Until he is regular again, we are keeping Cameron off of dairy. He is allergic to soy and wont touch rice milk. His sister is on rice milk and we have to severly limit her dairy. I have a feeling this is where we are going to end up with cameron as well. I am concerned then about calcium. He likes the almond milk. He doesnt really eat much that is high calcium. He has trouble with orange juice. I felt this would be a better alternative than other juices that had added calcium but were also full of sugar. Beth cant tollerate dairy protein and soy is just as bad to cause constipation with her, so I was wondering where the almond falls. Is it likely to be constipating?

Hey, Jen!

Kids aged 1 to 3 need 500mg of calcium a day. Do they like tums? When Missy B is short on Ca, we give her a 1/4 of a tums ultra, which makes up 100mg of Ca. If she refuses, we mix it in with her soup.

You can also try Quinoa (keen-wa) available at health food stores & cooked like rice, it's high in calcium, and crushed sesame seeds have 75mg Ca per tablespoon, but they have to be crushed. If they are into fish, any fish with bones in it, like salmon is a good source of calcium, too.

Given the history of your kids, you might want to consult a dietician at this point. There are a few on-line if your insurance doesn't cover it. After all, osteoporosis prevention begins now.

You'll need to check to see if the almond milk is fortified. If it isn't the calcium content might not be very high.

HTH!
Cheers
k

i dont think it is particularly fortified yet the calcium is listed as 20% and he usually takes it with strawberry nesquick wich is fortified

1 cup of almonds has about 385 mg of Ca in it...an ounce by weight...75mg....so it's probably naturally occuring calcium. It would have to have on the label that it was fortified.

Hi,

Almond mile is fine but you do need to get to the 100% RDA for calcium. You can use the almond milk as part of this.

kat...does tuna count?

3 oz of tuna is a great protein source...but only has 9 to 11 mg of calcium.

For fish to be a good to excellent source of calcium, the bones need to be eaten too.

4 oz of canned blue crab has 115 mg.
4 oz Canned Pink salmon, with the bones, has 235mg
4 oz Canned sardines with the bones 433 mg (that's about 2 sardines)

In my experience, when you start having to count milligrams, it's just as easy to give a 1/4 or a 1/2 tums ultra daily, as long as that doesn't interfere with the zantac.

You could always try adding some formula into their diet...like cooking with it or baking with it. One can of alimentum might be worth it until regularity is achieved.

Oh...and if he can have kiwi...that does the bowel good!

HTH! I have a few books with the nutritional content of stuff broken down. I can't remember the exact amount of calcium in the quinoa (I threw that paper out), but if you talk to a dietician on line, he/she could give you that information easily.

I guess i'm just going to have to talk to the ped about something like as you suggested dietician. Maybe it would help boost their immune system if they ate halfway decent. But I have been trying to wait to get a new dr. Unfortunately the one I chose said she would gladly accept them as patients but felt i'd be better off waiting or choosing someone else since she is having health probs. So i'm trying to wait until her stuff clears up (I think she is pregnant and carrying a very light patient load due to complications...could be a long wait)

You might not need a referral. You should call a dietician or two and find out what the procedure is...and go from there. You can call your insurance, too. They may not cover a dietician either. I know ours doesn't.

I've had better luck with the on-line services. But, it DOES suck to have to count those milligrams. You might be in a position to do the tums thing to ease your mind a bit, or bake tea biscuits with alimentum formula instead.

CHEERS!
K

actually...you can use the rice or the almond milk in tea biscuits, too.