Saturday, October 31, 2015

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Non-Dairy Day

            Myles can be a very happy, smiley baby, and these days more so than in the past.  We’ve had some challenging months with him.  A couple minutes of a crying baby is tough enough, a minute of a screaming baby can get to you, and Myles used to scream A LOT.  He could scream for a half hour without anything apparent being wrong.  He went from sleeping through the night or getting up just once, for a month, and then was getting up for 3 times, and a few nights it was every hour (I’ll do the math for you, it equals no sleep for mommy).  Terrible sleep and all the screaming and crying took its toll on us.  We had months of this.  Sometimes I would cry or scream with him even.
Terrible ad. So not true.
            The question of “what is wrong with him,” didn’t seem to have an answer.  I was repeatedly told it was most likely a dairy allergy and that I should change my diet.  I drug my feet on this, as I am a dairy girl through and through.  Plus the fact that everyone seems to be allergic to something these days, well, drives me nuts.  After being so defeated from 2 months of this, I decided to take the drastic leap of going non-dairy.  I had to quit nursing and only pump, feed him formula, and then go off dairy myself.  I could then test my milk with him again after about 4 days.  I bought almond/coconut milk.  Do not drink it thinking it will taste anything remotely like real milk by the way.  But did you know what all REALLY contains dairy?  Not just my beloved (chocolate)milk, but also yogurt, cheeses (cream cheese, sweetened condensed, powdered cheese snacks), chocolate chips, cool whip, ice cream, even my favorite cereal said it contained dairy.  Now what on earth COULD I eat?!  God bless those cows!  Day 1 passed and I was depressed on top of tired and miserable.  And I was hungry.  And thirsty.  And unsatisfied.  This is no exaggeration.
            The next day I had Myles’ wellness check-up and his pediatrician thought it sounded more like acid reflux than a dairy allergy.  PRAISE THE LORD!  I went home and splurged on all things dairy.  After almost 2 weeks on his medicine and still not seeing changes from Myles (it can take at least 2 weeks before taking full effect), in desperation, we threw everything at him at once: foods twice a day, 30 hours of gentle-ease formula, letting him cry at least 5 minutes before responding, and also keeping him on the meds a while longer.  Things did seem to at least improve for a while there, at least the screaming calmed down for a long time (we have returned to some of that some days again).  We have also definitely concluded that he is not allergic to dairy milk.  Thank goodness.  
            While some days (and all too many nights) are still pretty challenging, I’m at least enjoying dairy in my life.  Without it, what else would adequately replace the approximate 50 grams (or more) of protein that I get from it daily?  (I refuse protein powders).  I was still in-season training at the time, and I was concerned about how it would affect my recovery and my body.  Being that sleep is the king of recovery though, I had hit the point where I was willing to try anything.  But thankfully, thus ended my terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad, non-dairy day.  I’d like to NEVER do that again, please.

If you had to give up dairy, what would you miss the most?  Comment on this post and you can be entered for a chance to WIN free chocolate milk swag!

5 comments:

  1. Ice cream!! And chocolate milk!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I start to go crazy if I have to go more than a day without chocolate milk. And I enjoy melting cheese on just about everything. But chocolate milk is the big winner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kerrygold grassfed pure Irish butter is a daily staple for me, but having to eliminate all dairy would be a nightmare!

    ReplyDelete
  4. cheese, I put shredded cheese on almost everything

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup! I was at a loss for what to make for meals!

      Delete