So I've kind of let this little project fall by the wayside. What can I say? Life just gets in the way sometimes. Let me catch you up.
First, our son (we were calling him Monkey, remember?) is doing very well. He is now 20 months old and I'm happy to say he is eating a normal, non-restricted diet. Yep, you read that right... he no longer has a sensitivity to dairy or soy! I can't tell you what a relief it is. Not only does he not have to deal with these issues for the rest of his life, we were spending over $300 a month for his Neocate formula! So how did this come about? Our gastroenterologist told us to try reintroducing dairy and soy around 18 months. So when he was 17 months old we gave him a sippy cup of whole milk. And he loved it. The first few days he had some loose stools, and we were a little worried, but he didn't seem to be hurting so we pushed through and his system adjusted to the change. Once we were in the clear and confident that he was doing okay on all things dairy we moved on to soy. This was a little rougher. He had some screaming fits but not as often as he used to. I'd say once a week he would act like his tummy was bothering him. This went on for a few weeks but eventually worked itself out.
Second, we have now welcomed another family member! Our daughter, we'll call her Mini (because she's a miniature version of me!), was born on January 8, 2010. Maybe we're more paranoid than the average parent because of what we went through with our son but she has displayed some of the same behaviors that Monkey displayed when he was a tiny thing. So, we decided that I would go ahead and cut dairy and soy from my diet as a precaution. Hopefully, if she does have these same issues, cutting dairy and soy from my diet early enough will prevent the blood in the stool and also allow me to breastfeed longer than six months. I've been off of dairy and soy almost 4 weeks now and she's doing better. Her bowel movements and gas don't seem to cause her any more discomfort. She still grunts and squirms and turns red but at least she's not crying out sharply. This past weekend, though, her sharp cries returned and we were all scratching our heads. That's when I remembered the only thing I hadn't read the label on was a can of roasted cashews that I had been snacking on.... a lot. Sure enough, they contained soybean oil. I didn't read the label because I'd eaten cashews, and made sure they didn't contain soy or dairy, in the past. But this was a different brand... so that makes all the difference!
So there you are, you're all caught up! When I discover new and exciting things to ingest I'll be sure to post about it. I've found that going dairy and soy free has been much easier this time around because I've already done all the research and label reading... but I'm always on the lookout for new things to eat!
First, our son (we were calling him Monkey, remember?) is doing very well. He is now 20 months old and I'm happy to say he is eating a normal, non-restricted diet. Yep, you read that right... he no longer has a sensitivity to dairy or soy! I can't tell you what a relief it is. Not only does he not have to deal with these issues for the rest of his life, we were spending over $300 a month for his Neocate formula! So how did this come about? Our gastroenterologist told us to try reintroducing dairy and soy around 18 months. So when he was 17 months old we gave him a sippy cup of whole milk. And he loved it. The first few days he had some loose stools, and we were a little worried, but he didn't seem to be hurting so we pushed through and his system adjusted to the change. Once we were in the clear and confident that he was doing okay on all things dairy we moved on to soy. This was a little rougher. He had some screaming fits but not as often as he used to. I'd say once a week he would act like his tummy was bothering him. This went on for a few weeks but eventually worked itself out.
Second, we have now welcomed another family member! Our daughter, we'll call her Mini (because she's a miniature version of me!), was born on January 8, 2010. Maybe we're more paranoid than the average parent because of what we went through with our son but she has displayed some of the same behaviors that Monkey displayed when he was a tiny thing. So, we decided that I would go ahead and cut dairy and soy from my diet as a precaution. Hopefully, if she does have these same issues, cutting dairy and soy from my diet early enough will prevent the blood in the stool and also allow me to breastfeed longer than six months. I've been off of dairy and soy almost 4 weeks now and she's doing better. Her bowel movements and gas don't seem to cause her any more discomfort. She still grunts and squirms and turns red but at least she's not crying out sharply. This past weekend, though, her sharp cries returned and we were all scratching our heads. That's when I remembered the only thing I hadn't read the label on was a can of roasted cashews that I had been snacking on.... a lot. Sure enough, they contained soybean oil. I didn't read the label because I'd eaten cashews, and made sure they didn't contain soy or dairy, in the past. But this was a different brand... so that makes all the difference!
So there you are, you're all caught up! When I discover new and exciting things to ingest I'll be sure to post about it. I've found that going dairy and soy free has been much easier this time around because I've already done all the research and label reading... but I'm always on the lookout for new things to eat!
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