Hi. My daughter was diagnosed by an allergist with being allergic to milk (dairy) and eggs when she was about 10 months old and I was trying to start weaning her from breastmilk so we were trying different formulas and all of the milk-based ones came right back up. She is 3 years old now and we go to the allergist once each year around her birthday to test her to see if the allergy is still there. They say that 80% of kids can outgrow their food allergies, but it can take until their teens. If possible, I would suggest confirming a food allergy with an allergist since it is difficult to always determine if you trying to cut out certain foods is what is helping tame symptoms if they aren't as cut and dry as my daughter's which are: small exposure=facial rash, swelling, itching, etc., large exposure=vomiting, loose bowels. They have 2 main test methods; a skin test (they prick the skin with a solution that contains a small amount of the allergen, usually on the back of young kids, and can measure the size of a reaction) and a blood test. Unfortunately, neither are completely conclusive, but they can usually get a pretty good idea by combining the results of the 2. Okay, as for what to feed to avoid the allergens, the other responder was on track. Health food stores like Harry's Market or Whole Foods are good for stocking gluten-free and dairy-free items. At first, I did a lot of shopping there. Now, after some time, I've read all my labels and I can usually shop with no problem at Publix and other chains and find everything I need. You will need to read every label in the beginning if you want to go totally free of an item, but then you find your staple foods and can work with them. As other responder mentioned, for dairy-free, it's not too hard b/c of all the soy products out there. In Publix, for example, they have a section near the produce that is a combo of organic products and dairy-free items. I can buy my daughter soy milk, soy yogurt, soy pudding, dairy-free waffles etc all there. Be very mindful of cheese. Companies advertise "lactose-free" cheese, but it is NOT dairy free. I have to go to Harry's or a health food store to get dairy-free cheese (I use Tofutti brand). This is good for making mac and cheese, etc. The cheese doesn't melt great on its own (without stirring with soy milk) so my daughter just doesn't eat pizza (the dairy-free frozen pizzas we tried didn't go over well). Dairy-free butter is easy to get, as it is usually in the regular butter section; Smart Balance is a good brand. Over the years, I've learned which snacks are dairy and egg free for my daughter (some of these have gluten, though): Ritz crackers, Teddy Grahams, Fig Newton Minis (NOT regular Fig Newtons--pays to read those labels!), Oreos, Hershey's syrup (to make choco soy milk, or to top soy ice cream), some ice pops, most saltine crackers, cheerios, most pretzels (NOT goldfish pretzels), most potato chips, etc. I just always read the label and check for eggs and milk and you have to be watchful of "milk derivatives" like casein. A good resource website for food allergies is http://www.foodallergy.org/. Well, I hope I've given you some good info to chew on, good luck!
