How do you cope with dairy-free diet for an underweight child?

[Swoop]

Ash, this is fantastic advice, thanks so much! I just had a look at that website and will be making a few purchases. I've bought some nuttelex and tofutti imitation cheese spread, both of which she turned her nose up at, but she's accepting the nuttelex now and I'll keep working with the other one. I'm so so so relieved to hear that there's imitation cheese available. We have a big whole foods grocery store called about life down the road and I hadn't had a chance to check it out yet, but I bet they'll carry a lot of these products too. I bought some rice milk for her to try today too.

She had a peanut allergy confirmed a few weeks ago, and we're not yet sure about other nuts. I'm waiting on our allergy dietician's appointment and was told to avoid all other nuts in the meantime, which is a shame because I keep hearing how great almond based products are.

I'm trying to stop freaking out about this and start seeing it positively, DH and I used to eat really healthily but it's slipped over time so I think we could benefit too.

[Faithful Mumma]

My DD is nearly 7 and has been Dairy Free since she was 6 months old....

We use
Nuttelex or Margerine (Many of the home brand Margerines are Dairy Free, just check the ingredients have no milk solids)
She LOVES Soy Life Yoghurt (and has had this since 6 months old, Vanilla is her fave)
She LOVE her Soy Milk (Her fave is So Good)
We have never found an alternative cheese that she likes, but it was recently suggested to me to try Buffalo Cheese....apparantly it is really nice, just a bit exxy, so planning on giving that a go.
As a treat she has Sweet Williams Chocolate (available in the health food aisle in Coles and Woolies)
I make Garlic Bread with fresh garlic and dairy free marg or nuttelex.
She lived on Hommus (we buy a really yummy local dairy free version by Castlemaine Dips, they also have a Sundried Tomato & Hommus version which she loves!) with rice crackers or carrot sticks when she was really little, and still takes this to school sometimes.

For meals she has and loves things like Risotto, Pasta bakes, Hokkien Noodle Stir Frys, Pumpkin Dahl, I make a yummy Chicken Curry using the SOY Carnation Milk.
If I have a recipe that requires cream, I just use Soy Milk (for instance a Honey Mustard sauce that might use Sour Cream or cream, I just add Soy Milk...it still tastes pretty much the same).
I make a yummy Garlic Creamy chicken, I just dish hers up before adding the cream & parmesan to ours, and she LOVES it.
Mashed Potato....I just use dairy free marg and soy milk........I sometimes put this on top of my pasta bakes or cottage pies.
Her fave dessert is Apple Crumble...again Dairy Free (just use dairy free marg).
She loves the So Good Ice Cream (this is actually really nice!)
She has the sorbets at Wendy's when we get ice cream.
She loves hawaiin type pizzas, just without the cheese.
Most of the low fat Mayo's are dairy free.....

I make healthy option slices with dairy free marg and dried fruit & oats etc etc, or banana bread....

And obviously she fills up on Fruit & Vegies, and Chicken etc etc...she doesn't miss out on anything much really....cheese is the only thing I find hard to replace.

We are really lucky that our creche (that dd went to 2 days a week when she was little) has a very dedicated chef that cooks gourmet meals for the kids....curries, pastas, risottos, dahl etc etc....and the kids lap it up!! And she always has a dairy free option. Anyway, she put out a cookbook with all of her recipes....I use most of the recipes as a base for what I cook....my kids love them. Thats probably the thing, you really have to cook most things from scratch...I never use packet mix cake mixes....and only use the occasional casserole base mix etc.... otherwise I start most meals off by sauteeing some garlic and onion and fresh herbs...

Hope this helps!