Earlier in my pregnancy, I had big plans to make lots of freezer meals to make things a little easier after Benjamin is born. Well, my kids have a track record of having a cow milk/soy protein allergy (now I realize that it was not a real allergy, but a milk/soy protein intolerance) for about the first year of life.
**For the remainder of the post, I will refer to the condition as an intolerance rather than an allergy. My children never had a skin or respiratory reaction to milk/soy, Only gastrointestinal symptoms.**
I nursed Gracie for 3 months and Philip for 2 months before I started bottle feeding them with a hypoallergenic formula full-time. I totally attribute their condition (well, aside from heredity) to the fact that I was on the diabetic diet and consumed lots of dairy in my 3rd trimester.
Yes, I believe that my children got their milk/soy intolerance in the womb.
I’ve had doctors tell me that it was not possible and a nutritionist roll their eyes at me, but I’m convienced. In fact, I KNOW that my son had milk/soy intolerance symptoms from birth.
In my experience, these are symptoms of milk/soy intolerance in an infant:
1. Not gaining weight (this is due to the fact that the allergy keeps nutrients from being absorbed from the breast milk in the intestines)
2. Wanting to eat ever hour on the hour–never seems satisfied.
3. Mucous in or on their stool and foul-smelling, “bubbly ” looking stool
4. Distended stomach.
5. Very whiny. That’s really the only way that I know to explain it. Just a miserable, uncomfortable cry…all the time. Not screaming…just a whiny cry.
6. Blood in the stool….this does not always mean that there is a milk allergy. Blood can come from anal fissures. as well and it’s nothing to really be concerned about. However, in combination with the other symptoms that I have mentioned, blood in an infants stool can be due to the fact that there is irritation in the intestines from the allergy.
Having said all this, I am trying to do things differently in my third trimester regarding getting post-baby freezer meals ready. The sad fact is that many meals that are generally made in bulk and frozen, have some sort of milk, cheese, or cream soup added. Let me say that those kinds of meals are among my favorite things to eat, but it’s just not a good idea for me to consume those things given my children’s milk protein intolerance history.
So, not being able to make lasagna and chicken brocolli casserole does not mean that I can’t do some cooking prep to help me get through those early days after birth. I’ll outline the steps that I plan to take in my next post. Stay tuned!!
