Where I catch you up on the Milk Protein Allergy.

Many of you will remember where I talked many times regarding E's Milk Protein Intolerance. 

Basically we found out right before she turned 1 month old that "casein" a protein found in milk caused her much discomfort so much so that it aggravated her intestines and caused blood in her stool. Since I was breastfeeding that meant of course I could not consume any dairy.. sounds easy right? ... WRONG.

Do you realize how many things have dairy in them... Bread, Cookies, Chips, almost EVERYTHING on EVERY menu, at almost EVERY restaurant.  It was tough but after a while like everything else you get used to it.. I just had to read the labels on EVERYTHING, and be very careful when eating at other people houses, almost everyone cooks with butter.

My pediatrician told me that 80% of babies with this intolerance will outgrow it by 9 months old, and that once she gets to that point I should slowly try to re-introduce dairy into my diet. Well at around 7 months I was having alot of supply issues and needed to supplement, unfortunately she would not take the Silimac formula made for babies with this allergy so I had to experiment. I really didn't want her on a soy formula as I have read many articles about the overuse of soy at such a young age causing hormone imbalances. 

So I talked to the doctor and she recommended Gerber Goodstart and said lets just pretend she outgrew it.. and see what happens within 24 hours you will notice the symptoms if it is going to bother her. SO we tried it and she was taking it fine, a little bit at a time mixed with breastmilk. 

So I thought I would try eating just a tiny bit of dairy to see if she would respond, so I picked up some bread from the bakery that had milk in the ingredients, and I didn't notice any changes. So I would eat a tiny bit of cheese here or there, maybe in a salad, and have a bit of butter. I quickly notice that none of this was bothering her. 

I talked it over with my pediatrician who gave me the green light to start offering yogurt to Emmaline, and I'm pretty sure we found her new food. The girl would eat yogurt until it was coming out of her ears. She LOVES it! We have been getting the organic Stoneyfield farms Yobaby yogurt in blueberry and she eats one a day as a snack. 

Last night was the first time I gave her a few bites of cheese, and just like her momma she is addicted.. watch out baby it will show in your thighs!!!!

I am so thankful we are over that part of our journey. While it was tough. I learned alot about myself, and diets, and menu's, and what its like to live a restricted eating lifestyle. I feel so bad with people who have celiac's and must live on a gluten free diet. 

So far so good, hopefully it stays that way!

I'm crying over spilled milk...

Disclaimer: This post will include that about nursing, pumping, and BOOBS...... (I know I know.. gotta write it... who wants you father or father -in-law reading about your breastfeeding adventures)

Let me start this post off by explaining that yes I do breastfeed, and I am very passionate about it.. however I DO NOT get all caught up in the which is best: bottle or breast discussion.. I think everyone must choose what is right for them. Having said that I chose to breastfeed, as im sure you have noticed from reading my other post's that it has not been an easy road, But im sticking with it for now.

I have come pretty close to loosing my milk supply a handful of times when my baby's reflux got really bad and she went on a nursing strike.. I was having a hard time keeping up with the pumping while also trying to keep her calm. So instead of supplementing I used up my entire stash of frozen boobie juice milk. So about 2 months ago I transformed myself into a diary cow  took every opportunity I had to pump and freeze..

I had built up a pretty good amount of milk, I have about 35 bags with 4-6oz in each bag, in my freezer. I was proud of it.. I did that.

I have a real love/hate relationship with my Medela pump 'n style. Its a great double pump that I can even use on the go in the car (um yea I have totally pumped while im driving), however I totally feel like by the time I'm done pumping my lady lumps may drag the floor.

A few days ago I was heating up a bag of thawed milk and realized it smelled horrible, I tried a sip (Don't laugh you know you have tried your too, at least once) and it tasted like sour milk, so I got out another bag, then another.. they all were soured. I had no idea what was going on. At first I thought maybe I had eaten something bad but I opened bags that were stored at different weeks, and got the same result.

So of course I did what any good mothered would do....... I googled it. Because we all know google never lies!!!!! Anyway the search results were loaded with pages about sour breastmilk. All of the pages I was reading said the same thing. The soured smell and taste came from an overproduction on the enzyme Lipase. I  started reading pages from LLL & Kelly mom, on what to do.

Here is what I found out:

Lipase is a naturally occurring enzyme that is found in breastmilk, over time the enzyme will break down the fat in the milk, thus causing a foul, sour, or soapy smell to the milk.
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Some babies will drink bm with excessive lipase in it, but most will not
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Studies are non conclusive as to whether the milk is safe or not for babies to drink after it has turned
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To keep milk from spoiling:
After expressing place in pan on stovetop and scald (until you see little bubbles around the edge.. NOT a boil) the milk then cool, place in freezer bags, then in the freezer.

DO NOT try to scald the milk in the microwave

Scalding the milk destroys some of the immunological properties and possibly some of the nutrition but not all. 


Now please excuse me while I cry and pour my liquid gold down the drain.