Confirmed milk allergy. WCM substitutes?

TwinMama83

We just went in for skin testing today and found out that both of my kids are allergic to milk.  I had suspected this so I've already got them on soy formula.  We are going over the results in more detail at our next visit in a couple of weeks, but I just wanted to start doing some research on my own to have more questions to ask the allergist next time.  My kids are 11m today and so we wanted to start the transition to WCM soon... but obviously that isn't happening.  I know that the fat in WCM is important for them, so what do you switch your kids to at 12m if they are allergic to milk so that they still get plenty of good fats?  TIA!

luvmagoldn

I took DS#3 to see a nutritionist for ideas on this when he was turning one. She suggested adding olive oil to just about everything, finding nut or nut alternative butters to put on bread/crackers, introducing avocado, etc.  It's do-able but takes some thought.

You will want to be careful about store bought breads, cereals, crackers, hot dogs etc.  You will be surprised what has milk or milk product in it. 

g_belle

luvmagoldn:

I took DS#3 to see a nutritionist for ideas on this when he was turning one. She suggested adding olive oil to just about everything, finding nut or nut alternative butters to put on bread/crackers, introducing avocado, etc.  It's do-able but takes some thought.

You will want to be careful about store bought breads, cereals, crackers, hot dogs etc.  You will be surprised what has milk or milk product in it. 

All of this for certain.  My son gets a combination of one carton of enriched Rice Dream and 2 cans of condensed coconut milk.  I mix it all in a pitcher and that's what he drinks as "milk".  My allergist would prefer we do soy milk but we saw a pedi nutritionist and she thought my combo was just fine.  I actually made a spreadsheet and this combination comes as close to WM as we could get.  We weren't comfortable giving him soy milk with all of the new research on soy/estrogen.  We try to limit his soy intake- but when you elminate milk- soy is in most of the substitues. 

for other fats- we do lots of olive oil and avacado.  If your kiddos are growing fine- you may not need to worry about adding too many other fats.  We had growth issues because his allergies were undiagnosed for so long.  We added one scoop of Ellecare formula to his "milk" for a long time until he got back on the charts. 

TwinMama83

Thanks for the info ladies!  Why did I not think to just give them a low fat milk alternative, and make up for the fat elsewhere?  I think I was just in a fog this afternoon and not thinking clearly.  We did find out that they have no nut allergies, so in the immediate future using nut butters seems like a good short term solution.

And I had no idea about the soy-estrogen correlation.  I've done just a few minutes of internet research about that, and it's really fascinating.  Now I sort of feel twice as overwhelmed...

One step at a time, right?

ZacksBride

we just do soy milk.  almond milk is another option if kiddos don't have nut allergies (we do). plain rice milk is not recommended b/c it doesnt have enough protein/fat - although i like the rice milk/coconut combo idea from a pp

magdusia

at 12m we introduced rice milk (fortified).. i was never a fan of soy milk b/c of the increase in estrogen and some other stuff. I even made rice using that milk so he gets extra calcium.

For the fats i use olive oil a lot when cooking.. and i add extra to his pasta.  

Avocados have been his main source of healthy fat.  He hated them at first but then i got a guacamole bowl and started making guacamole (w/ onion, tomato, lemon juice, salt) and put it on a chip and he devoured it every time.  he now eats 1/2 an avocado almost every day and i swear that is the main reason his weight is good. 

I had a big problem at 12 months though b/c that was his worst "picky eater" stage.  from 12m to about 18m i struggled every day to feed him. 

like pp said, i also took my son to a nutritionist and she gave me great ideas.

blueyez09

I'll Ditto the Avocado suggestion... DS eats about 2 whole avocado's a week. I'll even buy Wholly Guacamole or smush up an avacado and spread it on a tortilla for him and he gobbles it up. We also add olive oil where we can. Right now he drinks Coconut Milk, doesn't like Rice milk and any combination of Rice milk, has a mild reaction to Soy Milk (but am not going to google the soy/estrogen relationship), and is so-so with Almond milk.

TwinMama83

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!  I'm guessing our next step is a blood test to determine just how severe the allergy is.  I'm not sure if its something where we need to avoid all milk and all milk ingredients, or if we just need to stay away from the obvious dairy things (like ice cream and yogurt), since all we've done so far is a skin test.  But their reaction on the skin test was severe enough that the doc warned me before we left to avoid milk and dairy.  I guess we will play it safe for the next few weeks, and maybe try them out on a few different milk substitutes to see what tastes they prefer.

TwinMama83

g_belle:

All of this for certain.  My son gets a combination of one carton of enriched Rice Dream and 2 cans of condensed coconut milk.  I mix it all in a pitcher and that's what he drinks as "milk".  My allergist would prefer we do soy milk but we saw a pedi nutritionist and she thought my combo was just fine.  I actually made a spreadsheet and this combination comes as close to WM as we could get.  We weren't comfortable giving him soy milk with all of the new research on soy/estrogen.  We try to limit his soy intake- but when you elminate milk- soy is in most of the substitues. 

 So do you just use 2 cans of the regular ole coconut milk?  The stuff that is usually with the Asian foods in the grocery store?

Nancy_Drew

My DS has a cows milk allergy.  I suspected it was whey as that was the common demoninator in all foods.  No whey, no rash.  But the blood test showed cows milk and soy among other animals etc. 

His Dr suggeted goats milk.  His exact words were "how do you feel about goats in your yard?"  lol 

He had only BM until 13 months so we didn't find out about the allergy until a few months after switching to cows milk.

We did goats milk exclusively until after 18 months then introduced almond and rice.  We still alternate between the 3.