Coconut milk due to cow's milk allergy

[ruby09]

Ds had a cmpa as an infant and consequently drank the hypoalergenic formula (similac alimentum). He does ok with milk products now such as cheese and yogurt, but cow's milk makes him wheeze and gives him tummy troubles. The drs recommend not using soy, and he can't have almond milk at daycare due to the no nuts rule, so I decided to try coconut milk. My question is for any mom's that have given coconut milk, did your ds/dd like it imediately, or did it take some getting used to? Ds really isn't liking it, and I'm not sure whether to keep trying or give up. We are currently still giving the hypoalergenic formula, but I'm about to run out. Insurance covered it until he was 12 months, and I simply can't afford to pay for it out of pocket, not that he should still be drinking infant formula anyway.

Any suggestions of what I can get this kid to drink? lol

 

[Bex84]

My lo liked it strait away. If he likes formula i would do that an add coconut milk and slowly put less formula. We did this with lo when we tried cows milk before knew she had intollerence.

 

[FAB mama]

I don't know much about this, but can you give him almond milk at home and water at daycare? Or is that not enough milk? DH's young cousins all needed soy milk. Did the doctor say why it's not recommended? I've heard things about too much soy being bad, but I haven't done too much research.

 

[Bex84]

Soya is generally not recomended as much as mimics oestrogen. Most children who cant have cows milk cannot have soya.

 

[ruby09]

The pediatrician told me that many children that have a problem with milk will also have a problem with soy. Plus there's also the hormone issue, so they just don't recommend using it. He has a little bit when I cook (I'm also alergic to milk) but I haven't given it to him to drink.

The pedi also told me he really doesn't need to drink milk as long as he's eating dairy in his food. I thought I would give the coconut milk a try anyway, but tbh he really hates it.

Has anyone tried rice milk? Is that any better?

 

[Tweak0605]

My daughter took to coconut milk right away. Are you using the vanilla or the unsweetened? My daughter will only drink vanilla, so that's what we give her. I actually like it too, and I normally don't drink milk.

Did daycare tell you you couldn't give him almond milk at school? Ours has the 'no nuts' rule too, but we were allowed to give it to her when she first started on milk. She has an intolerance to whole milk. But, when she started playing with the spout and spilling it, then it became an issue. If she didn't take to coconut milk, I was going to fight them on allowing her to have almond milk at school since that's what she drinks since she has an intolerance. IMO, they should allow it because she has an allergy to whole milk, just like a child has an allergy to nuts. (even though I know nut allergies can/are serious.)

 

[ruby09]

That's a good point, I just bought the regular. I'll pick up some of the vanilla and see if he'll try it. Fingers crossed that does the trick!

I honestly didn't even think to ask daycare about the almond milk. Hmm... I'll talk to them later today. He's a big spiller though, everything usually ends up all over his shirt.

 

[babyjan]

My son doesn't mind it although he doesn't drink much at all! He has it with his cereals and occasionally cooked in food but I like it compared to almond, soya and oat x

Oh and I think they say rice milk isn't recommended for under 5's

 

[ledzep]

Try hemp milk maybe? Its a better alternative I think and tastes yum!

 

[tuppance]

Rice milk isn't recommended for under 5's as apparently (according to the nutritionist) it's washed in arsenic! Eek!

My son didn't really take to coconut milk at first, but now he has it all the time. They do oat milk as well, maybe that's worth a bash?

 

[StranjeGirl]

I personally love coconut milk, but nutritionally hemp milk is really good. Unfortunately coconut milk doesn't really have any protein. I got dd used to things by putting them in my cup and pretending they were mine. She will drink anything out of my cup. Then once used to the taste she had no problem drinking out of her cup. Oat milk also has more protein and tastes very good as it has naturally sweet taste. You can always mix a couple of them. Oats naturally have more sugar so I usually mix it with the unsweetened hemp milk or coconut milk!

 

[morri]

How about oat milk? no nuts no soy but available with added calcium and has a milk like consistency(when lo has her weetabix she also has oat milk)

 

[MrsM17]

I am suprised about the no soya milk!

My son has the alpro soya 1+ milk as his main drink and loves it. It was what his dietician advised us to use and has all the vitamins and minerals he needs x

 

[ruby09]

Rice milk isn't recommended for under 5's as apparently (according to the nutritionist) it's washed in arsenic! Eek!

OMG, that's scary! I knew there was a reason not to use it, but I didn't know why.

 

[ruby09]

Thank you everyone for all these ideas! I think I'm going to pick up some vanilla coconut milk when I get to the store this weekend and see if he likes that better, and then I'll just go from there.

Not sure I've seen hemp milk anywhere, but I will definitely take a look!

 

[babyjan]

It's good your LO can tolerate cheese and yogurt, my sons allergy is severe so he can't even have that touch his skin without having a reaction, hoping he outgrows it soon, I thought by two they would be an improvement but nope

 

[ruby09]

It's good your LO can tolerate cheese and yogurt, my sons allergy is severe so he can't even have that touch his skin without having a reaction, hoping he outgrows it soon, I thought by two they would be an improvement but nope

Oh no! That's terrible. I've heard of that before and I don't know what I would do.

We're lucky he can finally tolerate things like cheese, but I can always tell when he's had too much. To add in the cows milk was def not happening.

 

[morri]

lo also has the allergy she gets eczema. She got it when i was still exclusively breastfeeding her too.

 

[Zondon]

Hey there,

My LO had CMPA as well. She outgrew it partially by 12 months and, like your LO, she can now have most dairy products including cheese/yoghurt/butter. However fresh cow's milk is out of the question (as are cheeses like cottage cheese that have fresh milk in them); even if it's boiled she gets explosive diarrhoea for days, breaks out in a full body rash, starts coughing etc etc. To be honest it seemed so weird to me that I didn't even know how to tell her paediatrician, as how a child could be ok with one dairy product and not another made no sense to my non-medical brain. However the paediatrician and LO's paediatric dieticians said this is a very common finding in children who are outgrowing their CMPA. They told me fresh cow's milk has whole milk proteins in it that are not broken down/processed even a little bit, like they are in yoghurt for example and some children just can't tolerate that. Apparently some children grow out of with time and for some it's something that will always be there.

Re milk choices what they recommended to me was to try a regular UHT milk with her as, according to LO's paediatrician, most children who are outgrowing their CMPA and can tolerate some dairy do fine with UHT milk versus fresh. This may be because the milk protein in UHT milk is broken down a little bit. Whatever the reason I have to say I tried it with LO and was absolutely thrilled as she can have UHT milk with no issues at all. Maybe it's worth a question?

Best of luck with it all!

Zondon

 

[ruby09]

Thanks Zondon! I've never heard of UHT milk, but I will def look into it!