Dairy-Free

Right before my sweet little Third baby turned 2 months she started having a little bit of blood in her diapers. Negligent Mother over here thought "oh no big deal". I know that is usually a sign of a food allergy, but the girl is one of the happiest babies I have ever met. She never cries and is definitely thriving in the weight-gaining department, so I figured a little blood in the diaper wasn't a big deal. Then I took her to her 2 month check, and her pediatrician thought the blood was a big deal. My Mom (who works for an allergist) also thought this was something to be concerned about.

Thriving.

Anyway, after a few weeks with the blood happening occasionally I stopped eating all dairy and nuts. She hasn't had any blood in a week, so I'm motivated to keep up the diet, and she has an appointment with the allergist next week.... hopefully we'll get some answers. I'm hoping my sweet little girl is okay- she seems pretty happy.

But Mommy needs to complain a little.... after being sick for 30 weeks of pregnancy it seems a little unfair to have to cut out all the delicious foods that I struggled to keep down for 30 weeks. Plus a breastfeeding Mama is starving all. day. long. When I decided to cut out dairy I was pretty sure it was the end of the world. Peanut butter M&Ms. Ice cream. Milkshakes. Cereal. Cheese on EVERYthing. Those are just a few of the things I knew I could not possibly live without. This is dramatic, but dessert is my weakness, and I'm an emotional eater.

There is a reason I never take pictures of food, but don't these look yummy?!

After I gave myself the "be reasonable" pep-talk about all of the people who have much stricter diets for much longer, and this really isn't a big deal.... I decided I'd look at this as a diet, so I could lose my baby weight from the last 3 pregnancies (isn't baby girl so sweet to give me this opportunity?!). I'd love to report that I've lost all kinds of weight and have learned self-control, but nope. It has been good, because it has forced me to meal plan better, so that I always have dairy-free meals planned, and I've learned that rice milk on cereal is delicious, but I have also learned about all kinds of dessert substitutes.... Did you know that Oreos don't contain dairy!??!?! I don't even want to think about how it is possible that those chocolate and cream cookies have no dairy, but they are in my pantry, and they are yummy. The other night my friend, Miesha, came to my rescue- she is also a dairy-free breastfeeding Mama... except I think she has cut all allergens, and I don't think she complains about it. She brought this Heavenly little bag of dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips with an insane price-tag. We used those and coconut oil for butter, and we made some fantastic chocolate chip cookies that I have been inhaling ever since. We also enjoyed some margaritas. So I have really learned no lessons, except that being dairy-free isn't so bad after all.