It's completely safe and even beneficial to have a diet that's 100% free of dairy. Milk is full of things BESIDES casein that can have some insidious effects on certain people, just ask the wonderful people at www.notmilk.com.
Calcium is available in many forms and sources, most of which are more readily absorbed than calcium in milk, anyway. Leafy green vegetables like kale, spinach, and collard greens, calcium-fortified juices, sesame seeds, salmon, and liquid, sublingual, or powder calcium supplements are only a few great sources of the mineral.
I replaced cow's milk with soy milk a few years back after a food sensitivity test showed what I was reacting to...luckily, soy wasn't one of the offenders. Rice milk made me vomit, even though I'm not allergic to rice. Come to find out, it's processed with barley, a gluten-containing grain. (Not included on the label, by the way. I was drinking Rice Dream when that happened.) Soy is a pretty allergenic substance, as well, so you should consider having a food sensitivity test like the ELISA done before giving it to your child.
As for protein, it's everywhere. Meats, eggs, quinoa (non-gluten grain), soy, and virtually every other food source contains at least SOME protein, so that won't be a problem.
Hope that helps! Feel free to inquire more on the subject if need be.
Yes, I would skip the milk- in fact my nearly 2yo has never had 'real' milk. she showed intolerances to dairy when 8 months so I continued to breastfeed until she weaned herself at 21 months.
She won't drink soy or rice milk so she has absolutely no dairy at all. She is also neurotypical.
there is some evidence that ASD children can also be sensitive to soy protein which is a similar protein to gluten and casein so I did not bother with soy for my son when we went dairy free a year ago. He is on protein and calcium enriched rice milk and I ensure he eats a lot of meat to get protein into him.
Both our children are supplemented with Calcium/Magnesium powder plus vit D (which helps the Calcium get absorbed).
Hi-
my three year old is pdd.nos. he has always been allergic to dairy. there are soy milks out there that are gluten free. there is also hemp seed milk, almond milk, rice milk. so there are other alternatives. i mean, sometimes you just want a glass of milk with your gluten free cookie.....not conventional, but none of are anyway!!! right.
you can find calcium in spinach, beans and orange juice, those are some of the best alt's.
good luck to you!!!!!
dx at 12 months! that amazes me. We don't seem to have any problems with dairy. I don't believe all ASD-PDD kids need dairy free diets. just like everyone else they are all different.let me clarify. i, as a child had an intolerance to dairy. i outgrew this, only to have it return in my twenties. since i have gone past my twenties, it has gone away again.
my child, like me has a severe intolerance to dairy. vomiting, rashes and diarrhea. but i do think that he has leaky gut syndrome. we are just waiting for the results, before we go completely GF/CF and our DAN Dr. agrees with me. We do not have the allergy test results back, so i do not for sure that it is a true allergy.
i am not advocating that you require a GF/CF diet. but if you are considering it, i believe that there are easier transitional alternatives to cow's or goat's milk, since they are both bovines. (just to clarify from the previous statement)