Henry nursed until he was 18 months old and because he refused to drink milk or cheese I didn't think anything of it because he was getting enough calcium and vitamin D from nursing. However as soon as he stopped nursing his blood work showed a huge vitamin D deficiency. Not only was Henry not eating any dairy but he was starting to refuse to eat meat as well. So we put Henry on vitamin d supplements and really tried to push the dairy on him and well mayhem arose.
As a mom I just had this feeling and knew that dairy was the culprit so I took the milk and cheese out of his diet and made an appointment with the doctor. Henry was tested and although he didn't have a milk protein allergy the doctor is 99% sure he is lactose intolerant. I was glad to finally have a diagnosis but it brought up a whole slew of issues. Now that I knew he was lactose intolerant I had to figure out just how sensitive he was to dairy.
Most lactose intolerant children just have to avoid dairy like mik, cheese and ice cream. They can have foods like hard cheese and yogurt though. However with Henry once the main culprits were out of his diet I found he would still have 'episodes'. We had a cookout and henry ate a hotdog on a bun. The next day was just awful and I couldn't figure out why. My friend did some googling and then I found out a slew of products contain lactose in order to help perserve them better. Bread, hotdogs, luncheon meats, shortening, salad dressings along with lots of processed foods.
It has become quite a frustrating task. Although once Henry has had a true non-dairy day I have realized what his diapers should look like. I do feel lucky that he is not deathly allergic and the most severe we have to deal with is gas, diaper rash and a very sore bottom.
The most difficult thing now is that everything should really be made from scratch. I've been in the kitchen experimenting and have made dairy free bread as well as muffins. I think I have checked out just about every vegan and non dairy cook book available at the Library. The good news is I have lots more recipes just waiting to be shared here. The best part being that they are all dairy free and Henry approved!
Stephanie has a mild sensitivity to dairy, so I've cut out the obvious dairy foods from my diet. I can still eat things like bread, etc, but I've been doing a lot of learning about dairy and why it's not really that great for us anyways. I found a great bread at Trader Joe's that is dairy free. (I forget the name of it of course.) I drink almond milk and avoid cheese. I do plan to gradually remove all dairy from my diet. I'd love to hear more about living dairy free! (side note, I made the curry rice and Megan ate 3 bowls of it for dinner last night!)
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