I can have DAIRY again, well sort of...

My pregnancy was full of ups and downs - but in the long run was well worth it because husby and I are now the proud parents of a beautiful, silly, loud, baby girl! I posted a while ago that I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes during my last trimester. You can imagine my shock and sadness at the time because I always had the notion that, "Hey I'm pregnant, I can eat whatever I WANT!!" Well, not so in my case. However, I quickly turned that low into a high and got on the right track and pretty much just ate healthy. 

So, you would think that after baby E was born that I could go back to my regular eating habits right? I did for a few months...4 months to be exact. Then we had baby E's 4-month well baby check up and found out that she had a milk-protein (MP) allergy. What does that mean? Well since I was exclusively breastfeeding E, it meant that something I was eating was causing the tiny dots of blood we saw in her poopy diapers. Yep, you can be sure that husby and I freaked out the first time we saw those tiny specks. It was actually around her 2-month appointment that we noticed the blood. At first the Dr. thought that maybe it was E fighting off a cold that I may have passed down to her and since we didn't see any more dots of blood in her poop afterwards - we thought the same as well.

But, at her 4-month appointment E had pooped right when we got to the doc's office. I guess you could say we were lucky that she did because the doctor was able to see her actual poop in person and confirm her suspicion that it may be MP allergy. From that point on the doctor wanted me to eliminate all the big dairy culprits (milk, cheese, creams) from my diet and see if that helped. After doing an elimination diet for the next month, we found out that I had to take out ALL forms of dairy (yup, even the hidden dairy like whey, casein, lactate, etc...) and also beef. I was so, so, so sad. I thought after having GD and needing to eat well during my pregnancy, that everything would just go back to normal once E was born. I mean, I guess it could have if I decided to just feed E formula instead of breast milk. But I didn't want to rob E of the nutrients that she could get from my breastmilk if all I needed to do was make some dietary restrictions and sacrifices until she turns 1. So, since December I had been calling myself a pseudo vegan. Hehe, because I couldn't have any dairy or beef, BUT I ate chicken/pork/fish. 

Notice though that I said HAD??? As of E turning 9 months , I am now able to have some dairy and also beef again. Last week was the first time I ate ice cream/froyo/baked goods  with dairy. Albeit, I can only have 1/2 cup per day - but I'll take it! The funny thing is is that I think my stomach isn't used to the dairy back in my system. It starts getting kind of jumpy/nauseous sometimes after I eat dairy. I haven't had any cheese yet which is probably the one thing that I've missed the most next to my fav Chocolate Malted Crunch ice cream.  Just waiting on the doc to give me the go ahead on expanding my dairy repertoire=)! 

Haha- but again just like the diet I had to maintain while I had GD , husby LOVED the diet I was on while eliminating dairy. Pretty much a vegan/paleo diet and sometimes gluten free diet as well. I've never felt so restricted before. I'll be honest, it did depress me in the beginning. I felt as though I was being a horrible mommy. First I get GD, then I had cholestasis (that will be in another post for sure!), and this last part of enduring E's MP allergy. I am glad that she seems to be reacting well to my daily 1/2 cup dairy intake. I know the doctor tried reassuring me that this can happen to babies because their stomach's are not mature enough to break down the protein found in cows milk. Plus E's symptoms were mild, so we were glad for that. Usually babies can outgrow this after 6-9 months, so so far things are looking well for E (crossing fingers that she reacts well to more dairy in my diet and eventually her own diet!!). And I was able to have some dairy sooner at 9 months than at the original time frame of when E would turn 1. So, I'm grateful.

Whew, long post! But again, just wanted to share my experience. I know when I first found out about the MP allergy I hunted and searched the web for things I could eat. More posts to come about that. Buuuuuut I'll leave you with this treat:

Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips

I LOVE these mini choco chips. Most dark chocolate chips are dairy free, so this was no different tasting to me. Saved me from all my chocolate cravings and urges to bake! 
Enjoy! Always looking out for you mamas!