Soy milk allergy as well as dairy? Advice pls :(

DS started off with a dairy intolerance at our last allergy test. Now it feels like full blown dairy allergy. Lately I've noticed he is complaining of a sore stomach a lot and he gets diarrhea. He also seems to be sick all the time, meaning his immunity is rock bottom. He has asthma as well recently put on medication for his non stop coughing.

Has anyone had a similar thing, with their child being allergic to soy as well? I've heard of it but being nearly 6, I thought it would've cropped up before now? Does it also mean a switch to rice milk? He's going to hate that :(

My DS2 has a milk intolerance, his is a bit unusual with condition. We have also been advised to avoid soy as well. As with his condition most kids who don't tolerate dairy, do not tolerate soy also.

Coconut milk is another alternative or almond milk if he doesn't have a nut allergy. We don't use Rice Milk as DS2 hated it. He takes a calcium supplement and has a good diet of vegetables so hopefully we have covered our bases.

We buy a coconut milk icecream that he loves..brand is either Coyo or Cocolusious.

It sounds hard initially being dairy and soy intolerant, it does get easier as you find products they like that can substitute foods they loved.

I started off at an excellent Gluten Free shop, it is amazing what you can get.

I would go back to your allergist that originally picked up the allergy to dairy and discuss it with them.

My son (and in hindsight my daughter) has Cows milk protein intolerance. He was on a prescription formula for this as shocking reflux. We then weaned to soy, which he tolerated well. However, from my research majority of babies who react to dairy also react to soy. Im not sure about older kids though.

It's actually quite common, yeah.
He doesn't *have* to have milk, if you can get calcium elsewhere. Good luck!

Any suggestions on ways to get calcium instead of a supplement? Or do you use a supplement as well?

I just can't help but feel sorry for him. And it's tough explaining his allergies on a daily basis. I know he'll get used to it in time. It's just not much fun now.

What do you give your kids instead?

I googled and stole this list from elsewhere

Speciality foods

Carrot juice, fresh 57
Fish, canned salmon eaten with bones 440
Fish, canned sardines or mackeral eaten with bones 569
Molasses, blackstrap 2820, 176.2 per tablespoon
Molasses, unsulphured 672, 42 per tablespoon
Sesame butter (unhulled sesame seeds) 1022, 63.9 per tablespoon
Sesame butter/ tahini from hulled or decorticated seeds 315.2, 19.7 per tablespoon
Soy beverage, unfortified 9.8
Soy beverage, calcium-fortified variable, check nutrition information; approx 200
Tofu, firm, prepared with calcium 1721
Tofu, regular, prepared with nigari, 260
Vegetarian support nutritional yeast, variable, check nutrition information

Dark green leafy vegetables Many dark green leafy vegetables have relatively high calcium concentrations. The calcium in spinach is however, somewhat poorly absorbed, probably because of the high concentration of oxalate. The study revealed that kale, a low-oxalate vegetable, is a good source of bioavailable calcium. Kale is a member of the same family that includes broccoli, turnip greens, collard greens and mustard greens. These low-oxalate, calcium-rich vegetables are therefore also likely to be better sources of available calcium

cooked turnip greens 450
cooked bok choy 330
cooked collards 300
cooked spinach 250
cooked kale 200
parsley 200
cooked mustard greens 180
dandelion greens 150
romaine lettuce 40
head lettuce 10

Sprouts

soy 50
mung 35
alfalfa 25

Sea vegetables (seaweed)(dried powdered form)

nori 1,200
kombu 2,100
wakame 3,500
agar-agar 1,000, 62.5 per tablespoon

Beans and Peas (cooked, ready to eat)

navy beans 140
soybeans 130
pinto beans 100
garbanzo beans 95
lima, black beans 60
lentils 50
split peas 20

Grains

tapioca (dried) 300
brown rice, cooked 20
quinoa, cooked 80
corn meal, whole grain 50
rye flour, dark 40
oats 40
tortillas, corn, calcium fortified (2) 120
tortillas, flour or unfortified (2) 23
whole wheat flour 50

Seafood

raw oysters 240
shrimp 300
salmon with bones 490
mackerel with bones 600
sardines with bones 1,000

Seeds

almonds 750
hazelnuts (filbert) 450
walnuts 280
sesame seeds (whole, unhulled) 2,100
sunflower seeds 260


The following herbs contain variable amounts of calcium:

borage, lamb's quarter, wild lettuce, nettles, burdock, yellow dock

Thanks MadB. That's very interesting. Will look into it :)

You could also look into the GAPS diet? I don't give ds cows or soy milk, he's still breastfeeding and I've just started giving him rice milk in the last couple of weeks. As MaB has shown, dairy milk isn't the be all and end all of calcium sources.

I looked up his requirements. 700mg of calcium per day. He wouldn't eat salmon with bones and he's allergic to nuts. I struggle to come up with the requirement. Any ideas?

tofu is super easy to cook and can be very tasty. salty or sweet, my kids love chocolate mousse made with soft tofu, honey, cocoa and melted chocolate all whizzed up together.

would your LO eat sushi. its easy and u can make so many diff types

as pp have suggested, i would look into a good probiotic for him. nourishing traditions and gaps are also good

No, he wouldn't eat sushi. I've tried and he's not into it. How do I get non soy or dairy chocolate? Tofu mousse sounds good!

How does a probiotic help? Excuse my stupidity!

If you read the GAPS & Nourishing Traditions book or search for them online there's loads of information out there which will answer all your questions and you can then start to heal your DS.

Gluten free shops sell a Rice Milk chocolate. My DS2 loves it. A brand of rice milk chocolate is Moo Free. You may also get it from a reputable Health Food Shop.

We have to give my DS2 a supplement. He has a great diet, still not enough for the calcium requirement he needs at his age.

Are you in Melbourne sweatpeajan?

Is GAPS the one that is heavily meat based?

Thanks H. We are in Sydney. I'd never heard of rice milk chocolate. That sounds wonderful. I just never thought we'd have to go down this path.

Interestingly we stopped soy milk yesterday and he has stopped coughing. He was coughing continuously and we were trialling asthma meds.

Forgot to add, I googled the gaps diet and it looks scary to me. Don't know how that would work for us.

I know gaps looks scary and hard out. There is a thread in BB about it. Its really about gut health. See if you can find the thread.
We don't do it all but since making the changes that I have made, our health has improved a lot.

If you have a healthy gut your immune system is strong, so pro biotics every day goes a long way. My ds2 and I were immune compromised and I had a list of allergys. Probiotics every day for months, my ds2 has barely even had a cold- and he was sick every few weeks. My allergys have decreased and I can fight off a cold, not get swamped.

Sorry if I'm ranting. Its become a bit of a "thing" with me :lol:

Choc rice milk is super yummy, I hope you can find stuff your son will eat.
What about a homemade trail mix. Nuts are a great food.

I will PM you a couple of links.

you don't want tofu if avoiding soy :)

Thanks Butterfly Dawn. Anything you can tell me will be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get my head around it all! Yes I have a feeling that DS immune system has been compromised. He gets sick every 3 weeks and it is taking its toll on us all. Any recommendations for a good probiotic and how to you get them to take it? I tried hiding it in orange juice and he'd balk at it then refuse. We just had the normal chemist variety, inner health plus for kids.

What is the earliest age you can do allergy testing? I wonder about my DD too.

Of course!!!! No tofu lol. I'm so new at this lol. He's also allergic to nuts.