Need Ideas for Finger Foods for 8 Month Old with Food Allergies

flax seed makes a great egg substitute for recipes. combine 1/4 cup flax seed with 3/4 cup water in the blender, then use 2 tablespoons in place of each egg. This should keep in the fridge for 2 weeks

Hi M.-
it's a hard time finding foods ANY child will eat and love w/o considering allergies, so I feel for you. Having limits off the bat must be tricky, but I'm sure you're glad you know. Some suggestions to replace that lost protein and calcium are cooked small chunks of carrot and avocado (raw) , sweet potatoand cooked/canned kidney beans, cooked tofu bits; and i'd google protein-rich and calcium-rich fruits and veggies because there are so many out there that we don't realize. We lived by the book "Super Baby Food" with our dd. It's got a detailed appendix with all sorts of nutrition info, maybe that could help, too. good luck!

Unfortunately you've got the 3 worst allergies to buy for besides soy. We've got peanut allergic kids & lemme tell ya, there's not much in life that's safe for them to eat! But for when she gets older, M&M cleans their plant between batches of M&Ms-they clean all of the equipment between plain, peanut, almond, etc candies so it'll be safe for her to eat the plain M&Ms when she's a big girl. Jolly Rancher does that too (have had friends of friends work for both)
Go back to the basics-she's only 8 mos old & has plenty of time to experience the world. Cheerios, Kix, graham crackers, I've never done the Gerber teething foods but my boys loved Zwieback toast. They have lactose-free milk & even cheese, if the problem is lactose. I remember my mom eating goat cheese by the hunk when she was pregnant w/my lactose-intolerant sis (even in the womb she had milk problems!). Start saving now so you can afford to shop at the organic grocers, because those are the safest places to shop. Or a food co-op if there are still such things. My mom used to buy herself cashew or almond butter & it was her special treat for herself (check to make sure the nuts aren't roasted in peanut oil though). When she's much older, Diamond makes almonds in several flavors that are peanut-free. Look around on websites for -free recipes & get creative w/your cooking once she's big enough to eat just table foods.
Good luck!
Oh & join some online groups for mom's w/food allergy kids-you'll find some great tips there too I'm sure.

Hi M.,
My son was allergic to cow's milk, and luckily he outgrew it by the time he turned 2. We substituted goat products for all dairy products. He drank goat milk when he turned one, and I could use that to cook baked goods and pancakes for him. A friend of mine's son is allergic to eggs, so I sometimes would use an egg replacer powder that she bought at Whole Foods and goat milk, and made some pretty decent blueberry bread, etc. My son ate a lot of goat yogurt (Whole Foods and vitamin cottage), which we would often mix with cheerios or other dry cereal so he could feed himself. It's messy, but he loved it. At Whole Foods, you can also find several sources of mozarella, monterey jack, and cheddar cheeses made with goats milk. My 9 month old really enjoys avocado, peas, blueberries, banana, and black beans for finger foods. Good luck!

This was the exact combination of my son's allergies - diary, egg & peanut, though his peanut is the bad one. He has since grown out of the first two. . .
Fruits and Veggies! The nice thing is that your kid will eat alot healthier than others, so take advantage of it! We allergy moms have to read every label on every food, so we often come to recognize all the not-so-healthy other stuff in the packaged foods out there.
We always baked with Ener-G egg substitute and soy milk. With those two things, we could substitute for most recipies. I agree that the "alternative dairy" stuff is pretty gross tasting - including those soy hot dogs, yuck!
As for meats, we stuck with Hillshire farms sausage and plain turkey from the deli (no casien used to bind it). If you are interested, I have a great pancake recipe I made constantly for my son and also a chocolate cake recipe that is awful darn good . . . all dairy, nut and egg free.

I'm sure your allergist told you this, but the more particular you are about keeping even a trace of those foods out of your kids diet, the more likely they'll have a chance to outgrow. Hard thing to prove, but doctors have seen some evidence. Our son had outgrown dairy and eggs by age 3. We never "just tried" it to see, we got him retested every year. What a happy day to eat pizza and chocolate! Now, with only the peanut allergy, his whole diet has changed.

One other thing to throw out there, again there is no proof . . . there is some research that indicates a drop in allergies when kids get their Omega 3's. I've been hiding flax meal in my kids food for years and who knows if that helped. I also have my son on Usana's chewable kids vitamin. Again, there is some research that shows a connection. We don't know what worked from all of those things, but we're thrilled about the results.

Hi M.!
I have an eight month old with allergies as well. I can say it has been sooooo hard. We have him off of Dairy, Soy, egg, fish and nuts. I know what you are going thru. I have my son on Neocate, and he eats baby food.... but I have to check all the ingrediants to make sure it has none of that. The best thing I have found is plain cheerios! Not the honey nut kind. My son will not eat them yet LOL he just plays with them. I would love to talk with you...but I also work full time email me at ____@____.com

Try this website:
www.wholesomebabyfood.com

It has great ideas for simple recipes for babies, many of which do not have egg and some even give ideas on how to substitute for eggs. I love the meatballs for my son. I make up a bunch and put them in the freezer.

She is only 9 months? I would slow down if she is showing allergies. Think simple foods--avocados, bananas, steamed carrots, steamed sweet potatoes (or baked), steamed apples, ....Her formula or breastmilk plus cereal and a few foods will keep her going for a while. Introduce foods very very slowly. Hang in there there is no need to rush. Talk to a food allergist (pediatric)....

R.

My oldest son had severe dairy allergies and I've been cautious about introducing foods to my babies ever since. One book I liked a lot is "Whole Foods for the Whole Family," published by La Leche League, the breastfeeding information/help group. They also have a book out now called "Whole Foods for Babies and Toddlers," and they specifically address allergy issues and make lots of allergy-safe recipe suggestions. I also really like Dr. Sears' books "The Family Nutrition Book" and "The Healthiest Kid on the Block." You could borrow any of these books for free from your local La Leche League group (www.llli.org to find it) or find them cheap online or even at your public library.
My babies like little bits of firm tofu diced into little cubes, after they have a few teeth. If you dice it and then bake it at about 400 for 20 minutes on a cookie sheet, and then serve it with some kind of simple sauce (soy sauce or a teriyaki sauce made with equal parts soy sauce, Italian dressing and some sugar are our favorites) or let it marinate you have a tasty little finger food that is good hot or cold and travels well. (About 25 percent of children who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy, so watch for cross reactions--you're probably OK at this age if she hasn't reacted before.)
Hummus with rice crackers could be good, and simple guacamole and basic beans either squashed up or refried are all toddler standards at my house. Bananas, too. Do you have a little mesh feeder? My kids love to hold a piece of cold, overripe pear in one of those and gnaw on it.
Soups with bits of beans and soft-cooked veggies are yummy, too. At this point, though, solid food is mainly fun and recreational, not vital nutrition or important for calories, so you don't have to worry about anything besides introducing a few fun things for her to make a mess with and learn to like.
Ener-G egg replacer is primarily for baking. But you can make a delicious tofu scramble and serve it with toast just like scrambled eggs. I think Imagine foods makes a mix to add to tofu if it's new to you, or you can Google a recipe pretty easily.
I think Soya-Kaas brand makes the tastiest soy cheese and it melts nicely, but it's expensive. Many cheese substitutes are made for people who are merely lactose intolerant, not *allergic* to dairy, so they often contain casein, which is a highly-allergenic dairy protein. Read carefully. For the most part, I gave up on chemical substitutes and found it cheaper and healthier to eat more whole foods. Once you get in the habit of skipping over the dairy section of the store, you can find plenty to eat that is not too complicated to prepare.
My kids just love dipping things and having what we calla "nibble tray"--just little bits of a ew different things served in a muffin tin. Your four-year-old might like that, and it would be easy to include something that was OK for the baby to try, so you don't feel like everyone has to eat something different.
I think my oldest son enjoys so many healthful foods because we were so careful about his diet for the first few years and he did not have any junk at all until he was past toddlerhood, so there are major advantages to needing to be so cautious about introducing foods. I was glad friends and family always ahd to ask me or my husband before feeding our child--it spared him a lot of cake and chips and lollipops he simply didn't need as a toddler, and he didn't know any better so he never felt like he was missing out--fruit really was dessert to him for a long time!
Best wishes!

Hi M.,
I feel your pain, My daughter has the same food allergies but more. I wouldn't introduce to much cheese because the possibility of constipation. I would do some crackers, small pieces of pancakes, soft carrots, very small pieces. Do some fruits small pieces. I would still work with some of the baby foods still so u can work with the new foods slowly so you can see reactions to new foods.

I wouldn't rush to introduce a cheese sub... most of them taste horrible and they're usually made from soy, which is high on the allergen list, too.

I've got a preschooler with nut & seed allergies and a baby (14 months) who is intolerant to dairy, soy & chicken... and possibly rice, wheat & egg. It is hard to find safe foods, but at 8 months of age, where's the rush? My littlest guy's safe list is pretty short right now: squash, carrot & sweet potato are the only jarred foods he can have... he also eats potatoes, Honeycomb cereal and refried beans. Even with a short list like that you can do finger foods. You can do baked french fries with potato, sweet potato and squash (the squash is actually super-yummy that way!). You could probably do carrot that way, too, now that I think about it. Those veggies can all also be boiled & cut into baby-sized bits. Leave beans whole and you've got finger food (though my guy spits out the skins, so it's not perfect).

I would suggest that you just go ahead & get used to buying/making foods w/o those allergens. You do end up making more stuff from scratch but there are *some* prepackaged foods you can get. Your daughter may well have these allergies the rest of her life. If you get her started on foods that don't pretend to be those other foods, she might never even miss them!

Oh, and a great group for food allergy parents:
TerrificKidsWFA on Yahoo Groups. (Love it!)

Best of luck!

You already have some really good ideas. There are vegan cheese substitutes out there at specialty stores like Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc. Anything that say vegan or parve on it is dairy free. I think the biggest key is to start giving it to them now in small bits, the tofu and lots of fruits and veggies and they will develop into great eaters. Avocado is a great one. Best of luck it is hard I know !!

Hi M.,

Think about the options you do have, and keep it simple. Vitamin cottage has dried peas, frozen pea are great and great for a teething toddler. Shredded carrot, you can find tehm at king soopers. Those are great to dip in sunflower butter, which taste much like peanut butter. Almond butter. Frozen blueberries, my son loves them!
Vitamin Cottage has egg free breads and I think cookies in the freezer section, made by a local bakery in Co Springs.
Stick to simple fruit and veggies snacks and you will mold the taste buds and have a great little eater on your hands.

I hope that helps.

L.
www.DenverJuicePlus.com