When I had my fifth baby, I felt like I was becoming an expert on milk allergies. My three boys suffered from them, while my daughter showed no symptoms. So when I had a baby girl, I was very careful that she didn't get any formula. However, she was a very fussy baby. The thought of going through another colicky baby was daunting to say the least. I saw visions of sleepless nights and rings under my eyes. I heard from a friend that she had to go off of all dairy products while nursing because her baby was fussy. You would think that I would put two and two together, but no...I always learn the hard way! I had never thought about a possibile connection between colic and milk (coming through the breast milk). "I wonder..." thought I. So, I decided to take the plunge and go without any dairy products myself. It was the first time in my life that I had sympothy for my oldest son, now ten. Could my food really taste that bad without the cheese and other ammenities? I missed ice cream, cereal and milk, lasagna, and all of my other favorites. I missed goldfish, parmesan cheese, and whipped cream. I began a quest to cook better and to find dairy-free recipes that the whole family could enjoy, since now four of my five children were having problems in one way or another with dairy products.
I have since began writing a book and cookbook that I hope to have ready for sale soon. (www.milkallergycompanion.com) I don't want other mom's to have to go through what I went through. Imagine an entire cookbook filled with recipes completely dairy free that the entire family can enjoy! I am really excited about the prospect, if for nobody else, at least for me so that it can make cooking that much easier for my family:)
Back to my baby...so I did the experiment and went completely off all dairy products. She turned from a fussy baby with diarrhea, gas, and colic type symptoms to the sweetest angel you have ever seen. Everyone I talked to asked me, "Is she always this good?" I smile and say, "Yes." If I had known this, I am convinced that I could have saved my second son and myself months and months of misery when he had his colic. I wish I had known this so that I could have at least tried and made things better for him. After a year of going dairy free myself, I finally got my daughter tested for a milk allergy. It came back negative. My oldest son has a lifetime milk allergy (we keep re-testing him). I can't help but wonder if this could have been avoided had I gone off all dairy while nursing. I guess I'll never know:) Perhaps not, but I am overjoyed that my now seventeen month old can enjoy dairy. The funny thing is, that she doesn't even like it that much. She spits it out and asks for soymilk. Go figure! Anyway, I hope that this helps some nursing mom out there:)
3 comments:
When I found out I was pregnant with my second child I immediately cleared my diet of the remaining milk products (most had already been cleared because we decided to avoid as a family). I also stayed off milk products the entire time I breastfed. My second daughter did not even so much as taste a drop of cow's milk until she was about 3 years old.
She has done fine.
I will never know if it was the fact that she was not exposed to milk at all for so long or if she would not have been allergic anyway. As I mentioned, we avoid milk products as a family, meaning we do not buy milk, cheese, etc. for anyone - even those not allergic. Of course, we do not restrict her when she is at school or parties or visiting friends.
Since she has been in Pre-K for a few months and they are required to give the children milk daily she has come home and complained *daily* how yucky the cow's milk tastes. She never had cow's milk before she started school and apparently it does not taste good to virgin taste buds.
Isn't that amazing? I also have a friend who went off of dairy entirely while nursing and her second child has no allergies either. My 18 mos. old just tested that she is not allergic to milk, however, we kept her on soy. Just the other day I gave her cow's milk. She didn't like it at all. She just spat it out.
Yes, I have had many friends whose children have felt better when they keep all dairy out of their diets while nursing. Since I have a dairy allergy, I don't consume any dairy products at all. Both of my kids were very "easy" babies, barely crying, sleeping well, etc. I wonder if this is because they never got diary in my breastmilk and therefore never had digestion issues. ??? My son had no problem with dairy when I introduced it at 1 year. My daughter is only seven weeks old, so we'll have to see how she does with it.
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