Dairy free diet

My 6 week old daughter has a milk protein allergy and I have since had to eat dairy free in order to continue breast feeding. I am usually a dairy freak (yogurts, cheese, milk, cottage cheese) so I am at a loss of what to eat other than lean meats and veggies. Anyone have any suggestions of snack foods? Where the best place to shop is? I feel like everything has milk in it, even bread!

TIA!!

Message edited 1/26/2016 11:53:58 AM.

Re: Dairy free diet

I know they make yogurts that are made with coconut milk- try those instead of regular yogurt.

Try Almond Milk, it's delicious and even though I am not dairy free I drink it over regular milk just for the taste alone.
You can make some great smoothies with it too

Dairy free diet

Coconut milk products. Coconut yogurt and ice cream is delish! I tried the vegan "cheese" but I didn't love it. It was ok melted in pizza with sauce.

Dairy free diet

Try Whole Foods or Trader Joes. My daughter had a dairy allergy for her first four years. I gave her soy everything. They make soy cheese, ice cream, yogurt, you name it.

She snacked mostly on cheerios, fruit, applesauce, pretzels. You can find dairy free cookies and crackers at Trader Joes.

Thankfully, she grew out of it. After four years of avoidance, we reintroduced it and she was fine. But it was a pain to have to bring my own dairy free cupcakes to birthday parties.

Re: Dairy free diet

Ughh I feel ur pain momma! DS2 has an intolerance to dairy so I had to eliminate every single thing that contain dairy, and just like u said, dairy is almost in everything!!!!! We don't really go out to eat cause I feel that no matter how u explain it to waitresses or waiters, they don't really take it seriously, plus there's also chances of cross contamination. Snacks! Ughhh it's also hard to choose them because there's a lot of "hidden" dairy ingredients in many of them so u def have to read labels and spot those key ingredients. SO Delicious makes great ice cream using almond or coconut milk but my absolute favorite are those made with cashew milk. There's a small company here in NY than makes amazing ice cream using cashew milk, I'm actually pretty sure they're vegan. The name is Three Little Birds, for now u can only find them in a Whole Foods in Jericho and a small vegan bakery in Williston Park, it's called Sweet to Lick (funny name huh??), btw this is a pretty good place for cookies, cupcakes, etc. but I prefer another bakery in Huntington, it's called Wild Flours, they have amazing chocolate chip scones and their brownies are to die for, they're completely dairy free and they also use teff flour in them! Score!!!

Let me know if u need more help, following a df diet is not easy but it's def doable

Message edited 1/26/2016 12:36:53 PM.

Re: Dairy free diet

Posted by soontobemommyof2

Ughh I feel ur pain momma! DS2 has an intolerance to dairy so I had to eliminate every single thing that contain dairy, and just like u said, dairy is almost in everything!!!!! We don't really go out to eat cause I feel that no matter how u explain it to waitresses or waiters, they don't really take it seriously, plus there's also chances of cross contamination. Snacks! Ughhh it's also hard to choose them because there's a lot of "hidden" dairy ingredients in many of them so u def have to read labels and spot those key ingredients. SO Delicious makes great ice cream using almond or coconut milk but my absolute favorite are those made with cashew milk. There's a small company here in NY than makes amazing ice cream using cashew milk, I'm actually pretty sure they're vegan. The name is Three Little Birds, for now u can only find them in a Whole Foods in Jericho and a small vegan bakery in Williston Park, it's called Sweet to Lick (funny name huh??), btw this is a pretty good place for cookies, cupcakes, etc. but I prefer another bakery in Huntington, it's called Wild Flours, they have amazing chocolate chip scones and their brownies are to die for, they're completely dairy free and they also use teff flour in them! Score!!!

Let me know if u need more help, following a df diet is not easy but it's def doable

Dairy free diet

You've had really good suggestions so far, but I just wanted to commiserate :( My now 2 year old had the same allergy we discovered right around 6 weeks too. I was VERY sad to give up cheese for about six months but it was doable. Just wanted to tell you that she outgrew it by about 7 or 8 months and I was able to give her yogurt and cheese then, and then goats and cow's milk at one year when we weaned. I think many babies outgrow the casein allergy!

Re: Dairy free diet

I've found the Daiya brand to have good cheese alternatives. I use Earth Balance soy free "butter" (no chemicals or GMO's) and almond/cashew milk. I actually just made myself Mac and cheese with these 3 items and it's delicious!

There are lots of vegan meats nowadays. Check out Trader Joe's and Target- they have Gardein brand frozen foods which are dairy free and amazing.

As far as dairy free snacks you can do hummus and as mentioned above there are yogurts made from coconut and almond milk, which reminds me, Trader Joe's has coconut milk ice in chocolate and strawberry, both very good.

Depending on where you live, check out organic/natural stores. They will most likely have dairy free alternatives to sour cream and cream cheese as well. I will say every brand is not fantastic, but I like the Tofutti brands for this.

I'm dairy free by choice and I don't feel deprived at all. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Re: Dairy free diet

I am a fan of almond milk. I drink soy in my coffee.

Oreos are actually dairy free. There is dairy free ice cream available. The coconut milk ones are my favorite.

Dairy free diet

Avocados would my best friend. We've been doing vegan at least one a week and I find that anything where I can add fresh guacamole I don't miss cheese at all. Earths balance butter substitute is good too.

Re: Dairy free diet

Look up nutritional yeast. It gives food a cheesy taste but is vegan.

Re: Dairy free diet

If you're only cutting dairy it's really not too bad. Most "good" breads don't contain dairy, check the bakery section in the supermarket, as long as it has an ingredient label obviously. Coconut milk creamer for coffee, coconut milk ice cream. Dairy free cheese sucks - I just skipped it. Go to the natural food section of any supermarket and you'll find options. A lot of gluten free stuff is also dairy free, so thats a good place to look. There are way more options than lean meat and veggies - seafood, pasta, beans, lentils, quinoa - as far as meal foods go those are all obv dairy free.

It's tough at first, but after you figure out it really isn't that terrible. If you have to cut soy it gets a lot harder. Oreos are Dairy free - they were my go-to when I got frustrated about label reading - and I normally do not eat them, lol.

Good luck - and hang in there, it sucks at first, but it really isn't so bad once you find your go to staples.