First Smiles
Josie has started smiling at us from time to time. Yesterday I stalked her with the camera all day, determined to capture one of them!
This is day 3 of my experiment to eliminate dairy from my diet. Already yesterday she seemed happier and more content throughout the day — most noticeably in the evening which is when she tends to have cranky spells. She does this thing sometimes while she’s nursing where she pulls off and screams and pushes at me with her hands. She acts hungry at the same time, so it’s been frustrating for us both.
I’ve heard that babies can sometimes have trouble digesting dairy foods for the first few months (could be something else… or perhaps not food-related at all, but dairy seems to be a common culprit). So, I’m trying to go without for 2 weeks to see if this happy trend continues. If so, then I’ll try adding dairy back in to see if the symptoms return. I guess I hope that this will make her more comfortable… but man, it’s really hard to give up chocolate and cheese.
In other news, I picked up my knitting needles for the first time yesterday. I started a little aviator-style hat for Josie using some stash yarn and a Zoe Miller pattern. I can only do a few rows at a time, but it feels good to be making something again.
September 20th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
I can’t help with the cheese, but you can still have chocolate! Just stick to dark chocolate. Most (though not all) is vegan. I wouldn’t have stayed vegan as long as I did if it weren’t for still being able to eat chocolate
September 20th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Hi Jena, I am guessing you have probably seen the Kellymom web site (just add a .com). If you search it for dairy there is a really handy page there, and somewhere in the dairy info is a cool PDF card you can print out that helps identify dairy-related ingredients in grocery store foods. I used it when I gave it up. Three weeks is hard without it!! But worth it if it helps the little one.
Also check out this page, so much info that I barely scratched the surface.
http://www.kjsl.com/~beanmom/nomilk.html
Good luck to you and to Josie’s little tummy!
September 23rd, 2006 at 11:24 pm
I gave up dairy for a YEAR with my daughter. The hardest part was not having pizza or cereal as a night time snack. She had eczema and when I ate any dairy (still ate chocolate which didnt seem to affect her) her face would break out BAD. After a year I slowly introduced dairy into my diet again, but I couldnt eat too much, a slice of pizza one day, maybe a cheeseburger the next. I found out after the fact that dairy can aggravate any allergies they may have. My son had eczema and still has allergies. My daughter, never had a problem with either. Also had to give up broccoli, too gassy for the kiddos.