Battling green poop with imposter milk
8th March 2009
Do you love dairy as much as I do?
I start the day with milk in my cereal or oatmeal, and have it in my tea throughout the day. My favourite drink is a cold glass of milk (especially with dinner and ice cream). I live off yogurt and blueberries, and eat cheese and crackers almost every day (not to mention add cheese to a good portion of our meals, along with the occasional cream soup). And ice cream and frozen yogurt? Mmmmmm.
But no longer.
We suspect Alice’s vibrant, watery and rather painful green poops are the result of a milk allergy. They haven’t gone away in a month, and now that I’ve read more about it, she has many other signs:
- rubbing her eyes even when not tired, what we now guess it itchiness
- a sandpaper-like raised rash on her cheeks
- persistent red rash on the bum
We don’t know for sure, of course, but it’s a likely culprit. A milk allergy is very uncommon (between 2%-3% of babies), but if a baby has a food allergy, it’s most commonly milk.
The best we can do is cut it out of my diet, and see what happens. The milk proteins can take up to three weeks to get out of your system, but we should notice an improvement in Alice in 5-7 days.
It’s a stress and sacrifice I could do without, but we think it’s worth it. A few months in the grand scheme of my life is nothing, and I’m not willing to give up breastfeeding over what should be a simple fix.
(And she’s so worth it, don’t you think?)
But do you know that dairy is in everything? It’s in margarine! And crackers! Granola bars, cookies, pasta sauce, and — be still, my breaking heart — potato chips.
(I was hopeful about cereal — those that don’t contain dairy, anyways — and tried soy milk on some Mini Wheats this morning? Then gagged. Bleh. Imposter milk is great in tea, but there’s no way I’ll be eating it so overtly.)
So, we’ll see what happens. I’m trying to take a positive attitude and see it as (forcibly) opening up some new recipes and foods. Maybe I’ll discover something I never would have tried otherwise.
Except soy cheese. Gotta draw the line somewhere, and that’s just wrong.
Possibly related posts:
Hi,
I haven’t had a glass of milk in months because it makes my 6mo old spit up-A LOT! I miss it…but you’re right, it’s just a few months of you life.
My nephew is sensitive to milk, and after cuting out all dairy while breastfeeding then introducing one item back at a time week each my SIL found she could eat dairy if it was cooked and it did not affect the baby. Something to do with the protein changing when heated. Just some hope!
Yes she is so worth it! I maybe be a biased Grandmother, but her smile is like rainbows and sunshine, melts my heart and lifts my spirits. Darling Alice, I know Mommy is going to go to any lenghts to get you through this and bring smiles back to your adorable face all the time.
Oooh, this is going to be tough. I am also a dairy-dependent. You can do it. If no dairy = no green, messy poops/cranky baby, it will be reward enough.
Keep us posted on how this experiment goes!
Almond milk isn’t bad, especially the vanilla flavoured.
Yes, you can find Almond Breeze which is Almond milk in Vanilla and Chocolate – great in smoothees.
Oh Carly, that really sucks. But I guess it’s better to know and be able to fix it than to have poor Alice suffering.
Fleishmans margerine is lactose free… There are also (surprisingly) some cake mixes, chocolate cookies, etc. out there that have no dairy! (No name I think.) I have a little cousin who is severely allergic to milk. They found out when he was a baby because he would stop breathing and they had to rush him to the hospital. He wore a breathing monitor for several of the first few months of his life. So, it could be worse… Hopefully, as someone else commented, Alice will grow out of this. Hang in there!
One of my older sisters had a tough time with her second child – rash on cheeks, runny poops all the time and he was gnawing on his fists all the time. Yes, he was allergic to milk. Once she was off all milk, he was a happy kid.
I was talking to a vegan friend today who recommends rice milk as being more palatable than soy…
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