Annette Weaver, Allergy UK Clinical Dietetic Advisor, describes the development of a new milk ladder booklet and podcast

Allergy UK has developed a digital patient booklet and podcast to help parents and caregivers following the iMAP milk ladder for non-IgE cow’s milk allergy in children.  

The digital booklet is intended for healthcare professionals to provide for parents/caregivers following individualised clinical assessment and a decision to start the iMAP milk ladder. This approach ensures that families receive safe and relevant practical guidance that is informed by both clinical expertise and real-world experience to support their allergy journey.   

The booklet links to a publicly available podcast that combines expert information with real-life parental experience to support parents and caregivers going through milk reintroduction.   

Download the booklet: A practical guide for reintroducing milk using the milk ladder booklet  

Listen to the podcast: Navigating the everyday challenges of a child’s cow’s milk allergy  

To ensure the booklet’s content was accurate, relevant, and practical, we first held a roundtable with six specialist paediatric allergy dietitians. The group agreed to focus on the iMAP milk ladder, as it is the most widely used milk ladder nationally and internationally, and discussed the content, scope, and key messages of the resource. Permission was received from the developers of the iMAP milk ladder to link to the resource without use of the iMAP name. The ladder is therefore described in the booklet as the six-step international milk ladder. 

To ensure that the resource would meet the needs of families, we recruited parents with experience of using a milk ladder for one or more children with non-IgE-mediated milk allergy. Initial content of the digital booklet was presented during two virtual parent group sessions. Parents provided detailed feedback on content, language, recipes and their own experiences with milk reintroduction. They also expressed the need for additional recipes, which were then developed and linked to in the booklet. 

Following parent feedback, the revised booklet was circulated back to the specialist dietitians from the original roundtable for a final review to ensure clinical accuracy and reliability of information. 

A podcast including real-life experience navigating childhood cow’s milk allergy and milk reintroduction was also developed to support families going through a similar journey. The podcast discusses the challenges many parents face, including stress, anxiety and uncertainty when starting or progressing through the milk ladder. There are also practical tips for overcoming common pitfalls. Listeners hear about a parent, Becca, and her experience of diagnosis, milk ladder management plus strategies that helped her family move forward.  

Lastly, we will be hosting a free patient webinar on CMA, on March 26, so if you have patients who may be interested, signpost them to https://allergyuk-cma.eventbrite.co.uk  to register.