Few questions before doing this properly....

[*Liz*]

Just occurred to me that T is only 2 week off 6 months, and then we need to try and get some solids in rather than just thinking about it  .

He is on nutramigen for CMPI. We have tried bland purees due to reflux but he doesn't seen that interested, so I think we will be predominately using a BLW/ finger foods approach. Obviously that would be an 'easy option' normally, but not really of we have to give him different stuff anyway  .

So a few questions;

Milk in solids - can I use oat milk from 6 months assuming his milk requirement is met by the nutramigen in bottles? I don't really want to 'lace' all his food with that bitter yucky stuff and would rather allow natural flavour development iyswim?

Yoghurt - can I use coconut yoghurt from 6 months?

Toast fingers - can I use gluten/ diary free bread? I'd rather leave gluten until 8/9 months for a proper trial given his reflux/ CMPI/ eczema.

Introducing solids has been hard work with my previous 2, I'm not really looking forward to this bit  .

[clazzat]

I think at this stage I just gave x a banana and let him get on with it!   I'm pretty sure that I didn't use any kind of milk in cooking for a long time - I gave him foods that were dairy-free, and didn't fuss too much about giving yoghurts etc (don't think that coconut yoghurts were available when he was that age).  If the girls were having yoghurts he would generally have a fruit pot or a pouch, which we continued until he was about 2, if I remember rightly.

Don't really know about gluten-free, as that was never a problem for x, but I would have thought that it would be okay.   If you are worried then you could try making your own gluten-free bread, or just stick to rice cakes - there are plenty of brands that have no flavour/salt and you could let him munch on them when he would be eating toast.

I have to say, while I didn't have any particular trouble with solids with the girls, x was about the easiest because I stopped worrying about him having 'enough' to eat and generally just put a few bits of fruit or veg in front of him and let him get on with it (I had other things to deal with!) and I think that that was why it was easy - I wasn't stressing about it at all, and as far as he was concerned it was just another thing to play with until he was really interested, so it worked quite well.  I hope that T is kind enough to let you have an easy ride this time.

[*Ali*]

I can't believe our babies are approaching this age already!

Oat milks usually contain gluten so not suitable if you're avoiding that.

[~*Nicole*~]

From what I remember, L liked purees but they didn't all agree with his reflux. I can't remember what age we started but I do remember buying both coconut milk yogurts and almond milk yogurts, both of which he liked, but he may have been a bit older. I don't see any harm in giving him the coconut yogurt at this age.

I didn't add milk to his solids. Just kept offering his bottles and eventually cups and then eventually switched to almond milk I believe around 12 months.

I didn't need to be gluten free with him but most breads had dairy or soy and I avoided them and ended up using a brand of gluten free bread as a result and that worked fine for L as he got older and had french toast sticks or peanut/almond butter, etc.

Mostly solids were a pain for us because of causing reflux flares. For the most part L liked food and wanted to eat it so interest wasn't an issue. I hope it goes well for you!

[creations]

I think as Ali said that most oat milks are not gluten free, but you might want to make your own as it's possible to buy gluten free oats and not difficult to make oat milk (soak, drain and whizz with water until smooth)
http://www.spiciefoodie.com/2013/10/18/how-to-make-quick-raw-oat-milk-and-a-strawberry-oat-milk-smoothie/
There is this brand of oat milk which is marked gluten free, or perhaps you've already looked into it and found a brand yourself
http://rudehealth.com/product/oat-drink/

I see no problem with any of the things you've asked about.  You wouldn't be expecting the coconut yoghurt or oat milk to be counted as 'milk intake' the way that I would have counted a slice of regular cheese as part of DS's dairy intake across the day but as just part of a varied solids diet they should all be fine to try.

I agree with pp that just offering a few bits of veg or fruit would be fine.
If I was having something totally unsuitable for DS I'd just steam a few carrot or sweet potato batons, green beans, asparagus etc in one steamer, or apple wedges, and save some for the following day's lunch or snacks too.  It doesn't need to be a huge amount of extra work.
I liked having a couple of different batches of stuff in the freezer so I could lift out something for snacks or out and about etc, things like pancakes (with fruit), mini muffins, bean/lentil patties/cakes, oaty chews, it's possible to make all those sorts of things without gluten or milk.  Pancakes can be made with gluten free oats or with ground almonds for example (and a banana or some dried fruit) and will still turn out ok even if you don't use egg (you didn't mention egg but just covering all bases!)

[*Liz*]

Thank. Yes I was counting as food - not as diary/calcium intake. That needs to be from his formula I'm his bottle. He currently has 4/5 bottles a day of 5/6oz, so he hits the daily minimum most days.

Perhaps it may be best if I do a gluten trial pretty early on as it will be SO much easier if he is able to eat that (in terms of him eating the same as the rest of the family). Egg is a decent point - again I will do an early trial I think so that I hopefully don't have to worry about something that isn't an issue.

It really does seem like he was CMPI - he used to throw the whole feed up about half an hour after the feed but it stopped when he went onto nutramigen.

I could use almond milk instead. Rice is frowned on currently isn't it?? Or is that just as a drink due to arsenic levels?

It's very confusing.

[*Ali*]

Nhs advice is to not to  give rice milk until 5yo due to levels of inorganic arsenic. what sort of food are you thinking of adding it to? Can you just use water?

[*Liz*]

I'm thinking about cereals, mash, pancakes, scrambled eggs etc. things that need a splash of milk.

[~*Nicole*~]

I think there was something about the rice and arsenic. I had no trouble using a splash of almond or coconut milk for those things you mentioned.

[*Ali*]

Ah so not water then. Almond or coconut sound good. I've used coconut in cooking before and it was nice.

[creations]

If you don't hit on a suitable 'milk' for those splashes perhaps the answer might be a different solution to each question?
So, I'm thinking:
scrambled egg - I do omelet for DS, no milk added. I'm sure this would be a suitable sub for scrambled egg or use a splash of water (some people do that anyway even with no milk issues and there are dairy free scrambled egg recipes on line)
cereal - porridge, ready brek can be made with water. I used a 10 month+ baby muesli for DS which I made into finger food by adding not much milk, stirring and rolling into balls for him to pick up, I'm actually not sure if it was gluten free, perhaps not, but it would have been a perfectly fine consistency made with a bit of water instead of milk (if it turns out gluten is ok or if there is a gluten free version somewhere out there)
pancakes - perhaps some apple sauce or a banana and if needed a splash of water instead of milk?
mashed potato - there are several dairy free recipes on line. eg garlic, olive oil and chicken broth added to potatoes.

[anna*]

There is a coconut milk for cooking and maybe eventually drinking that is properly delicious called Koko.

[clazzat]

There is a coconut milk for cooking and maybe eventually drinking that is properly delicious called Koko.

We use this all the time and have done for as long as I can remember with x and it is a direct substitute for milk in everything (it is the same consistency etc) so I don't even need to think about modifying recipes.

A word of caution about Ready Brek - mashi's ds reacted really badly to it, and it turns out that there is dairy in it.  X is fine with it, but his intolerance is not as bad as T's so I would be really wary of it if you were considering it.

[creations]

Oops, sorry, my bad on the ready brek!

[*Liz*]

Thanks for that tip Clare  .

YK, I read the online ready brek label last night thinking it seemed like a good idea and I didn't see milk..... off to check again  .

..... it isn't on the ingredients list but does say not suitable for milk allergy suffers  . Goodness me, why can't they be more up front about what is actually in stuff  .

[*Liz*]

It is a pain really all this - I mean - I may give him a yoghurt at 10 months and he is fine yk?!! But the idea of doing that now makes me feel queasy since he is sleeping and gaining and generally doing OK.

[creations]

That's very annoying isn't it. Maybe they don't have milk in the ingredients but like so many products it is produced in a place with milk so they can't guarantee there isn't any in there.

There's this gluten free lactose free cereal
http://www.cowandgate.co.uk/article/tropical-fruit-cereal

This is the stuff I made muesli balls with for DS, I do think the texture would be ok with water but it is not gluten free so would only be an option if you did that gluten trial
http://www.cowandgate.co.uk/article/my-first-muesli

I made those muesli balls for years...when he eventually started having it more like a cereal with a spoon it was a similar texture to something like ready brek.

[*Liz*]

They sound like a good idea, thanks  .

Now, I need to think about what sort of HC to use as he won't be able to sit well enough in a tripp trapp for a few weeks yet 

[creations]

I know it must feel like a pain Liz but I think you'll find your groove.
FWIW mine was totally fine with cows milk, no issue at all, but could never eat yoghurt. He can manage some now, but back then it made him vom and caused reflux flares. Same with rice, could not eat it, still can't, he will have half a teaspoon now and again but rice has always made him sick (rice cakes, baby rice, rice pudding, boiled rice). Once you find ways around the food issues, what to give, how to prepare, I'm sure you will settle into it and it won't seem quite so bad.
If you have one cereal, one way to prepare egg, one of this, one of that, it will come together (with lots of steamed or baked veggies which are always easy to prepare). I realise it seems daunting and it is highly annoying that so many products end up being a no-go due to how they are manufactured rather than their actual ingredients. It is a pain. 

The Ikea high chair is amazing - very inexpensive too, £13.
We have a baby dan, similar to the TT, I put a folded towel behind DS in both high chairs (the ikea antilop was a better fit in the very early days but I did use both) which made a lovely snug seat and yk he was little.

[*Ali*]

Yes there is no actual milk in the ready brek itself. It is just that the possibility of cross contamination is high in the production process. 

[grace annes mommy]

My DD1 had multiple food allergies as a baby and this phase was such a pain.  We slowly introduced each food, then stressed about whether she was reacting, etc.   But there are tons of substitutes and new products out there now.  Things like little rice puffs, pastas, cereals, etc. etc.

Just throwing this out there.  We ended up waiting til she was over 7 months to start, maybe almost 8.  Just remember, there's no rush, you're just introducing new tastes and textures slowly and he's still getting almost all his nutrients from the nutramigen.  Her first food was avocado.  Banana is also a good one. Apple sauce.  If you're anxious to get going, just let him play with a banana for a week or 2 while you slowly figure out how to get everyone fed, yk?

I second the Ikea high chair.  Ours has been thru multiple kids of all ages and it is so affordable.