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| Miss Kalah May |
This chiquita, however, is a whole different story. She is allergic to everything!
Kal was very colicky when she was first born. She liked to sleep, but you could tell her sleep was interrupted by discomfort. She was very gassy (she had a hard time getting rid of gas and just stored it creating bloat), there was blood in her stools, she projectile vomited once or twice per day (you have no idea how much vomit I have cleaned up in the last 2.5 months... *sigh*), and she would cry inconsolably. At one point she would only sleep when carried in her Ergo carrier. My mom would come take her from me at night and pace the hallways of our apartment building with her in the pack so I could get some sleep. I recognized the symptoms from Kesh, and when Kal was 3.5 weeks old a visit to our pediatrician confirmed my suspicions.
The pediatrician told me to watch out for soy as well, as many children who have a milk protein intolerance also have a soy protein intolerance. We tried it out, and lo and behold, Kalah also had this intolerance. Both of these intolerances combined form a condition is known as MSPI (milk, soy, protein intolerance).
Then at around 5 weeks old we found out she was allergic to nuts.
Determined to still breastfeed I researched, read, and sorted out the dos and don'ts for my new diet. I then proceeded to removed all dairy, soy, and nuts from my diet. Sounds easy, right? Start looking at prepackaged foods then you will realize that almost everything is either processed in a plant that has traces of nuts or soy, has soy lecithin, uses soy oil, or has powered milk or a milk derivative. Even dark chocolate is off limits!
No more desserts for me, as most of them look like this...
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| This one has THREE kinds of milk! |
Or this...
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| Nuts AND chocolate... a definite no no |
Or this...
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| Ice CREAM... not happening |
See, even dark chocolate can't be trusted!
Needless to say this made me unhappy. However, I was (and am) determined to breastfeed Kalah like I did with Kesha, as long as possible.
So, out the window with desserts, out the window with most pastas (its the cheese!), eating out is difficult, as are invitations to peoples' homes when they are cooking and don't realize the extent of my dietary restrictions. I have to ask what type of oil restaurants cook food in, send my meals back if there is any dairy on the plate... I have become one of those people!
We even went through a terrible skin rash spell (which seems to be under control now, thank goodness). We still have no idea what caused it.
Bread, thankfully, has been ok. Even if it contains butter, it seems to be okay. There is a cafe in the same building as our apartment and it does not use soy in its breads, and the bread seemed to sit well with Kalah.
Until recently.
We now also suspect she might have a gluten intolerance.
She had a cold when she was only 3 weeks old. She had a cough, runny nose, the works. I got sick again about 3 weeks ago and at the same time she developed a stuffy nose. However, her stuffy nose has not gone away. She has no other symptoms of a cold. So she has a permanently stuffy nose, is gassy, fussy on occasions, and has explosive poo... most of these symptoms point to a gluten intolerance (or another undiagnosed food allergy).
So, I will also be removing barley, rye, wheat, and semolina from my diet to see if that helps, making the following foods are off limits (list curtesy of the Mayo Clinic):
- Beer
- Breads
- Cakes and pies
- Candies
- Cereals
- Cookies and crackers
- Croutons
- French fries (I can eat homemade french fries)
- Gravies
- Imitation meat or seafood
- Matzo
- Pastas
- Processed luncheon meats
- Salad dressings
- Sauces, including soy sauce
- Seasoned rice mixes
- Seasoned snack foods, such as potato and tortilla chips
- Self-basting poultry (I don't even know what this is...)
- Soups and soup bases
- Vegetables in sauce
Truthfully I would rather have it be gluten than it be something environmental. It is much easier for me to control my diet than it is for me to change her environment.
It has been difficult having so many dietary restrictions, but the hardest part was the initial change. Once your fridge and pantries are stocked with the foods right for your new diet it's not so difficult.
For breakfast I've been doing fried eggs with avocado on bread, but now that I'm cutting out bread maybe I'll eat brown rice or potatoes. Then we have a Breville juicer and do all kinds of mixtures. This morning I did orange, apple, pineapple, ginger.
Lunch is easy as we usually have a meat, rice, and lots of veggies. We have been eating a lot of homemade soups as well (the broth is also homemade). Dinner is either leftovers or something similar to lunch.
I will try to post a few ideas of what I've been cooking and eating with my new dietary restrictions and will keep you all updated on the gluten bit.
Here are some resources that I found helpful when researching how to change my diet:
- Kelly Mom: Dairy and other Food Sensitivities in Breastfed Babies
- MSPI Mama
- Slate: How to tell if your baby is allergic to the proteins in your breast milk
- Newborn Gluten Intolerance And Breastfeeding
Does your baby have MSPI or other dietary restrictions? If so, how have you handled them? What resources did you find helpful?
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