My friend recently had a baby, she is 6 weeks old. My girlfriend is nursing and her doctor has asked her to go on a milk protein free diet. They believe that the baby is allergic. She has had blood in her stool and is borderline anemic now because of it. Anyway, she is looking for stuff that she can eat? Has anyone had to do this? I believe her doctor has given her list of foods that she cannot eat.
These are great suggestions! I've been Vegan for awhile and it really is about reading labels. Look also for foods labled Vegan--those will be dairy free. Earth Balance is an AWESOME butter substitute. If she needs to buy processed foods, otherwise it is very easy to eat lots of homemade foods too.
Watch for casein and lactose and whey. Also sometimes it's disguised as "concentrated food protein".
Can she have soy milk products or goats milk products. He doctor should be giving her information on where to get these products or see a dietitian.
You also can go to health foods stores that carry foods, food co-ops, Trader Joe's, Natural Foods but I would recommend she should talk to her Doctor first.
My 14 month old is allergic to milk and egg and I have had to avoid both for the past year since I breastfeed him. Your friend will have to read labels very carefully for products that contain milk (or milk derivatives like whey). If she has a question about whether an ingredient is a milk derivative she could just google it. Products like soy milk or rice milk are options. (she can subtitute either of these for milk when baking or cooking) Earth's Balance is a dairy free magarine that can be found at Whole Foods. If she doesn't know what is in something she should avoid it. Many breads are made with milk or butter. It may be hard in the beginning, but once you get used to it, it really isn't too bad. And the longer she will be able to breastfeed her baby, the better it will be for him/her. I had to feed my son soy formula for a few days when he was 7 months old because I was in teh hospital -- it was extremely constipating for him and took several weeks to work itself out.
My daugther also needed to avoid milk protein. Your friends options are a soy formula or the formula Nutramigen that is easier on the digestive system than soy. Nutramigen is much more expensive than others at about $25 a container, but contains no milk protien and like I mentioned doesn't cause the gas pains and bloating often experienced by litle babies on soy. Once the baby begins solid foods, she'll be fine mixing cereal with water or soy milk.
My daughter is a healthy 16 month old now and we follow a mostly vegan and stricly vegetarian diet. What's great is that there are sooo many options out there now. Whole foods, Trader Joe's and even Jewel and Dominik's carry soy products and vegan options. Vegan just means, no animal products so anything vegan will not have the milk protein that needs to be avoided. If your friend want's more info I'm happy to help.
And, I have the best healthy Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe if anyone's interested. It's especially great for those who can't have the milk and cheese due to allergies!
I follow a casein (the name of milk protein) free diet and can eat anything except dairy products and then there are your processed foods that will have dairy in them. So definitely no obvious foods like ice cream, cheese, milk, yogurt etc. but "hidden" milk can be something like parm. cheese in a pasta sauce or a product called whey in dry mixes or cake that has milk as an ingredient in it (not sure if she has to go to that extreme). It's a lot of reading labels! If she shops at whole foods you can go to the website and download a casein free product list by store. Also, I believe the Parve label on foods means it's dairy free (I believe Parve is the jewish word for diary free). When I was diagnosed as a celiac and had to go gluten free/casein free I went to see a fabulous nutritionist in Northbrook - Bonnie Minsky who helped me tremendously. I believe her website is www.nutritionalconcepts.com.
