On going dairy free

My saviours

I've been dairy free for three weeks now.

As mentioned in earlier posts Abby has been a tricky wee babe and a major learning curve.  The one thing I didn't have to relearn is that it's best to trust your gut when it comes to your kids.  From when she was very small she was in obvious pain when passing gas or pooping.  She would bring her little legs up to her chest and scream her lungs out.  She got nappy rash that looked like acid burns.  It just felt like something was wrong.

When she was three weeks old I contemplated taking dairy out of my diet to see if that would help.  I was eating a LOT of dairy at the time (breastfeeding cravings) and we have a fair few family members with dairy intolerances.  I managed 11 hours when I initially tried to give it up, then caved for some cheese.  I had many people telling me baby guts are unstable - especially around the 'wake up' time of three weeks and I loved cheese so much I decided to believe them.  Cos cheese!

Two weeks later with everything still very bad I decided I needed to make a more concerted effort.  Three days later, while we didn't have a magically happy baby, we did have a baby with more regular and seemingly less painful bowel movements and no nappy rash.

This time before properly taking the plunge I made sure I had things in the house I could eat so I didn't feel like I was totally missing out.  The things that have helped the most with that have been:   
- Cadbury hot chocolate (helps with the sweet and creamy cravings)
- Almond milk (best milk replacement.  Never liked soy or rice milk but this is great, especially so in hot chocolate or with cereal)
- Whittakers dark chocolate (feeling like I can still have chocolate.  Cos I can)
- Avocados (creamy cheese on toast or crackers replacement.  When I need savoury snack)
I was also extremely fortunate to receive a gift pack of replacement cheese products from my friend Alice at Angel Food.  My pick of the bunch has been the tasty cheese sauce mix.  Again, so helpful with cravings.  Have used it in 'cheesy' dishes for me and Murray and he concurs it is great! 

The first week was hard - particularly because we still have dairy in the house.  Etta is a very fussy kid so basically if there is a food she will eat we will have it.  But I've managed to be good and not eat her cheese and yoghurt, instead opting for avocado crackers if I so much as thought about it.  Now, it's no big deal.  I've even had dairy free home made pizza and not felt resentful.  I realised the main thing cheese really did to enhance my favorite toppings was glue them together. While glue is important, I can live without it.

The other reason it's been easy is because Abby's tummy is sooo much better.  It is hard for me to knowingly eat something that might affect her because the difference in her well being is so marked.  Eating cheese would make me feel like I was knowingly hurting her.  It'd be like kicking a puppy only a tiny, human puppy.  If I actually did that I'd probably have her taken away by CYFs.  Those thoughts are definitely enough to put me off cheese.*

And there are pros in it for me. I've always done better without dairy - I just love it SO MUCH it's hard to do without it.  The only time my cholesterol has ever been higher than it should it was 100% down to cheese and hollandaise.  And when I'm anxious or my immunity is bung I react badly to lactose.  Consequently, I've never actually liked milk or cream - so the almond milk discovery was a fantastic one for me and has heralded a permanent change.  Being dairy free is definitely helping me drop those bonus pregnancy kilos without really trying, plus my skin is doing pretty ok too (would be better if it were Summer.  My skin hates Winter).

With this slight cleansing of my diet, and with no longer being pregnant I've decided to finally return to a low gluten diet.  Pregnancy kinda kept the gluten tummy upsets at bay, but now the hormones are diminishing my stomach has started to go to crap again.  And having a fickle stomach combined with not a lot of sleep (newby plus toddler) or time for general health and maintenance, I figure that while I can't magically get more sleep, I can easily change my diet.

So Abby's a bit better, but still not what I see when I see 'normal' babies.  She still wants to be held all the time, dislikes lying on her back and is very, very fussy.  So my next post will be on our adventures into baby osteopathy.  Watch this space!

* For a while at least.  Babies tummies are changeable.  I will try to reintroduce dairy to my diet at some point in the future.  Just not now.  She is so tiny and it clearly causes her grief.  I will try experimentation with low lactose options to see if that's the main player when she's a bit bigger.