A Milk Allergy?

So, Tayler has been having issues with "projectile" vomitting and diarrhea. (When I say projectile vomitting, I mean it shoots like 1-2 feet. I call her the exorcist.) She has also been grunting a lot and pulls her legs to her knees. I just knew this was not normal. I began doing research online to find out what could be causing vomitting in a breastfed baby. I found a few things, one of which is a milk and dairy allergy. All of her symptoms fell under this category. So, I began experimenting... I ommitted milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. from my diet for 2 days. Well, no throwing up. So, I then ate a salad with shredded cheese to see what would happen... she threw up. So after this experiment and a few accidents I have determined that Tayler is allergic to milk and dairy products. Ok, simple enough.... I stopped eating milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, etc... all of the dairy products...

Yesterday on the way home Colton and I ate chick-fil-a. I had a grilled chicken sandwich (no cheese or mayo) and french fries. After breastfeeding Tayler, she drenched me in throw up. I began to cry.. My thoughts: What the hell!? I have been so careful!! I did not eat any dairy! What is a matter with my baby?? Well, I began to do research on foods that trigger a milk allergy. Well, in my research, I found that a lot of restaurants use milk in the ingredients when frying foods, as McDonald's does with their french fries. I also ready that most breads contain a milk ingredient. I thought that this meal was soo far from dairy and come to find out, it wasn't. In my research I have found that soooo many foods contain a milk ingredient, specifically a milk protein, which is what the allergen is. Almost everything in my pantry has a milk ingredient... spaghettios, raviolis, pop tarts, bread, etc. I thought that eliminating dairy would be such an easy thing to do... I thought wrong. Almost all processed foods (packages, canned, etc.) contain a milk indredient, so practically almost all shelf items.

Tayler's allergen did not seem to sensitize until about 2 weeks after she was born. I have been pumping breast milk and saving it for later use. I had 32 bottles of frozen breast milk... keyword: had. I have had to discard all of this precious milk. Because Tayler showed no signs of an allergen the first weeks of her life, a lot of that pumped milk probably contains dairy in it. Thus, I have no way of determining what I ate when it was stored. So, I am having to discard all previously pumped milk and start all over again... sooo upsetting. If you have breastfed, you understand how precious breastmilk is and how difficult it is if you had to throw it out.

I plan on purchasing a dairy-free cookbook but for the meantime have found a couple of helpful websites with meal ideas. Most of what I will have to eat is fresh foods... fruit, vegetables, fresh meat, etc. I have made a grocery list and will be going to the store today because currently the only thing we have that I can eat is apples. This is going to be extremely difficult. However, I do no want to stop breastfeeding because breastmilk is the best thing for Tayler and read that finding a formula that does not trigger the allergen is very difficult so switching to formula is the worst thing to do. Even though eating dairy-free is going to be very difficult, I am trying to stay positive... After I get the hang of shopping and reading food labels, it should hopefully become second nature to me. In addition, I have always heard of people losing a lot of weight after cutting out processed foods from their diet. So, this should be very healthy for us and hopefully help me continue to lose weight. I have lost 32 pounds since going into the hospital for delivery. However, I still have about 50 pounds that I would like to lose so hopefully this new diet will help both Tayler and myself!