The Dairy Trial

As I have worn out everyone's ears from talking about this I thought I would write about it. It also serves as a good record for everything.

To really understand I thought I would go back to the beginning. I suspected Luke had a dairy intolerance from the beginning pretty much. I knew there were food issues. However, finding support and information was so, so hard. I flailed along and did do some elimination but I am sure it was not very well done.

When Luke was 14-15 months I went on the SCD diet and he went back to exclusively nursing- although he hardly ate at that point so it wasn't a big change. On SCD(Specific Carbohydrate Diet) no fluid milk was allowwed, only homemade yogurt 24 hrs, some hard cheeses and butter, if I recall correctly. Mostly it is just the yogurt, I made it by the gallons. I cannot even remember how long I was on that. I do remember that I was quite sick of soup after the introduction stage.

I do know when I became pregnant with Lily (when Luke was 25 months old) I was not officially on the diet but still tried to follow the guidelines for the most part. I had lots of keifir, yogurt, and butter but tried to avoid other dairy, sugar and grains. I had an amazing pregnancy and birth but after she was born I quickly figured out that she slept much better when I was off of dairy. So, I went off of everything but butter when she was 2 weeks old.

We stayed like that until September of '08 when we received the results of Luke's enterolab tests that showed he was dairy and gluten intolerant. Then I removed the butter as well and while we were at it removed trace amounts of soy, as I had figured out Lily was soy intolerant to it but still allowed things like soy lecithin at times. We went Feingold at the same time.

Again I cannot remember how long we were on Feingold strictly. I did figure out for Luke that dyes and preservatives were not really behavior triggers, although as we generally make things homemade it usually isn't an issue. We did have issues with salicylates for awhile but I feel now like we can eat them without issue.

Since going entirely dairy free we have had 2 trials that I can remember anyway. On Luke's testing it stated that he should be off for life. However, I had read that often the dairy intolerance is caused by the Celiac's destroying the villi and often after adopting a gluten free diet they are able to tolerate it. So, I have always held out a small glimmer of hope that we would be able to eat it again some day.

We had various issues on our other two trials. I wish I had documented it well because now I feel like second guessing myself. It is such a fine line as I know the symptoms of intolerance- the stomach bloating, loss stools or constipation, eye circles, behavior problems, sleep issues, red anal ring, rashes/skin issues etc. I know there is a myriad of ways it can manifest and it can be different for every child and children as they grow often have a change of symptoms- what it does to them as a baby can be entirely different to their reaction as a toddler. I cannot just forget that I don't want to be a mother that ignores those things as I know the externals are just a sign of the internal.

However, as I said I have kept a hope albeit a small one. You cannot keep the hope too much in the forefront or it becomes depressing. I have embraced our diet as it is and we have enjoyed it. We have learned to live without deprivation, while depriving ourselves of those foods(gluten, dairy and soy). I just took them out of the equation we enjoyed some things with substitutes- like coconut milk or coconut oil and some things we just gave up- we never did find a good dairy-free cheese we all liked. So, it has been our life.

Now, as it is summer again it seemed a good time for another trial. Last fall when we trialed I had felt so certain that it was going to be fine and work out. We then had bedwetting issues and started having poop accidents with Luke at that point it seemed like a good time to abandon. I had really felt God had called me to do the trial and had a hard time with it. Now, since then we have had accident issues with Luke off and on and I recently figured out that it was due to cross-contamination from peanut butter at the in-laws. Fingers crossed since we identified that trigger we haven't had an accident. Lily's bedwetting was cured once increasing her cod liver oil dosage. I also identified that Lily certainly gets a butt rash from any trace amounts of soy(which we were inadvertently getting and it took a bit to line back out) , which I wasn't certain if it was dairy as well. It makes me wonder if it was a lack of faith on my part. Maybe we were ready then.

However, sometimes it is hard to isolate the cause and effect. Actually it is always hard when dealing with intolerance. With an actual allergy you have a clear defined reaction. With intolerance reactions can build over time and change and can be different for different foods. There is just nothing easy about it.

Now, that brings us to our current trial. All of that to say it has been a long time and a long road for us. My glimmer of hope was small. After it being this long emotionally I had to somewhat accept that this was/is life.

So, far in our trial things have went well. Ava had some loose stools on the first day but has been fine since. Lily had a bit of a rash for a few days, but had also had some questionable candy(I think it had some soy) that has went away though- although she has continued to have the dairy. Luke hasn't had any sort of issues. Now, last night we did have bedwetting with Lily for the first time in a while. However, I have been more lax with our clo lately and we had a late supper and snack last night.

I am fairly confident that with remedying those things it won't be an issue, although I know that it might take a bit to catch up doses. She stayed the night with my parents a few days and we missed dosage then and after returning home I likely didn't increase it enough. Regardless, it will be easy enough to tell if it is causing it after ruling out the cod liver oil.

And maybe I am crazy but I think it will be ok this time. I really do. I do think God has put it in my heart that we are ok with it at this time. But my faith is weak and I am paranoid. Maybe it is wishful thoughts on my part.

Even if we are fine now then there is the logistics of the trial. How long to stay on each stage, how much to introduce? When if ever will I let them eat dairy when out? Will I ever let them have traditional dairy at other's houses? Then for me there is the question of whether or not to eat dairy in my next pregnancy, what if the next baby is sensitive? I stayed off of dairy for my last pregnancy just as a precaution as I thought it worth it if it meant reducing the chance for having a baby who was dairy sensitive.

So, that is what on my mind as of late. I could be very, very soon be posting recipes for dairy.