What do your dairy and soy allergy toddlers/children drink???

[tylerdylan]

My DS (almost 3) is likely allergic to both dairy and soy. This is new for us. He is so used to drinking milk (he weaned over a year ago) that I don't know how to replace it. Will he be missing any vitamins and minerals that I will need to supplement if he goes off dairy and soy all together ie calcium?? I have been buying Bolthouse Smoothie drinks for him which are pure fruits. It is quite thick, but he likes it. He won't drink V8. Any suggestions??? I know there is Rice milk too - how is it? What about coconut milk - is it too expensive? Could I do rice milk with a few tablespoons of coconut milk for flavor??

[lilepad]

When my ds was 1, we were thinking he had a dairy allergy (he may have, but if so he outgrew it). He goes to daycare and there were complications if we wanted him to have breastmilk as a replacement for cow's milk (he'd have to go to the infant room for snacks) so we opted to send rice milk (we were avoiding soy). He loved it. I think that the thinness of it was helpful because breastmilk is thin. However, he was still getting breastmilk so I wasn't concerned about nutrients as much.

I can't drink rice milk plain, but I think that it's because I have preconceived notions of what "milk" should taste like. Oat milk is pretty good.

I'm not sure how helpful I was just now

[txtarheel]

DS (16 months) really likes rice milk. My main complaint about it is the lack of fat and protein. I've tried adding coconut milk and rice or hemp protein powder to it, but he refuses. Your kiddo might be different. Oat milk is also excellent (and a really good way to make oatmeal IMO). If nuts aren't a problem, there are a number of nut milks out there as well that have some fat and protein in them as well. I haven't investigated them too much as DS is nut-free too.

I really offer a variety of beverages during the day. He's mostly weaned due to my pregnancy, so in the morning he gets diluted calcium fortified OJ with a liquid vitamin in it. For most of the day he gets juice flavored water (really, really dilute). And at bedtime he gets his rice milk. I've tried to make sure he just gets most of his nutrition through things he eats since the nutritional quality of what he can drink is pretty poor and I don't want him filling up on the empty calories.

[Kitsune6]

My ds is sensitive to dairy and I try not to go overboard on soy.

I make this smoothie about 4 times a week and the kids love it.

I dump about 12 oz of vanilla almond milk and 2 heaping Tb spoons of hemp protein powder into a blender and blend for about a minute. during that time I nuke about 6 frozen strawberries (my blender sucks so they need to be thawed a little Then I add a whole banana and the strawberries and blend until smooth. The strawberries help cover the green color from the hemp but I used to use Rice powder too.

Other than that coconut milk/oil, nut butters and tahini all have nice amounts of fat. Just make sure that either your almond milk or rice milk is fortified with calcium. If your DC takes a multi vit and eats a balanced diet I wouldn't sweat it.

[mamatojackn]

if you can do nuts, almond milk is a good option- like someone mentioned. we also use hemp milk- it is chock full o' omegas. you can use coconut milk in recipes in place of milk- it will add good fats- but i'm not too sure how drinking it would be.
also, SOME kids that can't have cow's milk can in fact have goat's milk- that would help with the calcium concern as you could use goat yogurt, cheese, etc.
water buffalo yogurt is tolerated by some dairy allergic as well- and actually has more calcium than cow's milk.
good luck!
jen

[leurMaman]

Hemp milk is going over pretty well (also available in chocolate, vanilla, etc.). DS prefers almond milk to Rice Dream.

[tbmitwww]

Dari-Free. The taste is WAY better than any other product I've tried including Almond Milk, Rice Dream, soy milk and hemp milk.I mix a little bit of coconut milk in it if we need extra fat.

Ingredients:
Maltodextrin (from potatoes), Natural Flavors (no MSG), Crystalline Fructose, Calcium Carbonate, colored with Titanium Dioxide (an inert mineral), Carrageenan, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Tricalcium Phosphate, Potassium Citrate, Lactic Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), dl Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Vitamin A Palmitate, Niacinamide (Vitamin B3), Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin K1, Thiamin mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12), Biotin.

[USAmma]

I'm not going to recommend this in a serious way, but my dd takes Neocate Jr which is a very expensive, foul-tasting medical food for kids and adults who are allergic to everything (or almost). It's nutritionally complete.

The Dairy-Free actually looks pretty good. If I can get my dd to eat a more balanced diet at some point I may try it with her.