Allergies!

This is a LONG post, just so you know. : )

I am not sure how many of you followers know about the crazy adventures we've had through the land of food allergies on behalf of Jacob, but I thought we'd share what we've been through and a little of what we've learned in case any of you have to go through this kind of thing, too. : )

Jacob is allergic to peanuts and milk.

Just FYI, milk allergy is NOT lactose intolerance. Lactose is the sugar in milk. However, a true milk allergy is a problem with CASEIN, which is milk protein. Milk is still milk without its sugar, lactose, and lactose-free milk is still a problem for those with milk allergies, because there is still the casein in it. And anything that is made from any part of milk or milk derivative—cheese, cream, yogurt, sour cream, butter, even whey, is a problem.

Anywho, we figured out Jacob has a milk allergy when he was a few months old. I was exclusively breastfeeding him, so the only food he got was through what I ate, and he was having recurrent diarrhea that was green. He was becoming fussy a lot (which is very unlike him—Jacob is about the mellowest baby in the world, and he won’t cry unless something is very wrong), and arching his back like his tummy hurt him, and crying at night. He also was beginning to get eczema-like rashes on his legs, tummy, and arms and neck. We discussed things with the pediatrician, and ruled out any kind of bacterial infection or parasites or other illness with a number of labs and bloodwork. The next step was to see if it was allergies, and that meant eliminating certain things from my diet, seeing if there was an improvement, and then eating those things again and seeing if things went back to where they were.

I did figure out that it was a milk sensitivity for sure. It was like magic when Jacob’s symptoms disappeared. And sure enough, everything was back again when I had stuff with milk in it. Also, Jacob got to Elsie’s milk cup one time and drank some, and immediately he got hives around his mouth. Thank goodness for Benadryl! And there were a number of other times that he was just too quick and ate things he shouldn’t have, and every time, he had a reaction.

So I went dairy free for about 6 months. No dairy products whatsoever, or anything that contained anything that came from milk, since I was still nursing Jacob. This required label-reading on EVERYTHING, asking about foods at restaurants and other people’s houses, and lots of avoidal of things. The hardest thing to go without was cheese. I also missed chocolate—milk chocolate, that is, which is my favorite. There are some higher-end brands of dark chocolate that are dairy-free, but I don’t like dark chocolate as much. I’ll eat it, but it doesn’t satisfy for me.

Things I learned from going dairy-free:
• It’s expensive and much more time-consuming to cook, but you almost have to make all your own food to ensure it’s “kosher”. Also, it’s insanely hard. You do have to be highly motivated (like having a child who will be in physical pain if you do eat something with milk).
• There are lots of alternative “dairy” products that are pretty good, actually: soy milks, rice milks, almond milk (LOVE almond milk), coconut milk, soy and coconut milk yogurt (my favorite!), tofu-based cream cheese and sour cream (Tofutti brand makes some good ones). There are also dairy-free “cheeses”, but they will COST YOU (which is why I never bought them).
• An EXCELLENT resource and cookbook is Go Dairy Free, available online at godairyfree.org or also on Amazon. It is so thoroughly researched, with tons of recipes for making your own “dairy” products and alternatives you can buy, as well as just regular cooking—dinners, desserts, snacks, appetizers, etc., etc., etc. My only complaint is that there are no pictures. But everything is explained very well, and the lady who wrote the book has lived the dairy-free lifestyle for years, and has personally tried every recipe.
• There are a TON of blogs and websites dedicated to milk allergies, how to cope, and having recipes. Just google “milk allergy”. Too many to name here that I like.
• For me, it was easier to just make most family meals non-dairy. There are lots of foods that we eat that are easy to just leave out the cheese or use an alternative milk in lieu of real milk. Occasionally I did make two different versions of a meal—one with milk stuff, and one without, but that took SO much time, and I always was slightly jealous of the rest of my family who could eat the better stuff.
• READ FOOD LABELS. Seriously, they put milk, or milk derivatives, in EVERYTHING. Surprising places include, but are not limited to: non-dairy topping, most margarines, some rice and soy-based “cheeses”, condiments, some lunchmeats and other processed meats, seasoning blends, ramen noodle seasonings, bouillon cubes, breads, crackers, pretzels, soups. . .

When Jacob was a year old, the pediatrician recommended having a basic allergy test done for him. We did so—it was a blood test, not a skin prick test. It was just a basic test for the five most common food allergens: wheat, milk, fish, peanuts, and eggs. According to that test, he is very allergic to peanuts, very minorly to egg whites, and nothing registered on milk.

We knew about the peanuts, as he got to part of Elsie’s peanut butter sandwich one time and got hives around his mouth. Eggs was a surprise (although, since he doesn’t every have any issues with eggs, and he eats them all the time, we don’t really have to do anything differently). Milk was a BIG surprise.

But many children can “outgrow” milk allergies when they get to be about a year old—basically their digestive systems and immune systems are more mature by then, and they can handle things much better that might have been a problem before. We were pretty thrilled at the news, although we weren’t totally buying that he had no issues with milk. So we tried giving Jacob some whole milk. And he had no apparent reaction. No hives. No diarrhea. No big eczema flare-up. Wahoo!

So we gave him other milk stuff and started regularly cooking with things that have milk in them. We basically went back to a normal diet, and it was GREAT. I think I made everything with cheese for those first few dinners. It was WONDERFUL!

But it wasn’t to be. There were a couple times that Jacob had milk with cereal and got hives. I figured it was the cereal, since it couldn’t be the milk (I hoped!), and he didn’t get hives every time after having just plain milk. But after a couple weeks all of Jacob’s old symptoms began coming back—the diarrhea, the fussiness, the trouble at nights, and the bad eczema all over. I tried going dairy-free again for him and myself (I haven’t weaned him yet) for a while, and presto! No problems again. So milk is still an issue for Jacob.

He can handle some milk up to a point. I think that going without casein for so long allowed his body a break so it could get to the point where he could handle some. So we have some meals with milk, some without. And we just have him drink soy milk or almond milk when he is having it straight or with cereal. And once in a while he can have cheese or milk or whatever. We just have to limit it and not have it all the time.

But the peanut thing is a big issue now and always. Another time that Jacob got another of Elsie’s peanut-butter sandwiches, he didn’t eat any, but he was about to take a bite, and he touched it to his lip and ended up with a big blister-like sore for a couple days. We always have to have Benadryl and an Epi-Pen with us wherever we go, just in case. And we are, as always reading EVERY label, asking about foods, and avoiding lots of stuff that we’re unsure of. There are lots of places that peanuts hide in, in surprising foods. And peanut allergies are more dangerous, since reactions usually increase in severity with each one that occurs. So while right now Jacob just gets hives, his reactions could eventually escalate to seizures, trouble breathing, and anaphylactic shock. And generally peanut allergies cannot be outgrown. They are a lifetime thing. But as long as we are careful, and prepared, little Jacoby should be just fine.