Got Milk?

Hallelujiah! Hallelujiah! Hallelujiah-hallelujiah! Halle-eh-lu-jiah!

As you might remember, Bryony has suffered from a pretty acute dairy allergy since birth. I only discovered this after two months of cleaning floors, and changing my clothes and hers every few hours after her vomiting my breast milk with each feeding. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but a friend suggested it could be a food allergy, and dairy is the most common. So, despite many reservations, I stopped eating many of my favorite culinary delights (no ice cream in summertime, no cheese with my wine, no yogurt, sour cream or cottage cheese...!). But it was worth it, if it meant my newborn would be able to keep down her own food, the only one she could eat at that point. After about three weeks off dairy (which is harder than you might think, because there is dairy in almost EVERYTHING...!), voila!, like magic, she stopped vomiting. It was wonderful to wear the same outfit all day long, to not go through three thousand vomit-stained receiving cloths everyday. But alas, this could not last, as you have to 'test' to make sure the seeming correlation isn't a fluke...so, I had to eat the ever-dreaded, ever-desired dairy all over again--I believe it was in the form of vegetarian lasagna, mmmmmm--and sure enough, within 24 hours, Bryony was vomiting yet again. And yet again, it took over three weeks for the dairy to leave my body so that her system regulated again. Poor girl.

I was told she would likely grow out of the allergy, and that I could test at nine months. We just happened to be visiting friends out of state at that point, so I decided to let myself have fun, consuming endless slices of pizza, scoops of ice cream and spoonfuls of milk in my morning coffee. It was wonderful...for me. While her vomiting was minimal, Bryony however broke out in severe diaper rash that lasted for more than a month. It was the worst case of diaper rash she's ever gotten. Her poor little butt cheeks were rubbed raw and bloody, to the point that her entire little body would stiffen with fear and dread when I had to change her diaper, so painful was the process of cleaning her. I stopped using wipes and started bathing her at every diaper change. It still stung her but she felt somewhat soothed by the warm water. Eventually the rash cleared up, but I swore never to do anything that would put her through that again.

She is over a year now and I have been eating very small amounts of dairy sporatically--a slice of cheese here, a sample of yogurt at the local grocery store, pancakes fried in butter--and I haven't seen any reaction from her. Last week I decided to scale it up a notch and ate a bowl of ice cream. Still nothing. Then there was a pizza buffet this past weekend and ice cream almost every since, and still nothing.

I think it's over.

I still haven't fed her any dairy directly, but I figure the time is coming very soon. After all, her dad has already given her chicken.

(pukey look on my face)