Dairy free diet question

=Lee=B

My 8 week old has Acid Reflux, we had great success with Zantac, then she out grew it and now we've upped her dose.

Her doctor has asked me to cut all dairy and beef from my diet for a month or so to see if that improve it as he noted dairy intolerance can bring on acid reflux.

I'm game to try it (though I suspect it's more of a developmental thing since she was 5 weeks early) I would prefer to have her off the meds or on less if at all possible so am willing to cut dairy out.

My question...how far do I go?  I just googled dairy free diets and came to realize dairy is in EVERYTHING including breads, cereals, crackers on and on.

I like fruits and veggies but I do need more than that to survive!!

For those of you that had to cut out dairy did you go as far as cutting out the bits of dairy found in cereals and breads etc?

If I didn't have baby brain I could likely sit and figure out what foods to buy...and without a baby would have the time to stand in the store staring at ingredient lists!  Not sure how to pull it off with baby in arms and a really dumbed down brain!!

JPinkman

I have been completely dairy free for about 5 weeks now as DD#2 has MSPI.  It really does stink - that is all I can say about it.  Mostly everything that is processed at all has dairy.  I keep it to salads without any cheese or milk based dressing.  I have found it is easiest to just by vegan items as they are non-dairy and I buy all of my work meals at Whole Foods - which has more options.

You can buy processed items that are non-dairy - like crackers, etc.  Many cereals are non-dairy and many oatmeals as well.  Bread is tougher, but they are out there. 

That being said, DD#2's symptoms stopped after 2 weeks of non-dairy - which they say is typically because that is how long it takes for the dairy to be out of your system and the baby's system.   

babyalex124

I have been dairy-free for 4 weeks now for DS and was dairy-free for 4 months with my DD.  

Once you get the hang of things, it's not bad at all.  You just have to read labels on EVERYTHING.  This time around b/c I know what foods I can eat, I've had no problems.  The only time it's hard is when going out to eat and when at a party or something. You really do get used to it.  Just offer to bring food to other people's houses when they have a party or dinner so you KNOW you'll have something to eat.  There's nothing worse than being starving and not able to eat anything.  AllergyEats is an app that rates restaurants for their allergy-friendly menus.  

Some people are able to just refrain from the obvious: milk, cheese, yogurt, butter.  I'm not one of those people.  I avoid all dairy.  

A lot of breads do have milk in them... but there are brands that don't have dairy.  So Delicious (usually in organic sections) have dairy-free milk, ice cream, coffee creamers, etc.  I like coconut milk-based foods.  Earth Balance is a great butter substitute.  So is coconut oil.  I also prefer Rice Dreams shredded cheese for sandwiches, on my eggs...  they also have ice cream.  Watch out for vegan cheeses b/c a lot of them have dairy in it!  Weird, right?  So read the labels.  

You can still have all kinds of snacks...I get triscuits, pretzel nuggets with peanut butter, salsa and chips, graham crackers....   

I actually make a lot from scratch as far as breakfast foods and carbs.  Pinterest is helpful for dairy-free baked goods.  

PipSqueak0313

I am doing a gluten free and dairy free diet. To me cutting out dairy after I have been gf for so long has been easy since I cant eat most processed foods anyway. I did get lucky in that many of my favorite gf foods are also dairy free. It has been an adventure in cooking to take our favorite recipes and remove the gluten and now dairy to see which ones work.