Last updated on July 30th, 2024 at 04:28 pm
It is that time of year again, time when the kids head off to school. A little freedom for Mom or Dad! Or so one would think. But when you have a child with food allergies or intolerances, it can make life very difficult.
The constant worry if your child remembers what they can and cannot eat. The constant worry that someone will misunderstand what is in a particular food. These thoughts weigh very heavy on a parent’s mind.
My daughter has a severe intolerance to cow dairy which includes butter — butter is in everything! The biggest problem with this, at such a young age, is that all kid food is geared towards dairy. Advertisements promote getting enough vitamin D and calcium and they lead you to believe the only way to do this is through dairy products.
This is misleading as the body can get all the nutrients it needs from alternative milk (we use almond), vegetables, legumes, fruits and more. One can lead a very healthy lifedairy-free, and luckily my daughter enjoys all of these things.
When we go out to eat or to a party, the menu is full of dairy items like mac-n-cheese, yogurt, grilled cheese, chocolate milk, pizza. There have been times when we have had to leave a restaurant because there wasn’t a product on the menu that did not consist of some form of dairy.
However, these days if I know we are heading out, I bring a tiny cooler with “her” butter (Earth Balance Buttery Spread) in it and order plain bread or plain noodles and just butter them up myself. I keep “her” butter stashed at my sister’s house and with my parents.
It broke my heart to see my daughter upset when her sister or friends were enjoying something she could not, so I gave up dairy with her. I will tell you the truth, it is hard and I have often indulged when she wasn’t looking. But for the most part I have no problem finding an alternative in order to see my baby smile.
To handle the heartache of get-togethers we bake a dozen or so cupcakes, which she decorates however she chooses and we freeze them. When it is time to leave for the party she pulls one or two out and we put it in a piece of Tupperware. By the time it’s dessert time the cupcake has thawed and she is enjoying sweets with all her friends.
As far as school goes, I send in a few in case a student brings in a surprise treat. I also provide the teacher with a very detailed list of what she absolutely can’t have and examples of what she can. I also bring in 3 different snacks for snack time to keep stored there.
The problem with intolerance is that the side-effects are not always immediate, like a rash typically associated with an allergy. Because of this, I often tell people she has an allergy. Unfortunately, people take allergies far more serious than intolerances.
They aren’t necessarily deadly, but they are certainly painful and do internal damage which over time can lead to severe, irreversible issues with the intestines.
I’ve learned that every recipe we have come across can be substituted with her butter, Earth Balance, or almond milk.
Some of Our Favorite Dairy Free Treats Are:
- Celery with peanut butter or honey
- Hummus and pretzels
- Spinach and strawberries drizzled in honey
- Crackers with goat cheese and craisins
Fruit shakes
One of our favorite foods in our house is pizza. We did not want to give that up so we make our own.
L’s Special Pizza
- Roll out a honey wheat pizza dough (Giant has a really yummy one)
- Top with pizza sauce
- Sprinkle with goat cheese or any other cow free dairy cheese
- Pop in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes
- Pull out and drizzle honey on the crust while it’s cooling
This is fun for her to make, healthier than traditional pizza, we get to bond, and she certainly enjoys it.
I am thankful every day that she has become accustomed to this lifestyle so easily and that she is so responsible, but of course we still struggle on occasion. The hunt is still on for that perfect ice-cream and doughnut recipe, but with this challenge we grow closer and gain more knowledge into a healthier lifestyle.
Kerry Bergeman is the founder and the mastermind behind New2Two.com peek at my life as a Mother of fraternal AND identical twins! Kerry is a full-time stay at home mother of six year old fraternal twin girls and one year old identical twin girls. She also teaches part-time at the local community college and runs Mommies of Multiples on Facebook (a group dedicated to helping moms of multiples with their daily questions and concerns). Her blog, New2Two is about life with twins, dealing with infertility, raising awareness for bully prevention and the challenges of having a daughter with a severe intolerance to dairy. What does she do on her time off? She is the Brand Ambassador of the Twingaroo twin carrier- the first and only ergonomic twin carrier that features a built in diaper bag (yes, that’s her on the box)! She sells Usborne Books to help encourage all to read! She’s bringing the book back one kid at a time!
