Milk Allergy

My almost 2 year has a milk allergy too. At first I thought it was the end of the world. I was devisated. Whole foods and trader Joes are amazing they have a ton of cookies and snacks that are vegan and they don't taste to bad either Uncle Dan's cookies are terrfic. They also have soy icecream and so yogurt as well as vegan butter. We actually use the vegan butter in all our stuff now. In addition the dark chocolate chips ( whole food brand 346) have no dairy so I make whole made chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal reaisin cookies for my little guy. I have also signed up for food allergy alerts on line as well as a reminder service with EPIPEn so they tell me when my little guys epi pen is about to expire. The Company that makes the epi pen also has a great video as well as a carrying case and trainer pens that they sent me for free Just by calling their 800 number. We buy our soy milk now at Costco it is the cheapest we have found about 10$ for a case of 10 cartons. Let me know if I can provide you with more help. We have been living with this for over a year.

Good Luck

A.,

My 34 year old husband is allergic to milk and has been since he was an infant. You don't mention what food/snacks your son likes, but we are able to find most everything (except for true dairy items like ice cream) for my husband.

Sorbets and Italian Ices are milk free (you still want to read the packaging but a true sorbet or italian ice is dairy free. Walgreens now carries Italian Ice freezer pops that we and my daughter enjoy. Sorbets also have great fruit flavor as compared to ice cream. There are also Soy ice creams out there. To me they aren't as good as the real thing and my husband doesn't even like some of them and he eats just about anything he can.

I do a lot of baking at home, banana muffins, cookies and cakes from scratch and can send you some recipes if there is something specific you are looking for. I have found that almost all spice cake recipes can be made dairy free and are a big hit just topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Icings are tough without milk, water maked them too thin and the soy and rice milk haven't turned out well for me, very globby. Most of the time I substitute soy milk for milk, sometimes I substitute coconut milk if something needs more oomph. I have also substituted protein drinks for evaporated milk (pumpkin pie) or cream. For some recipes it works and for some it doesn't. Fleishman's Unsalted Margarine is dairy free and is our preferred butter substitute. One brand of cake mix (butter flavor) is now dairy free and everyone seems to like it a lot and one brand of frosting is dairy free and I can't remember what brand it is now. They switched on my about a year ago. One very strong word of advice when buying packaged stuff, always read the ingredients. They change often. Oreos are currently dairy free.

If you don't care to bake for yourself, check out vegan bakeries or Jewish bakeries (kosher foods are great because they either have milk or they don't and they are labeled very well). Also Whole Foods is a pretty good place to go. A warning though, their Rice Krispy bars have a very odd taste to them. They oftne have samples out and I would recommend trying them becuase some things just really don't taste very good, in my opinion. No one in our family would eat the Rice Krispy bar I bought there.
However my daughter loves the blueberry cereal bars that I buy for my husband at Whole Foods.

Finally, we buy a lot of Townhouse crackers. My daughter and husband both love them and we go through them like crazy. They are currently dairy free. We get the original and the wheat.

Good luck, feel free to send me an note if you need anything else.

D.

Hi. My 10 year-old can't have dairy, wheat, gluten, MSG, Nitrates, and blue, red, and yellow dyes so I can relate. For recipes, try substituting soy milk which is sold in many stores now. You son can drink it too. Most are fortfied with calcium and come in chocalate and vanilla as well as regular In baked goods you probably won't notice the difference if you substitute. For scrambled eggs homemade mac and cheese and other use unsweetened soy milk. If soy milk doesn't work there is also rice milk or almond milk, but I've found it to be more expensive than the soy. I also buy the calcium enriched orange juice.
There are lots of regular foods you can buy, but you have to read every label. Look for CONTAINS MILK at the bottom of the ingredients list. Also look for words like casein, cream, butter and whey. Good luck.

Hi A.,

While I can't add to the great advice on substitutes, I would like to add another perspective to complement the others.

Our society has socialized us to be most concerned about proteins and attached to our breads, desserts, etc.
I think we often forget that the foods that are most important for us are fruits and vegetables. Young kids love fresh or dried (some need soaking) fruits and my own kids have always liked most raw or lightly steamed veggies & others -- crunchy romaine leaves, steamed or raw carrots, little Chinese corns, jicama, avocado, olives, even sprouts. My daughter likes peanut butter on little slices of banana (she won't eat pb on anything else and calls these banana chairs).

I've read that we just don't need the large amount of protein that we eat and that many fruits and veggies provide adequate amounts.

I don't know if that helps at all, but it helps me when I try to make my family's food more complicated than I have the time for. You might want to check out vegan recipes to support whatever else you find.

Good luck!

Cheryl

My son had a sensitivity to milk while I was breastfeeding him so I also had to avoid milk products. You will spend a lot of time reading the labels in the grocery store. There are crackers out there that are dairy free, usually the generic ones like ritz crackers and the saltines. I got mine at Pick n Save. I am a sweet person and I found dairy free chocolate chips at Walmart and I would bake all the time. Fleischmans unsalted margarine is dairy free so I would use that or crisco. There is stuff out there for him to eat but there just aren't as many choices. Search the internet for dairy free recipes and you should find some things that he should like. Check out www.foodallergy.org for ideas for substitutions and what to look for on the food labels.
Good Luck
B.

I keep away from lactose becuase I'm a singer. You'd be surprised to find that your son will probably enjoy lactose-free ice cream and milkshakes. The only soy milk I like is silk soy milk -- vanilla flavored, and they come fortified too. they can make the most boring cereal taste sweet and sugary because of the vanilla! If he resists the milk because it IS really hard to get used to drinking soy milk at first, try adding chocolate to it. He can get protein from peanut butter and nuts... I hated beans at his age... cream of wheat is full of protein and iron and isn't too different from baby food and is really bland so he can try that. It's sooo boring-- add to it cinnamon, raisons, whatever makes him happy. Good luck!

welcome to part of my world. Just use rice milk or soy milk in baking. we use rice only cuz my boy is allergic to soy and nuts (you can use almond milk but scarey w/nut allergies in little kids). graham crackers, ritz, teddy grahams, chereoos, some animals crackers (check label) some fig newtons (generic brand usually), fruit leathers, fruit and veggies, all bran crackers, salteens, ginger snap cookies, many breads, raisins, dates, craisons, pirate bootie puffs, kix, generic frosted mini wheats.... there's tons of options. just read the labels : ). i find more generics have less liklihood of having dairy/egg products.

Hi A., my son had a milk allergy when he was a year old. Whole foods is the best thing that ever happened to us! We found everything that we were looking for to substitute for milk. You could call or visit any whole foods, just look up the one nearest you!

Good Luck :)

P.
Licensed childcare provider since 1996

I forgot some things, so if you see this again, please read it again.

There are a lot of recipies on line the Pratt family cookbook is a good one. There is also a whole website devoted to living dairy free. My son has a milk allergy as well. He is also picky. He likes some soy yogurt, so far SILK LIVE yogurt is the only one I've found that is completely dairy free and a reasonable price. You can find it at Fruitful Yield and Whole Foods. I even like it. He won't eat veggies, so I make pumpkin muffins from scratch to get some veggies in him. He used to like soy cheese, but he won't eat it anymore. Also, there are soy ice creams out there that are pretty good. So he can have ice cream while the rest of the family or whoever is having regular ice cream.

You can find some things at your neighborhood grocery store, so you don't always have to go to Whole Foods (especially if you don't have one close by). Flieshman's unsalted margarine is dairy free, but always check labels because companys change ingredients often. You can find that at Ultra Foods so I'm sure it is at Jewel and Dominick's as well.

There are also cook books you can buy, but since it is only one allergy I would recommend just modifying things you already make with rice or soy milk. Water or juice can work sometimes too depending on what you're making. For example, you can use water with Bisquick to make pancakes and waffles. You have to get used to the taste, but it is not bad, just different.

I remember when we first found out and I was very overwhelmed. Just keep in mind that you will get the hang of it, and his tastes will change for the better and for the worse just because he's 2, whether or not he has this allergy. Have fun experimenting and maybe let him help with shopping and making things so he'll be excited about the food. Making shapes, adding color and even a sprinkle or two can be a good way to get him to eat things too. Good luck!

I am surprised he has the allergy at 2? Did the doctors say that is normal and it is the milk? My daughter got it after I switched to formula containing cow's milk after breastmilk. That was at 9 months. We put her on soy formula, but by the age of 1 she started to outgrow the allergy. She eats cheese and yogurt now, just not whole milk yet, we give her soy. Try places like Whole Foods I found they have a whole aisle of non dairy foods. There is soy yogurt too.

Good Luck.
T. from Oak Park

Hi A.,
My son was diagnosed with a milk allergy as well. First we moved him to rice milk because that was the most mild. Now he doesn't really drink milk all that much except for on his cereal. The doctor said that he can get as much calcium from fortified orange juice as from milk so that's what he drinks. We usually get Tropicana oj- calcium +vitimin D.
As far as dairy free snacks check your local store for soy products. There are tons of options. Rice cakes are what my son enjoys. But then if he wants a snack I try and keep it to a fruit or crackers with peanut butter that I make, nuts and raisins...that kind of stuff. I'd check the bulk section at Whole Foods. They have lots of soy snack options. I hope that helps.
Blessings,
J.

Hi A.,
All 3 of my kids have a milk allergy, so I switched them to goat milk. I buy lowfat goat milk at Whole Foods. They also have alot of products made with goat milk..yogurt, cheese, butter, string cheese.. My kids are older, 19, 16, and 8, and they weren't thrilled at first about the goat milk, but the lowfat milk tastes alot better than the whole milk. The goat milk is easier to digest, and they are not sensitive to it at all. It's a little more expensive than cow's milk, but it's worth it, just to get some dairy into their diets.
Good luck,
T.

A., whatever snacks you bake for your child that he likes, all you have to do is substitute soy, rice or almond milk for the regular milk.

Also, I did a search for "dairy free snacks" and "dairy free recipes". There is a ton of free stuff on the web.

M.
www.toy-train-table-plans-store.com

You might want to consider whether anyone in your family should be embracing dairy products. Milk has about 3 times the fat content of human milk, and is associated with a variety of western diseases. The greatest prevalence of osteoperosis occurs in those societies which use the most dairy products. A good source of information regarding dairy and other problematic foods is found in "The China Study" by Dr. T. Colin Campbell.

Soy or rice milk are good substitutes, although the Dairy Association has tried to discredit them. Frozen fruit such as grapes make good snacks. Try to avoid high calorie, non-nutritious treats which are high in fat, especially animal fat. Avoid soft drinks as much as possible, as the phosphates and sugars are problematic. Type II diabetes has increased 750% over the last few decades, and is now showing up in teen agers.

I know this sounds complicated, but eating whole foods as grown can be cheaper and lead to rapid health improvements, both physically and emotionally.

The AMA finally recommended that children under 1 year of age not be given milk a few years ago. Milk is difficult to digest and led to the development of Type I diabetes as undigested components entered the blood stream and were attacked by the body's defense mechanisms. Dr. Campbell's book is a good place to start in learning what is most healthy for children, and for us all. Another great author is Dr. Neil Barnard of Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Your son will begin to eat as you do if food is presented for nutrition and enjoyment rather than short term comfort food too dense in calories and lacking in nutrition.

Hey A.,

Have you tried the yogart in the pouches in the fruit snacks section. Try soy milk as well the vanilla is good. My daughter don't like milk, so She drinks the soy milk that I drink.

I made cookies for my daughter with soy milk. We made it a fun thing to make cookies in animal shapes so all three kids got involved in making them. You can also find a specialty food section at supermarket and ready made treats that do not have dairy in them.

A., Have you tried any soy products yet ? I know they make soy milk, cheese , yogurt, ice cream etc... Most grocery stores have health or organic sections that carry theese products. Good luck !

You can subtitute soy and rice milk in pretty much any recipe. They also come in lots of flavors now so maybe he'll even drink it straight.

I am lactose intolerant and can give you a couple of ideas. First, Silk soy milk is the best - you can even do a vanilla or chocolate version if you wanted which might be a bad habit to start with, but if it's the only way, it may be worth it. I'm not crazy about soy cream cheese or yogurt, so I just usually avoid those. Tofutti ice cream sandwiches are the bomb! I think I find them at Trader Joe's. There's another brand of them which has "prettier packaging" but they arent' half as good - I think it's Soy Dream or Soy something. But stick with Tofutti. One last thing - after taking Shaklee's probiotic (acidopholous), I am really no longer lactose intolerant. I know an allergy is different, but a lot of people do have success with food allergies after being on our (yes, I am a distributor) probiotic. I had tried other brands of acidopholous in the past and it did nothing for me but this was different. I can literaly eat a whole bagel with cream cheese now with no side effects whatsoever, and that would've put me in pain for hours before. Let me know if you'd like to hear more :)

K.

We found out about our son's allergy when he was 8 months old, and he's almost 3 years old now. I don't know if your child still has a milk allergy, but I know it can be very limiting. Our son has an allergy to casein specifically, and he can tolerate at least some amounts of whey.

Here are some of his favorite foods:
--Eggo mini waffles and french toast sticks (only have whey in them)
--unfrosted Pop Tarts
--Earth's Best mini meatballs
--chicken nuggets (Earth's Best, Banquet, Perdue Simply Smart, Great Value, etc. (check labels for other brands))
--kidney beans (yep, plain kidney beans)
--honey-roasted peanuts
--popcorn
--chips
--vanilla wafers
--fish sticks (check ingredients)
--Nature's Bakery fig bars (best value is at Sam's Club)
--raisins
--Annie's graham bunnies
--fruit snacks (I usually buy Mott's Medley's (made with fruit and veggie juice))
--graham crackers
--Lance whole grain cracker and peanut butter sandwiches
--different kinds of crackers
--Veggie Sticks (the crunchy kind you can find near chips at Walmart, local grocery stores, at Sam's Club, etc.)
--Great Value honey buns (just the glazed ones)
--cereal (usually give him off-brand cheerios)
--oatmeal
--yogurt (Silk yogurt and So Delicious yogurt)
--fries
--hamburgers
--fruit (grapes and clementines especially)

I haven't bought any for him yet, but Oreos are all milk-free.

If you're struggling with veggies, try fruit and veggie smoothies (banana, frozen fruit, spinach, a spoonful of orange juice concentrate, and a nut-based milk (or rice milk))

Hi A.-boy you have received so many responses. I have been a naturalist and a holistic/cleansing coach for sometime now. Cow's milk is made for baby cows not for people.

I have a lot of great websites-too many to look up and type here. If you would like me forward them i have to do it from my email where I have all of the links listed-just send me a message.

I prefer Trader Joe's. They have great non-dairy products and they are much less expensive than whole foods but a smaller selection. Organic rice or almond milk is a great start. the Blue Diamond chocolate almond milk is yummy (my kids love it as a treat).

You can also do Kefir--there is a website with recipes to do your own with different products.

T.

I also have a 2 year old son with a milk allergy. He has other food allergies including eggs and peanuts but I find milk to be the most difficult to manage. We use soy milk as a substitute for drinking and cooking. We also use Earth Balance as a substitute for butter. Tofutti makes good "sour cream" and "cream cheese." I haven't found a "regular" imitation cheese my son will eat. I find I do a lot more cooking from scratch as it is almost impossible to buy prepared food. There are a reasonable amount of snack foods available as someone previously listed. We also try to focus on fresh fruit. My best advise is to read labels. It takes a lot of time but it will get easier.

My 3 year old is allergic to all dairy, eggs, soy, gluten and all meats but fish, turkey and chicken. With that being said we have found lots of good things to still eat. We use rice milk, though he really only likes it in cereal and with chocolate syrup in it. Sorbet is a good alternative to ice cream as well as chocolate covered bananas (both can be found at Trader Joe's). Be careful when reading labels because some products say lactose free or dairy free and still have casein in it which is the milk protein. There is a brand out called Enjoy Life that makes alot of allergen free snacks that my son likes. We make smoothies in the morning and for snack that are good as well and we use coconut milk in it so that the fat content is still there and it tastes great. Here's my recipe for that:

In a blender combine:

1 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of rice milk
1-2 whole banana
1/3 cup of frozen fruit (we like cherries)
1-2 tablespoons of flax meal (optional)
Makes about 2-3 servings.

The ingredient amounts are approximate, I don't measure them anymore, so try it out and do it by taste. Always use banana for the thickness and frozen fruit makes it cold. (These are also a good place to sneak the probiotics in if you give those.)

Hope you enjoy and good luck.

Oh, and there's also a website that I love to find recipes that are dairy and other allergen free. It's called Karina's Kitchen.
J.

A.:

I have a friend with the same issues. Yogurt is a good substitute. You can drain the yogurt and use it like sour cream for dips.

Non-dairy creamer and coconut milk are good substitutes when cooking.

Use Cool Whip instead of milk to make French Toast. It's yummy.

Goat cheese is very good.

Good luck!

C.

Go the dairy section in some of the larger grocery stores and look around for awhile. Hidden amoung the milk and cheese are usually alot of good soy and rice products. There is even rice ice cream that when my son was littler and had a problem digesting milk I would even eat with him. You can also look online for dairy free cook books or go to your local health food store for the same things. Hope this helps. I was glad when our son out grew his problems with milk and only has to not be given too many dairy products in one day with is still a problem when pudding, yogurt and pizza are his favorite things.

Hi A.,

My son has an egg, peanut and shellfish allergy for the past 1-2 years and he is 3. What I have found helpful is to look online. There are a ton of receipes. Check out COOKS.com or just search a specific type of foodd such as cookies, bread, or pasta milk free. Three also is a receipe out there for crazy cake that is made with coco, vinegar, sugar, flour, water, oil, and vanilla. No eggs and no mile either. Best of luck to ya

S.

Hello

I believe my son is allergic to milk to makes him hyper. I have not gotten the test results back yet, but I know it makes him hyper. I did a search on the internet. Just type in milk allergy and you will find some good info. Hope this helps.

Hi my daughter has this too. You're better off getting snacks at whole food or grocers that carry organic products. I get her cookies and cereal from whole foods that is dairy free as well as soy pudding and she drinks rice milk. I bake her muffins and cakes @ home using the organic cake mix which contains no dairy. I use wheat bread instead of white bread for her because the white bread usually contains milk. Good luck

Actually...I read that we all have milk allergies. Milk is filled with hormones for cows, not people.

I have been allergic to cow's milk ALL my life b/c my mama started me on it when I was 5 months old.

Some react more severe than others. Gas, bloating, weight gain, acne, etc. are all caused by dairy. This is why most skinny Hollywood people are vegan.

I've lost ten pounds since I learned my 8 month old is allergic to dairy via my BFing charts.

I'd start with VANILLA rice milk (it's sweet like cow's milk)
(It's less allergenic than SOY)
drink it with him
make a BIG deal how DeLICioUS it is....
Then...
tell him it's a GROW drink to make him tall and strong like you.

Give him a glass with a teeny sip.
Make a game out of it.

be well.
N

I didn't read through all the responses, so please excuse this if it's repetitive!

My cousin's son had a milk allergy (the good news is that he, like many kids, outgrew it around age 5!)...It was frustrating for them because most "non-milk" foods were marketed towards lactose-intolerant individuals, not dairy-allergic. Therefore, when she bought "Veggie Slices" (marketed as soy cheese), it still contained milk proteins, so it didn't work for her son.

anyway, I'm not sure where you live or how available these products are, but try the KOSHER section. For those reading this who are not Jewish or who are unfamiliar with this, one of the important rules of keeping Kosher is that you can't eat dairy products together with meat products (meaning red meat, chicken, ...but for some reason, fish doesn't count as meat!)... Anyway, there's nothing special about the actual foods except that they are categorized as either "dairy", "meat", or a third category called "Pareve", which means neither dairy nor meat. In other words, it becomes very easy to tell which foods have dairy and which foods don't.

So if you find a Kosher product (most often marked with a circled-U or a triangled-CRC, etc), it will say if it is dairy... the circled-U symbol will likely have a "D" next to it. The easiest way to avoid this is to look for foods marked "PAREVE", which means, BY DEFINITION, THEY ARE DAIRY FREE! There can be no hidden milk proteins!(The purpose is that those who keep Kosher know that they are alowed to eat these foods with meat.)

One "Kosher Pareve" brand I will mention is DR. PRAEGER'S. It's a line of frozen prepared foods that are all made from natural/healthy ingredients (you can understand all the words in the ingredient list!). There are some fish products (fish sticks, salmon burgers, etc.), but most are vegetarian/vegan: diffrent flavors of Veggie burgers, broccoli pancakes, spinach pancakes, potato pancakes, etc. It's a great way to get veggies into the kids, and the food is certified Kosher Pareve. I usually find his stuff in the Natural Foods frozen section of Jewel/Whole Foods. I think you can also order food online. Try: www.drpraegers.com (I swear, I am NOT involved with this company at all! I just love the products - my 3 year old son and 14 month old twin daughters LOVE the stuff!)

Hope this helps!

I have a question, how did you know that your son has a milk allergy. What were his symptoms? I think my son may have an allergy too.

thanks

My daughter is lactosse intollerant and our whole family like the Dean's Easy Milk.
As far as other snacks, she loves peanut butter so we do all kinds of things with that as teh centerpiece to introduce her to new things.
Couple of her favorites are:
"ants on a log" - fill a celery stick with peanut butter, top with raisins or cranberries.
"Spiders" - peanut butter between 2 ritz crackers as the body. use pretzel sticks for the legs and antenni.

Hope these help.

www.welcomingkitchen.com has a cookbook with allergen-free cooking recipes. The book is inexpensive and has great snack ideas. My nephews are allergic to dairy as well as a lot of other things and love the foods produced from these recipes.

My son, also 2, is allegic to dairy (and eggs, but that's another time). I vary his milk between almond, soy, and hemp. I also found a brand called Enjoy Life that makes all thier foods allergen free...no dairy, wheat, eggs, etc. We love thier snickerdoodle cookies! Ask at your local health food store..they're very helpful. We give our son graham crackers, pretzels, lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Good luck!

There is a book out there called Recipes for Dairy-Free Living by Denise Jardine. Also, there are lots of recipes in Cook Right For Your Type by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo. The book is about eating right for your blood type and type O's are not supposed to have dairy so if you look in the section under type O you'll find plenty of recipes.