Help for my SIL & Niece w/dairy & soy allergies

[samuelsmom]

Hi. My SIL just found out last week that my niece (3yo) has severe dairy and soy allergies. Where does she start? I'd love to give her some info from the lovely folks here. Good cookbooks? Snack ideas? How to soften the blow to my niece who loves cheese, yogurt & ice cream? Ideas for baking special treats when the other kids are having them (cakes, etc. on birthdays...)?

I know she's going to feel soooo much better when it's all out of her system, but this is really hard for them!

TIA!!!

[Alyantavid]

Rice milk. For now, I'd eliminate dairy and soy in everything, which takes a lot of label reading but well worth it. We use rice milk to drink, cook with, everything. There are a lot of oils you can use in place of butter. To start with, I'd just not give any cheese or yogurt substitute. They don't taste good compared to the real thing. She can introduce those later on.

There are lots of recipes for cookies and cakes that actually taste pretty good. I have more luck finding vegan recipes than dairy free ones but alot of those use soy, so you might have to modify them a bit.

[kjbrown92]

Check out my blog, in my signature. I have lots of dairy and soy free recipes. Two of my kids have those intolerances (plus others).

Whole Foods and Trader Joes have crackers that are good, among other things. The plain (just salted) rice cakes are good plain or with some peanut butter on them for a snack.

I make my own coconut milk yogurt to use in smoothies dip fruits in (I don't sweeten it, but if you sweetened it and added some fruit, it probably wouldn't be all that different tasting).

In the beginning, just remove all the dairy from the house so that it's not a temptation. Yes, the rest of you will have to suffer a little too. If you have a pantry or you want to use up some stuff in the fridge for the adults, use a sharpie and mark labels. I would put a big SS on things (for Simon-safe, my son's name) so babysitters would know what was safe, and so I'd remember myself!

Learn all the names for milk and soy in ingredients lists. Check all medicines and vitamins.

Kathy

[samuelsmom]

Thanks, both of you! We all knew there was something going on with her--she has had terrible ecxema and long bouts of loose stools since she was really little, but no one else in the family has any food sensitivities, so we didn't think much about it until I was doing some research for LLL and found info on the link to dairy. Then they had her tested and at least now they know how to help her!

Thanks again!

[tanyalynn]

I don't have a recipe off-hand, but I've heard great things about homemade coconut milk ice cream.