A great place for information

I just came across this great message board on BabyCenter.com with real moms experiencing dairy-free diets.  It's a very polite board and you can read posts without being a member.   If you create an account you can ask questions, too.  I already had an account because I had joined BabyCenter when I was pregnant.  

Information I took away already is that Enjoy Life has dairy-free chocolate chips (not to mention a bunch of other dairy-free products).  There are two stores near me that should carry the product.  But you can also buy them online, too.  I also read that Blue Bonnet - Lite is dairy free.  I've been using Smart Balance, but I notice that it doesn't melt that great.  I'll update after I try these two products.  

Tofutti Cheese and Bread

My daughter just started liking Tofutti cheese and with it she's been eating bread.  For months now, I've been offering my daughter the Tofutti cheese, with little luck. She would eat a bite here or there. I probably have gone through three packages of the individually wrapped cheese, with hardly any consumed.  Last week I made a quesadilla for her and all of a sudden, she is eating the cheese (and even requesting it).  It's not the best nutritional thing to give her, but it does have some protein and gives me another option for her.  I am limiting how much I give her.  

I now have also made her ham and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches, which she is devoured.  I haven't had much luck getting her to eat bread or toast.  But she ate all the bread with her grilled cheese and a hamburger bun with her ham and cheese sandwich.  So, I am actually getting a little more grain in her.  Also, the bread I buy has milk in it, which she tolerates in baked goods.  I like being able to give her a little milk as much as I can even if it's not directly given to her.  I think it will help her build up a tolerance.  

I'm going to do a little more research and see if I  can find another soy-based cheese for her that might contain a few "better" ingredients.  Otherwise, for now I'm happy she's finally eating this cheese and bread

Toddler Friendly/Dairy Free Quesadillas

Even when you aren't limited by food, you just get into a rut with feeding toddlers.  One day they eat it, the next they don't.  Sometimes I wish I had more options to feed her.  But then I realize there are lots of options out there, we just haven't tried them yet.  It can be a challenge because I don't want to buy "expensive" ingredients and have her test taste just to watch it go in the garbage.  Today, I asked my daughter what she wanted for lunch (just a side note she said her daddy gave her Taco Soup for breakfast).  She said "taco meat."  That reminded me that I froze some taco meat a while back.  I unthawed it.  I checked the fridge what I could do with it.  No tomatoes, no lettuce (which she doesn't eat anyway), no olives.  I did have a tortilla shell and Tofutti cheese.  Okay, I thought we'll try to make quesadilla -- dairy free of course.  It turned out to be very simple and she ate a lot of it.  A lot for a toddler, at least.

Dairy Free Quesadillas

Leftover taco meat -- about 1/2 cup

1 tortilla shell

1 slice Tofutti cheese (you can use American Cheese or any milk-based cheese if your toddler eats dairy)

1. Cut tortilla in quarters.

2. Scoop half the meat on two quarters.

3. Place tofutti cheese on top of meat.

4. Place each remaining tortilla quarter on top of meat and cheese.

5. Bake 250 degrees for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

6. Cut into toddler bite-size pieces.  

I served this with vegetable, fruit and soy milk.

Easter

We really want our skinny toddler to have the most nutrition she can get.  She was in 20 percentile for weight at her 18 month appointment.  So we have avoided candy and sugary things as much as possible.  And of course a lot of candy has milk or egg in it anyway. And we couldn't dy eggs because of her egg allergy.  So, for Easter we did a plastic Easter Egg hunt.  I had bought some large eggs last year after Easter that had Little People in them.  I hid those with smaller eggs.  She loved discovering what was inside.  In her basket we gave her a couple of books I got from the Dollar Spot at Target and a homemade card.  We gave her a Peep for snack and she licked and wanted Cheerios and raisins instead.  

A holiday can be fun without candy and she'll never know the difference.

Playing with other kids

We were at a play group today, which was so much fun.  But when people bring out snacks, I just watch so much more closely where my little busy bee plays.  Sure enough today I looked at her when she "checked" in and she had a small rash on her face and neck.  Nothing major and it went away quickly.  It could have been anything from a toy she touched to rubbing up on one of the pillows.  I can't keep her in a bubble and want her to experience as much as we can offer her.  A little rash here and there are just going to be a part of our lives for the time being.  

She also tried to snatch one child's snack container.  The grandmother kindly offered her a goldfish cracker.  I had to quickly say she could have that because of her milk allergy -- I hate wearing it on our sleeve, but sometimes we have to.  The grandmother didn't really understand, but I was sure to thank her.  I told my daughter to find something else to play with.  She's starting to understand more now when I tell her we can't touch other people's food.  She shouldn't anyway, but I'm glad she moved away when I asked her to today.