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EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: jessmum46 on May 23, 2016, 19:38:05 pm
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We are off to France on holiday in a couple of weeks :D but just wondering if anyone has any tips for travelling with DS who is lactose intolerant? Thinking in terms of brands, things to look for/avoid, French labelling ??? definite 'should take with me' products? It's a relatively new thing for him (at least, relatively new that I worked it out ::) ) and he does seem to be quite sensitive - seems to react to whey powder or skimmed milk powder as ingredients in other things, not just the obvious milk/yoghurt etc. He's ok with soy milk on cereal (though happily eats cereal dry anyway) and will have soy yoghurts etc, though at home I tend to buy Lactofree. Any thoughts would be appreciated :)
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Er, find out where your nearest health food shop will be and go there. Or nearest big supermarket chain. I had great organic lacto-free milk in Paris, a thing I cannot find here, but not sure how things might be elsewhere. Feel free to PM me. I speak/read French so can google around for you.
Just a quick check and seems like Candia (a major brand) are now producing Grandlait délactosé (guess what that means ;) ). You might pick it up easily in a big supermarket if there's one nearby.
Looks like this:
http://www.candia.fr/grandlait/grandlait-leger-et-digeste
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Can you take lactaid pills/tablets for him or is he too young for them? At least that way if you only have small supermarkets and few choices then you can add the drops to milk or he can take the tablets before eating? I'm not sure what age you have to be to use them though, but here there are chewables meant for younger kids who can't swallow pills.
You can get lactose free milk in most larger supermarkets (lait sans lactose). Most hard/crusty breads (ie baguettes) are milk-free. Soft breads almost always have milk in them.
Soy yogurts and milk are easy to find in the larger supermarkets (carrefour etc) but not always in the smaller ones. Alpro is the same :)
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also keep in mind that chocolate is high in lactose as well. My lactose intolerant kid ate loads of chocolate crepes, and boy did he fart ;)
my kids can do plain yogurt so that was not hard, but if you have a phone handy with internet service its easy to get translations.
are you going via Eurostar? there is a decent sized marks there to pick up last minute stuff, we picked up fav cereals etc. my guys eat dry cereal so was pretty easy to do bfast/ take along fav ceral bars as well. I always sifn the hardest part is eating out, not shopping at a large place as one can read and translate labels etc.
have a wonderful trip.
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I am not knowledgable about lactose free but the French supermarkets have great free from aisles, very similar to ours x
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I always sifn the hardest part is eating out, not shopping at a large place as one can read and translate labels etc.
I guess I just always figure that google translate is just part of everyone's life but I guess it's probably not when you live in a country where you speak your own local language ::) Duh me. Anyway, download Google Translate for your phone for quick checks on things in the supermarkets. You can type the words in or also use it to do a live translate and you just have to hold your phone over the writing and it translates it on the spot (ie you don't have to type it in). Very handy :)
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Hmmm do mean you have a full list of ingredients in every restaurant you eat in Germany? As I guess what pp is that supermarkets are easy, but eating out is difficult.
Katherine are supermarkets/shops enough for you or do you plan to eat out a lot?
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Hmmm do mean you have a full list of ingredients in every restaurant you eat in Germany? As I guess what pp is that supermarkets are easy, but eating out is difficult.
No, german restaurants do not list food ingredients but I didn't say that they did. I am talking about supermarkets and purchased food. In the EU all packages have to label the ingredients. If you speak French then it's easy but if you're not fluent in French then it's a bit harder ;)
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Sorry Mashi, i just understand from M2B post that buying in supermarkets is easy wherever you are but the more difficult part is eating out when you never know what they put inside the dish.
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i just understand from M2B post that buying in supermarkets is easy wherever you are but the more difficult part is eating out when you never know what they put inside the dish.
That is certainly true. I would be v cautious in France in particular about eating out. Even before I was lactose intolerant, just getting 'vegetarian' understood was reasonably tricky - and that's with fluent French! It really is a cultural thing.
However, for supermarkets, BB is right, there's not such a massive difference, unless you're quite rural, and even then you'll have access to a hypermarket somewhere regionally. You just need to be able to read labels (lait, sans lait, sans lactose, délactosé, etc). Realistically, most of the food you eat is easily lactose-free if it is minimally processed - pasta, rice, fresh fruit and veg, meats etc. You should easily find soy yoghurts ("soja") and it does look like lactose-free milk is more widely available these days. Failing that you'll be able to get plant-milk subs. But it's only for a short period, so please don't worry about it too too much. Of course, he sadly can't have croissants, pain au choco, brioches and all those yummy things, unless you have success with dosing him with lactase drops.
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Sorry Mashi, i just understand from M2B post that buying in supermarkets is easy wherever you are
It's just a tip. Translating is easy if you speak the language. If you don't speak the language then it is pretty difficult. Milk is "lait" but what is whey protein in french? I just thought that having a good and easy translator app might help.
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From my experiences, Katherine, what I would prioritise bringing would be a few blocks of cheese :) Of course if you're going with a car, you can also sneak in some milk etc, but cheese is easily popped in a suitcase.
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To be honest we find cheese relatively easy as there is a wide range of goat and sheep cheese which is fine for my ds. I seem to remember last year that it was actually pretty easy to find "safe" stuff with a lot of the same brands available.
Incidentally, the French for whey protein is 'les proteines de lactoserum' and skimmed milk powder is 'le lait ecreme en poudre. Generally the French words for things like this are fairly recognisable.
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Good point, Claire but I for one can't eat goat and sheep cheese any more easily than cows milk. If he can have those, then sheep and goat milk and yoghurt are very easily available, and usually have a helpful picture on the front!
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Amazing, you ladies are great :D
Anne thanks for spotting that lactose free milk! Will def keep an eye out for it. We will have a car and will be near(ish) a decent size town so hopefully there will be a big supermarket. Mashi I think the lactase pills/drops are OK for occasional use in children, though I'm not sure where to get hold of them - any ideas anyone? Good to know Alpro is available :) And yes google translate is something I should get!! We are flying so won't be able to take much but will take some lacto free cheese with us, I haven't tried him with goats cheese (does it have lactose in? I have no idea!) and not sure holidays are the best for experimenting :P I hope we can eat out a bit, though he may end up with steak and chips ::) ::)
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I would think you could get the lactaid at a drugstore like Boots or at a chemist?
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I wouldn't swear to it, but I believe that Holland and Barrett is the best place to try for lactaid.
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There are loads of choices on amazon x
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I hope we can eat out a bit, though he may end up with steak and chips
We managed it with egg, dairy and wheat allergies!
Most kids menus in france are ham or burger with fries anyway. We would always choose a sorbet instead of an ice cream (due to the egg allergy) and they would always be able to provide that.
You should be fine x
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Yes H&B is good spot for lactase. It helps (me) but it is by no means a cure all.