Re: Slightly OT: Info on allergies & cow's milk alternatives please

Celtic Creams I think - nice packaging too.  So stop buying from the evil
network and support local industry instead ;-).

The one near my Mum is their newest store.

Yeah, they tried that one on me.  Along with "I think we get a delivery of
that every day".  "Yeah, well it's always sold out no matter what day of the
week I come in."  In January, the stocks on the shelf had mysteriously
doubled.

Heh - it's a staple in our house, along with the chocolate and vanilla
desserts (though I eat them more often than S does).

Jean

Oooo...I know the ones you mean, and I can't think of them either.  But
I know the box.

Helps us that Tesco Ireland is in Dun Laoghaire, and I think
Bloomfield's is their flagship store.  We bully them about the Alpro
soya milk (DH knows the manager by name now, and they say "You know, the
guy who is always asking about the soya milk?  He's back again..." :-)
DH says he's talked to the guy easily at least 6 times.  You'd think
that if it's SOLD OUT then they would make sure to buy more, cause it's
popular?!  Most consistent excuse is the "supplier"...they ordered 4
cases and only one showed up.

Have you tried the Provamel Yofu?  P loves the peach and
mango..."pengo!!!" he calls it.

We get the calcium enriched one - S didn't like the vanilla much but she
loves the unflavoured ones.

Unfortunately made by Nestle:-(.

There is an Irish made alternative, I just can't think of the company name
off the top of my head.  We got them in Superquinn at Christmas and S loved
them

Our local Tesco sucks.  The one near my Mum is much nicer.  But I did bully
Superquinn into doubling their order of Rice Dream.  Nothing like
complaining to the manager that your allergic child can't have milk
substitute because it's always sold out.  Even better is to do it three
times over Christmas week ;-).

Jean

The best soya milk I've found is Provamel Alpro Sweetened with calcium.
Works great in tea.  The aseptic packaging is better than the
refrigerated one, my that's my opinion.

The best butter subsitute is Pure Organic Sunflower spread.
(www.pure.co.uk, I think).  I'm going to miss it when we're in the
States.  

Oh, a great thing to have in-house is Granose's Soya Creem.  Works like
double cream.

For kids, as they get older, Rice Dream vanilla is nice with meals.  P's
had that as his primary drink, and he likes it a lot.

Oh...check the labels, but After Eights are dairy free, most of the
time.  Always look at the box to make sure.

I found all this at our local Tesco.

In brief: the midwife/nanny/lactation consultant who helped me out when
Froggie was a newborn phoned me today to ask about allergies.  She is
looking for resources on baby allergies, especially to cow's milk
products.

Can anybody provide any suggestions please?  Helpful things would
include:

1) Books
2) Webpages
3) Clued-up healthcare professionals that she can consult or refer her
clients, especially nutritionists, dieticians, pediatricians etc.
Ideally such people would be London-based.
4) Info on alternatives such as goat & soya - recommended brands,
analyses, any opinions/experiences

This LC is extremely pro-BF so please don't slam her (or me) for asking
about this.  She turned to me because I found very early on that Froggie
is allergic to cow's milk products but is perfectly ok on goat's milk
products (as am I).  She said that she's always preferred to recommend
standard cow formula (1) because it's been more extensively used &
studied but that so  many clients are phoning up with problems (acid
reflux, eczema, protein allergies, lactose intolerance were the four she
mentioned) that she realises she needs to bone up on this.  Clearly
different problems require different approaches.

Last summer I met a woman whose lovely baby was exactly the same age as
Froggie, but who was considerably smaller.  And Froggie is a petite baby
herself.  This baby was allergic to all kinds of milk including,
staggeringly, breastmilk.  She had to be fed bottles of, as her mum put
it, "pharmaceutical pretend food, thickened with rice flour to make it
look vaguely milky, so the parents can pretend it's milk.'  Does anybody
know what this stuff might be?

All help gratefully received.

(1) When it's been necessary, breastmilk being otherwise unavailable