I was super stressed about having another baby, but many of you told me he would seem like a piece of cake compared to having twins. Since I tend to be a glass half empty kinda girl, I told everyone I bet he cries all the time, wants to be held nonstop, etc. Well I was right...he was officially diagnosed on Friday with COLIC. And I was told to give up
ALL dairy for 3 months because there is a
chance he can't tolerate the dairy in my diet. Cut out
ALL dairy (and soy) based on the
chance he can't handle it!!! Ian doesn't have any of the signs of being lactose intolerant (rash, diarrhea, vomiting) other than he is very fussy, his brother's have eczema and my
husband's family has a history of allergies. Why didn't I ask about that while we were dating instead of focusing on his character, integrity, honesty, hotness, etc?
Anyway..there is almost nothing more than I love right now than having a big ole' glass of milk in the morning, a pound of cheese during lunch, and a HUGE bowl of ice cream at night. So instead, I was making sugar cookies with icing at 8:00 p.m. last night. I have tried really hard the past 2 days to give up dairy and I think my only slip ups were the creamer in my coffee (not giving that one up), a handful of Cheetos and a few Tootsie Rolls - yes they have nonfat milk in them. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can eat that doesn't involve dairy or soy? And will this even improve our quality of life? It can be pretty bad at times.
On a positive note, Ian is huge (12.6 lbs and only 7 weeks old), really cute, still loves his swing and is starting to smile...at me of all people!
14 comments:
leslie! i had to give up dairy for reed, too - - and it's been soo soo hard! i had to give it up weeks ago and i soo miss my cereal in the morning! honestly, as you're concerned - - i haven't really noticed a difference. the things we do for our boys! give me a call when you get a chance! i need to ask you some questions about your burb!
Glad Ian is doing better. As for what you can eat, there are dairy/allergy free chocolate chips out there made my Enjoy Life. EL also has multiple products out there that ARE enjoyable and yummy. They also have a dairy/soy free choc bar out there too. Trust me, with food allergies, they are actually good!
~Elyse~
rice milk...but it tastes terrible
Leslie - My sister Megan is a dietican and also the mother of a 1year old that has finally outgrown her allergies to dairy and soy to name a few! My sister didn't eat dairy or soy for an entire year. I will have her e-mail you some suggestions!
Hilary
Hi, I am a friend of Meredith Northcutt's and love to read your blog. I was in the same bost as you! My son was the exact same way (we just had him tested at a year old and he out grew both the diary and the soy!) but I gave up all diary and soy for six months and it was difficult but now I look back and it was worth it! It really does make a difference! It will take several days for the diary and soy to get out of both your and your babies system but the colic should get better! I went to whole foods and spent about two hours. Ezekiel bread is diary free and the Annie's brand crackers and cookies are as well. Also individually packaged Oreos are good (I ate about 100 of them!). I also did the rice milk thing at starbucks! It was a savior at the holidays! Take the rice milk and they will make it for you! Please let me know if you need more info! I feel for you but believe me it is worth it, your baby will be happier!!! Also we did Nutramigen formula as the last bottle before bed and that also helped! my email is annieschneider12@yahoo.com if you need more suggestions!!!
He is too cute! Good luck with the giving up dairy thing...I couldn't live without my nightly bowl of ice cream either :)
Ian is such a handsome boy! I was so glad you posted his weight b/c my baby girl is 8 weeks old and weighs 12 lbs 5 ouncees which seemed big to me! (But she is my first baby so I have nothing to compare it to!) Good luck with the dairy free diet- I hope it helps the bambino!
That pic of Ian boy is so cute! He is such a chunk and I love it ... reminds me of Blake's newborn days! So fun seeing ya'll yesterday. And at least he loves his swing! :) Give his chubby legs a squeeze for me!!
Well, I am bummed your doctor thinks that you need to cut out dairy in order for Ian to be happy and comfortable. One thing you can try is continue to pump, switch to a lactose free or hypoallergenic formula and see if you notice a difference. If you don't notice a difference than perhaps he is having issues with reflux after all. I don't know what to tell you other than if you can do it than you are a saint! I couldn't cut dairy out of my diet, it was too hard!In the end it wasn't necessary either.
I don't buy it! Don't give it up! I promise you will be miserable and it won't help him! That's just me though, some people are better moms, I guess I am not one that will do ANYTHING for their children! ha
Please say you know about Hylands Colic Drops. They are a life saver!!! Elliot had colic and it was hard. Every night from 5-10 she would scream. We had to use colic drops, gas drops and would have to take turns bouncing her on the big exercise ball. It was seriously the only thing that would calm her down! As far as anti-diary, I went to a Herbal Dr. not long ago about my health and she took me off dairy for a while. You will have to go to Rice Milk. It's really not that bad. Not milk but better than Soy. It's basically like skim milk when you have it with cereal. Other than that, EVERYTHING has dairy! It was really hard. You may have to try a health food store to see what they have available. And what a big boy you have on your hands...12.6!!! That is awesome! How are Luke & Sam doing?
Okay, I really laughed out loud about your comment that you "should have asked about family allergies while you were dating!" I can totally relate.
Ansley was always really colicky as a baby. I tried a variety of changes in my diet, and we even had her on medication to try and help it. I am sure you will get many different suggestions, but our best efforts were the vacuum. We kept it plugged in her room on the other side of the room from her crib. She always calmed down when it was running. Literally, when she was having a tough afternoon, the second you would turn off the vacuum she would come unglued. So, then we would turn it on aagain. When she was asleep, we would turn it off.
I really hope that passes for you soon. I truly remember those were tough days. I am glad that he is growing. His pictures are precious!
I had to give up dairy as well with Reid...they thought he was colicky as well. He became a different child when I cut out the dairy for the better. It was really hard at first but I wasn't psycho rigid about it. WEll, at first I was, then I calmed down. My big things were cheese and milk to just completely drop. I still ate tex mex like chicken soft tacos, just no cheese. I found after awhile that it wasn't as hard as I thought. I still had eggs and butter. ANywho, let me know if you have any questions b/c I'd love to try to help. Good luck! :)
I had to cut out dairy for a year with Sophia and I actually liked Almond milk better than rice milk. You can usually find it in the same section at the store as the rice milk. I didn't sit down and drink full glasses of it, but at least I could still have cereal or something to drink with cookies. So many people are allergic to milk that there are SO many good substitutes now. I would go to Whole Foods Market and you will find dairy free everything there!
Sophia was really sensitive to caffeine too, so along with dairy I had to cut out iced tea and CHOCOLATE!! Not fun, but definitely worth it. I could tell her stomach wasn't hurting her anymore once I cut out the dairy.
I am so proud of you and all the hard work you are doing for your kids. And for continuing to nurse Ian even with this added challenge. You are in my prayers every day!
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