Help...milk food allergy

[dannysmom]

Please help! My 16 month old son has just been diagnosed with a milk allergy and I have to immediately stop his ingestion of all milk based/dairy products. I cannot give him soy products either - he had a slight reaction to soy as an infant that caused eczema. How do I feed this kid? He does love veggies and fruit but he is not a big meat eater. Can i feed him beans? tofu? I gave him a little bit of rice milk which he seemd to like. He is very active and I want to make sure I feed him properly but I feel like I am out of league as far as vegan diets are concerned...any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[tricia]

rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, nice vegan recipes is at Vegweb (www.vegweb.com)

ummm tofu and beans are great for protein and tofu is fairly easy to make at home if u dont like buying packaged stuff... some simple easy books with nice recipes are "The Vegetarian Lunchbasket" (jus read it and its great...) "How it all vegan" and can be found at the library... i love the library....

[PikkuMyy]

The boy I work for drinks 2 cups of rice milk per day and has PB & J. Rice milk doesn't have very much protein in it but you CAN buy vegan rice protein powder and add it to the rice milk.

There are so many kinds of beans to try. Split peas and lentils are very non-allergenic and easy to make and digest. Check out the current issue of the Veg Family magazine for a nutritionists advice on this topic.

Emily

[Erin Pavlina]

Yes, beans, tofu, other legumes are all great for kids.

You may want to check out Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina for information on vegan nutrition for children.

[Christa]

I wouldn't give him tofu if he has a reaction to soy products - it is made almost entirely out of soybeans.

I used to sprinkle nutritional yeast on my girls' cooked vegis when they were little. It is an orange powdery yeast that is grown on black strap molasses. It is very different from baking yeast & high in many vitamins as well as protein. It tastes cheesey & can be found at health food stores. Just ask someone in the bulk dept for "nutritional yeast."

There are also some vegi burgers that are made from seeds, grains & vegis. They are usually softer and less chewy than the soy kind. My girls liked these warmed & broken into pieces as finger food when they were 1-2 y/o.

[dannysmom]

Thank you for all of the great advice!:)

[Christa]

Dannysmom,

Just another thought. If he is prone to food allergies, I would also hold off on peanuts until age 2. My older dd had some food allergies, & the allergist with whom I spoke did recommend waiting on peanuts.

Since he is active & you will probably want to go with rice milk (which is low in fat), due to allergies, you will want to make sure that he is getting enough fat from other sources. You can give him chunks of avocado & maybe try almond butter, or other nut butters on toast - the non-peanut kinds. Almond butter also has the plus of having some calcium.

Fruits & vegis are great! My kids also liked plain cooked pinto beans, & other beans as finger food. Grains are good, too. Road's End Organics makes a boxed vegan mac & cheese called "Mac & Chreese," as well as "Shells & Chreese" & "1,2,3s & Chreese." Add a little Earth Balance margarine when you add the rice milk & the "chreese" mix & it will up the fat & make it more creamy.

My kids also liked plain cooked brown rice with some cooked spinach or other vegis added.