Testing The (Milky) Waters

I started pumping 2 days after Julia was born. Partly to help with "flat" nipples, and partly to start building my freezer stash of breastmilk for Julia when I went back to work. When I first attempted to live dairy-free, I threw out several bags of breastmilk that I had saved. I know, Horror of Horrors! I dumped that precious liquid down the drain! When I finally figured out how to truly eliminate dairy from my diet (including the hidden dairy) I decided to keep that breastmilk, put it in a separate labled Ziploc bag, and save it in the deep freezer. Here's why: When it is time for me to test and see if Julia can tolerate dairy, rather than me eating dairy and Julia having to deal with the effects for days or weeks, I give her a bag of the "dairy milk" each day and see how she reacts. That way if she doesn't tolerate it I can stop immediately and she doesn't have to deal with the after-effects. So here's a word to the wise: Keep the diary milk!!!! Don't dump that precious liquid! Hopefully someday your little one will be able to drink it.

According to Kellymom.com, "many dairy-sensitive babies outgrow their sensitivity by 6 - 18 months, and most outgrow it by 3 years." Friends who have had children with diary sensitivies have told me that their children seemed to grow out of it between 6 and 9 months.

I first tried to test and see if Julia's tummy had matured enough to handle dairy when she was 6 months old. I gave her one "dairy milk" bottle per day while she was at daycare. I didn't notice any changes in her behavior - no increased crying, no apparent tummy ache - for the first day. She never acted like she didn't feel well. Our only clue was Julia's diaper. She started having huge blowouts. And I mean HUGE. All over her back, down the sides, on whatever she was sitting on. Our daycare provider was (and still is) wonderful about it. Then it progressed to multiple times per day. I ended up having to send 5 different changes of clothes because I never knew how many times she would need to be changed. We only did the dairy milk for 4 days that week. We tried again when she was 7 months old and had the same issue. I tried changing diapers and going up a size but still no change. The good news is that she doesn't appear to get the rashes or show outward signs of discomfort, but the blowout situation can't be pleasant for her. We're going to try dairy milk again very soon, so keep your fingers crossed!