Lactose Intolerant - Chicago, IL

Trader Joe's has some soy cheeses that are actually pretty good, my guys like the soy mozzarella and the soy slices that are kind of like American cheese.

Not sure about one so young but both my son & hubby can tolerate some milk products if they have Lactaid milk first or lactaid pills.

If you're looking for a drink alternative to milk, I gave my kids Almond Milk. It's really yummy, and better than Rice milk I think. It comes in plain, vanilla and vanilla without added sugar. It's cheapest at Trader Joes. It has more calcium than milk, and other added vitamins that milk does not have. Good luck!

You can pretty much find all the foods he used to enjoy in dairy free versions. Try using soy cheese slices to make his grilled cheese. A friend of mine is also lactose intolerant, but she says she can have yogurt cheese. I am not familiar with it, but she says it's really gentle on her stomache. We have made a decision not to eat any dairy in our house. We use soy cheeses, soy milk and soy yogurt. (I know that soy has a bad "rep" today but our family eats a lot of it and we are all very healthy. All of the soy products we eat are organic, as opposed to regular dairy products that can contain harmful pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. Anyway, that's off subject, sorry.) You can find these alternatives at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, but I buy all of my groceries at Woodman's in North Aurora. Not sure how close you are to that area, but their prices are so much cheaper than the "fancy" stores. I did a google search and came up with these websites for recipe ideas: http://kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/lactose/about_li_recipe...
http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/occasionscollections...
Good luck!

A friend's daughter was the same. Small amounts of dairy were fine. It seemed like the thicker the better. She would give her rice milk versus whole milk but she ate yogurt, cheese, etc. in small amounts. Now she is 7 and eats these foods everyday but sticks with the rice milk. She didn't care for soy and my friend didn't want to push it plus that info about increasing estrogen scared her off. On those days she really wants regular ice cream, she takes lactaid.

My daughter has the same thing. We are taking her where we took my son, who have several food sensitivies/allergies.

There are several doctors in the Area who do an allergy elimination technique called NAET. Its quick, non invasive, tests through the parent with Neurosensory muscle testing. Then they treat it - first seeing what antibodies your body produces in response to the item, and what organs it affects, and then it is treated. For my sons food sensitivies/allergies it took 5 minutes to treat, 20 minutes resting in the office, and just avoiding the allergen for 48 hours. They retest you on the next visit to make sure you body no longer has a reaction to the allergen.

The technique uses a combination of western physiology, kinesiology, chiropratcitc, allopathy and homeopathy.

But one of the best parts for me with my 14 month old, was that we could stop the foods she has sensitivies/allergies to. Her diarrhea (her symptom) has stopped for the most part, and for my son, his asthma stopped to the point where he doesn't need any meds.

Its a relatively new mediology, so many dr.s don't know about it yet. My kids pediatrician just told us to do the BRAT diet for my daughter, but what we didn't realize (why it wasn't helping) was that she also has a food sensitivity to wheat, which is a main component of the BRAT diet.

We go to Dr. Tam in Lombard - he is fabulous. Can't say enough about him!! (Oh, and our insurance covers it too!)

Hi B..

That's so tough, but there are ways about it. Soy is fine for little ones, as long as there is no allergy and they do make soy cheese, even "veggie" cheese. And it doesn't taste bad either.
Yogurt is a tough one, but again, they do have soy yogurt.
Worth a try, but check with his doc first.

Try goats milk and goat cheese. Goat milk and cheese is usually easier to digest. Just a suggestion.

My son was allergic to dairy (as apposed to lactose intolerant)(well, and soy, nuts and eggs) until he turned about 3.5 yrs. We gave him rice milk (stayed away from soy as it can um, well, effect the growth of their manhood so to speak)... i cooked w/it too. I love almond milk but we couldn't give that to him. Oat milk is good too but expensive and hard to find. Kraft single type cheeses aren't really cheese if you look at the ingrediants they are typically oils, so grilled cheese is in : ). Soy yogurt we have used on occasion now and my son loves it (just once in awhile). I think if you give him acidopholis (there's a kid brand) if you know you are going to have ice cream at a party or osmething, should help. We use Earth balance vegan butter and frankly i like it better than real butter ...

Not sure what it is you are struggling with cuz for us at least dairy isn't a huge ingrediant ? Let me know if you have any questions cuz i'm an old pro

Hi B.!

I recently read that men who consume soy are having issues with their health- they have more estrogen than is healthy for a man, I would suggest you stay away from substituting soy, or at least a lot of it.

My oldest had this problem but outgrew it eventually. He loved rice milk so that helped. He lived on PB & J because that was all he liked anyway. Just give him his vitamins & study up on nutrition - we had a lot of turkey and watermellon to subsidize the calcium he didn't get through milk. In high school he was able to start drinking milk again without side effects. Weird, but a relief. He is now 5'10" and very tough guy enlisted in the Air Force so I wouldn't worry too much!

D.

Hi B. There are product in the dairy section for people with lactose intolerant but I don't know how at what age for a child to start drinking/ eating them. Check with your childs pediatrican and see what he/she says.

There are tons of lactose free and/or organic options (I notice my son does better with the organic dairy even thought he is not lactose intollerant). I have found lactose free milk, cottage cheese, and cheese sticks. My hubby drinks soy milk since he is lactose intollerant. Also, try goat cheese, which is sometimes easier to digest.