Help needed - Weaning a dairy intolerant baby with finger foods only

Triker

Had a shufty, don't know if this is any good for ideas, hope you get some answers soon from the specialist.

http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/

anguk

I forgot to say when I posted earlier try not to worry too much, as long as baby is happy and gaining weight he's got plenty of time yet before food becomes the main part of his diet.

Many babies grow out of dairy intolerance, mine was back on dairy completely by the time he was about 3 and he's now a 6ft2in big strapping 23 year old! He didn't have rashes he would just explode out of both ends whenever he had dairy! :eek:

Ishtar

mumto1 wrote: »

OP, dont' worry about how much he's eating - as you say -'under one, just for fun' try here: http://www.babyledweaning.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=2c2d5184112225bc28c4f75485f7fc03 for help with baby-led weaning, they've tried it, done it all on there.

Mine was baby-led weaned, and he eats well.

mumto1 beat me to it - I was going to suggest the above, too.

We BLW our DS (he's 13 months now) and up to about a year we basically stuck to vegetables and fruit, HM bread, pulses, eggs, etc, with the occasional piece of meat if he wanted it.

Might also be worth checking out the Vegan Society - here - as they have a section on parenting...not quite the same thing as you're looking for, but they might be able to offer good alternatives.

HTH
D

meritaten

I breastfed my son until he was six months then all the medics insisted i stopped as I was dangerously underwieght. up til then he was a happy healthy baby - as soon as i put him on formula he changed to the baby from hell! screamed, had unexplained rashes, a cough and a runny nose and I was forever down the doctors and i was SURE it was because of the formula. which the doctors and nurses denied. told me i was stupid and ill-informed. this went on until he was three and he started to have life threatening asthma attacks. I had had enough!! against the advice of the doctors I cut out all dairy products but he was still getting attacks - not as many and not as bad, but I still battled with doctors nurses and nutritonists almost every day. In the end i insisted they give him allergy tests - and guess what? he was allergic to dairy, but also whey, oranges tomatoes and nuts.
this was over twenty years ago and there was very little known in this country about food allergies - indeed some so-called nutritionists didnt believe you could be allergic to food!
so - have you had the little one tested for all possible allergens?
my own son could tolerate sheeps milk just fine and I did find a supply of sheeps milk cheese.
chocolate was a problem until I realised it was the milk or whey content - at the time after eight chocs didnt contain any and it was his choccy fix.
main meals werent such a problem - meat and veg or chips or most other home cooked meals were ok. I could substitute his sheeps cheese if making lasagne and everyone liked it anyway.
the main problem was processed or ready meals - at the time labelling wasnt as good and finding out which foods DIDNT contain milk solids or whey powder was not easy.
If you need to make the transition to bottle feeding then I would really start introducing the soy one now. my son was happy to have cereal with the ordinary soya milk you get in supermarkets now (I had to buy sons from a specialist health food store and it cost three times as much as the supermarket ones do now and this was twenty years ago!).
kids can grow out of allergies, but be very very careful before reintroducing an allergen. it took my son until he was in his twenties before he could tolerate cows milk or ordinary chocolate and he still limits their intake now in his mid twenties.

mickey8260

my little boy has a dairy allery 4 now and slowly growing out of it, we were refered to dietician with it and he was put on nutramagin as apparently you have to be a bit careful with the soya milk for little boys cause it can mess with there hormones, that was what I was told any way (will say nutramagin tastes awful little boy grabbed his bottle one day took a gulp and was promptly very sick!) have a little girl now who will have soya formula instead and am baby led weaning, she and he brother both love vegetarian sushi!

kparker666

Hi everyone, have been reading your comments about dairy allergy and just wanted to help regarding soya and soya formulas for babies and children.

I'm a registered paediatric dietitan and have specialised in children's allergy during my career, I'm also a mummy so completely understand how difficult it can be trying to find healthy meals and snacks for babies especially when they need a special diet. Put simply there is no evidence in humans that links soya foods or formulas to infertility or any other negative effects and any old evidence from animal studies which hinted at possible associations has been disproven in recent years. Sadly the message is taking a long time to reach many health professionals, especially if they are specialists in this area. Soya formulas are not routinely used in babies under 6 months as other more suitable formulas are available for allergy, but they are sometimes prescribed over 6 months by allergy specialists and dietitians. One reason is that they are far more palatable than the hydrolysed formulas that have been mentioned previously and are therefore likely to be better tolerated, particularly in an older infant.

Soya formulas are available to buy off the shelf thus further endorsing their safety. Soya foods such as yogurts and desserts are suitable from weaning (6 months) and because soya protein contains all the essential amino acids found in animal protein they are an excellent alternative for cows milk allergic children. Just make sure that the products you choose have been fortified with calcium.

If your wait to see an allergy specialist is long it might be worth asking your GP to refer you to a paediatric dietitian either in the community or hospital. You don't need an allergy specialist to prescribe a hypoallergenic formula or a soya formula, you just need an assessment from someone with experience in this area, your dietitian will be able to ask your GP to prescribe whichever formula is most appropriate once she/ he has assessed your little one.

I hope that gives you all a little piece of mind, good luck!

Downsizing__for_sanity

Hi,

Re BLW - I did BLW with my daughter, now 3 and a half. My niece, born on the same day, also followed BLW, but she is severely allergic to egg, soya and milk protein. She would have porridge for breakfast, like my daughter, but with breastmilk or apple juice instead of cow's milk. Toast and marmite fingers are also good for gumming on!

I second the dietitian's advice. I'm a medical student with an interest in paediatric nutrition and I'm a peer supporter at a local breastfeeding help group. Remember when you go back to work you are entitled to time out to express milk if you want to keep feeding. Baby will naturally wind down and reduce the volume of breastmilk he's taking as he eats more as he gets older. You might find if you don't abruptly stop breastfeeding, he will naturally make up for you being away during the daytime and feed a little more in the morning and evening. Your health visitor should be able to give you the details of a lactation consultant who might be able to help you with the transition, or perhaps a breastfeeding group locally.

Good luck,
Ellie x (Downsizing)

Boodle

Hi there - well done still breastfeeding :T My little one is still BF also, and as she has been weaned without animal products, I intend to continue as long as possible. I second Ellie's fab advice on that subject

With babies, pretty much anything becomes finger food - even porridge This is the sort of thing my DD has had:
Breakfasts
peanut butter or yeast extract on toast (you could use fruit puree/spread/low-sugar jam)
bread and butter with banana and raisins
Lunches
Avocado, hummus, peanut butter, or yeast extract in sandwiches, with carrot/apple/raisins, etc.
HM wraps with any of the above
Crackers with any of the above
Pancakes (either with plain flour, or savoury versions of the American style pancakes), the former layered up with cheez in the middle is popular, or rolled up like a wrap with peanut butter is popular
Scones, usually with avocado and raisins.
"Cheez" on toast - I pick up the dairy-free "cheese" at a local health food shop.

You seem to have dinners pretty much covered But some things that have gone down well here, are:
pizza made from pitas, English muffins or HM base, with veggies
Baked beans on toast (I drain the beans quite a bit first ) or with HM chips and broccoli/HM coleslaw i.e. grated carrot and chives in oil&vinegar dressing (she doesn't have enough teeth for the cabbage!)
HM mini pies with veg and potatoes
Roasted veg and pasta with oil dressing
Noodles with veg and tofu or peanut butter sauce
Sweet potato wedges are also very popular.

skintchick

I haven;t read the replies but we are BLWing with my 9mo and she wakes at least once a night for a feed so I don;t think you should worry about that. I read some research recently that said most children wake at least once a night until they are 18 months old.

There is a BLW forum which would be a great resource for you http://babyledweaning.com/forum/index.php?sid=10ce01774eff5f8aa1f73fd27e5fa80c

As for food, don;t worry about lack of teeth as those gums are hard! Pasta is good as is gnocchi but be careful of the salt content in gnocchi, diffferent brands are worse than otehrs, TEsco is very high in salt but Waitrose not so. I cover them either in homemade tomato sauce or use jarred sauces and pestos (although they have parmesan in often).

She also eats sandwiches, toasties, fruit and veg (roasted veg is popular), cereals, toast, meat and veg meals, fig rolls, rice cakes with spreads, think those would all be suitable for you.

Definitely ask on the forum though as there are lods of people on there with dairy allergies (or children with them).

lindseykim13

I haven't read through everything and prob been mentioned but sweet potatos! They make lovely wedges or chips. You could try roasting carrots to give them a slightly diff texture.
My dd is also 7mths and still bf but i'm spoon feeding her mostly although not activly weaning yet. Might not be much help but the cow and gate cereals you just add water to rather than milk i'm not sure what's in them though with regards to being dairy free might be worth a look though.