Dairy free for 3 months!
Well, it’s been three months now, that I have been regularly avoiding dairy. I started when A was about three over four weeks old, we started noticing that his evenings were very fussy, and sometimes he was crying inconsolably for well over 30 minutes. I had been talking to my sister-in-law about her baby who is just four days younger than Asa. She said that she noticed when she had a Dairy Queen Blizzard, her baby was much fussier. I thought about it, and I realized I ate and drank a LOT of foods with dairy in them. I decided to start avoiding dairy to see if we’d notice a difference. We did almost immediately. In the beginning, though, I struggled to find foods to eat that were dairy free since so much of my diet had revolved around dairy.
We suspected that A’s issues included a dairy sensitivity, but he also has some reflux to deal with. Once we felt we had the reflux under control, I tried a few times to introduce dairy back into my diet, and each time it was met with crying, fussing, and tummy aches. 
Poor guy. So, each time, I immediately elminated it again with positive results.
Now, we’re three months down the road from the initial decision for me to avoid dairy. A is much happier, and I am shocked that one can survive without things like ice cream, cream of mushroom soup in casseroles, ice cream, milk in cereal, and ice cream. I’m hoping that for his sake, it’s only a sensitivity and not an allergy and that he will outgrow it soon.
Oh, I don’t know if I could go without the ice cream! I did have to eliminate garlic, onions, and most green veggies early on. Caused horrible gassiness for our little one. But I’ve slowly been introducing those back into my diet with good luck so far. I’m so thankful that we’ve avoided the colic and reflux. Hope A’s reflux is getting better!
So how do you handle not being able to have dairy? Did you cut it out completely, like in cooked stuff or just actual milk, ice cream, etc? I had hoped I wouldn’t have to do this route for Z but it’s looking like I have to. He’s been spitting up non stop and I had ice cream last night. Poor munchkin!
When I say dairy free I mean no milk at all:
I have been dairy free breastfeeding my son since he has 5 weeks old, since the week before Thanksgiving ’07. The longest Grayson would sleep in the bassinet was 7 minutes after we put him down. We knew something was wrong with our son. We usually slept with him in our arms sitting in a rocker It’s the best decision I could have made for our son. After 4 visits to the pediatrician he was diagnosed with a milk allergy. . The Alimentum is too expensive to feed him exclusively and I have always wanted to breastfeed. Originally I planned to breastfeed him untill he turns 6months, April ’08. I have since decided to now breastfeed him untill he turns 9months, July ’08.
I have since been hired as a nurse at his pediatrician’s office. I absolutely love my job. Since working there, I have found out that nearly 40% of children are allergic to dairy. Of those, they are usually allergic to soy as well.
I encourage Moms to go on the dairy free diet if you are serious about breastfeeding, giving your baby the best milk he deserves.
Some foods I have found that are dairy free:
Rice Dream Rice Milk, Vanilla and Original
Rice Dream Ice Cream ~ I like the Chocolate Caramel Chai
Fleishmann’s Lite Butter
Smart Balance Lite
Lay’s Classic or Wavy Lay’s Potato Chips
Fritos
Tostitos
Cherry Brooke Kitchens’ line of Cake and Cookie Mixes
Clif Bars ~ they say may contain traces of dairy
Luna Bars ~ be careful and read the labels
Smart One’s TV dinners ~ be careful and read the labels
If you would like to chat, email me mkhoward@cinci.rr.com