Mom Seeking Alternative Foods for Child with Food Allergies

I too have girls with allergies. My 6 yr old out grew wheat and eggs by the time she was two. She is still allergic to peanuts though. My youngest (3) just became allergic to walnuts last year. One thing....a lot of kids out grow their allergies by the time they are 5! I hope you will have the same luck.

I cannot remember the websites but there are A LOT of sites that sell food online and you can read all the ingreideints. You can also do a search engine for recipes. I found TONS that I tried. It is just educating yourself and get organized to make it all. It is extra work but worth it to give them a variety of foods and nutrition.

Try health food stores, Publix, Krogers and Lowe's Foods all have great sections with foods for allergy people.

Good luck and hang in there!
C.

Try going to a natural or organic food store.
They have many alternatives to regular foods (like rice pasta, instead of wheat).

Hello N.,

I have a suggestion, you can research to see if this would help you. I came across a Food Allergy Cookbook for kids this weekend, it states recipes are all free of wheat, gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs and low in sugar. The cookbook is advertised for $14.95 on www.leapsandbounds.com (item # 12360). If you have never heard of this web address, it along with www.onestepahead.com was created by other moms ideas.

Good Luck,

J. W.

My friend's son had the same allergies and she fed him mostly baby food fruits and vegetables. If you can find and afford organic fruits and vegetables, that's best. I'd check with your pediatrician or a dietician or even a website to see how to get your baby more fats, vitamin D and Calcium since you cannot feed her Dairy. Babies need the fats and vitamin D and calcium found in dairy foods. Maybe try baby food meats and pasta and rice also. I have many food allergies myself and I'm concerned I may have passed them on to my daughter, but she's only 4 months now and still on formula (soy). So far she's not allergic to soy and keeping my fingers crossed. She is allergic to dairy though. Best of luck to you!!

Is your daughter allergic to all milk/formula? If soy is out goat milk was successful for our daughter.

I have two kids allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts and wheat. I found recipe ideas for my son's first birthday party on foodallergy.org
Also search for food allergy and you will find many websites.

N....

food allergies are a toughy, but there are many good books out there, as well as good online support systems...my doctor did not want to do the testing, but we went through a very simple diet with my son...and he seems to be growing out of allergies. if your daughter can eat butter, i cook baby carrots on the stove in melted butter with a little brown sugar on top...porter couldn't stand rice milk very well...so we would put rice milk in the blender with blueberries, bananas, cherries, etc...and it seemed to be a bit more palatable for him....rice noodles can get pretty sticky, but we would add ground beef or turkey with tomato sauce or butter and seasoning....a lot of potatoes, diced up with red pepper or carrots in olive oil/skillet/stove...
i have been amazed at all the ingredients in foods...a block of cheese is JUST cheese...but look at all the ingredients in pre-shredded cheese (now we just get the block and shred it ourselves).
it was so overwhelming to me at first, because all the food items put out there to simplify your life actually complicate it. we just took it back to the basics...meat, vegetables, fruit. there is derivative of corn in everything, so just do the best you can.
more suggestions...just fresh berries and bananas with a little ice, then stick in the freezer or fridge...publix has waffles that contain no wheat, eggs or dairy...and they are pretty dry, so we would add butter....oatmeal cookies, with apple sauce substituting for butter...just oatmeal with fresh fruit...
i am rambling, but i know your angst, um...remember, too...food is food and she if she will eat the potatoes for breakfast, then great!
so, fruit, vegetables, meat (anything on the grill makes it even better), olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper....
i hope this helped. if you want to email me, please do!

J.

N.,
My son has some allergies as well. We use Rice Milk instead of cows milk and eat mostly whole foods. We also have experiemented with recipes from other cultures (Asian) that do not use as much milk products as we do in America. A great place to start look at for new recipes is www.allrecipes.com
Good Luck,
R.

Hang in there! My son also had food allergies when he was little - he (as with most children) outgrew them when he was around 2 1/2-3 years old. The allergist said it is common for children to outgrow their food "allergies" which are actually sensitivities and not true allergic reactions. The only thing lingering is he is still lactose intolerant, but that is very tolerable! :)

In the meantime - check out Whole Foods Market, Chamberlin's, etc. I suggest making your own baby food using fresh fruits & veggies, oatmeal and barley cereals, and toast made w/ alfalfa sprout bread.

Good luck!

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/community.html

This a community with 1200+ members. It's all the information you need about FA. My daughter is allergic to nuts and this group was so informative. Good luck. It's frustrating but she may grow out of it. My 3.5 yr old blood tests came back negative for nuts so we are doing a food challenge at the end of the month.

I'm a grown adult and have the same allergies plus many more. Read every label because every salad dressing has soy in it. Hellmann's has canola mayo and I use it instead. Plan and simple foods are always the answer. She may grow out of it. Sugar, salt and spices add flavor to simple foods.
DoulaFran

Dear N.,
I am a single mom and I had a daughter who had the same alergys. We at that time had to shop in a health food store which I wont tell you how much that costs us..The food alergys dont get really any better we had shots as well.. I might try to have some sortof food they might enjoy that they are not alergic to but know this as they get older at times they adjust to eating what they do as they have all there lives had to eat special diets. I would see about alot more vitamins to increase there growth. as food alergys seem to not help the growth pattern.. I would say try the health food store but not sure it would help the food choices...I am not really sure what else to say to you... hope this helps abit and know you are not alone..

P.

Dear N.,
I suggest going to your local health food store. There are several in Tampa (Abby's, Nutrition Smart, Wild Oats, and a few in South Tampa). They usually have whole sections of foods that are "wheat-free, soy-free, etc." Good luck.
K.

N.,
You can make her lots of veggies but also try Rice milk and Rice bread. They make lots of foods now with a rice base (such as flour so you can make cookies w/o egg whites) and cereal for when she gets older. She will never know the difference since she will start out eating Rice based foods. You should be able to find the items at Publix.

Do you live near a health food grocery store? They, many times will have sections dedicated to kids with allergies. They may be able to help you. The good news is that she is not allergic to any fruits or veggies (corn is many times considered a grain)!! This is what we all should be eating any way!! I know there are cook books out there, too for families with food allergies. Is she severely allergic, like where she would have to be sent to the hospital? Or, just the test revealed she is "allergic". Many kids grow out of these allergies down the road...Remember, an allergy is a result of a suppressed immune system, so I would encourage you to pump up her immune system...the fruits and veggies are the best thing. Smoothies are a great way to make a yummy breakfast or snack...Put some banannas, strawberries (or whatever fruits she likes), a little orange juice and some ice (I also will throw in some pieces of organic spinach!!! The fruits disguise the taste!!Those greens give calcium, iron,etc...way more than a multi-vitamin!) Put it in a sippy cup...My little guy shared it with me and thought it was SO cool to sip from a straw...but, this is a highly nutritious "brainy" breakfast or snack...as well as immune boosting. I would also add FLAX seed oil. The nurse I work with helps kids with allergies and that is the one thing she recommends immediately. You can put it in the smoothie I suggested. If you need more recipes, my email is ____@____.com Hope that helps! A.

There is a website called kidswithfoodallergies.org. This will help you with food ideas as their recipes tell you what each is free of. I have found it very helpful as I have children with severe food allergies (multiple). Good luck. It's a hard, but manageble road.

S. Mills

try going to sunsplash food market in port charlotte on tamiami- i shop there because i am trying a no wheat/dairy diet to see if it helps my chronic hives. i found different breads and cereals that don't contain those ingredients. rice milk is very good and they even have ice cream made with it and cheese made from other ingredients. give it a try, they have tons of options and it's a great store for healthy organic foods.

Dear N.,

Mine had lots of allergies and has slowly grown out of all of them. She also had asthma and that is gone as well. Here is some advice as well as food tips.

Get your daughter on acidophilous and enzymes. Doctors have told me that allergies are incomplete digestion and then the food particles get in the blood stream. Either way the acidophilous (spelling) and enzymes help with digestion. Then you want a good multi vitamin that can be found in liquid form for children at the healthfood store.

Food; quick cooking barley is great as a cereal, with rice milk and any type of fruit.

There are vegetarian cook books and vegan cookbooks. Vegan is no milk or wheat. Also middle eastern cooking, like hummus is very good with carots. We use rice noodles instead of regular pasta. to make soup bases I use potatoe or chick pea flour. We also use hormone free meats. It takes some work getting used to the cooking, and finding recipes, but they are out there. We all switched to eating this way because it was too had to have the little one excluded. Now our whokle family does not eat "the allergy food".

We buy oat bread at the health food store. It costs a lot but has no wheat.

There is a chiropractor Allan Gustafson in Tarpon Springs. He is very good with little kids. He helped and me and I just kept searching and going to Chiropractors until we got it licked.

My 5 year old can now eat nuts and sparingly, wheat, and some sugar. All the really bad allergies have gone away.

I hope this helped.

D.