A.K.A. – going dairy-free.

After taking BabyK back to the pediatrician yesterday about his eczema rash, I have decided to try my best to go moo-free for 3 weeks to see if his eczema is caused by a dairy allergy. At first, when I heard this a few weeks ago, I thought it would be simple – just don’t drink milk, and don’t eat cheese, chocolate, or ice-cream (did I say no chocolate?! GAH!).

Turns out, it’s not so simple. Read your product labels of most of the things you buy – bread, chips, salad dressings, snack crackers, etc. Most of them have milk or eggs in them. (And, no, eggs do NOT come from cows, but rather chickens – but I was told to eliminate those too.) This is not going to be as easy as I thought.

Why is it when we’re told not to have something, immediately that’s what you crave? I could have went home and ate the biggest stack of buttermilk pancakes, drank a huge glass of milk, and had a big Snickers or BabyRuth bar for desert. Granted, my blood sugar would go through the roof, but no one would see that. I would probably suffer a few hours while my insulin worked to bring me back down to normal range, but if BabyK is allergic, he would have broken out much worse for days. He would break out in an itchy rash everywhere and everyone would be able to see it, and see that he’s not a happy baby when he breaks out.

I had considered trying him on special formula that is dairy free for a month to see if it helped, but the pediatrician we have is very, VERY pro-breastmilk only, so we are trying every avenue we have until we exhaust them before taking him off of it. He may be allergic to something in my milk, but the pediatrician sees the benefits of all the extra stuff breastmilk provides over formula as being more important right now.

Of course, in addition to benefitting him (as I said – IF it’s a milk-protein allergy), I’m sure it would help my blood sugar control as milk and it’s products do make my blood sugar do wonky things. I already avoid drinking milk because of it, but never took the leap to actually remove milk completely from my diet. I guess while testing him, I’ll be testing myself as well.

So, we’ll see. This is going to be a long 3 weeks. At the end of 3 weeks, I’m to consume something with dairy in it to see if he breaks out again. If he clears up during the three weeks then does break out, it’s a moo-allergy. If not and he’s stays broken out like before, then it’s another allergy. My next trial will be citric acid. It’s in a LOT of foods and most flavored drinks, even body washes and lotions. Erik has a friend who’s allergic to citrus, so it gave me the idea to test that as well.

But one thing at a time.

Cuz myyy word. If I cut out both, I’m not gonna have anything but water to drink and meat to eat! (I’m sure it’s not that drastic, but ya know.)