So we've had ds appointment with the dietician

[Mum to F&A]

So we took ds to have his appointment with the dietician on Thursday and apologies as really this is a bit of a moan. (If this needs to be moved to the Lounge please do not sure if this was the right place    )

 The only thing that was of beneficial was finding out when ds would be retested and that was from the ped who originally tested ds for his allergy.

Everything else was really pointless. They made us fill out a food diary which wasn't even read and told us we weren't giving ds enough soya milk as it's his only source of calcium and we had to increase.  If she had read the diary she'd have realised that I also cook with soya and ds loves green veg and fish. NTM, I just don't get the obssesion with dairy. Is it just me? I don't drink milk and only use dairy to cook with so maybe that's why?

Anyway I was told that this appointment would be about looking at ds diet as whole and giving me new ways to give ds calcium, instead they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

[scarlettsmom]

 

So sorry the appointment was a disappointment.  From feedback from others who had dieticians it seems it's par for course, and that just stinks. 

No problem coming on here and venting, we're here for that!   

Yeah, I think the obsession with milk is that it's the easiest way to get the LO get calcium, and the easiest way for the parent to give it, y'know? 

(((hugs))).  When will ds be retested?

[Mashi]

Yep, as Tari says, it seems to be pretty typical for a trip to the dietician!Was definitely the case with us.

In regards to leafy greens/green veg as a source of calcium for LOs, they would need to consume such vast quantities of it to get the calcium needed that you can't really count on that as a major calcium source.  For instance 1 cup (250ml) of raw vegetables will give you anywhere from 25-55 mg of calcium on average.  High sources of calcium for vegetables is really in thins like collards and turnip greens, spinach, etc - where a cup of these, cooked (so probably about 3-4 cups uncooked) will give you 150-200 mg of calcium. This would be assuming that all of the calcium from these vegetables is absorbed, and really, it's not absorbed anywhere near as well as it would need to be. Not sure how old your LO is but toddlers from age 1-3 need about 500mg of calcium per day.  So your LO would need to eat at least 10 cups of vegetables or about 3 cups of cooked spinach to get the calcium requirements that can be had from 12 ounces of milk...this is why they really push the milk/soy milk on you as a calcium source.

For fish, the best source is really the bones, not the fish itself, and the fish sources that rate high in calcium are tinned sardines and salmon, both with bones in - sardines are better but salmon is a good source as well. Other fish is again just not going to cut it like milk or soy milk will.

Sorry to hear the appt was a bust, I do remember feeling that way when we left our appointment as well. 

You mentioned you are looking for other sources for calcium, is it because he does not like the taste of the soy milk?  Alpro does soy milk in loads of flavours, not sure if all of them are available in the UK but here we can get it in plain, chocolate, vanilla, banana, strawberry or wildfruit.  DS loves them and I switch it up now and again when he is getting bored. They also do nice yogurts and puddings.   Oatmeal is a good source of calcium, as long as you get a fortified one, and if you make it with soy milk then it can provide a large chunk of the day's calcium requirements if he eats a good sized bowl of it. 

HTH!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

We haven't been to a dietician, but got a similar response from our health nurse due to the fact that we switched from soy formula to soy milk at 18 months (apparently in Canada the rec. is to keep them on formula if they can't have whole milk at 1)

You can get puddings made from soy Mashi? Yikes, I can hardly find soy yogurt and the one brand I did find, Spencer hated. But, she drinks 21oz + of soy milk a day, so no big worry there.

[mrsrobbo]

Paige was diagnosed with lactose intolerance as a baby, we found that there was a big range of stuff avaliable, the lacto free food in the supermarkets is fab (it has the cow prints on) what is it ds is allergic to? sorry for not knowing!

we gave her the "special" cheese, yogurts, pasta, bread, puddings, i got cake mixes, cereals, just about everything!!
I got vouchers from the doctors so some foods i could order from boots and pay for with the vouchers!

our dietician wasnt the best I must admit, my MIL actually gave us the best advice as 3 out of her 5 kids all suffered the same

[Mashi]

You can get puddings made from soy Mashi?

Yep!  Alpro Soy do them - dark chocolate, milk chocolate (but not made with milk iykwim), caramel and vanilla, they taste just like milk puddings.   Do you get Alpro in Canada? I knwo they are worldwide but products usually vary by country.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I've never seen that brand, and I was just on their website and couldn't find any mention of north america at all. Will have to do some more googling...

[Mum to F&A]

Hey thanks all for the replies! 

 ds will be re-tested in 6 months to see if he's grown out of his milk allergy.

Mashi - I had no idea about them getting so little from green veg - especially since they were so adamant that he needed it!

ds will drink soy formula but will not touch alpro soy. I've tried the yogurts too and he spits it out at me! Highly unsual as he loves his food! So basically we stuck with just him drinking the formula and me getting it into him through cooking. He has formula on his cereal too which he love but will not eat it with Alpro Soy. Only way I can use the Alpro Soy is in mash.

So basically if ds doesn't grow out of his milk allergy I'm going to have to keep buying formula and he goes through 1-1 1/2 tins a week. And we now have to pay for them and they're costing £10.60 a tin! I was hoping I would be able to manage this purely through his diet as he got older but seems to me I may be wrong?

[deb]

If you can get rice milk, they're also calcium-fortified. You can also add calcium to the diet by cooking down soup bones into stock; you can use the stock for a soup base, to cook rice or pasta in, or even just to drink. Broccoli is another good source of calcium too; we used to add pureed broccoli, kale and/or spinach to yogurt or cottage cheese and Josie would chow down on it like nobody's business. Those leafy greens can also be hidden in pesto - YUM! And there are some good calcium supplements on the market too if dairy and soy milk aren't options for whatever reason.

We don't do much dairy here but I make our own yogurt and sour cream, and kefir is good too for the probiotics. And frankly, our yogurt is MUCH MUCH yummier than the store-bought; the girls make faces now, and even DH who isn't so picky prefers mine. We add some fish oil (Nordic Naturals makes some with fruit flavors that aren't nasty! and some vanilla and stevia and YUM, but you can also use fruit preserves.

[Mum to F&A]

Hi debs I've been thinking about trying rice milk with ds so thank you for that.

re. stock - I use the bones from our roasts for stock whenever I can (only 3 of us!) and ds loves broccoli too.

Do you make your yogurts using soy milk/equivilant?

[deb]

I actually do make our yogurts with dairy; we can't seem to digest plain uncultured dairy but the cultured dairy works OK for us, but in our case it seems to be a milk protein intolerance as opposed to an allergy. You can always try it with a store-bought starter culture and some soy milk. I haven't thought to try it with rice milk; maybe after our holiday I'll do a yogurt experiment with rice milk, see if it cultures.

[Mashi]

Hey thanks all for the replies!  

 ds will be re-tested in 6 months to see if he's grown out of his milk allergy.

Mashi - I had no idea about them getting so little from green veg - especially since they were so adamant that he needed it!

Well, he does need it.  Just not as a calcium source if he is getting the adequate calcium elsewhere. And they are a good additional or top-up on calcium but not adequate to be the main source. Here's a good chart to help you compare dairy to veggies
http://www.citracal.com/Calcium/Calcium-Rich-Foods.aspx
and one that lists the calcium content in various veggies
http://www.citracal.com/calcium/foods/vegetables.aspx

ds will drink soy formula but will not touch alpro soy. ...So basically if ds doesn't grow out of his milk allergy I'm going to have to keep buying formula and he goes through 1-1 1/2 tins a week. And we now have to pay for them and they're costing £10.60 a tin! I was hoping I would be able to manage this purely through his diet as he got older but seems to me I may be wrong?

The transition off of formula and onto milk is a tough one for most toddlers.  When LOs are going onto cow's milk it's normal for them to hate it and spit it out.  Most parents find that a transition phase of mixing milk and formula slowly will help them. For instance we would substitute 1 oz of formula for milk for a few days and then up it to 2oz, and so on. We did get stuck at the point of say 2oz of formula to 6 oz of milk for a loooong time, but eventually we got there; I'd say it took about 4-5 weeks.  If it is not something you have tried then I suggest giving it a go, going slowly and see if over the next two months you cant get him used to the soy milk - even if only for your budget.  One disadvantage of the milk over formula is the fat content: soy milk is only the equivalent of semi-skimmed milk (ab 2% fat) and he should be on whole milk (ab 4% fat) so you do need to make sure he has some adequate fat in his diet to make up for it. Easy enough if he likes certain foods and there are some tips in the eating forum on ways to increase fats in the diet (if you can't find it let me know and I can link it here for you).

Hope some of this helps a bit!?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

One disadvantage of the milk over formula is the fat content: soy milk is only the equivalent of semi-skimmed milk (ab 2% fat) and he should be on whole milk (ab 4% fat) so you do need to make sure he has some adequate fat in his diet to make up for it.

 
That was what our health nurse was miffed about...didn't seem to have an answer when I said I was making sure she got other fats in her diet...I put things like olive or flax oil in her applesauce, ground flax in practically anything, margarine on toast (doesn't bother her).  Really, spending $75 a month on formula was not in our budget until she was 2, but I knew I could get her nutrional needs met otherwise.  We did the slow transition like Mashi suggested, worked great for us!

[Mum to F&A]

One disadvantage of the milk over formula is the fat content: soy milk is only the equivalent of semi-skimmed milk (ab 2% fat) and he should be on whole milk (ab 4% fat)

hmmmm - we've been told to keep him on formula until he is at least 2 for this reason. What is concerning me is after he's two. I bf until 12 months and when we transistioned to soy formula it was quite quickly. In fact he was completly on formula within 2 weeks. (I've never really had much food refusal with him at all) So, because he will eat almost anything and drink almost anything I viewed the refusing the Alpro soy as him really not liking it? Perhaps I'm wrong and should give it another bash?

He eats a lot of avocado and I cook everything for him with Olive oil. I'm not worried about his main diet as it really is quite varied. It's purely the calcium issue as I never accounted for the fact that we would have to be buying formulas at all especially until 2yrs old!

I think I will look into trying him with some rice milk as was suggested.

[Mashi]

It most likely is that he does not like the Alpro Soy, so it might be worth a try to mix it gradually and get him used to the taste. Or try a flavoured one mixed with it, and you can eventually get rid of the flavoured one in the same gradual way.  Rice milk has the same issue with fat - I think it might even be lower in fat than soy milk (though not positive but I do know it is low in fat).