Lactose Intolerant Toddler

[No Nap Nattie]

Hi! We will be sailing on the Freedom of the Seas. Our 3 year old is Lactose intolerant and she does very well drinking Lactaid, but has never had soy milk. I was wondering first if anyone knows if the Freedom has any kind of milk that is lactose free, I don't want to assume they at least have soy milk. And two if anyone has any suggestions about bringing some kind of milk product with us on to the ship that she can drink? I never even thought it would be an issue until now, we always just get her water or juice when we are out, but can't see her giving up milk for a whole week. :confused:

[cb at sea]

You can contact the "special needs" dept. and tell them what he needs......if they can't do that, is there a "shelf stable" lactose free milk you could bring? I wouldn't trust the fridge or ice bucket with milk for a whole week!

[Chicky2181]

You might find shelf stable lactose free milk at your local food store or health food store. You can bring it on board with you.

 

Rice milk is another good option. I've seen this in indidvual serving boxes with little straws.

[No Nap Nattie]

I'm still waiting to hear back from the cruise line about what would be available on the boat. I'll have to see what shelf stable milk alternative is available at our supermarket. We live on Long Island, NY so we are snowed in right now which is making packing last minute things next to impossible, but we leave on Sunday, so hopefully I'll be able to get on the roads tomorrow.

 

I'm wondering, does rice milk taste like regular milk? If it's close, I could just go with that. I've only had soy milk in my coffee, so I'm not even sure about that. Life would be too easy if Lactaid made milk boxes like the Horizon milk boxes.

 

So we have Soy, rice, a friend suggested almond milk (DD is not allergic to nuts). Does anyone know which tastes the best or the most like regular milk? That was the reason we give her Lactaid, the pediatrician said it tasted the most like milk, so I never did a taste test for the others. I guess I will have to sample all the others now, I'm not really a milk person to begin with :(. This should be interesting.

 

Thanks for the help!

[sherryf]

I'm wondering, does rice milk taste like regular milk? If it's close, I could just go with that. I've only had soy milk in my coffee, so I'm not even sure about that. Life would be too easy if Lactaid made milk boxes like the Horizon milk boxes.

 

I don't know about the taste, but rice milk looks like white water. I tried putting it in my coffee once (when visiting someone who only had rice milk) and it was pointless. Didn't even color it and left a greasy film on top. I don't think a child who is used to full-fat or even low-fat Lactaid would be happy with watery rice milk. It's worse than skim milk, at least as far as using in coffee, which is the only way I use milk.

[No Nap Nattie]

Ok, heard back from RCCL, they said soy milk is readily available on the Freedom of the Seas. I was able to get out to the store and found boxes of vanilla rice milk and chocolate almond milk. The rice milk, even flavored was not so good (that's being polite about it), DD did not care for it. However the chocolate almond milk she loved and asked for more and according to the label has 50 % more calcium than real milk, so I will be bringing that with us. She'll have chocolate milk for a week, hey we're on vacation, why not. It comes in little boxes with straws that are shelf stable (doesn't require refrigeration until after opening), only saw it in a four pack. But I'll pack that and then see about the soy milk only as a last resort.

 

Thanks!

[irishnyc]

My 3 y/o has a mild dairy allergy, and hates all the milk substitutes out there. Honestly I don't blame her. I don't like them either. We just do without her drinking milk when we travel. At home we allow small amounts since we know her tolerance. We just don't chance it in public.