Any luck with a protein powder for littles?

[scsigrl]

Anyone have any luck? DS is just not getting the protein he needs. He is allergic to: dairy, egg, soy, corn, all sea food, all nuts/peanuts, citrus, banana...I think that's all of them.

Anyone have any luck with a protein powder that is free of all these things?

[kjbrown92]

I put rice protein powder in smoothies once in a while. Are you vegetarian? My kids have always done a lot of meat so I wasn't that worried about proteins, even with all the restrictions. Eggs and legumes are great sources of proteins as well.

[scsigrl]

No eggs here. Not a ton of meat which is why I ask.

[rhesp1212]

We have used hemp protein powder in shakes for our son on occasion. It makes everything green, but tastes okay...a little nutty flavored.

Also, you can combine things to make complete proteins without them actually eating meat. For example, beans and rice or lentils and rice make a complete protein. You can also combine grains such as oat and quinoa to make a more complete protein. There is also green smoothies if your child will drink them. Blend up a variety of fresh greens with some fruit in a heavy duty blender until liquified and smooth. This provides all of the amino acids they need (amino acids are broken down proteins). You can do a google search for green shakes, or green smoothies and come up with a ton of recipes.

There are several grains that are high in protein: quinoa, amaranth and teff are some of the top ones for amino acids and protein. The key is to combine it with something else to help make it complete.

There is also a protein powder called Beneprotein. You can get it from the pharmacist (you don't need a prescription though). It's whey protein isolate, which is derived from milk. However, supposedly there are no intact proteins. So, SOME kids that are allergic to milk protein can actually drink this without any problems. My son is severely intolerant to milk and reacted to this though.

[sbgrace]

We had most of those at one time. My son started reacting to hemp. It turns out all hemp is produced with sesame (rotated fields and the like) which crosses majorly with tree nuts. I wouldn't do hemp with a tree nut allergic kiddo knowing what I know now. My son is sesame and tree nut allergic/anaphylactic now. Sesame is a bear to avoid.

I used to use rice protein powder but I wasn't worried about cross and knowing what I know about cross with nuts I'd be very careful with protein powders and certainly call about shared equipment. Beyond that, protein powders are all going to have free glutamic acid and so I wish I hadn't done that back then from that standpoint though your child clearly needs the protein so if this is your only alternative and you can find a safe one of course do it.

Look at his actual protein needs (in grams) and you may find it's lower and more doable than you think. We used spelt (sprouted/sourdough) and quinoa and similar decent protein grains, avocado, and meats. He was a very poor meat eater when young. I can tell you what I did do in that situation when he was younger but it's gross. I pureed chicken breast into stuff like smoothies and sauces. You need a strong base to disguise it but low fat meats like that puree well and chicken breast has a high protein content and a relatively low amount of taste. As he got older I just explained that he had to get enough protein so he needed to eat x amount of the meat served. Hard times--really they were. I was so thrilled to get dairy back.
Calories can be tough with those restrictions as well.

[rhesp1212]

I was surfing the web looking for canned pumpkin for my son and accidently stumbled upon this and immediately thought of your post!! It's a raw protein powder supplement made purely of sprouted grains and some bean sprouts. Very high in protein 18g! I haven't tried it, so I have no idea how it tastes or anything like that, but wanted to pass it along to you just in case!! You could probably mix it into a smoothie of some sort.

http://www.vitacost.com/Garden-of-Li...d&vbnpid=65415

Valerie

[scsigrl]

Valerie, thanks! That looks like it would work!

Rachelle, So no one has even mentioned to watch for sesame. How do I figure this out now? Also, I did look into the protein he should be getting and was amazed that he is pretty much there! Maybe once a week or so just to boost for those light days would be all we need! So much for the $200, totally useless nutritionist appointment we went to this week. She was all "What about protein?" Aren't you worried about that?" even after we discussed what he DOES eat. Nice. NOT!

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by scsigrl

Valerie, thanks! That looks like it would work!

Rachelle, So no one has even mentioned to watch for sesame. How do I figure this out now? Also, I did look into the protein he should be getting and was amazed that he is pretty much there! Maybe once a week or so just to boost for those light days would be all we need! So much for the $200, totally useless nutritionist appointment we went to this week. She was all "What about protein?" Aren't you worried about that?" even after we discussed what he DOES eat. Nice. NOT!

Good! We over-eat protein in this country. So meeting actual needs really isn't as overwhelming as it seems at first glance. You may find a little tweak here or there makes this easy. My bigger struggle over-all with him on a very similar list of restrictions was calorie intake rather than meeting the protein needs.

Sesame shares a protein with both pistachio and cashew. My son has I think six tree nut positives but those two are his "highest RAST" positives and we think trace pistachio was the anaphylaxis trigger. Anyway, he was positive to sesame and I found out the three go together. Sesame testing is, unfortunately, not very accurate so a person can be negative and really be positive with that one.

That said, if your child is negative to either pistachio or cashew sesame is less likely as the protein shared is in all three (and mango for what it's worth). Still, I wouldn't feed a tree nut allergic child sesame because of the shared protein and the fact that sesame is almost as hard as corn to avoid in trace and carries high anaphylaxis potential to boot.