Needing Food Suggestions for 8 MO That Can Not Eat Dairy or Soy

I would really recommend staying with whole, living foods at this tender age. Babies digestive and other systems are still forming. Food at this time is still just supplemental, but I believe very important. There is a lot that is unknown yet about the effects of refined/processed foods on these delicate systems before a year, and many of them are sweetened, totally empty unnecessary calories, taking the place of healthy nutrients for a rapidly growing baby. Try some soft sweet potatoes, squash, avocados, and overripe bananas. All of those should be filling and have good nutrient content. I second the recommendation for the Super Baby Food book, it is really great.
best wishes!

Hi B....
If you can, Google Soy free/Dairy free and get about 300,000 responses and ideas...or www.soyfree/dairyfree.com might help...
good Luck...

C. M Hamlin
Cave Junction OR

Try the Super Baby FOod book. It is awesome. Very good suggestions for finger foods as well as foods your child can eat at every month. FOr example--avocado is a great food for a baby (very healthy) and I never would have thought of that. My 2 year old still loves it and calls it "Avotaco". The author has some wonderful suggestions for every new month and her Super porriage is wonderful.

What about Baby Mum Mums. I think they're just rice. Or rice crackers or rice cakes.... There's also rice milk. Or there are lots of freeze dried fruits you can buy made by little graduates (the strawberries and bananas are cut into tiny squares, so made for little ones just starting) and Trader Joes has an even better array of foods. Cheerios (do they have dairy or soy?)... Fresh fruit like blueberries or strawberries or grapes cut into pieces. That should be a good start.

My youngest daughter has done well with Baby Mum Mums, bananas, and steamed veggies. I will buy a package of the mini carrots, steam the whole thing and chop them into little "pincher-sized" pieces, then freeze them in baby food containers. I pull out a new one each time one gets empty, and it's almost thawed in the fridge by the time I want more. (I've done this with peas and beans, also.) A very important nutrient for your baby right now is fat, and avocados are the perfect food for babies - have the good fats and other nutrients, plus are toteable and soft. My daughter wouldn't eat it mashed and on a spoon, but when I just chunked it up for her to feed herself she did great!

They make alot of rice baby products. You can find a bunch at like whole foods. I am against giving dairy to my kids. So I would take an hour and wonder around whole foods and see what you can find....if anything it is alot of fun!!

Cheerios, finger jello made with fruit juice, steamed and cooled carrot pieces that mush in the mouth, ripe banana slices. Just some quick thoughts.

my 9 month old daughter loves diced carrots and peas. If you cook up a batch and keep them in the fridge, you can toss them on the high chair tray when you need a minute for other stuff.

My little boy was the same way. We finally gave him Goat's milk and it worked wonderfully. We began with the canned and diluted it to the doctor's specs and later went to the regular goat milk in the cartons.This truly saved his life and my sanity.
T.

Trader Joe's makes "Organic High Fiber O's" that are dairy and soy free. They're similar to cheerios, but a little bit harder and much tastier. We started giving those to my daughter before she had teeth at around 8 months and she's never had any trouble with them. Envirokids makes a bunch of cereals and such that might be good. I think Winco carries them. I know Trader Joe's carries the cereal too. We also do frozen fruits and veggies. Corn, peas, blueberries have all been fine for us. We get organic blueberries since they're smaller and don't have as high of a choking hazard. You could always use the little net feeding bags (Target carries them) if you were worried about choking or things being too hard to gum easily. Good luck!

My son also couldn't have dairy until 18 months. The allergy suddenly went away then. He had other sensitivities that took longer to phase out.

I would look to cereals for good, portable finger foods. New Seasons has lots of variations of traditional selections without dairy/soy/gluten. I have Nature Path Corn Flakes and Gorilla Munch (from Trader Joe's) in my cabinet right now and both would be good for your little one.

B.-

My son had the same milk restrictions. I just stuck with fruits and veges. On Sundays I would steam or bake them, cut them into small pieces, and put them in the freezer for use during the week. I made yams, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, peaches. Really anything I could find in the produce department that looked good. I know it can be difficult to find bread with no dairy in it. So I would by whole wheat bread at Great Harvest Bread Co. He loved to eat that!

Happy cooking!

cheerios, cooked pasta, cooked carrots, boiled sweet potato fries

Wow that's tough. I used home made bread cut into "fist sized" pieces and hummus to dip it in. Our little one also really liked apple sauce and bits of fruit that I cut up in the morning and distribute through the day when she needs a snack. When he's a little older you can cut up tortillas and put them in the oven at 350 for 5 min and have a safe to eat cracker.

Something we do to keep our 11-month-old son entertained in his high chair while we prepare other food is give him one of the little Munchkin mesh pouches filled with frozen fruit. Then he can gnaw/teethe on it and get some nutrients. As for pracicing the pincer :), we just cut up some of our food (which doesn't have dairy etc. because of my allergies) and give him pieces to play with. Sometimes it's carrot, pasta, sweet potato, bits of meat, tiny broccoli, etc.

rice milk has worked for my great granddaughters .

My daughter nursed till she was two, but was supplemented with goats milk or rice milk after 8 months because she was intollerant to soy and dairy. There are lot's of options in the "natural" section of the grocer. But my best luck was with pureed fruit and squash, then freezing them in ice cube trays. It's great for portion size, teething (they can suck/chew on a cube), easy to make a bunch at once, and you can always toss a few cubes in a baggie and let them defrost on the run. I've found that my daughter can now eat dairy and soy products with none of the reactions she had as an infant. I'm really glad I limited her intake to whole foods. There are rice baby biscuits and such as well though. Good luck!