Dairy Free

So Critter has been kind of fussy after feedings and often spitting up curdled milk 30 minutes to hours after each feeding.  She sounded "wheezy"  a lot of the time like boogers were stuck in her throat.  Dr.Google to the rescue I found out that it *might* be a dairy intolerance/allergy.  Her symptoms fit and the only way to know for sure would be for me to eliminate dairy from my diet.  Yah, that sounds like fun for the girl who will easily drink 3 gallons of milk by herself in a week plus yogurt and string cheese daily.  I have very strong bones and the one time I ended up with a running stress fracture it was almost healed completely 1 week after not running when I finally was able to see the doctor.

Well, I bit the bullet and cut dairy from my diet and knew it could take up to 2 weeks for the protein in cows milk to be eliminated from my body completely and to see results in Critter.  If you are wondering a dairy allergy/intolerance is different than a lactose allergy/intolerance.  There is a protein in cow milk that is different than lactose so even if a food is lactose free it does not mean that it is dairy free.  Shopping has been interesting and I've become an expert label reader.  About 2 days later she was a happier baby and I haven't looked back.  She still gets a lot of mucus but I guess that is just her.  She is significantly less fussy after all feedings and will actually konk out after most of them in a matter of 15 minutes instead of fussing for an hour or more.
Has this been hard for me, YES!  Is it worth it?  YES!  And even better news I can try to add dairy back into my diet when she approaches 6 months and most likely she will have outgrown the intolerance.  If I were to continue eating dairy she might continue to have the intolerance/allergy for a long time or never outgrow it so it is a win/win in my book.  Well, other common allergies are nuts and wouldn't you know that she doesn't tolerate nuts well either.  I love me some PB sandwiches (I was eating 3-4 a day) but she would have puffy/red eyes and be awake for a while after I had one so I eliminated nuts as well.  I eat foods that may have traces of dairy or nuts, meaning they were processed on shared equipment because the intolerance isn't that bad but as a rule I try to not have any.
I never realized how much a mom is willing to do or give up for her own child(ren) until Critter.  Now I get it and can never say thank you enough to my own mom for everything she has done and sacrificed for me and continues to do and sacrifice.  (giving up free time to watch Critter so I can go running).