Dairy/ casein free diet help

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

My nearly 3 year old son has recently been diagnosed with autism and the doctor recommended trying him on a casein free diet. My son suffers a lot from constipation and the doctor suggested this might help him. I had a quick Google and found that casein is the protein found in milk so lactose free products are no good. I have tried him with some of the alternative milks and seems to be ok so far. I have also bought some cheese alternative and vitalite spread to try.
I was wondering if any one could point me in the direction of some good dairy alternative products and any recipes would be greatfully received. I might have to try gluten free and casein free further down the line if the casein elimination on its own doesn't work so any gluten and dairy free suggestions would also be great.

Fen1

Hi. Have a look at health unlocked.com
The communities that I use ( not autism ) are very supportive and highly informative.

https://healthunlocked.com/search/communities?query=Autism&page=1

joedenise

For recipes I'd check out vegan recipes particularly for dairy free.

Denise

CapricornLass

Poor you! I do sympthise - my eldest son has Aspergers Syndrome and was put on a gluten - free/casein free diet by the doctor when he was at uni. It made a huge difference to him, almost as if he had had a personality transplant, so I hope that this diet is equally successful to your son. But there's no denying it feels pretty daunting at first.

Here are my two go-to books for recipes:

Allergy-free cookbook by Alice Sherwood
How to cook for food allergies by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne.

Both books came about because they had children with allergies, and all the recipes can deal with avoiding gluten and dairy, so if your son has to go gluten free at a later date, at least you can still use the same books and recipes! Both of them have tips born out of experience of life with an allergic child - getting a balanced diet, childrens' parties, travelling at home and abroad. L B-G is Prue Leith trained, and I find her recipes are a little more adult in style and presentation. However, she has a fantastic section at the front of the book dealing with the common allergies, what role they play in a recipe, and suitable substitutions, which means you can adapt your own recipes.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time reading labels when you are shopping, and especially double check when manufacturers announce that they have a New Recipe - I usually find that means I can't eat it any more. Don't necessarily go straight to the Free From food section, check the normal products first. You may also find that you will have to shop at four different supermarkets as each will stock products that the others don't, especially if your son later goes gluten free as well.

I don't use soya milk for baking, I prefer rice milk. Lidls does occasionally sell fresh soya milk. I don't use nut milks as both son and I are allergic to nuts. Lidl sell Vitalite dairy free cheaper than Tescos - last time I checked it was 20p difference. Son doesn't rate the soya cheese that you buy in the supermarkets, and prefers a vegan cheese called Sheese, which he gets through Amazon. Amazon can be a fruitful hunting ground for suitable products too, although there may be a bit of a problem with storage! If you do need gluten free flours, the best I've found are Innovative Solutions - (web address is www. pureglutenfree.co.uk, although if you buy very small quantities there are hefty carriage charges) and Doves, which work out dearer but are more likely to be in your supermarket.

It will be the silly things that will trip you up. Chocolate is a minefield of its own - go to Plamil as they are a vegan chocolate manufactor, and you can buy their products direct from them on-line. They will also do seasonal products, Easter eggs and Advent calendars, but be prepared to buy three or four months in advance, otherwise they will run out. Another trip hazard is medicine. My son became so ill after taking two paracetamol at work that they had to send him home in a taxi. But as he said, who would think of milk products being in paracetamol? The pharmacist will be the best person to check with, I find the doctors won't have a clue about the ingredients.

As your son is so young, I think it would be worth bringing up the question of adequate calcium with the doctor - he may need to be prescribed suppliments in the long term.

Hope that helps.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Capricorn lass thank you so much for taking the time to type out your reply. It is very heartening to read that someone has seen results from the diet. Like I said the doctor recommended trying the casein free diet to help with the constipation. It was only when I started looking into it that I was finding a lot of material about it helping with behaviour as well. If it sorts out his constipation so he isn't in agony then that will be brilliant. Any other benefits would be huge bonus.
I will defiantly have a look at your suggestions for books. I have bought one called the kid friendly adhd and autism cookbook which I need to start reading to give me some ideas. Luckily I love to cook and bake and make most of our meals from scratch so it's not as daunting a prospect for me as it may be for some people but it is still hard to suddenly think that I have to check the label of everything.
I'm hoping that as he is so young it might be a good thing that I have to change his diet now before he gets too stuck in his ways.
I tried him on some of the tesco free from cheddar cheese alternative but that did not go down very well!
Thanks again everyone.

thriftmonster

Hi, if you are looking at a CF diet for autism,as Capricornlass says, it usually goes with GF. When I was doing this for ds1, I found it easiest to use GF recipes (loads online) and then use plant milks and vitalite for the baking. Dairy free is an easier adaptation to me - but then I'm lactose free as well


ETS lactose is in everything - as Capricornlqss says, Please check everything

littlegreenparrot

When I first went dairy free a few years ago, I found a list online of all the names of different milk products to look for, it's very useful and lives in the fridge door.

Sainsbury do own brand dairy free cheeses that I like, have a look in Holland and Barrett.
Chocolate tip, a lot of dark chocolate is dairy free but not all. Some of the ones in aldi are though 😁.
Most bourbon biscuits are vegan.

There are loads of different plant milks to try. I prefer coconut yoghurt over soy. Most big supermarkets have it.

Make sure to check labels every time, sometimes They are annoying and re-formulate. Crisps often have milk powder where you wouldn't expect it.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Thanks again everyone. I have printed a list of products that contain gluten and casein. I suppose after you have been looking at labels for a long time it will just become second nature. I did have to laugh when I looked at the name of the laxative the doctor prescribed for my son (which never seemed to be very effective) which was lactulose. Needless to say I stopped giving it to him pretty sharpish.

pinknsparkly

Mummy2cheekymonkeys - I second the recommendations to look at vegan recipes. I am egg-free rather than dairy-free so avoid different things to you, but find that going to vegan recipes and then "de-veganising" them by adding meat if I wish is much easier than attempting to de-egg an egg-recipe!


Make sure you know ALL the possible names that can be used for casein for when you're checking the list of ingredients. You will definitely get faster with practice. I'm not sure about casein specifically, but at least on British food packaging the most common allergens (off the top of my head - gluten, wheat, milk, egg, celery, soya, mustard. casein might also be one) are listed in bold. My process of checking is then a quick glance at the ingredient list to check if anything is in bold, then read each of the bold ingredients to see if it is egg. Only when there is no ingredient in bold do I need to read every single ingredient.



Eating out: the majority of eateries now list their allergen menu online so you can check before you go out which I highly recommend as they can be rather tiny and time consuming to read. Spending the time to read it and work out what he can eat before you get there, rather than working it out when you're there and he is getting hungry and grumpy is definitely worth your while!

pinknsparkly

Also, in terms of actual food advice - a friend who is dairy-free highly rates oat milk as she finds it gives the creamy mouthfeel of dairy milk that can be missing from soya, nut or rice milks. You can make your own at home (using gluten free oats if needs be) for pennies if he likes it! She also rates the coconut yogurts - it seems most people either love or hate soya products!