So way back when Amanda was born, we quickly discovered that she had a milk allergy, or perhaps lactose intolerance – she had mixed symptoms of both. Either way, it meant that I couldn’t eat dairy products while I was nursing her. It was pure torture. No cheese, no milk, no chocolate, no yogurt; all the yummy things, in fact, that they tell you to eat lots of while you’re pregnant. I went from dairy overload to complete deprivation. I found out from my mom that this was fairly common on my dad’s side of the family; most of my cousins and I myself had the same problem when we were babies. We grow out of it around age 2, for some reason.
As Amanda got older and started in on solid foods, she let me sneak in an occasional bowl of cereal, or a little cheese on a sandwich or burrito. I think I was a bit relieved when she weaned herself at 11 months, since it meant I could eat whatever I wanted. On the downside, I think that’s part of why Amanda is so skinny-minny to this day; most of the fat in my diet comes from dairy products.
So when Kaitlyn was born, I was prepared for her to have the same issues. She never seemed to have it as severely as Amanda, and so I tried having cereal a few weeks ago. No problem. I tried cheese on something. No problems. I went crazy and had a quesadilla. No reaction. I began eating whatever I darn well pleased, and still absolutely nothing. Now, either Katie grew out of the milk allergy much faster than Amanda, or else she never had it in the first place. Considering what I put myself through for the last 6 months, I’d like to think she just had a milder version.
Mike was so happy when I made Mexican food for dinner a week ago. I hadn’t cooked us anything like that in a long time, and it tasted so good. It’s so much easier to cook when I can eat anything I want – it’s no fun to make dinner that I can’t eat.
Excuse me, while I go eat a bowl of cereal. And yes, I know it’s lunchtime…
