Weaning from bf with milk allergy

ali26

My dd is 10 months old and has been breast fed the whole time. At about 6 months she had 2 ounces of regular formula. She had an instant reactin with hives and swelling all over her body. It was improved with benadryl and the pedi suspects a milk protein allergy although no formal testing has been done yet. She never reacts to anything in my diet and has not had formula since. We were told to try a small portion of yogurt around 9-10 months to see what her reaction was. Once again immediate hives so we are now holding off on trying again for another month or two. She can tolerate soy and egg and has had some packaged food which contain milk products with no problems. Anyway, I would like to start weaning her around one year, but what would be a good replacement for cows milk? I was thinking coconut milk may be best but not sure. Or maybe soy or almond milk (not sure if she can have almond). I know they have soy toddler formula so I guess thats an option too. For those of you with older babies/toddlers, how do you make up the fat that they would regularly be getting from dairy products? I know I'm ahead of the game and will discuss all of this at her next check up but just trying to get some ideas right now. Thanks

ali26

Sorry if it's hard to read, tried to break it up but the iPad didn't cooperate!

goillini823

ThIs sounds just like my DD. she's 3 now, but she self weaned at 10 months. When she was 1 I gave her soy milk. I just give her vitamins to make up for any nutrients lost, but really it hasn't ever been a concern. Pedi is happy with her development, and she eats plenty of fruits and vegetables. 

shotzie

DD is allergic to dairy (and soy and eggs). She gets hives where dairy or egg products touch her skin. I bf'd her until she was 16 months and she never reacted to the dairy in my diet either. We give her enriched rice milk and add rice protein powder to it. She gets maybe 8-10 oz a day. A few ways we make sure she gets the fat she needs are we feed her coconut yogurt, almond yogurt, avocado, chicken thighs, and I cook with olive oil.
Given your LO's reaction, I wouldn't keep trying dairy every few months. I would ask for a RAST blood test and a skin scratch test to see how severe her allergy is. We have to have an EpiPen on hand for DD (we've never had to use it though). The pedi can order the RAST test and then an allergist can do the scratch test and advise you on how to proceed. DD was tested at age 1 and will be tested again each year to see if she outgrows her allergies - which our allergist is hopeful she will. Until then, we are avoiding her allergens except in baked goods as she's never reacted to them in that form.

ali26

shotzie:

DD is allergic to dairy (and soy and eggs). She gets hives where dairy or egg products touch her skin. I bf'd her until she was 16 months and she never reacted to the dairy in my diet either. We give her enriched rice milk and add rice protein powder to it. She gets maybe 8-10 oz a day. A few ways we make sure she gets the fat she needs are we feed her coconut yogurt, almond yogurt, avocado, chicken thighs, and I cook with olive oil.
Given your LO's reaction, I wouldn't keep trying dairy every few months. I would ask for a RAST blood test and a skin scratch test to see how severe her allergy is. We have to have an EpiPen on hand for DD (we've never had to use it though). The pedi can order the RAST test and then an allergist can do the scratch test and advise you on how to proceed. DD was tested at age 1 and will be tested again each year to see if she outgrows her allergies - which our allergist is hopeful she will. Until then, we are avoiding her allergens except in baked goods as she's never reacted to them in that form.

Pyres, our pedi mentioned doing testing at 12 months.  One reason I am hesitant to jump into that is bc unfortunately dd has hip dysplasia and needs to have a full lower body cast on for 8 weeks.  She will get that off by early dec, but I kind of want to finish with all of that first before subjecting her to any more traumatic medical experiences.  I agree it might be better to avoid trying any potential allergens for now.  

 

 

Thanks for the tips as far as foods go as well. 

LeaPea81

My son has a cow's milk allergy, too, and it was a TOTALLY seamless transition to soy milk for him. It never even fazed him. He was breastfed until about 11 months, then we had him on Similac's soy-based formula, then once we ran out after his first birthday, we started with the plain (not vanilla) soy milk.

He's lucky, though, I think thanks in part to all the breastfeeding. He now only has a slight dairy intolerance. When we go out to eat, he drinks regular milk and is fine. He can eat yogurt and grilled cheese with no problems now either. Our allergist had us give him just a tiny bit at 18 months to see if he was OK. We gave him a little more each day and he's tolerated it just fine.