get a little in your bread or pasta, cutting back on the Biggies (milk, butter and cheese) will make a difference. try almond milk! that and rice milk are much nicer than soy, i think. unrefined coconut oil can replace butter in baking, and olive oil in a lot of other recipes. and both are yummada.
good luck!
:) khairete
S.

I have 5 year old twins who were diagnosed w/a milk allergy when they were babies. We went through the picky toddler stage but I held firm, and thank You Lord they are awesome eaters now. Having your daughter continually try the 'newer' foods, in small servings, repeatedly, will replace typical dairy items that will help get her acclimated to them. Through this process my twins now LOVE homemade things like roasted red pepper hummus (replaces all the cheese dips everyone else is eating and much healthier), bean soups, pepperoni slices, varities of olives, bagels dipped in pizza sauce w/pepperoni & fake dairy free cream cheese melted together, smoothies w/Silk yogurts, salsa & tortilla chips, hot pretzels w/honey mustard, & pasta in any form. To thicken soups, just use an immersion blend on part of your soup right in the pot. Coconut milk replaces regular milk for sweeter milk. There's a frozen non-dairy (milk free too) creamer called FarmRich in the breakfast section at the grocery store. This is a great replacement for cream in your dishes. The label "parave" indicates no milk. Most foods marked 'non-dairy' are not milk free. Good brands are Silk & tofutti. Fleishman's unsalted margerine sticks, Smart Balance light, and Earth Balance are 3 dairy free margerines. Hope this helps!
J. :-)

My child has milk allergy to plus 4 other foods and I need to make all her food. I take her to a DR in Charlottesville who has helped her lot with out doing all that you are about to do. I would strongly encourage you to see him first. here is his name and number.DR Rydland ###-###-####. He also feels that in time she will be able to eat a normal diet. May God bless you in this new diet.
When we were told of our daughters problem I was overwhelmed and wished I had someone to talk to so here is my number. ###-###-####.

You are correct: Your daughter has milk allergy symptoms. I am also very allergic to milk. I was sicker than a dog until I found this out. After eating diry free, it only took my body 2 weeks to be in perfect health again. You will need to be a careful label reader. In making your own meals you can always substitute nut milk or soy milk for the cow milk. You may have to search the health food section of your grocery store to find dairy free items. I love the dairy free cream cheese called "Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese" and the margarine called "Earth Balance". Look for items labeled vegan or parve. This means they are dairy free. Perhaps Santa could give you a bread machine for Christmas so you can make your own bread. I make milk free crackers, cookies, and corn bread.Doing more home cooking will be more work foryou but the effort is worth it all to see your happy healthy child. God bless you on this new adventure. AF

My son has a milk allergy. We use fortified rice milk instead of soy. I haven't found a bread milk free but I found Thomas's whole wheat mini bagels were. My grocery store (giant) has an organic section and I found a milk free butter and sour cream there. You'll also need to give a calcium supplement.

I would try rice milk and you can find many things at health food stores or Whole Foods if there is one near you. I know milk (casein) is difficult to remove but can be done. There are bread mixes you can buy and substitute rice milk for milk. Definitely check with your pediatrition - they can do some preliminary blood work to decide who you should see next and refer you to allergy.
Look at your daily menu with an open mind and realize that prepackaged foods are the most difficult challenge. One step at a time see what you can replace that is dairy free. Fruits, vegetables, eggs, rice, meat etc. are free of milk You will find yourself cooking a lot of your own foods versus using the easy to prepare products. Good Luck!

My Daughter also has a milk allergy with ALL of those symptoms... somethings you can't avoid giving her, like bread stuff like that shouldn't affect her too much. I mostly avoid anything with cheese in it or yogurt (but the do make soy yogurt) try making mashed potatoes with soy milk so she can have some. its really pretty good. fruits and veggies are always good too :)
Good luck! i hope she's feeling better!!
~C.

when eating out look for vegan foods. also buy a vegan cook book. we have 'Vive le Vegan!: Simple, Delectable Recipes for the Everyday Vegan Family.' your grocery store may have a vegan section but it is sometimes mixed with vegetarian but you need the vegan. this is a meatless option but it you want to make a meat dish this will help you with the side dishes that often contain cheese, milk or butter. also stores like whole foods and roots have cheese substitutes. these do not taste much like cheese but you get used to it.