My pediatrician and I are working together to try a dairy free diet with my almost 5 year old daughter. I am looking for any and all suggestions on doing this successfully! She is very adverse to trying new foods and loves dairy.
She has chronic ear infections and chronic constipation. We have been seen by specialists for both conditions. Her dad had a severe milk allergy when he was an infant and both conditions have been linked to a dairy allergy. So before we do tubes, I want to try this. The ear infections are happening because she has significant post nasal discharge and it is collecting in her ears. No runny nose or cold symptoms.
She loves milk, ice cream, yogurt, macaroni and cheese -- which I know are the things that need to be altered or eliminated. She does eat many non-dairy foods as well, sausages of any kind, chicken, beef, pork, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, corn, bananas and bread.
We need to be very strict for about 3 weeks I am told. Has anyone tried this? And tips or tricks? Suggestions of brands to try or brands to avoid? I am going to go to Whole Foods and our local health store and see what they have, but I'd love to know from others what actually tastes good and what to avoid.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Hi,
I have a dairy allergy and agree that the Earth's Balance brand of 'butter' is the best (and I love real butter!). It comes in tubs for spreading on toast and sticks for baking. It was very difficult to deal with when I first found out because there seems to be dairy (casein, whey) in everything. I use soy milk as a substitute in almost everything and like the Purely Decadent brand of coconut milk ice cream.
I've worked with a lot of families who put their kids on a dairy free supplement that nourishes, and often (after just a month sometimes) eliminates what you're talking about - ear infections, constipation, plus allergies and more. It's so much easier to add what is missing than to go through the hassle of taking away so many things. A local friend of mine had just this issue - constipation (herself) and her baby. She's using the adult supplement for her own issues and as a prenatal, and her first daughter takes the kids' formula. The key is, it's a whole food, it's liquid, and it's highly absorbable. There are some great educational programs in this area if you'd like to learn more.
At Whole Foods, there is a good selection of dairy free yogurts in all kinds of flavors and my son loves them. They also have soy pudding - banana, chocolate, and vanilla, which are good. I replace milk in recipes with soy milk or rice milk, but cheese cannot be replaced too easily. Whole foods does sell a vegan parmesan cheese that is not bad. The shredded cheese is disgusting. The Vegan cheese slices take some time to get used to. They also sell frozen meals that are dairy free, like pizzas and pita pockets, etc. It may seem overwhelming, but it is very possible! Good luck! My 3 year old has been dairy/egg/nut free since the age of 1, and he is very healthy!
My daughter has a severe allergy to milk and eggs so I understand . We have found alot of great alternatives at Whole Foods but there are serveral recipes I have as well. My daughter loves soy and rice milk, both the plain and vanilla flavored. The Whole Soy Company makes yougurt that she enjoys as well, but I have found that not all Whole foods locations carry them, so you may want to call. She didn't seem to like the egg/dairy free French Toast from Van's (frozen) but I have some recipies from allergy books that I would be happy to send you! they make pasta that we use with vegan cheese for her mac and cheese and she LOVES it! Be careful with meat from the deli, there is a turkey from Whole Foods that we seem to have success with! If you wouls like any of these recipes, etc...please feel free to message me and I would be happy to pass them on!!! Good luck!!:-)
My son has a severe milk allergy so he is 100% dairy free - he cannot have it as an ingredient in anything at all.
He eats soy yogurt and it's pretty good. Soy cheeses are just ok - "Follow Your Heart" makes the best if you want one that melts. Read labels carefully, as A LOT of soy yogurts and cheeses still contain whey and/or casein, which are milk proteins.
Tofutti makes sour cream and cream cheese that are dairy free. They also have little ice cream sandwiches (tofutti cuties) that are yummy. Nucoa and Earth's Balance are good brands of margarine that you can use for baking.
If you have Sprouts or Henry's markets in your area, they carry a lot of good things and are cheaper than Whole Foods by a lot. Even my Ralph's Supermarket has a lot of the items I mentioned above.
Ghiradelli chocolate chips are dairy free too.
Send me a private message if you want more tips. I have a sleeping baby in my lap right now so I can't go look at some of the other brands in my cupboard (but I know there is a good mac and cheese in there). I'd be happy to send you more info later if you send me a message asking for it, since I might not find this thread again. : )
Updated
My son has a severe milk allergy so he is 100% dairy free - he cannot have it as an ingredient in anything at all.
He eats soy yogurt and it's pretty good. Soy cheeses are just ok - "Follow Your Heart" makes the best if you want one that melts. Read labels carefully, as A LOT of soy yogurts and cheeses still contain whey and/or casein, which are milk proteins.
Tofutti makes sour cream and cream cheese that are dairy free. They also have little ice cream sandwiches (tofutti cuties) that are yummy. Nucoa and Earth's Balance are good brands of margarine that you can use for baking.
If you have Sprouts or Henry's markets in your area, they carry a lot of good things and are cheaper than Whole Foods by a lot. Even my Ralph's Supermarket has a lot of the items I mentioned above.
Ghiradelli chocolate chips are dairy free too.
Send me a private message if you want more tips. I have a sleeping baby in my lap right now so I can't go look at some of the other brands in my cupboard (but I know there is a good mac and cheese in there). I'd be happy to send you more info later if you send me a message asking for it, since I might not find this thread again. : )
Daiya shredded cheese tastes pretty good compared to most dairy free or vegan cheeses and it melts and stretches. Rice milk also tastes better than soy milk (my opinion) and Rice Dream makes vanilla and chocolate. If she is not nut allergic then she can drink almond milk. So Delicious makes great coconut milk yogurts and you can also find many good tasting soy yogurts. Whole foods is your best bet for a wide selection of products. As far as ice cream, Larry & Luna makes delicious dairy alternatives as well as So Delicious. Rice Dream 'ice cream' is not the tastiest.
Turtle Mountain sells ice cream and yogurt made with coconut milk. It is sold at health food stores. I'm haven't tried it yet, but I really want to because it sounds delicious!
As far as substitutes go I would suggest almond or hemp milk. We like the whole foods brand of almond milk in the refrigerator section. My son loves soy yogurt as well, I think the brand we get is Whole Soy, it comes in flavors, but I just get a big tub of plain and add fruit to it if he wants it. So delicious has a whole line of dairy free stuff, most of which is at whole foods (http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/index_products.php). I love their ice cream better than dairy versions, but my son doesn't like the coconut milk. Daiya is also a new brand of vegan cheese that melts like real cheese (http://www.daiyafoods.com/) and they have it at whole foods too. I also like almond cheese, but my son does not.
I also like this blog http://www.yourveganmom.com/ she's a mom of 2 and does a lot of vegan, kid friendly stuff. She has a recipe for mac and cheese, but I've never tried it. She has a Parmesan cheese substitute recipe too. This one is pretty good too http://busyveganmama.blogspot.com/.
Message me if you have other questions!
Try Silk Live yogurt (it is soy and MILK FREE -- a lot of the soy yogurts still have milk cultures- dumb,yes); Rice Dream milk in Original or Vanilla if she won't take to Soy milk (my daughter wouldn't); Tofutti Better N Cream Cheese to spread on bagels, toast, etc. (My kids like it better than cream cheese- even my non-dairy allergic son); Rice Dream makes a Chocolate Dairy Free Ice Cream my daughter loves (tastes better than the vanilla version and is better than the other ones in her opinion- she is 3.5 and has been dairy free since 14 mos); last thing- there is a Rice Dream cheddar, american or white pepperjack cheese that is sold in the vegetable or cheese area of most major grocery chains -- just make sure it is milk free -- my daughter likes Grilled Cheeses with that. Smart Balance is dairy free but honestly I think it tastes yucky so good luck with finding a butter/margarine substitute she will like. Hope she likes some of it! Try not to draw too much attention to the substitutes and maybe she will be more receptive. Also, if she likes the Rice Dream Milk- they sell the original in cases at Costco -- much cheaper in the long term.
o'soy yogurt is my daughters favorite (she is 5 too, and they have the smaller versions in packages of 6 in o'soy, as well as the bigger ones). Almond yogurt is my husband's favorite. You can get these at Whole Foods for sure. Almond ice cream is better than the soy ice cream in my opinion.... she will never know the difference. Soy has a strange aftertaste, I think it is a little more difficult to get use to over almond. I like dairy, but I also like Almond. I am not a fan of soy flavored dairy products, but my daughter would disagree esp about the yogurt. There is a fantastic Almond chocolate milk available... and you can warm it up... tastes like hot chocolate. You can still cook pasta and add other things besides cheese (spaghetti sauces?). So to sum up my rambling... try the o'soy yogurt, however, Almond dairy substitutes will probably go over better than soy... the soy is harder to get use to, esp. if you are use to cow's milk. This will probably be easier than you think. OH.... and I would just cut cheese out all together.... there is NO ACCEPTABLE CHEESE SUBSTITUTE... (imo of course)! Earth's Balance "butter" is the best!
