Dairy Free Help?!

melissaschleier
melissaschleier Posts: 27 Member
edited November 18 in Food and Nutrition
I'm having to go dairy free for a month because they think little man might have a milk protein allergy and I have to remove it from my breast milk. Anyone have experience with that, or any suggestions, or encouragement? Feeling nervous and anxious like I can't do it. The formula option is way too expensive, and is rather breastfeed as long as I can.

Replies

  • LadyFencer
    LadyFencer Posts: 51 Member
    It's totally doable, but specific advice depends on what you're worried about. For liquid milk, I like almond milk best, but if you don't like the flavor, there are many other options. I have learned to like pizza without cheese. You can get other suggestions at vegan.com. It's great that you're trying to breastfeed as long as you can. You can do it.
  • bareessentials56
    bareessentials56 Posts: 30 Member
    My favorite non dairy milk is the blue diamond almond breeze unsweetend vanilla. For me it doesn't have the bitter taste that most almond milks have. If your craving chocolate the pana raw chocolate is always a good alternative if you can buy it and try looking up nutritional yeast for creamy pasta sauces/dips
  • melissaschleier
    melissaschleier Posts: 27 Member
    Thanks. Sometimes the recipes some websites have are just crazy. Looking for simple every day stuff a working mom of 2 can put together. Luckily I'm still on maternity leave for this adjustment.
  • BeginnersBootcamp
    BeginnersBootcamp Posts: 90 Member
    I'm 100% non dairy and i cut it out cold turkey! Especially with your babies health for motivation, you can do it:)
  • LadyFencer
    LadyFencer Posts: 51 Member
    Try googling "easy vegan recipes". You can also Google "easy milk-free recipes", but you will probably get more variety searching vegan.
  • jasperdog52554
    jasperdog52554 Posts: 115 Member
    Still dairy free and feeding my 6 month old. We never officially tested for milk protein allergy but evidence speaks for itself. My little one was better in a day. Literally a day! I was amazed. She is very sensitive and symptoms returned after accidentally eating cheese on my "hamburger." It hasn't been as hard as I thought, it helps to have such strong motivation. I use a lot of paleo resources and add whatever easy safe starches, rice or potatoes mostly. I find there aren't a lot of substitutes that taste good enough to be worth eating. If you can find it Daiya makes a good cheddar flavored slice for melting. Sorry so long winded. Add me if you want a buddy in this. I plan on going as long as is feasible.
  • melissaschleier
    melissaschleier Posts: 27 Member
    Thanks so much!
  • Buff2022
    Buff2022 Posts: 373 Member
    No dairy here or else I am sick as a dog. I do like Almond Milk so I buy that. I can eat yogurt. There are soy and nut cheeses. Almond cheese is really good. I do miss cheese but my tummy does not miss it at all.
  • CM_73
    CM_73 Posts: 554 Member
    As above, the unsweetened almond milk is my favourite, but I'm not fussy and can drink most of them. Although, the soya milk does taste a bit "odd."
    I use the soya butter as well, it's fine, just doesn't melt very well on toast!
    I haven't tried the cheese yet, but as my nemesis is cheese, I'm happy not to go there...
  • jillianfernandes
    jillianfernandes Posts: 4 Member
    Had to go dairy free for both my babes as well, and am still (mostly) dairy free. These days there are several great alternatives! I love almond milk in my coffee and as a milk substitute in baking dishes. Earth Balance makes a great butter / margarine alternative, although I try to use coconut oil in as many recipes as possible. To be honest I haven't found a suitable cheese replacement, though some people swear by Daiya. I have been able to tolerate goat's cheese, though. I got the "Oh She Glows" cookbook for Christmas and the recipes are completely vegan and AMAZING! I have some great recipes for vegan mac and cheese, coconut oil muffins, etc so send me a message if you're interested :)
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    peggysue1382 wrote: »
    I'm having to go dairy free for a month because they think little man might have a milk protein allergy and I have to remove it from my breast milk. Anyone have experience with that, or any suggestions, or encouragement? Feeling nervous and anxious like I can't do it. The formula option is way too expensive, and is rather breastfeed as long as I can.

    I was dairy free with 2 of my kids, a total of about 3 years milk free, but adding back yoghurt and cheese aftere the first months. It is definetely doable and not that hard to adjust your cooking to it.
    Start by removing all dairy AND soy, as there is a 50% chance baby will also be intolerant to soy proteins. Wait at least 2 weeks. If there is no change, then the problem was not dairy to begin with.
    If things get better, after a while you can start experimenting with small amounts of dairy, to check if the baby started outgrowing the problem, which usually happens sometime in the first year, at least up to a point.
    When you are ready to try, start with goat milk instead of cow milk, as the baby might tolerate this more easily. Also try small amounts of yoghurt or cheese, before trying again cow milk, as the process of making these products breaks down a big part of the proteins. If the baby reacts, then wait a few more weeks and try again.
    As for substitutes, for me the favourites were hazelnut and almond milk to drink, add in coffee or use in baking. For cooking, unsweetened rice milk.
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
    I recently had to go dairy free for my little one as well. I am also a vegetarian so it was challenging. I found some good recipes on pinterest. It took me a couple tries to make it more than a week.


    My son was very fussy and woudn't nurse. He would arch his back and cry and was very gassy so I eliminated dairy. Recently I've gone back to dairy (for the last 7-10 days) and I've noticed some stomach issues on my part. Has anyone experienced that? I wasn't expecting to have trouble myself after only a few weeks of no dairy.

    One of my favorite recipes is for Sofritas (tofu) that tastes just like Chipotle
    http://www.chefdehome.com/Recipes/270/chipotle-sofritas

    I also like this recipe for Enchilada Quinoa/Rice (I've used rice and quinoa) minus the cheese
    http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/07/quinoa-enchilada-casserole/
  • melissaschleier
    melissaschleier Posts: 27 Member
    The only sign little man was having issues was blood in his stool. He's not fussy, and only gassy occasionally. So far I've made it about 12 hours dairy free. I really need to do some shopping for replacement food (and I just went to the grocery and bought yogurt and cheeses for low calorie snacks to help loose this weight). Luckily my 2 year old loves that stuff, my husband doesn't really like any healthy snack food. Maybe this dairy free thing will help him out too.
  • jasperdog52554
    jasperdog52554 Posts: 115 Member
    That was our only symptom too, and it returned with my slip up. I don't know if you eat out much, but go dairy free is a great resource for chain restaurants. I can eat fries almost anywhere except McDs. Why would you have dairy on your fries? Blows my mind...
  • kokoAndorinha
    kokoAndorinha Posts: 7 Member
    wait..mcdonalds fries have dairy in?? Ah well, there goes the only thing I thought I could eat in there!
  • jasperdog52554
    jasperdog52554 Posts: 115 Member
    I'm sure I consume more now than I realize but I try to be conscious, checking labels and allergen menus whenever able. Cooked dairy is supposed to be more tolerable, so I try not to freak out if I accidentally eat something. For some cutting out obvious choices is enough. Good luck!
  • melissaschleier
    melissaschleier Posts: 27 Member
    From what I was reading a lot of fast food places add milk for flavoring for all kinds of different things. I used to eat out a lot. I guess I'm just going to be extra careful.
  • 89Madeline
    89Madeline Posts: 205 Member
    I just had to go (almost) dairy free as well for doing a low-fodmap diet to control IBS. I can only have soft/hard cheeses, but that's it. I got some lactose free milk and yoghurt, but further I don't really mind yet since I didn't eat a lot of dairy to begin with. You can add me if you'd like of course :)
  • melissaschleier
    melissaschleier Posts: 27 Member
    kokoAndorinha wrote: »
    wait..mcdonalds fries have dairy in?? Ah well, there goes the only thing I thought I could eat in there!

    Yep. It's amazing what has dairy in it when you're looking for it. Don't let green beans deceive you. Most places add butter. And most fried foods been dipped in some type of dairy something to make the breading. And even some places grill their buns first and have butter on the grill. It's crazy.
  • littlechiaseed
    littlechiaseed Posts: 489 Member
    You can buy dairy-free cheese, milk and butter. Read carefully anything that says 'lactose free' because sometimes it still had casien in it.

    For cheese I like chao or daiya
    For butter I like Earth Balance
    For milk I use soy or almond milk

    Of course, eating out is far more tricky. I'd say avoid it when you can or just inform the staff that you do have a dairy allergy and ask what they have to accommodate you.
  • joysomebody
    joysomebody Posts: 18 Member
    The dairy free yogurt is good. I like coconut milk for my dairy option.
  • The_Original_Beauty
    The_Original_Beauty Posts: 162 Member
    If he does have CMPI (my daughter did) you need to avoid all soy, corn because it has the same protein. It's hard but doable.
  • mrsherrm
    mrsherrm Posts: 10 Member
    My son is 18 months and I cut out dairy at 6 months due to him having bloody and mucous stools. After about 2 weeks his symptoms completely resolved. Then I was able to slowly add things back. I can now have any cheese, my international delight coffee creamer and baked milk (think unhealthy deserts
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    I'm not a huge fan of replacement foods; they just aren't the same. I tried soy milk, cashew milk, etc, but I'd honestly just rather do without.

    I guess it depends on what you normally eat your dairy with. There are a lot of decent non-dairy creamers, and I personally would just skip cheese or yogurt replacement products as stand alone snacks. And I agree that vegan substitutions for recipes will be a good resource. I have heard good things about Ben and Jerry's vegan ice cream, so if you find yourself craving things, try out the vegan versions.

    And I had no clue that fast food used milk protein as additives. At least while you're first trying to figure out the issues with the little one, I'd limit how much you eat out just so you have absolute control over what you're intaking.

    And hopefully the little guy improves quickly!
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