Today officially marks the first day of my two-week dairy-free experiment. Peter and I have been noticing that any time I have a particularly large dairy intake (like a Brownie Batter Blizzard for example) Alethea gets pretty gassy and fussy. I was reading online that dairy proteins are particularly hard for babies to digest and that for babies with reflux, it is often recommended that they try soy based formulas rather than ones with a cows milk base. We’ve put this all together and decided that I will attempt to eat dairy-free and see if that helps Alethea with her gas and/or reflux.
I was reluctant to try a dairy-free diet simply because dairy is my all time favorite food group (yes, I know technically it’s only part of the protein food group, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s about the only thing worth eating in that group). In fact, of my top 5 favorite things to eat, three of them are pretty much straight dairy and two of them often contain dairy:
1) Chocolate
2) Ice Cream
3) Milk
4) Cookies
5) Cheese
(I’m apparently a heart attack waiting to happen…. but that’s a post for another day.)
Today a very wonderful friend (who shall remain anonymous since I didn’t ask her if I could talk about her in my blog) took me shopping for non-dairy substitutes. This friend eats dairy-free and took me to her favorite health food store to show me the ropes. I came away with coconut milk, almond milk (in chocolate and vanilla), soy yogurt, coconut milk frozen non-dairy dessert, and a dairy free dark chocolate bar.
So far I have to give a so-so rating to the “So Delicious Original Coconut Milk Beverage” although since it has a fairly bland taste, it may be good for a substitute for milk when cooking. The “Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss Non-dairy Frozen Dessert” in “Cherry Amaretto” gets two thumbs up. I’m not sure it’s quite “Rapturously Creamy” as the label states, but definitely worth eating. And the last thing I tried today, the “Green and Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate with Whole Cherries for a Bittersweet Flavor Delight” is so good that it would be gone right now if I weren’t afraid of gaining back the two pounds I lost last week.
I’ll keep you posted on how the experiment goes and in the mean time if you have any favorite non-dairy foods or recipes, I would love to hear about them. I need all the food options I can get!
I have been praying and thinking back (long ago) to screaming babies and was going to ask about soy based formula or milk free eating. What a step for you to take for Alethea, I am impressed, We will keep praying for you all.
It gets “rapturously creamy” when you leave it out for 10-15 minutes before you eat it (I think it might even indicate that on the carton!) … and check this out! An answer to the question that stumped us both on on the saturated fat in coconut: http://www.coconutbliss.com/html/faq.html (question 6)
You’re an awesome mom!
Has she been diagnosed with reflux?
I feel for you, Elise. I would have a tough time if I had to give up dairy. But, if it works I guess it is worth it!
To “Anonymous”: Yeah I was reading online this morning about the difference between coconut saturated fat and the saturated fat from animal products. Pretty interesting. I just thought all saturated fats were the same. I’m still guessing it’s better not to eat a whole carton of Coconut Bliss in one sitting though… I’m pretty sure I could do it otherwise.
To Julie: No, she hasn’t been formally diagnosed with reflux. I’m just basing that on the fact that she sometimes projectile spit-ups and that she won’t sleep on her back. Her first pediatrician thought reflux was the most likely explanation for the fact that she’d wake up instantly if you laid her on her back, but would stay asleep if you put her down in her car seat.
I know alot of your family is opposed to medicating babies, but the zantac they prescribed for Roman really worked wonders. It was important to me to have it controlled because it really seemed to affect his respiratory system, and there are a lot of corrolations between asthma later in life and reflux.
My youngest daughter has a lactaid problem. She has to take lactaid pills before eating dairy. Her son , who is two years old has the same problem and so does my one year grandson. He is on lactaid simalac. My daughter buys lactaid cheese, ice cream. milk, and yogurt. If she eats any thing with milk in it she takes the pills that she gets from GMC or any drug store. It works very good for her. Ask for her son and gas when he was a small baby, she put a wedge under his mattress to elevate his head. That worked too. Let me know if any of this works for you.
To Julie: We took Alethea to her doctor and she didn’t want to prescribe her any meds unless Alethea continued to refuse to eat. She said her lungs/breathing sounded good. Since I went off of dairy, Alethea has not skipped any feedings, so I don’t imagine they’ll want to start meds at her 4 month checkup which is coming up soon. I’m sort of torn. I’d rather not medicate her if possible, but like you said, reflux can have long term effects, and obviously I’d rather Alethea didn’t end up with asthma. I’m not really sure how much to push her pediatrician in this case.
To Pearl: From all the research I did, it sounds like the most common problem for babies is difficulty digesting the milk proteins, which are different from lactose, which is the milk sugar. Lactose free dairy products still contain the milk proteins and so wouldn’t help if Alethea in fact that is what is bothering her. If the proteins are what are bothering her, she’s supposed to outgrow it. I guess only time will tell.
We did try putting wood blocks under the feet of one side of her crib to elevate her head and that seems to help some, but she still doesn’t sleep as well there as she does in her swing. I’m trying not to stress too much over the whole crib sleeping thing. She’ll have to learn at some point, because eventually she’ll be too big for the swing!