Seeking Snacks Ideas for My Son with Dairy Allergy and Wheat Intolerance

L.,
I can't recommend FAAN enough. It stands for "The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network". They are the largest "grass-roots" allergy network. Their website is: www.foodallergy.org and they offer excellent advice and recipes. You can also become a member and they will send you monthly newsletters that have two, full pages of healthy recipes for children with all sorts of food allergy's. What I love most about their newsletters and website is that they have a special section about food recalls and warnings that don't make it to the media; my daughter has a peanut allergy and I've found so many foods that I thought were safe, but weren't.
Give them a try.
J.

Rice cakes, edamame, banana almond butter popsicles (recipe on the website), Wholefoods sell delicious fruit pieces that are "freeze dried", like chips, but nothing else added, fruit popsicles, wheat free pretzels, dried mango, raisins....-www.weelicious.com

have you tried almond milk? i use it and i also use chocolate almond milk for my son..it's yummy..you can get it at Trader Joe's...have you tried their granola bars? not sure if they're dairy free..also dried blueberries and other dried fruit...also fruit rolls..they have all of these at Trader Joe's..they also have pretzels w/ peanut butter in the middle..hummus is good too ..i also put Soyaki sauce on veggies to make them more fun...(trader joe's) gee..i guess i get most of my snacks there..you should go in and look around* good luck!

Celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins and orange slices for vitamin c, and maybe banana slices with strawberry slices too. Also celery sticks and carrots sticks with Italian dressing? Another good one is hummus is good to. You can use broccoli and cauliflower and all sorts of veggies to dip with just use things that are wheat and diary free also hit a health food store I know they sell special stuff for kiddos. Good luck just think green and think healthy. :)

(I used to live at whole foods inside that mini mall and mothers market as a teen. LOVE EM!)

Check out Mother's Market in Costa Mesa, Whole Foods. And there's also an all natural store in San Dimas, can't remember the name. They carry a ton of food w/out gluten and non dairy stuff.

That is a challenge. Have you tried feeding your son Edamame (Soy) beens. They are great protein. I also give my son tofu and he really likes it - Trader Joes has pre-seasoned tofu, just cut it up and heat it in the microwave.
And I like giving my son Almond milk. It's sweat and very good.

When he gets older and you want recipes for wheat free cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. you can go to Celiac.com
It has gluten free recipes, but anything gluten free doesn't have wheat. I will also look at my recipes and see what I would have for a little guy. You could substitute soy milk for regular milk in any recipe. If there is a specific recipe that you would like let me know. I am on a gluten free diet, have been since a child and have experimented with substituting a gluten free flour in many family favorite recipes. You can make Rice Krispee treats too:)
H.

P.S. Just read your response...I do have recipes for making a pizza crust that turns out well. It is from a Gluten free cook book and I have adapted it. If you would like it I could send it too you. In regular grocery stores you can get various rice or corn cakes. In health food stores you can buy pastas made of corn and gluten free flour, various cookies and crackers that are wheat and gluten free.
Let me know if you want the pizza recipe.
____@____.com

Hi, My son has a dairy allergy as well and I have found that Earth's Best Organics are a good source of snacks. I also give him Graham Crackers and fruit leather. Henry's sells a lot of diary and wheat free stuff. I buy son Vegan cheese there and put it on things for him. They also have Pretzels that are salt free. He loves it!

My son loves Teddy Puffs made by Healthy Timez. We buy it at Whole Foods. Check out the toddler food section there. There's a lot that's wheat and dairy free.

Hi L.,
Check out those websites already advised on. Also, noting snack solutions offered in a previous post...beware of peanut butter, tree nuts and strawberries. It sounds like you have a very sensitive little guy...so go slowly when introducing highly allergenic foods. Good luck to you!

Hi L.,

I have a 16 mos old girl and we're in the same boat. As a dairy substitute we do goat milk. It's the closest nutritionally to cow milk and my daughter really likes it. We also do goat cheese, which comes in several varieties. My daughter seems to like the harder cheeses best. We do goat and sheep yogurt as well, which comes in fruit flavors too. We don't do soy because my daughter is sensitive to that as well.

For gluten free we do a lot of rice cereal, rice pasta, millet bread, puffed millet, buckwheat, gluten free pancakes and waffles. You can also do potatoes. There are a lot of gluten free foods out there. I would be a little cautious about anything nut based since it's a high allergy food. If you offer it, just watch to see how well your son responds to it.

You can find all these at Whole Foods, Henry's, Jimbo's and some stuff at Trader Joe's.

Good luck!

Check out Mommywood.com

They have excellent information on allergies as well as tons of other great mommy related info.

Hi L.!
You might want to check out allergymoms.com. Also, we have a friend whose daughter has sever allergies, and she loves smoothies (made with frozen fruit, apple juice, and a little sorbet)and the chocolate frozen bananas from Trader Joe's. Pirates Booty is also great, Gorilla Munch cereal, and dipping apples in peanut butter (or spreading it all on rice cakes) are also fun options. Good luck!

Hi L.,
haven't read any of the other comments but here's what I can offer...
although my son isn't gluten intolerant, I was tagged as "sensetive" so we try to be consious of it. There's a great gluten free pancake mix either by arowhead mills or bob's red mill. Both are good but we prefer the arowhead one. My son never really liked cow cheese but a friend who does limited dairy eats "rice cheese" and my boy loves it. It does have cassien in it so if your child is very allergic, maybe stay clear of it. If he can eat spelt there's spelt pretsles by Newman's own. (not sure if he's ready for that texture/ crunchie) There's rice pasta in spirals that are a winner as well as numerous rice, millet or spelt breads. Most of these are better available at a whole foods market or health food store. I also did a lot of peas and carrots at that age. Cook the carrots, already cut, til they're soft for good finger food. There's always corn tortillas that you can steam to make soft, polenta, and maybe chevere goat cheese? Goat is usually not allergenic. good luck and happy snacking :-)

Puffed rice cereal...might be an idea, without the "milk" and use it like a finger food. The brand "Kashi" makes good natural products. You can find it in grocery or natural food stores.

As an alternative to diary... some people use almond milk or goat's milk... both of which are said to be quiet nutritionally on par with dairy whole milk, or better.

I do know that the milk fat in dairy "whole" milk is recommended because the milk fat is essential for brain growth, through 2 years old. But I'm sure there are alternatives.

Perhaps, go to your natural food store, and ask them for ideas...I'm sure lots of Mom's must come in and look for like products for their children as well.

Good luck!
Susan

L.,
My daughters really enjoyed some little rice crackers we got at the japanese market. I can't remember what they are called, but they came in little twin packs, they look like white styrofoam, flat and about 4" long and 1 1/2" wide with rounded ends. They also come in a vegetable variety that has squash or something in it, so it's kind of an orangey color. My kids liked them because they are pretty bland, I liked them because they weren't too messy. Any japanese market will have a lot of rice-based snacks, and the ones for kids come in fun shapes and colors. Most of the packaging is in both english and japanese so you can read the ingredients. We always enjoyed outings to the Japanese store, just to shop and look at all the unusual food items.

Someone else mentioned Pirate's Booty from Trader Joes, that's a good one too!

Good Luck!
S.

L.,
Is the problem related to an intolerance to gluten? If so, there are gluten-free chips, pretzels ... Also, soy is a good replacement for dairy; it comes in so many varities.

Google "dairy free snacks" "wheat free snacks" or check out your local health food store.

Been in your shoes,
B.

myself and both of my boys are wheat intollerant. so for our snacks for my 2 year old we always have lots of raisins, craisins, he just started eating peanuts, gerber graduates has crackers called wagon wheels, i dont know if they are milk free, but they are wheat free. there is a brand called enjoy life that has "granola bars" that are really good. i dont know where you live, but i get them from sprouts in temecula.

If you have a trader joe's near you it's the best bet. They have great gluten free pancake mixes, pastas, etc and great snacks. My son was sensitive to gluten/dairy and we did Ezekiel Tortillas with goat cheese as a quesadilla, ezekiel break with goat cheese as a grilled cheese. For snacks I we did Mr. Krackers rice crackers and they were great. He also loves Rice Chips by Lundberg Farms and they have a ton of flavors. Envirokids has good gfcf rice krispie treat bars. He also likes clif kids twisted fruit.

BTW - Chebe makes a great pizza crust and we use goat cheese on that.

Checkout additional recipes at http://www.bluedominoes.com/chef_recipes.php

D.

At 18 months old, I don't know if he would be ready for that, but you could try rice cakes, veggies dipped in peanut butter... You can also make your own granola bars with oats (that doesn't contain wheat, does it?), flaxseed meal, canola oil, honey and dried fruits. You mixed it all and pressed it onto a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, then cut in squares. You can replace the oil by Peanut or Almond butter.

I also had a great recipe from parents magazine, which you could probably find on their website, made with sweet potatoes, oats, orange juice and maple syrup, and you bake it into squares as well.

My son loves hummus, so sometimes we do pita bread dipped in it. You can replace the pitta by cucumbers or carrots, cherry tomatoes, etc...

Trail mix is another one he loves...

Browse the parents magazine website for more ideas. Good luck!

My girlfriend's daughter has severe food allergies. She opened her own bakery based on her trying to find foods okay for her daughter to eat. Check out SweetAlexis.com. Although her daughter is now 7 years old, I remember her giving Alexis canned green beans and rolled up turkey for snacks. I don't remember what else she had, but she was amazing at finding things that were within the parameters of her daughters allergies. She may be a good resource. Good luck!