Dairy-free toddler introduction

[kelly]

Hi,

I am Kelly, mother of a toddler on a dairy free diet.
While searching on the web to find out if dairy-free cheeses exist, I came across this site and so decided to register, say hi and introduce myself.

My son is now 20 months old and has been on a dairy-free diet for three months. He is doing great on it - I buy him kosher pareve "chocolate" bisuits and other milk-free products, and he enjoys them, but he does miss his cheese.

Children's parties are stressful because I have to run around substituting whatever he tries to eat with the dairy-free products I take with me.

I do worry sometimes whether he is getting all the vitamins he needs without dairy, but I plan to keep him on a dairy-free diet until he is around 3 years old before trying to introduce dairy slowly into his diet.

Well, that's all for my introduction.
Regards and Season's Greetings to all

Kelly.

[Amanda]

Hi Kelly

Welcome to the site. I can be of any help with any receipes that we have found, please do not hesitate to leave a message

Thanks

Amanda

[Pam]

Hi Kelly

I found this site when my daughter was confirmed to be milk intolerant and it is great to know that there are other people in the same situation. She's 4 1/2 now but was about your son's age when we first made the connection. Things are getting better and supermarkets are providing more information and wider ranges but you still have to be vigilant as there are always things that take us by suprise. Everyone is really friendly here so if you have any questions just ask - someone is bound to know the answer.

Pam

[Lan]

Hi Kelly,

So glad to see a new member on the website. I myself am going through an elimination diet at present and having cut all the foods out, am now introducing them again in an orderly fashion. I will also be bringing in milk products in, in the new year.

If I can answer any questions you may have then please let me know I am however unable to give medical advice though, but am able to give day to day living advice as have lived with allergies and intolerances for coming up 8 years now.

With regards to cheeses then your best bet are Health Food Shops and Supermarkets. Tescos and Sainsbury's both stock Parmesano which is a floury substitute (I love this) and Sainsbury's also do a Free From Range and have a soft cheese substitute.

Can I also suggest you put your postal town in the next post and if anyone is from nearby, they may be able to locate specific shops for you.

Kind Regards and Happy New Year.


Lan (Website Owner) :cheers:

[Steph]

Hi Kelly

My son is also dariy intolerant(and soya) I have a great cook book- the dairy free- lactose free diet plan for adults and children. I find it really helps. We have his first birthday party in 2 weeks and I look forwards to baking him a cake he can actually eat.

Good Luck
Steph

[kelly]

Hi Steph,

Thanks for yor message.

I have ordered this book from Amazon and am hoping it will arrive within a month or so. My son's birthday is in March so it should definately be here by then, and now that you have mentioned that it has recipe for a cake, I am lookign forward also to making a birthday cake for Louis in March.

Regards
Kelly.

[Clare]

Hi Kelly,

i'm Clare and have a 13month old who has to go on a diary free diet. he has been on soya milk since he was 4 weeks old but seemed to tolerate small amounts of diary. He was ill over Christmas and is now unable to tolerate diary at all. He too loves cheese which is a shame and I'm looking for some ideas of how to replace his diary intake.
If you have any advice I would be grateful I seem to be going round in circles at the mo!

Clare

[kelly]

Hi Clare,

In reply to your e-mail wonering how to replace your son's dairy intake, here is what I am doing at the moment.

Firstly, my saving grace and recommendation to anyone in my situation is to find a Jewish supermarket - Any foods labelled kosher pareve do not contain milk, and Jewish bakeries back dairy-free breads and cakes. Where I live we have a large Jewish community, and I am greateful for that!!! It means I can still give my son chocolates, biscuits and cakes as treats if I buy them from Jewish supermarket shelves :-)

My sister brought over some dairy-free cheese from the UK but it is very crumbly and my son does not like to eat it. I have yet to try to use it in cooking, or cheese-on-toast, but he refuses to eat it straight out of the packet.

It is:

The Redwood Co.
Cheezly
Dairy, lactose and gluten free
Made with soya, starch and non-hydrogenated vegetable fats.

Reviews:
My son: Spat it out, was certainly not impressed.
Mine: Looks like cheese but too dry and crumbly.

Also my sister brought from the UK some smartie-style chocolate beans.

It is:

Dairy Free Allergycare
Whizzers Chocolate Beans
No dairy, wheat, gluten or artifical colours or preservatives.

Reviews:
My son: Likes them because they taste like chocolate and look like real smarties just in more boring colours. Note here that my son does not like standard dark chocolate.
Mine: They look like smarties (but the sugar shell is only in boring dull green, yellow, pink purple and brown, and I mean really boring shades of these colours!) and they taste nicer than dark chocolate. Don't taste as nice as milk chocolate of course, but certainly nicer than plain dark chocoloate. However they are very hard to eat, and young children could have problems trying to bite them I think.

That's all for now,
I will post these reviews on the Dairy-Free Products forum section too in case anyone finds them useful.

By the way, the book I ordered from Amazon has arrived now. At first glance it seemed pretty useless to me - it just seems to substitute soya products for milk - soya milk, soya cream, etc. - and my son cannot usually have soya... However I will find time to look in more detail especially as I plan a dairy-free party for my son's 2nd birthday in March.

Kelly.