dairy free while nursing

If you could tell me more specifically what you're looking for maybe I can give you some ideas. My dd is sensitive to dairy as is ds (makes his eczema flare) so although we're not a dairy free house we've found some alternatives.

I am going dairy-free for my nursing almost 3 month old too. I don't know that I have any recipes (I'm not much of a cook). We are doing a lot of steaks, hamburgers (mine without cheese), Italian beef, etc.
I chose not to go with soy milk in my recipes due to a minor soy allergy my PA dd has.
I looked into rice milk. The only brand I could find (by imagine foods I think) said on its website that it was PN free. But, when I called to confirm, the customer rep said that it was made in the same factory as PN and possibly on the same line. I got the feeling that he wasn't real sure what he was talking about, but it hasn't been important enough for me to call back. I have seen that brand at Super Wal-mart. It is by the health food items and comes in a blue box. (It needs refridgeration after it is opened.)
Now that I have typed this, I am not sure it is of any help unless you want to investigate the rice milk further or don't mind using the soy milk. If you find out the rice milk is safe, could you please post it?

My ds is actually soy allergic also, we used to use Westbrae rice milk but switched after the peanut allergy and we now use Harmony Farms Rice Milk, they told me emphatically -No Nuts. It is not readily available in my area but our local health food store easily orders it for me, on a plus note it is less sweet than the others and I personally think it tastes pretty good. I also substitute it in recipes with no problem so odds are you could use the same recipes, just sub rice milk in, since this one isn't as sweet I think it works better. You could check into rice slices also, they are soy free but I think contain casein (not sure if that's a problem for your baby) my husband ate the last of them without complaint as the babies got burnt out on them. They also make rice shreds for pizza and such. We just found Road's End Organics mac and Chreeze (sp) it is soy free dairy free and nut free, I've heard good things so we're anxious to try it. There is also a rice yogurt available, again the same company that may use casein, may be worth a look. I haven't really looked up a whole lot of recipes, we just sort of play it by ear and substitute away, and most stuff is pretty good. Good luck.
Wendy

what about me? sorry to butt into your post asking for advice, but my ds #1 is allergic to soy and rice. we keep whole milk here for him. i have been cutting down on my milk consumption. i am exclusively nursing my 2 mo ds and have noticed him getting stomach aches and having pain during gas. he only has 1-2 poops a day now and they seem very strange. sometimes they are really foamy, other times really thick. should i cut dairy out completely, or can i just cut back?

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mommy to gabriel 11-25-00
who is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, eggs, grape, potato, rice, soybean, and tomato
and michael 6-16-03
exclusively breastfed

step mom to:
isaiah 06-18-96
rebekah 09-13-97

I'm nursing a 9 month old with an apparent dairy allergy that first reared it's head when she was 1 day old. They gave me milk with a couple of my meals at the hospital, and after the second half pint, she was gassy and fussy for the next 12 hours. By the time she was a week old I figured it out.

She seems to tolerate cheese, sour cream, butter and yogurt in my diet in small amounts. Which is a good thing as I've yet to find decent soy, wheat, oat, milk, coconut, PN and TN subs for those. No whipped cream, fluid milk, ice cream or cream cheese though.

I'm also avoiding nuts and peanuts (I have been eating may contains though) and limiting shellfish.

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Cheryl, mom to Jason (5 PA/TA/other FAs and EAs),Joey (3 NKA) and Allison (11/02 dairy sensitive)

Batrice- have you checked out oat milk? If your son has contact issues maybe that's a safe alternative for you to drink. I'm not sure what cross contamination issues there may be though with them possibly running rice or soy milk on the oat milk line.
My dd had what we believe now to be lactose intolerance (she tested negative to dairy but still can't drink milk - gas, diarrhea, etc...) we never figured it out until she was 10 mos old and her attitude improved overnite by switching her to lactose free formula. Maybe you could try lactose free first before you cut out all dairy.

Quote:Originally posted by Nicole1401:
[B]
I looked into rice milk. The only brand I could find (by imagine foods I think) said on its website that it was PN free. But, when I called to confirm, the customer rep said that it was made in the same factory as PN and possibly on the same line. I got the feeling that he wasn't real sure what he was talking about, but it hasn't been important enough for me to call back. I have seen that brand at Super Wal-mart. It is by the health food items and comes in a blue box. (It needs refridgeration after it is opened.)
B]

My son is dairy/egg/pn/nut allergic and has been drinking Imagine rice milk for years. Up to a quart a day. Never a problem.

I called recently after reading a post here about their soups. The CR sounded pretty clueless to me, too. Imagine was bought out by Celestial about a year ago and now you can't contact Imagine directly. They are located in California. Celestial is in the Northeast. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Back when my son was diagnosed, about 5 years ago, I contacted Imagine and had a lengthy and informative discussion with the Imagine CSR. If I can recall correctly, the rice and soy milks are produced on the same dedicated equipment. The soup is made in the same facility. The rice/soy ice creams are the only source of nut/PN contamination and they are supposedly manufactured in a separate facility. They later came out with a new refrigerated rice milk which is made on dairy equipment.

Good luck to all of those going dairy-free while nursing. I did it for two years for my now almost 6 year old. I am really glad I made the effort. Nutramigen is not only expensive, it tastes horrible [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/eek.gif[/img] Not to mention the other benefits to BFing.

I used soy milk as a substitute for cow's milk; Crisco as a substitute for butter or margarine (the baking sticks are great); and just went without cheese.

I also found it a great educational tool for myself finding all the hidden ingredients, cross-contamination, etc. I had grown up allergic to milk but learned that I'd actually eaten a lot of it as hidden ingredients (which explained my frequent hives, rashes and stomach upsets as a child).

There are a lot of great vegan products out there, but you do have to read the ingredient labels and ask about manufacturing processes -- apparently the "vegan" label is treated much as the "dairy free" label and is not a guarantee or zero milk protein present.

My dairy/ peanut allergic son eats Baker's Chocolate chunks, if you feel the need for chocolate. We use Fleishman's unsalted margarine instead of butter, it's dairy free. My son is also allergic to wheat, barley, and eggs, so my diet was very limited for 24 mos. while I was breatfeeding. Some sorbet's are dairy-free, as are the Philly Swirl cups (but the bars can be cross-contaminated with dairy). My son sometimes eats mashed potatoes with Rice milk (we use Imagine brand) and the Fleischman's margarine.

Good luck.

Zach's mom,
I nursed a milk intolerant baby. I also drank the Harmony Farms Rice milk. It comes in regular, chocolate or enriched vanilla, which is loaded with tons of vitamins! It's not too bad after you get used to it. As for the other foods, I simply avoided cheese, ice cream, anything with dairy. For a cold treat when your craving ice cream I make a bananna rice milk smoothie-it's great! (My son is now 2 & still milk intolerant, he loves them too!!) I take a frozen bananna, chop it into chunks & add a little rice milk in the blender. (When I have ripe banannas, I peel them & wrap them in aluminun foil & put into freezer bags.)
I also buy orange juice with added calcium. Hope this helps!!

For breakfast I would recommend oatmeal, cheerios, raisen bran, or lucky charms with rice milk. For lunch, put dinner leftovers in a pita (roast beef/potatoes/green beans, chicken/rice/broccoli, pork chops/brown rice/limas). Also chicken or beef leftovers with bbq sauce. For snacks, graham crackers, pineapple slices/grated carrots/raisens in a pita. For desert: Philly swirl. A bread machine really helps for milk free bread. The newer bread man has a rapid rise cycle for bread in an hour. Also use squeeze parkay, fleishmans unsalted margarine.

Just wanted to say that I think you moms are doing a Fantastic things for your babies!

I nursed ds for almost three years. I'm sure breastfeeding was a life-saver for him since he's allergic to milk, soy, corn, wheat, eggs, passion fruit, poultry, fish and peanuts. I never had to worry that he wasn't getting good nutrition.

One advantage for taking allergies out of my diet before son ate solids - I had already learned to make tasty meals before he was a toddler. (And found Miss Roben's cake mixes!)

Jacqueline