Dairy Free.

[KimKelly]

My one year old daughter was diagnosed with a milk allergy yesterday. We were advised to take her off of ALL milk products. This was so difficult today! She loves cheese and yogurt. She actually took a yogurt out of a shopping bag I was unloading and brought it to me and begged.... I felt so bad.

Anyway.... I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or experience in this area? We made a trip to our local health food store and got rice and soy milks to test (they didn't meet with an overwhelming response from her...), and soy yogurt (which was suprisingly quite good!) and some tofu rella cheese. Anyone have any other suggestions or recipes? The doctor has said that small amounts of dairy in baked or other cooked goods are ok, ie: nonfat dried milk in homemade bread, etc.

Thanks for any info anyone might have!

Kim

[jillmayre]

No problem. Go to your public library. The cookbook section in the adult nonfiction section -- 645.1 is the beginning number to
look for... Anyway, the cookbook section has lots of cookbooks dealing with special diets.
I am a librarian in a public library. I know about these things. Ask the staff to help you find what you need. Don't be shy; it is their job. The advantage to the library is you can try out a book to see if you like it. If you do, you can either buy your own copy or photocopy like a fiend.

I also did a quick search on the Amazon.com website. Just typed in "dairy free" and got several possibilities. Two titles follow:

Totally Dairy-Free Cooking by Louis Lanza, Laura Morton (Hardcover - January 2000)
Amazon Price: $20.00

Dairy-Free Cookbook, Fully Revised 2nd Edition : Over 250 Recipes for People with Lactose Intolerance or Milk Allergy by Jane Zukin (Paperback - May 2000) Amazon Price:$15.00

In my house, we tried the first book because we are using soy milk for health reasons. We photocopied from the library book several recipes which we have been enjoying.

By the way, you can also get dry powdered soy milk at your health food store. I use it when I make bread in my bread machine. Use it just like nonfat dry milk. Works great!

[Beth]

Best of luck with this transition. I had to give up all dairy (even quiz everyone on whether something was cooked with butter or margarine) for several months when I was nursing. It was very hard for me, and I empathize. On the bright side, a one year old will probably adapt easier (read those child care books that say if you can get through 3 days on something new, you can do it?), and she also has the possibility of outgrowing the problem. A friend of mine had the same problem with her son when he was quite young, but he outgrew the allergy/intolerance in a year or two from what I remember. Hang in there, and I'm sure you'll find more advise and encouragement to follow.

[ChefChris]

My 3 year old daughter has been allergic to dairy and egg (and now peanut the test told us) since birth. Her symptoms were excema and hives not the intestinal kind. She still has the allergy, but it's not as hard as what you have because my daughter doesn't know anything other than soy. We used a powdered "formula" after she turned one for Toddlers called "Next Step" by enfamil and it is soy based(they have a milk one too) She loved it. For the last year she has drank Silk which is in the refrigerated section. It's the best tasting in my opinion. For grilled cheese she eats Veggie Slices by galaxy foods and for pizza she eats Amy's soy cheese pizza. The hardest battle we have now is that she is in preschool dairy is everywhere. She knows to ask if something is "Soy or cow" but it makes me sad that she can't be like everyone else. An interesting side note is that I have a one year old now and she appears to be allergic to Soy! I avoided dairy while nursing hoping to spare her a dairy allergy which worked but she is allergic to soy. Our family does not have food allergies so we don't know where this has come from. Hope they grow out of it! Some places that I found a lot of help...
1-The Food Allergy Network, they are on the web you can get their newsletter and a cookbook which can be helpful for baked goods.
2-I followed Marilu Henner's books for awhile when I avoided dairy she believes dairy is unhealthy, her website has suggestions of dairy free products that people like and dislike.
3-there are a lot of dairy free and soy cookbooks out there which are helpful, the whole soy cookbook, the soy of cooking, 366 dairy free recipes etc.

You can substitute soy milk for any recipe for the most part. In some cases you may want Rice milk for a lighter taste it depends on the recipe. The above books should guide you in substitutions. There are margarines that don't have whey in them(Fleischmen's unsalted and Earth Balance are 2) The hardest part is cheese. To make cheese melt they use caesin which is a milk protein and is in most soy cheeses unless it says "vegan" so you have to experiment as to how sensitive she is.

I am glad you found yogurt silk and whole soy brands are good. also, Tofutti cuties are great, they are little ice cream like sandwhiches for dessert and Imagine brand puddings are dairy free.

Sorry this is so long but I am very familiar with your problem and hope that I can help you! .
Chris

[KimKelly]

Thank you all for the support and info! ChefChris, we don't have any food allergies in our family either and were suprised when this happened. I nursed my son exclusively, but Olivia got formula supplements. I always wonder if that had anything to do with it.

None the less! We have been working on the rice milk, and it is going down easier! We had tofu rella "cheese" sandwiches today and she ate the whole thing. So we are making progress. Thanks for the book recommendations... I know I should check the library first, but I think I will make Amazon my next visit!

Thanks again for all the advice - I really appreciate the time you all took to respond!

Kim

[woeisme]

Ah,it's almost comforting to know that someone else is sharing the same concerns. Wonder if there is any way write ChefChris directly since my son has the same allergies (and peanuts too). By the way, doesn't vege slices have casein?

Originally posted by ChefChris:
My 3 year old daughter has been allergic to dairy and egg (and now peanut the test told us) since birth. Her symptoms were excema and hives not the intestinal kind. She still has the allergy, but it's not as hard as what you have because my daughter doesn't know anything other than soy. We used a powdered "formula" after she turned one for Toddlers called "Next Step" by enfamil and it is soy based(they have a milk one too) She loved it. For the last year she has drank Silk which is in the refrigerated section. It's the best tasting in my opinion. For grilled cheese she eats Veggie Slices by galaxy foods and for pizza she eats Amy's soy cheese pizza. The hardest battle we have now is that she is in preschool dairy is everywhere. She knows to ask if something is "Soy or cow" but it makes me sad that she can't be like everyone else. An interesting side note is that I have a one year old now and she appears to be allergic to Soy! I avoided dairy while nursing hoping to spare her a dairy allergy which worked but she is allergic to soy. Our family does not have food allergies so we don't know where this has come from. Hope they grow out of it! Some places that I found a lot of help...
1-The Food Allergy Network, they are on the web you can get their newsletter and a cookbook which can be helpful for baked goods.
2-I followed Marilu Henner's books for awhile when I avoided dairy she believes dairy is unhealthy, her website has suggestions of dairy free products that people like and dislike.
3-there are a lot of dairy free and soy cookbooks out there which are helpful, the whole soy cookbook, the soy of cooking, 366 dairy free recipes etc.

You can substitute soy milk for any recipe for the most part. In some cases you may want Rice milk for a lighter taste it depends on the recipe. The above books should guide you in substitutions. There are margarines that don't have whey in them(Fleischmen's unsalted and Earth Balance are 2) The hardest part is cheese. To make cheese melt they use caesin which is a milk protein and is in most soy cheeses unless it says "vegan" so you have to experiment as to how sensitive she is.

I am glad you found yogurt silk and whole soy brands are good. also, Tofutti cuties are great, they are little ice cream like sandwhiches for dessert and Imagine brand puddings are dairy free.

Sorry this is so long but I am very familiar with your problem and hope that I can help you! .
Chris

[KimKelly]

Yes, they do have casein. I did find one type of soy cheese that did not contain it, but in my opinion it was just plain "yucky"! My little girl did not care for it either, we tried a nubmer of times and she just threw it.

I don't know how to contact ChefChris, but you may try a post putting her name in the title...

Good luck woeisme, hope you find what you are looking for. I've had a number of people post great info on the subject under a couple of different posts. You might start another!

K