Alternatives to Dairy Allergy

You could try Pacific brand oat milk, available at Central Market, some Krogers (organic section) and probably Whole Foods. It's organic (they also make rice milk and other alternatives) and is fortified with calcium and vitamins. Oat milk tastes richer than rice milk, more like soy but not as chalky.

My daughter is 2 and has multiple allergies, including dairy and soy. She can eat goat cheese but won't drink goat milk or rice milk. So the oat milk has been a lifesaver!

Hi A.! My sister-in-law gives her 3yr old goats milk. He loves it.

A.

My friend uses potato milk. She bought it in powder form over the internet & mixes it in big batches. I don't know alot about it but you could look into it. Good luck!

C.

My son has had dairy allergies since he was an infant, and we see a GI Specialist regularly. Now (at 20 mos.) we just recently saw our specialist and asked again about soy milk vs. whole milk. He said Silk brand is better fotified than other soy milks (when reading the ingredients you'll see this for yourself...I sure did!) and that it's just as good as whole milk...maybe even better. He said soy isn't something you should over-consume (IE: don't substitute all meat and dairy for everything-soy) but it has many benefits. I feed my son fish and poultry and substitute all dairy (milk, yogurt and cheese) with soy...Silk brand when possible.

Goat milk worked fine for my daughter, who had milk allergies as a baby. I bought it in the can and diluted it the same way you do baby formula. Don't be afraid to try it. Goat milk is so much easier on the stomach than cows milk.

Have you tried goats milk??

You should read the message boards at www.kidswithfoodallergies.org. We think my daughter has a number of food allergies, although we saw a pediatric immunologist/allergist who thinks they're false positives (other than the peanut allergy). We've been doing rice milk. Had been doing goats milk at the recommendation of our pediatrician, but the allergist said that goat milk has 80% of the same stuff that cow milk has and wouldn't be a good solution to a dairy allergy. Good luck!

You can try Silk Soy Milk Enhanced (It has a lot of great vitamins and omega 3's). I use it myself, since I try to stay away from dairy too. My oldest son also had a little dairy allergy. We've also used almond milk and Goat's milk (you can find it in a lot of stores now in the milk section, the powdered kind is not so great tasting FYI).
Unfortunately what most parents may not realize is that almost ALL regular baby formula (whether milk or soy based) has the palm kernal 'bad oils' along with corn syrup solids. If we aren't setting our kids up for failure in the diet dept., I don't know what. It's no wonder so many kids are obese. Until they fix our screwed up food system, we have to be vigilant and spend 3 times as much on food, just to stay healthy. Sorry to go off an a tangent... I'm glad you're trying to make good choices, I just wish those choices were more readily available.
Good luck and stick to it!

First, you would love a book called "Disease proof your child" by Joel Fuhrman. Not only does he say that milk isn't a necessary part of the diet, but he gives tons of alternatives for getting protein and calcium, and provides recipes!
Second, You could try goat's milk. Me and both my kids are allergic to cow's milk. I was on goat milk until I was school-age, at which time the milk allergy subsided. We switched my daughter to goat milk when she was one and she did great on it. It tastes a little different, but since she was used to formula, she didn't mind. There's a company called Meyenberg that sells it. You can find it by the quart at Walmart, Albertson's, and most grocery stores in the same section as the soy. I DO NOT recommend the canned/concentrated version of goat milk. It's horrible to taste and smell. Now (daughter 3 1/2 and son 17 months) we're all on soy. The baby is still on soy formula because soy milk is too low in fat for him until he's at least 2. I didn't know about the oils in soy. I'll have to check that out.

Milk supplies calcium, protein, Vitamin D and some Vitamin A. If your daughter can drink calcium-fortified orange juice, she will get her calcium. If she goes out into the sun for at least 15 to 20 minutes a day, she will make Vitamin D through her skin. The protein content of rice "milk" is not very good. She would be better off getting her protein from eggs, legumes or meats. Finally, Vitamin A is in orange vegetables like carrots. She could also take a multivitamin with Vitamins D and A. Good luck!

Hello,
Well, I dont really have a great solution to the milk dilema but I can recommend some cheeses that I know are dairy free. I have only been able to find them at Kroger in the Organic Veggie section. It is called veggie cheese. It tastes just like cheese, it is amazing! Be careful bc some of those so called veggie cheeses still contain milk by products but it would really depend on how allergic your child is. In any case, try Morning Star brand , they have a line of veggie foods too. Good Luck

Just read an article on milk alternative for allergies. Have you tried goat's milk? A little more costly, but more nutritionally dense than rice milk, which can lack vit. D and calcium among other "good fats" needed for little brains. A friend of mine swears by it. . . but your little one may have alergy to goats too, not sure.
Hope this helps a little.

Hi A.,

What exactly is your daughter's allergy? There are different things in dairy that people can be allergic to, ie, casein, whey or even just a simple lactose intolerance. If you could tell me exactly what the allergy is, I'd be happy to suggest an alternative. Your little girl definitely needs her calcium.

Thanks,
A., Pediatric Dietitian

The potato milk referenced is Vance's. You can buy it at FM Specialty Foods in Flower Mound or online at:
http://www.vances.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&P...
This is a good tasting alternative. The downside is that you have to mix it yourself, which is actually convenient for travel.

You don't mention what brand of rice milk you're using, but Pacific brand is free of the bad hydrogenated oils. Palm kernel oil is only bad if it's been hydrogenated. Pacific brand also makes Almond and Hazelnut varieties. Diamond brand also makes a good tasting Almond milk. I mention all of these as they are also gluten-free, which my kids must avoid as well. My kids also prefer the vanilla flavored of most of these milks. I try to rotate the various types of milks as if you're prone to allergies, you can actually become allergic to rice.

I definitely recommend you stay away from the soy milks as they're finding that they're not nearly as healthy as they're touted to be: http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/index.htm

Also, although some folks with allergies to cow's milk can tolerate goat's milk, it was recommended to me to avoid goat's milk, as well as the protein structure is very similar to cow's milk. Albeit, the goat's milk protein is a smaller structure, so might be better tolerated (for some).

Healthy fats (not processed) will typically not raise your cholesterol to unhealthy levels. It's also important to remember that they're now finding that high cholesterol alone just isn't the risk factor for heart disease that they originally believed it was. C-reactive protein is a much more accurate indicator of cardiovascular health, as it's a measure of the inflammation. It's also the ratio of the good (HDL) to the bad (LDL) cholesterol that's important. I actually have fairly high LDL and overall cholesterol, but because my HDL is very high (higher than normal) and my C-reactive protein is at the lowest value they measure, I'm considered to be in excellent cardiovascular healthy AND I eat a very high fat diet, BUT all the fats I consume are healthy fats - olive oil and fat from organic, free range meats (yes, I eat chicken skin from organic free-range chickens). I also consume fish oil daily as that contains DHA and EPA (i.e., the healthy Omega-3 fatty acids), which is very important for brain development. You have to remember that the human brain is comprised primarily of fat, so a low fat diet is actually quite unhealthy for brain functioning. The standard American diet is actually extremely high in the Omega-6 fatty acids (from vegetable oils) - those are the fats you would want to keep lower in your daughter's diet.

I hope this helps and you should be congratulated for being so conscientious about your daughter's diet.