Need Snacks for a Toddler with Food Allergies

hi -
have you tried any soy products? health food stores or supermarkets have soy cheese (sticks), or soy crisps (snack size), smaller size soy milk or rice milk (fortified). i give these to my 2yr old and she loves them! if you have health food store near you or a whole foods, you may find a lot of good healthy choices. i think they carry soy/flax waffles, you could add almond butter or soy butter(tastey) or apple butter to them.
good luck!
C.

Hi Penda,

My daughter now 14 mo had a soy-milk intolerance and we also needed to restrict eggs. I bought "The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook: Two Hundred Gourmet & Homestyle Recipes for the Food Allergic Family" by Cybele Pascal and that helped. The book includes recipes for all types of foods and snacks including granola bars and oatmeal cookies without soy/milk/egg/wheat. Whole Foods (the supermarket) also has nice options in regards to snacks, they have coconut milk yogurt (no dairy no soy), rice based snacks, and whole grains such as corn puffs without additives. Also just more fruits and vegetables would be a good addition. I would also double check the chicken nuggets and turkey hot dogs you are buying as most of those foods contain some amounts of whey (or other milk by product) as well as soy. Potato chips also have high levels of sodium which is not very good for little ones (or anyone really). Lastly, given that your daughter is now 19 mo unless your pediatrician/allergist has recently confirmed the presence of allergies to all those foods you might want to speak to your pediatrician (or whoever is directing her diet) about doing challenges of various foods. My daughter was able to accept eggs at around 12 months, and just recently passed her soy challenge, we are now working on a dairy challenge. This has allowed greater variety in her diet and made it easier to plan for her meals. Allergies take a lot of work, but in the end I feel my family ended up eating better than it had in the past so it was a good learning experience. Good luck.

If you are looking for meal ideas also, My son likes brown rice pasta. I serve it with tomato sauce or sometimes mix in some black beans and gravy. It does not store or freeze very well from my experience so I just usually cook what I will use for that meal.

My son is allergic to eggs & nuts, so whenever I want to give him something like a cookie or trail mix I use "Enjoy Life" foods, they are free of the top 8 allergens. I know we don't always want to give our kids cookies to snack on, but let's face it sometimes we all just want to have a cookie and these are safe and I don't have to worry about making time to bake him something myself. I also have the book "What's to Eat, the egg free, nut free, milk free food allergy cookbook". Great recipes.

My little guy has 31 food allergies, including some of the ones you mentioned. I am in the process of learning how to cook/bake things for him to eat. I have found a few great resources: Special Diets for Special Kids 1 & 2 by Lisa Lewis, and the GFCFKids and GFCFRecipes Yahoo! Groups...Enjoy Life products are free of most allergens, and allergygrocer.com is also a good place to find some acceptable foods.
HTH!

This might sound weird, but both of my girls had food allergies and they loved canned beans (black beans, chickpeas, etc.) which were easy to take along. Actually, canned vegetables in general - although they're not quite as healthy as fresh, they're soft and easy when you need something fast. Also, if she can have sesame, hummus is a nice option. Rice or spelt pasta is pretty decent and easy to eat at that age. Fruit leather is good. Also, sounds bad, but Fritos are great for allergy kids who aren't sensitive to corn b/c there's only 3 ingredients. Not sure exactly where you're located, but you can contact Jodye Hall at http://www.foodallergygourmet.com for recipes, support groups and wheat-free flour. Good luck!

My child started eating popcorn around 2. I just check to make sure no hard pieces make it into his bowl.

I love chopping up fruit for my son. It travels well, is easy to do & very healthy. I find grapes & plums are especially good. (And easy to chew).
Also, you could buy (or make) dried fruits.

You have not mentioned the age of your child, but there are lots of recipes for granola on the internet, or homemade granola bars. You can also do an easy snack mix of dry cereal with dry fruit. Dry fruit alone is a good option. You may also find some good cracker or cookie options in the organic foods. There is a resource with recipes and screened foods on the food allergy network (I don't have the url, but you can google).

If you're packing stuff that you want to last a long time, I would suggest dried fruits. Raisins are obvious, but my kids also love prunes, dried apricots, dried apple slices, etc.
Also fresh berries or grapes are good finger food.
You mignt also consider something like almond butter to dip apple slices in, as it's a good way to sneak some protien in there.

I work in the nursery at our church,there is a little boy in there with SEVERE allergies, for snack they send him the goldfish crackers but they are pretzel instead of cheese ones. They also send him the 100 calorie packs of rice cakes.
hope this helps, good luck !

Hi Penda, How about carrot sticks or slices? Green beans and celery with or without cream cheese or ranch dressing? Raisins, bananas, little cups of jello or fruit. Baked beans are always a treat too! You can find little single serving cans or plastic bowels of fruits and veggies at any store, as well as baked beans and jello if you don't want to make your own. I used to make my own jello cups, you can buy small plastic bowels with lids by the pair and one small box of jello can make 5 jello cups! After the initial cost of the containers it is a cheep easy snack that goes anywhere...and they stay firm for a long time without refrigeration after they are firm. Just try to think outside of the "box" to find what works for you! Best wishes.

I was also thinking fruit and raisins would be good to snack on. Also matchstick veggies - carrots, peppers, cucumbers, squash. How about lunchmeat rolled up in lettuce leaves. Soup would be good (drain off the liquid if that makes things easier). I would also buy a nice insulated lunch bag, a small thermos-type container and a few ice packs. That would give you the ability to pack items securely and keep them warm or cool, allowing you more variety.