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Let me just start off by saying I love cheese. I could live on cheese. But I'm nursing and my son's little belly just can't handle dairy. Around 2 months old, when we got his reflux under control we realized his stomach issues weren't over yet. That's when we realized that dairy seemed to be upsetting his stomach. He'd have out of control gas and he was in obvious pain.
The pediatrician recommended I cut out dairy from my diet since the most common food allergy in kids is to an antibody in cow's milk. Diary can pass through breastmilk to babies. However, it's not really possible to 'pump and dump' because dairy can last in your system for up to two weeks. The suggested giving it two weeks and then have a 'big dairy day'-to see if that was the reason Blake was so fussy.
I gave up the dairy and was very strict about it at first - I saw a noticeable change in Blake after about a week. Then on that big dairy day he was back to Mr. Fussy Pants. So I'm back to my dairy free breastfeeding diet.
In the three months I've been dairy free I've found the hardest part is remembering to check labels.
When you have two kids you tend to just eat whatever is fast, convenient, and in front of you - thank you to all of those who've suggested I check and make vegan recipes, but honestly that's just not practical when I'm trying to get lunch on the table between preschool and naptime.) But if I can't eat cheese, yogurt (my go-to breakfast), pizza (my go-to dinner), put milk in my tea (my go to morning drink), cream cheese..yada yada yada..what do I eat?
Diary Free Meal Ideas:
Dairy Free Breakfasts that are FAST!
- Peanut Butter/Banana shake with almond milk (my go-to milk substitute)
- Waffle Sandwich - with peanut butter/bananas
- Scrambled Eggs or Omelet- no milk
- Bagel with butter substitute such as Earth Balance or peanut butter
- Egg sandwich
- Oatmeal made with water or milk sub
- Pancakes made with water or milk sub (check pre-made pancake mix ingredients to ensure it doesn''t include whey or dry milk)
- Cereal with milk substitute
Dairy Free Lunches that are FAST! (Careful with lunch meats, some have dairy in them!)
- Chicken/Tuna Salad
- Salad with vinaigrette dressing
- Crackers/Veggies with Hummus
- Pre-made/frozen Chicken Tenders - put them on salad, use them to make a wrap or just eat them plain
- BLT
- Meatball Sandwich
- Pulled Pork Sandwich
Dinner is surprisingly the easiest because I try to keep this in mind: Any type of meat/protein paired with a salad, veggie and/or starch. When necessary I adjust the recipe to leave out cheese/dairy on my portion or altogether. When possible, I use a milk/butter sub such as almond milk or Earth's Balance. Here's a week's worth of ideas to get your started, but really the ideas for dinner are endless...although I am craving some mac and cheese right about now!
- Fajitas (sans the cheese and sour cream) use salsa and guac to give it some added flavor
- Fish Tacos made with mango/onion/avocado salsa
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Stuffed peppers
- Hamburgers with sweet potato fries
- Pulled Pork sandwiches with sauteed squash
1 comment:
girl it is so hard. I ate plain turkey sandwiches every day. I switched to almond milk for my morning cheerios. {b/c soy is enough like dairy that they could be sensitive to that too} and ate a lot of chicken and plain meat for dinners. At first it seemed like all my meals were covered in cheese but it got easier. A quick label check is in the corner of any product is a circle with a U in it. If there is a D next to it it has dairy. Evidently this a kosher symbol to help them quickly assess the product. There are yogurts in the health section that are made with coconut milk that aren't too bad. I feel your pain. Hang in there. The things we do for our babies.
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