Lactose Intolerant Baby

[liams mummy]

Hi,
My 7mth baby boy has been diagnosed with lactose intolerance. Came across this site while looking for info on alternative products (great site by the way). Is there anyone else with this age group? I have found the Provamel Junior yoghurts and am making a lot of my own baby food. The labelling is generally very good on the baby food anyway. Where I'm struggling is with margarine and cheese (although it doesn't sound good for cheese on reading some of these posts!) Dont' need to worry about choccie or biscuits just yet, but would welcome advice from anyone on how they manage (especially as I have a 18mth toddler who won't be too keen to give up her chocolate buttons).

Thanks
Tracy

[lrg]

Hello i also have a baby 8 months old I haven't given her any cheese type product. We use pure for margerine which i have bought in tescos, sainsburys, safeway hope this is of some help my daughter likes provemel yoghurts lisa

[Pam]

Hi, my daughter was diagnosed at 3 months as being milk intolerant (following constant crying bouts the HV suggested trying soya and she was a different baby). We thought she was ok with milk later on as she started weaning but didn't find out until she was 18 months that it was still causing problems (only diagnosed by me that time after numerous visits to the doctors).

Like you say, commercial baby foods are well labelled. For margarine we use Pure which is the most widely available, Sainsbury's do an own brand dairy free spread, there are other vegan spreads and some of the olive oil spreads are dairy free too but you will need to check the label carefully.

Cheese is a tough one, as you have already seen from reading previous posts, there really aren't any substitutes worth buying in my opinion. I buy Toffuti slices when absolutely necessary and have the occasional bit of Toffuti soft cheese on jacket potatoes but generally I don't have cheese at all. They all seem to have lots of extra ingredients in and I'm not sure if you would want to give such a synthetic product to your baby anyway.

PS Provamel custard style desserts are very nice (£1.39 for 4)

[JaneW]

My daughter was lactose and soya intolerant from 3 months until she was about 4 when she grew out of it.
My 3 year old son has been diagnosed with Crohns and is on a dairy free diet.
I have found Pure to be the best margarine and they have an organic variety too.
Provomel have started to do an organic soya yogurt substitute which my son loves.
I haven't found a buttons substitute but there is a product called Whizzers which are a bit like smarties and they also do choclate footballs for when your children are a bit older.
My best advice is to buy a bread maker, then you know exactly what goes into your bread, and if you like organic stuff it works out alot cheaper.

[poppy]

:) HI ,
my little girl has had a dairy intollerance since she was about 3 months old. She is now 14 months a growing well! I use the 'pure' margerine, sainsbury's freefrom soft dairy free cheese spread and have just boughtsome other called Swedish that i am yet to try out.
I have searched high and low for dairy free hard cheese with now success other than Cheezly which was horrid. No wonder she would not eat it!
I make most of her food and have found the Annabel karmel baby and toddler meal planner a good starting point. my only stubling block being the cheese which seems to be added to a lot of recipes.
I have made home made muffins if anyone wants the recipes and a first birthday cake using pure and soya milk as substitutes. I also use soya milk to make apricot semolina and apple rice pudding if anyone wants those recipes.
What I would really like is to talk to other mums with these problems as i have coped on my own for this long without being able to talk to anyone else! Help!!!

Baby organix do a good range of bottle baby food and cereal bars and bicuits called goodies. You just need eagle eyes at mother and toddler groups to make sure she is not hoovering up other people's crumbs!

Any new recipes, tips etc to swap??? A chat would be great,
heres hoping,
poppy :cheers:

[Pam]

Poppy,

I'm 4 years down the line now and have gone through all the learning and searching process. Believe me, it is easiest when you have control over what they eat. My daughter has been through playgroup (who were excellent and always consulted me), nursery (pretty good too), out of school club (needed a few reminders) and now school (not too happy these days with their forgetfulness). I am just very grateful that we are talking about an intolerance and not a life threatening allergy. I provide lists of can/can not have foods and offer alternatives to all of her carers and always send her with her own packed meal when she goes to birthday parties (I don't trust other people to have sufficient knowledge to provide her with suitable food).

With a bit of searching you can generally find dairy free alternatives for most manufactured foods or at worst make you own (most recipes are just as good with dairy free substitutes). But like you say - cheese is the only food that comes nowhere near the real thing.

My daughter is very good at saying "I can't have that, it's got milk in" and she has said this from being 2 years old, but I try to carry a dairy free treat with me so that there is something for her when other children are having something unsuitable.

Don't be afraid to ask here if you want to know what is worth buying or where to get it - someone is bound to know.

[poppy]

Dear pam,
thanks for the words of wisdom.
I am quite scared to sending my daughter to nursery as she attended for 6 weeks until I found out that they had given her toast and butter. We do know know the extent of her alergy yet and do not know if it is life threatening. We have an appointment at the local children's hospital in a couple of weeks time to do the 'milk challenge' but until then we're in the dark. Consequently , i am now quite nervous of anyone looking after her who does not fully appreciate the situation.

How do you find people treating her alargy? Some people, even quite close freinds still try and give her biscuits and seem to suggest that we're over reacting. I feel quite isolated as I do not know anyone else in the area who is dealing with this problem.

Kind thoughts,
Poppy

[Pam]

Yes, even my husband doubted the milk intolerance thing when we first went dairy free - he thought it was just me being neurotic (as do many doctors, I'm sure), but he'd never seen her screaming for an hour solidly when she'd had milk. There are definitely those doctors who believe in allergies and those who don't.

The only way to treat other carers is to exaggerate the problems that milk will cause and ask them to tell you what foods they are going to give before doing so. Provide them with as much info as possible too. Unfortunately we have to accept that there will be accidents, we will inadvertently do it ourselves with hidden ingredients. Just try to prepare yourself with any necessary medication (anti histamines can help) and try to provide safe foods for the carers to give whenever possible.

[poppy]

:lol:
Thanks Pam,
that's a real help. I have ordered my easter egg moulds from lakeland today but am having problems saving the free from chocolate long enough for them to arrive without eating it myself!!
Thanks again,
poppy

[Pam]

A tip for using the moulds - put a few drops of vegetable oil on some kitchen roll then wipe around the inside of the moulds before adding chocolate and the shell will come out easier. Also, don't let it cool too much or too quickly as dark chocolate tends to bloom (get a white coating) from variations in temperature. If it does bloom, it won't spoil the taste but won't look as nice.

Good luck with the eggs and maybe if it works you could set up in business next year and supply us all.

[poppy]

Dear pam,
thanks for the tips! I laughed out loud at the thought of starting up in buisiness! maybe not such a daft thought after all!!!
I'll let you know how it goes but I really do need to buy some more chocolate before then! I wonder who has eaten it?!!!! It certainly wasn't my daughter!
kind thoughts,
POppy

[lrg]

:D hello Poppy my daughter is just 9 months old and is allergic to dairy, It is nice to read about the challenges you have and I totally understand . I am really careful about keeping an eye on my daughter to make sure she doesn't pinch any food at toddlers she has just started crawling and is in to everything. It would be great to see your recipez. I find it really hard to find a good variety of things to eat as i am still feeding my daughter, we recently saw a really good dietician at the hospital who said she is allergic to milk and we have another visit in 4 months so untill then i am having a dairy free diet no chocolate :angry: have been to all the shops near us to find differant food and just ordered a dairy free cook book from amazon. Good luck being dairy free Lisa :thumbsup:

[poppy]

Hi irg,
thnaks for the message. Let me know what kind of recipes you would like and I'll see what I can do. I've been looking back through my little girl's food diary for that age and she ate a lot of lovely lentils from anabel karmel, mashed veggies, spagetti bolgnaise, apricot semolina, apple rice pudding etc.

Could you let me know what you think of your new recipes book when you get it and maybe I'll buy it too!

I'll get the recipes lined up so just let me know what you want,
love poppy

[sal]

hello Tracy,

I have a 4 year old son whom I discovered had an allergy to milk when he was about 4 months old. The "cheese problem" has never been a problem as he has never had it, so doesn't miss it. I really think he would hate it now anyway. I believe children develop their preferences at quite a young age don't you?

Stork hard block margarine ( not the stuff in tubs) makes excellent cakes and, according to the label, is milk free. Regarding the bread machine, a lot of recipes tell you to put powdered skimmed milk in them. I just don't bother and the bread is fine. You can get organic powdered soya milk, but I don't know the brand name I'm afraid. I have never bothered.

I have developed a hawk eye for ingredient lists. You become very good at scanning them and milk and milk products seem to jump out at you. You also get to know what kinds of food are likely to contain milk. Eg packaged meat products like turkey and chicken, breakfast cereals, most processed meals (whey powder acts as a cheap filler) etc etc.

You definitely need to become an experimental cook, don't you? I have found soya milk to work perfectly well in most recipes and I have become resigned to making an adaption to our meals for my son. I can usually think of something mildly interesting to do with the basics of what we are having without too much inconvenience. I try wherever possible to cook meals that I know he can eat.

It really hasn't been that difficult so far, I believe it is important to encourage you child to choose to be dairy free, rather than impose it on them. My son knows how poorly he feels even with a tiny amount of milk and takes control over what he eats already. I try to give him the responsibility where I can and there is no resentment - yet!
Good Luck, Take comfort in the fact that you child will probably benefit from not eating all the saturated fats contained in dairy products and will have a healthier heart and cardiovascular system as a result.!

[milly moo`s mum]

hi,which supermarket sells PROVMEL YOGURTS? :unsure:

[matt]

i'm sure i've seen the yoghurts in tesco. most health food shops i've been in do them.
if not they'll probably get them in for you.

go to your local supermarket and ask them, they might get them in. sometimes they remember about customer services.

if you don't ask you won't get.

[Pam]

Sainsbury's usually have most of the Provamel range (4 pot packs, plain 500g and summer fruits 500g), Morrisons usually have 4 packs and have just started doing the 500g summer fruits one. Junior Yofu seems to be a bit hit and miss, I've seen it in both Sainsburys and Morrisons previously but maybe they haven't had sufficient sales and don't have it any more. The plain one is actually quite nice because it isn't sour like cow's milk yoghurt so it can be used like creme fraiche, but it isn't sweet either so it can be used to make savoury dips or in curry etc. Provamels custard type desserts are nice too. Health food shops will usually order them for you if they don't actually keep them in stock.

I can also recommend Sojasun yoghurts, a bit more expensive but very nice. The plain one comes in a slightly smaller tub than Provamel and is therefore cheaper but I think it tastes nicer. I've only ever seen these for sale in one health food shop locally but they are worth trying if you see them.

I haven't tried the So Good yoghurts but the Granose (or is it Granovita) ones have the consistency of wallpaper paste and are nothing like yoghurt. These two brands are both kept at room temperature rather than refrigerated.

[kelly]

Don't worry about having a lactose or milk-protein intolerant baby, it's not that hard once you get the hang of reading the labels on EVERYTHING you buy. It's easier when they are young and don't understand what they are eating and what others are eating.

My son is now 27 months old, had milk problems from birth, but was over a year old when we realised the true problem - intolerance to lactose and milk protein.

My biggest recommendation is to find the nearest Jewish food store to where you live - this will make your life really easy! I am lucky in that sense because there is a strong Jewish community where I live.

Any Jewish products labelled KOSHER PAREVE do not contain milk in them (as the Jewish religion cannot have meat and milk in the same meal). So any Jewish bakery will cook all its bread and cakes without any milk, you can check with them first. This means that you can buy bread and cakes, even for parties etc. without having to worry. Jewish biscuits with the KOSHER PAREVE label are also great, they still have "chocolate" flavours that you can substitute when your baby gets older.

Pure (dairy-free) spread can be purchased from large supermarkets, and this can be used for spreading on toast and also for cooking cakes - I gave my son a COMPLETELY DAIRY-FREE BIRTHDAY PARTY a few months ago using this instead of butter to cook the cakes.

Whizzers do dairy-free "smarties" (but in ugly colours) and "chocolate" footballs that my son loves, but they are quite hard and I don't recommend letting your child eat them on his/her own even when old enough to do so, as they really are harder to eat and don't melt in your mouth like ordinary chocolate. They also have "mini-egg" style ones that are good for Easter treats.

Kid's parties are nightmares for me, and no doubt they will be for you as your child gets older, but by either feeding them well beforehand or taking them their own special "picnic box" of foods they can eat (this works great for my son) they become a little less stressful to handle. At home I got my son used to only getting treats from a specific tub in a specific kitchen cupboard, and any babysitter is told that he can ONLY eat stuff from that cupboard, but that he has complete freedom of choice so long as it's from there. In parties, he is proud to have his own little picnic box, and just make sure you scrutinise everything in the goodie bag that some birthday parties give you at the end as tradition.

I can't suggest any soya products as we have to avoid those too (my son can't have soya milk) but I hope that the suggestions I have made are helpful. If you want any more advice on the above, please feel free to e-mail me on kelly@glide.gi and I'll help as much as I can.

Hope my post was useful
Kelly.