A Developed Intolerance

I just saw my doctor yesterday and asked him about this. He said soy milk is a good substitute. I suppose they have other products, too.

Rice milk is wonderful. The vanilla is a little easier to get used to. I cook with the regular rice milk (with eggs, dressing, etc.) and I taste no difference. Oat milk is also great. It's sweeter and has bit more protein.

I don't know if you have the same problems as me, but I have an easier time with cheese than yogurt but straight milk is enough to make me very sick.

So try yogurts and cheese and see how you do. You may also be able to eat them in smaller quantities.

I have a dr appointment today and plan on asking about rice and soy milk. Talk to your midwife and see what she says about those too.

Hi R.

I'm assuming you are lactose intolerant right now, right? If so, Kraft shredded cheese says it's lactose free on the back of the packaging. It's kind of small but it does say it. I think the Kraft block cheese said the same thing. Anyway, check it out. Also, I'm pretty sure yogurt is ok because it doesn't have lactose in it. A yogurt website may be able to tell you . . or I've just been calling the manufacture. They are usually really nice and Dannon even offered to send us free coupons.

Hope this helps

Dear R.,

Have you tried drinking the rice milk? It taste good and provides good protein. I cannot tolerant much dairy so I drink rice milk. You can also use it to cook with and even bake with it. Also, you might want to try some soy products. Maybe the problems will go away after have the baby.

Try Rice milk....It will be good for you. My Fiance's Acupunture docotor told us to take this instead of Cow Milk...and when making pudding etc, to use soy milk. Becuase you dont want to take in too much soy but you can eat Goat cheeze and stuff...

Hi R.,
I started using silk vanilla soy milk and slowly adding the silk regular soy until I was used to the taste, the regular has less sugar and then I found the kirkland brand at costco. It doesn't have to be refrigerated until opened and doesn't have all the sugar, tastes more like real milk and in smaller containers and I don't use a lot any way. I did have a friend say soy naturally has estrogen in it, for me that is a good thing.
Good luck,
SarahMM

the funny thing about lactose intolerance is that it comes and goes. I have had it off and on, all my sisters have off and on and both my babies do. (which makes nursing interesting) So go off the milk and use the things others have mentioned, I personally really liked the Costco Soy milk someone mentioned. I also found I could eat cheese but not milk or yogurt. So depending on your level of intolerance you might be able to handle some dairy. Test it out if you really are missing the dairy. Also you can take lactase pills when you do choose to eat dairy. (costco sells a monster bottle of those too). But my whole point in writing was to say that it will probably leave as fast as it came. I had it as a baby, and about a year old wasn't anymore, then I had it for six months in college and have been fine 5 years since. So hopefully yours is just a second trimester thing. :) good luck

soy, tofu, almond milk and butter, rice milk

Almond Breeze milk is a DELICIOUS alternative to cows milk!

Wait-- you should go to a MD and get a real allergy test before you put yourself through this sort of restrictive diet. Sometimes an allergy to gluten hides behind a seemingly intolerence to dairy. If you are allergic to dairy, then you need to learn what all the dairy proteins are and start reading labels to avoid them. This is a huge deal with my brothers. Since they learned to avoid gluten products, they can have some very limited dairy now and especially yogurt with live cultures which aid in the digestion.

If it's just a lactose intolerance rather than an allergy to milk (like I got shortly AFTER giving birth)- I love Land-O-Lakes Lactose Free Milk. It comes in whole, 2% and Skim, which is wonderful and tastes great- not sweet like Soy milk or watery/bland like Rice Dream. I use it in recipes too if they call for milk. I also love that the expiration date is a month or so out so I can buy enough cartons to last for the month, while regular milk you have to buy every couple of weeks!!! I don't know much about yogurt/cheese because I'm just avoiding all that for my son's sake (he's showing an allergy to milk at the moment). Hope this helps. Good luck!

Follow Your Heart vegan cheeses aren't too bad, if you can do soy. They even kinda melt. IMO, skip rice cheese... all it does for me (I'm avoiding 'cause my nursing son can't tolerate any dairy) is make me not want to eat cheese at all. Of course, maybe that'd help you, too. ;)

I haven't tried them yet (and am somewhat skeptical as I'm a HUGE fan of cheese) but am planning to try these fake cheeses: Chreese and Sheese.

If you do get a hankering for chocolate, the Lindt Excellence 70% bars (dark chocolate) are dairy free, as are some semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I've found it to not really be that hard to avoid dairy, much to my surprise. I eat a lot of Mexican food... guacamole works as a good cheese sub for some things. And some things are good w/o it, so I order those things instead of, say, cheese enchiladas. (Boy, am I going on a cheese bender when I'm all done nursing, though!!)

Good luck! You can do it!

I am curious as to how a midwife can tell you that you have an intolerance to dairy? I guess it can be a spectulation. I have a friend who could not do dairy when not pregnant but had to change to dairy while pregnant twice, this helped her greatly with the acid reflux and nausea she had. I personally found the soy yogurts very good to eat. Maybe nut milks might be of help to eat. I've made my own almond milk and used a coffee filter to strain off the nut meat of which can be used to mix in to pancake batter or muffin batter. I believe the ratio of nuts to h2o is 2c nuts to 4c h2o. I soak the nuts for 4 hrs before blendering.
Good luck

This is a challenge, but you can definitely accomodate this intolerance without starving or suffering! It just takes some practice. My infant son had a dairy allergy severe enough to put him in Primary Children's--his intestines swelled shut from the dairy I consumed that he got when he nursed-- so I think you're wise to ask lots of questions and learn lots now, while you're pregnant in case you need to accomodate a low- or no-dairy diet later one. (BTW, my son is healthy and fine now at age 6, and can have limited dairy--the worst it does to him now is constipate him.)
I worked with a dietician when I was nursing my son and she helped me go completely and strictly dairy-free. Honestly, I've never felt better than when I was dairy-free. I found healthier sources for fats in my diet, beyond the saturated fat that cheese is made of. And I used to think life without cheese would just not be worth living! ;)
I learned to cook with soy milk (Silk is my personal favorite brand) and can even make a yummy dairy-free cream soup or a chocolate cream pie with tofu instead of pudding. (Yes, I know that sounds weird, but even my father-in-law asked for seconds when I served it to him at a family gathering, so I swear it's not weird!) Silk is great on cereal and makes good mashed potatoes, too. And vanilla soy milk with a can of frozen orange juice and ice makes a better Orange Julius than you can buy at the mall! So nice on a hot summer day!
I liked the avocado suggestion you already received. I got into guacamole on Mexican foods as a tasty binding agent in burritos when I couldn't eat cheese and sour cream. My dietician joked that the only spice Americans know how to use is cheddar! When I was dairy-free I learned to appreciate lots of flavors besides just "creamy" and "cheesy." Most Asian food (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese)is dairy free and I found lots of Middle-Eastern food (Indian curries, falafel in pita bread with sesame tahini dressing--mmm!) is not as weird as I once thought and is often dairy-free.
It makes a difference if you are truly allergic to dairy proteins or just lactose intolerant; lactose is the sugar in dairy and lots of processed foods are made to be "lactose free." This isn't good enough for folks who need to avoid any of the more than 20 allergens in dairy products; they need to be more cautious and creative and especially avoid whey and casein, which is dairy protein that lurks in tons of processed foods.
There are lots of tasty fakes out there--Soy dream and Rice Dream products are great, and health food stores carry Silk soy yogurt, Soya Kaas soy cheese (it actually melts nicely on bread!) and Even Better Than Sour Cream and Better Than Cream Cheese, which are nice when you need a fix. Watch the hydrogenated oils, though--some of the fakes are dairy-free but not as healthy as a real, whole food would be. My binge treat used to be the cheap-o semi-sweet chocolate chips from the baking section of the supermarket--loaded with hydrogenated oils and chemicals, but so tasty when I was avoiding other chocolate candy.
I also suggest browsing thorugh some vegan cookbooks at the library--I like "Vegan Vittles" and "The Vegetarian Meat and Potato Cookbook." Even though you may not be vegetarian, these cookbooks offer non-dairy ways to make familiar foods (vegan lasagna is great by anyone's standards!) and can help you get familiar with new spices and ingredients such as tahini/sesame butter, hummus, soy and rice milk and tofu, if you haven't cooked with them much before. You might also like "The Un-Cheese Cookbook," which specifically addresses being dairy-free. Any diet book by Marilu Henner offers dairy-free, non-weird recipes and a passionate pep-talk about how and why to avoid dairy--she claims dairy is a cultural food of convenience not designed for humans at all, and it's weird that people would continue to consume what amounts to the "breastmilk" of another species when we have so little in common with cows or goats, biologically. The web site www.notmilk.com offers similar info.
I'm not anti-dairy, but since being so strictly dairy-free, my entire family eats a *lot* less of it than we used to, and I think we're better off finding healthier fats and proteins from other sources.
Dr. Tom Brewer was an amazing obstetrician who studied the effects of diet on pregnancy. He worked with very low-income moms in the Bay area. His Web site is www.blueribbonbaby.com. His suggestions are very dairy-heavy (I think in part because his clientele was so low-income and dairy is a relatively cheap source of protein), but you could make adaptations as needed and consider his ideas in getting enough protein and other nutrients while you're pregnant.
Good luck! Keep us posted on how you're eating! ;)

Hi R.,
our family has hone through quite some research because of problems similar to yours...we found that RAW MILK is well tolerated by people with dairy and/or lactose intolerance.

The reason being that the milk is not heated (pasteurized) and therefore thill containes all the enzymes necessary for easy digestion, as well as the lactose and milk protein are in their original state. Also, all the vitamins and other nutrients are untouched, which makes for super nutrition. The beneficial bacteria naturally present in raw milk prevent spoilage, instead, if left at room temperature the milk tourns into clabber (sour milk), which is very tasy - similar to yougurt and kefir - while pasteurized milk rots and goes bad.
See www.realmilk.org for more info about raw milk safety, research, where to get it, etc. We get our milk through the raw milk share program at the Taft Hill Dairy ###-###-#### (owner Lugene Sas). We love it, you might want to give it a try...
Blessings,
C.
www.CrystalRiverSoap.com

My son and I are both lactose intolerant. If you like yogurt, Stonyfield Farms O'Soy yogurt is great. Also, Silk makes chocolate and very vanilla soy milk. They are both delicious. I give my son the Silk with DHA and Omega 3 that is pretty good. I can handle the Live Active cheeses. I hope this helps :)

The exact same thing happened to me with both pregnancies, which I thought was weird until I discovered I had a dairy allergy as a child.

I do not like the taste of soy milk, but it is good IN things. Rice milk is a little sweeter, but it does taste like rice (makes sense, eh?).

Is your intolerance to the proteins or is it lactose intolerance? I have lactose intolerance while pregnant, and then my baby girl has a dairy protein intolerance and I'm nursing her. Different issues, so different options.

If it is lactose intolerance, you may find that you can eat things like yogurt and butter without suffering repercussions, but ice cream, milk and cheese are really bad. It is safe to use Lactaid while pregnant, because it is just an enzyme, not a drug/med. There is Lactaid milk available. For ice cream, you can eat Soy or Rice Dream ice cream, though I didn't like them much. I found some dairy-free cookie and soy ice cream treats at a Vitamin Cottage store (you could look at Whole Foods or other related store) that were yummy. I forget what they were called, but they were mock chocolate covered oatmeal cookies with soy ice cream.

I have found NO cheese supplements that either didn't have some sort of dairy in them (make sure you check any labels for anything that seems to be a dairy replacement--believe it or not, some of them actually have dairy in them still, which begs the question...what's the point??) or tasted really nasty.

Goat's milk products are acceptable if you have lactose intolerance, but not if you have a protein issue. They have similar proteins.

If it is a protein issue, you will need to replace your butter or margarine, as well. Smart Balance Lite is really good (I liked it better than the non-lite, version) and it has no whey (which is dairy). With a protein issue, you will have to read labels VERY carefully. There are a lot of words that indicate hidden dairy. You'll want to research that online. Things you would never imagine dairy being in have it. But I found plenty of tasty things using label reading, Vitamin Cottage (they even have Soy Whip instead of whipped cream), and online research. I think it's Duncan Hines that has dairy-free cake mixes, and possibly Nestle that had dairy-free chocolate syrup.

If it's lactose intolerance, you'll just need to keep Lactaid on hand for when you're out and about and you really don't need to be as careful with what you eat as with the protein issue.

Here is some helpful information I found on casein allergy/intolerance (casein is the protein issue): http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html

If you're not sure what issue you have, you can easily research symptoms of each online.

HTH!

I feel your pain! I have IBS and so there are times when I can't have dairy at all. I have to really listen to my body. About 7 years ago for a 2 year period I could not have any dairy. So, here is what I found for me...
Soy milk, I can do plain if I have to but prefer the vanilla soy milk or the chocolate.
Rice milk!! Vanilla again is great but sometimes too sweet.
For ice cream, Rice Dream was my favorite! just the vanilla, it tastes like marshmallows to me. lol.
I used soy cheeses as well. I had a hard time eating them plain but crumbled in my salads they were good. I had been sick for a long time so I had to really make sure I was getting in my calcium and proteins.
I put silk tofu in my breakfast shakes, made with rice milk or soy milk and fresh fruits.
unfortunately my IBS is acting up again so I will be going back to non dairy products for a while. the nice thing is that 7 years ago it was hard to find these products where now they are in most grocery stores. I had to go to a health food store to get mine in the past. I will have to see about finding the almond milk another poster suggested, that sounds yummy!
don't expect it to tast like milk...it will be different but if you go in with that as your expectation you can enjoy it. if you are like me it wasn't just the lactose in milk, I tried lactaid milk (has the lactose taken out so if you are just having problems with lactose that is also a great idea) and taking the lactose pills but they just didn't work for me, it is more than the lactose...
Rice Dream was the brand of Rice Milk that was my favorite. Smiths had the first best selection of the alternative milks, but now I see them at Target and Albertsons as well. I haven't checked Walmart...good luck, there are other options though! You can do this! and hopefully it will be temporary and quick.

You can also do sheep milk cheese. Manchego is great! It contains a very different protein than cow's milk. Advised by my allergist, naturopath, and son's pediatrician when had to eliminated dairy.

Good luck!
H.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of other dairy alternatives out there. My son has severe allergies to dairy and we have him on almond milk. Another one may be rice milk. There are a lot of rice cheese suggestions along with vegan cheese which is always good. I don't know if it is all dairy, but maybe goat's milk or cheese would be a good option as well. Hope this helps!!

oh, godness. sorry, not a whole lot you can do. I have been intolerant for a long time, since 20 or so. I would suggest you completely remove dairy for one month. (like cleansing out the pipes) No cheating! Have the whole family non-dairy and learn to shop and prpare your meals this way. Snack foods are hard as everything as it, but you get used to the brands. Jewish brands are good bets as they don't use the dairy additives and perservatives. I also like most "organic" and natrual brands. Only get natrual cold cuts as the other is often perserved with dairy, soy or corn perserpavtives (all intolerance foods for many if they have one of these already...my son is also intolerant to all of these but can luckily have gluten.) also watch for Caesin. Even though a soy chese seems good for you, it often still has caesin. since my son is so sinsitive at age 2, we don't do any chees substitutes. I bake with rice dream or Pacific original rice milk. I also use Spectrum products that carry mayo and palm oil shortening (Vitamin cottage, King soopers)

Once you cleanse and get used to your buying, baking, etc, then you should be able to "sneak" once a day. you wil be able to tell when you have too much and later, when to stop before you have too much. sorry, yogurt is out, but if you are really "good" for a ouple of days, you can have one small scoop of ice cream or a latte.

and hey, this is a great way to "diet" as most sweets have dairy in it! I can tolerate Rumplunzel Dark chocolate bars, Enjoy Life choco. chips, and OhAlaska chocolate syrup. All made with no or little dairy and soy.

Avocado is a good substitute for cheese on things like burritos, sandwiches, etc.

I've made pumpkin pie using coconut milk......

soy yogurt is good....

good luck!

I know how you feel! With both my daughter and now my 4-month old son, I couldn't eat dairy while nursing them. Here's some things that I do:
use vanilla soy milk--it's pretty good
eat a LOT of avocado--the creamy texture sort of substitutes for cheese
continue to eat my favorite foods, just w/out the cheese--I order mexican food w/out cheese, eat burgers w/out cheese, etc. Again, add avocado, or pesto, or other yummies to make up for the loss of flavor. The only thing I wouldn't recommend is pizza without cheese--it is just not the same, at all. :(
I also eat Soy Dream ice cream (try the chocolate brownie one) or sorbet vs. ice cream.
Just hang in there--you'll be eating pizza again soon!
S.

Absolutely! Soy products are wonderful as an alternative. You can get anything...milk, cheeses, ice cream, yogurt, even margarine. I've been terribly intolerant to dairy for the past 20 years or so, and I don't miss it at all. Do read the labels and make sure that the milk is fortified with calcium. Otherwise, many people believe that soy is better than dairy, as it originates from plants, not animals. Harmons has a great natural food section and carries most of these products. Enjoy!

Hi R. W! I too, developed an intolerance to dairy with my two babies. It took me along time to figure out what to do. The doctors were not very helpful. I found out through different articles that I could drink soy milk instead. But I still missed cheese and especially ice cream. Our bodies don't like milk because it can't "digest" it. I now take an enzyme that really does help. I don't get a belly ache and it will pass through my system without pain. I get my enzymes from NWC - called Ultra Enzyme Support.(Natural Wellness Center.com) I think you'll be pleased with the results. Yours truly, Sonny Stark.