This is what we do for our children.
Over the years I feel blessed that many sacrifices I have made have been fairly painless. I never smoked and didn't drink so no sacrifices there :) My social life did change a bit but that could also be attributed to my growing age as well (ha ha). As parents Jay and I have always believed that our children were additions to our life and compliment us, so instead of completely cutting things out we found a way to include them. Jay continued to play softball and it became our fun family nights at the ball fields. We continued to go out to dinner and join our friends whenever possible.
My first real sacrifice came when I became a SAHM (you know that story - if not you can read about it here). Although that was
Lilah Grace was having problems/issues in the area of BMs (for the non-medical or non-mommies reading this that is bowel movements). She was doing just fine then suddenly around 2-3 months she stopped having BMs. She was always fussy and gassy and it was very upsetting for Jay & I to watch her in so much pain. We took her to her regular doctor and did everything he suggested - Karo syrup, prune juice, pear juice, suppositories and despite my personal feelings of failure (we moms are good at that aren't we?) even supplementing with formula. Well each worked once or twice and then didn't work again. Except the suppositories - they worked every time but it cannot be good to use them often on such a young baby so we took her to a GI doctor. The GI doctor examined her and said everything looks/seems normal so his first thought was she is allergic to milk. Of course her being exclusively breastfed (gave up that nasty formula) this means I must give it up. But this is not what most of you are probably thinking - this is not being lactose intolerant and simply switching to non-dairy stuff. NOPE - this is an allergy to the actual protein in milk and subsequently MANY food products!
My initial research showed the obvious things like milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. But the deeper I dug the more I found. I discovered the protein in cows milk is casein and in many things that you would not think of like some pastas, boxed meal preps, lunch meats, and other items that I regularly eat. I am a person who has never dieted a single day of my life; I have never watched what I eat (except to watch it go in my mouth and off my plate); and never paid attention to ingredients or food boxes. In addition I LOVE stuff with milk!!! I put cheese on everything, I crave milk constantly since having Lilah Grace, my favorite food is Italian (lasagna, ziti, ravioli, pizza, etc), we eat mexican food and queso dip at least once a week, and did I mention the more cheese the better?
Suddenly life as I know it has changed and in a big way. I now have to think about not only the actual food I am eating but also the ingredients used to make that food. Recently while out to eat I figured a salad was safe for me as long as I requested no cheese - well the waiter picked up on my special diet and asked if I had a milk allergy and promptly informed me there was only one dressing that was okay for me to eat as all others had some form of milk used in them. I read each and every box at the grocery store before putting it in the cart and question everything now. I miss my favorite foods and long for the day I can have a milkshake.
Now you are probably wondering if I am going to complain this entire post....
Well no because we are actually seeing a difference with Lilah already. My research stated that it could take 1.5 to 2 weeks for the milk to completely clear my system and another 1.5 to 2 weeks to clear hers. It has only been 3 weeks and already things are improving for her. Within days of giving up milk she had a BM and they are coming more frequently now. She is not as fussy and seems more comfortable and doesn't struggle with her tummy. It is hard to be upset and sad about my sacrifice when I see first hand the difference it is making in my precious baby. Of course the guilt ridden mommy side of me feels terrible that I made her suffer so long by drinking so much milk everyday and not discovering sooner what the problem may have been. But I try to slap that side back and tell her we had no idea and how should we since we had never even heard of this before.
This is a great example of how our sacrifices as parents can turn into rewards because now I get to look at this beautiful face smiling even more at me and know that I am doing everything I can to keep her safe, healthy and happy!
We return to the GI doctor in a few weeks and will report everything that has happened to him. He will then give us his professional opinion if this is truly a milk allergy and let us know what comes next. We are very hopeful that this is something she will grow out of quickly! Until that time I will do what is best for my baby and complain about it every chance I get ;)
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