Milk Ladder Recipes | Stage 1 | Malted Milk Biscuits

Inside: How to make malted milk biscuits for stage 1 of the milk ladder.

I first worked my way up the milk ladder with my youngest daughter in 2015, with her successfully reaching a point that she can eat most foods without any allergic reaction at all.

She may well have made it to the very top but she actually didn’t enjoy the taste of fresh milk so I didn’t push it (you can read all about my first experience of the milk ladder here).

A few years later my son was born and he too had a milk protein allergy. The worry never goes away when dealing with a food allergy, even though you know it will all be ok.

So if you are going through the early stages of diagnosis through your healthcare professionals or are ready to start the milk ladder, I am right here with you. I get it.

If you aren’t sure if you’re dealing with a cow’s milk allergy then head over to my CMPA guide for parents.

What is the milk ladder?

If you or your child has a cow’s milk protein allergy (or intolerance) then you will have been advised that you need to work your way up the milk ladder so that their immune system does not react to dairy foods.

However, sometimes this information seems to slip through the net and people have no idea that it even exists.

Our own experience is that it is pretty much up to you to deal with it – having to search out the recipes for different milk products and the steps to get yourself through it.

The milk ladder is essentially a series of steps from a tiny amount of baked milk, up to being able to drink a whole glass of milk.

It isn’t a quick process and you may find yourself repeating steps if a stage causes a reaction, but there is hope at the end of the tunnel, I promise. There will come a day when they will happily eat an ice cream and all of the other wonderful dairy products on the market and these days will be a distant memory.

When to start the milk ladder?

I started the milk ladder with Lily at around 2 years old (I think!) but due to the amazing choice of dairy-free products on the market, I have been spoiled with William.

It has made me a little complacent with the whole process but he is getting to an age when he recognises that he is different.

I never want him to feel as though he is different to his sisters or his friends, so it is definitely time. Plus, I am tired of having to check food labels all the time.

It is up to you when you start, but most doctors recommend starting at 1 year – 18 months old.

But if you choose to start later (as I am with William at 3 years old) then that is absolutely fine too. In fact, I did the milk ladder on myself aged 34!

How to start the milk ladder

As you can see from the picture above, there are 12 steps on the ladder – the first step of the ladder being a malted milk biscuit. Choose a time that suits you, when everyone is well and rested.

Starting with the first stage, give a quarter of a biscuit on day 1. If there are no side effects then continue with the same amount for day 2 and day 3 – giving their immune system a chance to adjust to that amount. Remember to keep an eye out for delayed onset reactions such as tummy upset as well as the obvious immediate reactions such as hives.

Then you start over, this time with half a biscuit each day. Carry on with this method until you have completed 3 days giving a whole biscuit.

Once you’ve completed the first step, move onto the second, then the third etc etc…

What if they fail a step?

It is absolutely normal to reach a step and stay there for a while. It doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong, just that they are not ready to progress further at that very moment.

The advice is to wait 3 months if you encounter a reaction. Not to stop completely, but just not to take on the next step.

So if you failed on step 3, go back to the previous step and keep on allowing them to have foods from that stage until you are ready to try again.

Stage 1 of the milk ladder – malted milk biscuits

You don’t have to make your own biscuits, there are plenty of malted milk biscuits available in the shops.

For us though, we are dealing with a soy milk allergy too and so the only option for us is to make our own.

This recipe makes 40 small biscuits

Ingredients

110g unsalted butter

110g caster sugar

175g self-raising flour

50ml evaporated milk

Water if the mixture is too try

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC for fan ovens)

Cream the butter, sugar and milk together and then add the flour to create a dough. Add in water as necessary so that you can roll the dough into a sausage.

Flour the countertop and then use a knife to chop the dough into discs. You can either use up the whole mixture to make around 40 discs or divide up the mixture and save some for later.

You can wrap and freeze the excess dough to use another time.

Cook for 15 minutes, until the biscuits are golden but still soft.

Leave to cool and then they are ready to eat.

How did we get on?

We completed the stage successfully but did reach a stumbling block as William caught a cold. I wasn’t sure if symptoms were due to the cold or a reaction to the biscuits so we waited.

Once he was well again we carried on and he was absolutely fine eating a whole biscuit. Now it is time for the next stage – stage 2!

Click here to read the full milk ladder series for my daughter’s progress.