In June of 2008 our son was born. For the first 3 weeks of his life my breastfed boy was a perfect little guy. Slept much of the day and didn't really fuss or cry when he was awake! Then things started to change. He started having screaming fits and I noticed that he often passed gas while screaming. We tried several different gripe waters as well as Mylicon drops. In July of 2008, after talking with several friends and doing some research, I decided to cut all sources of dairy out of my diet.
I started with the obvious: milk, cheese, yogurt, etc., but decided to take it a step further and stay away from anything that contained dairy products of derivatives (whey, casein, ingredients that contained the word "lact"). For a while his gas got better and he wasn't screaming as much. Then it got worse.... much worse.
In late August my husband noticed a small drop of blood in our son's diaper. We called the doctor, of course, and took him in a couple of days later when the blood didn't subside. We were sent away with instructions to redouble my efforts to avoid dairy. After a week of him screaming and screaming and more blood in the diaper I called the pediatrician back and insisted that they perform a stool culture. I just had a feeling it was something more than a milk protein allergy, as I had already been off dairy for over 6 weeks. The tests came back showing a Shigella infection. A bacterial infection in the colon that was causing ulcers on the intestinal lining.... thus causing belly cramps and blood in the stool.
Well, we dealt with that for a while and, when we insisted on retesting his stool it came back negative..... but he was still screaming and having bloody stools! Finally, after about 4 stool tests, we were referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist. At the age of 5.5 months, after over 4 months of bloody stools and screaming fits, he was also diagnosed with a soy intolerance. We put him on Neocate formula and it all cleared up. In the meantime, I pumped around the clocked and cut soy from my diet, determined to keep breastfeeding! During all of this my supply was greatly decreased but we still nurse in the mornings... and I still eat no dairy or soy. The gastroenterologist tells us that he will have to stay on the dairy-free, soy-free diet until he is 18 months old.
I wanted to start this blog to help other mothers out there in my situation. The task of cutting dairy was daunting enough but it seems that soy products are used in EVERYTHING (including cooking spray!). This blog will be mostly recipes and food ideas for both mom and baby.
Our son is now 7.5 months old and happy as can be. It's like he's a completely different child. He's great at eating purees and starting to eat some finger foods. I will include in this blog not only what I feed myself but what I feed my son.
Please feel free to leave comments if you have questions or if you have recipes or other ideas!
I started with the obvious: milk, cheese, yogurt, etc., but decided to take it a step further and stay away from anything that contained dairy products of derivatives (whey, casein, ingredients that contained the word "lact"). For a while his gas got better and he wasn't screaming as much. Then it got worse.... much worse.
In late August my husband noticed a small drop of blood in our son's diaper. We called the doctor, of course, and took him in a couple of days later when the blood didn't subside. We were sent away with instructions to redouble my efforts to avoid dairy. After a week of him screaming and screaming and more blood in the diaper I called the pediatrician back and insisted that they perform a stool culture. I just had a feeling it was something more than a milk protein allergy, as I had already been off dairy for over 6 weeks. The tests came back showing a Shigella infection. A bacterial infection in the colon that was causing ulcers on the intestinal lining.... thus causing belly cramps and blood in the stool.
Well, we dealt with that for a while and, when we insisted on retesting his stool it came back negative..... but he was still screaming and having bloody stools! Finally, after about 4 stool tests, we were referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist. At the age of 5.5 months, after over 4 months of bloody stools and screaming fits, he was also diagnosed with a soy intolerance. We put him on Neocate formula and it all cleared up. In the meantime, I pumped around the clocked and cut soy from my diet, determined to keep breastfeeding! During all of this my supply was greatly decreased but we still nurse in the mornings... and I still eat no dairy or soy. The gastroenterologist tells us that he will have to stay on the dairy-free, soy-free diet until he is 18 months old.
I wanted to start this blog to help other mothers out there in my situation. The task of cutting dairy was daunting enough but it seems that soy products are used in EVERYTHING (including cooking spray!). This blog will be mostly recipes and food ideas for both mom and baby.
Our son is now 7.5 months old and happy as can be. It's like he's a completely different child. He's great at eating purees and starting to eat some finger foods. I will include in this blog not only what I feed myself but what I feed my son.
Please feel free to leave comments if you have questions or if you have recipes or other ideas!
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