Well it would seem that Kirby does have an allergy to milk. Not only that the reaction he had during the test was much more severe than the doctor anticipated. He was also surprised to find out that neither Stan or I have any food allergies. Once I informed him that we were in no way hindered when it comes to stuffing our mouths he seemed even more stumped.
Anyway, this means Kirby can't have any milk or foods that have milk (or milk products) as an ingredient at all. Do you have any idea how many foods contain some sort of milk substance. A LOT!!! The list said that many meats (hot dogs and lunch meat) even contain forms of milk as a filler and when it says natural flavoring it could mean milk. Not to mention I can hardly fathom that my child will never know the joys of cheese, milk chocolate or real ice cream. However, there is hope!!! The doctor said if we are good about keeping him away from milk he may out grow it by the time he is 3 or 4. Until then I must be careful and keep the EpiPen close at hand. I'm not sure how I feel knowing one day I might have to stab my son in the leg with a dose of adrenaline.
The bright side, we have to feed our child healthy food that we prepare and will not be able to revert to prepackaged foods in many cases. This is good for us too, because I refuse to cook 2 meals so we will now be eating healthy as well. At long last I have no more excuses. It seems soy is our new best friend. Sigh.
5 comments:
Hopefully Mr. Kirby will overcome the milk allergy and be able to devour yummy chocolate and such. Andrew is exact opposite. He's allergic to soy. Boy, is he allergic to soy!
BTW - Monday will work for us. Holler at me and let me know what time, etc.
Ta ta,
Ames
Oh Rachel! Poor little Kirby! I am so sorry he is allergic to milk and milk products after all. I know that makes feeding time harder on you! I'm so glad you found out about it now, though. Bless his little heart. So basically, what can he eat?
Poor Kirby! It is not the end of the world though, most soy things are pretty yummy these days. In fact, you are lucky enough to be close to Whole Foods where they have all kinds of dairy alternatives. At the Wade Ave one they have the best Vegan Choc Pudding. I actually crave that stuff. Yum Yum! (I left the store in tears the last time they didn't have any- ahh, pregnancy)They also have vegan choc cakes and such for birthdays.
Plus most places will make dairy free pizza, etc. No biggie, just healthier.
Good job Mom on catching it so early before it caused big problems!I am sure he will outgrow it and all will be well!
Awww, poor Kirby! I second Mary on the great job of catching his allergy early. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he outgrows it soon.
I am sure your doctor or someone else already told you this but just in case, the good news about Kirby having a food allergy is the timing. Because if he is going to have a food allergy, at least he will go through it with the protection of the 2004 Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act that took effect on Jan. 1, 2006. This requires all labels to use recognizable terms in their ingredients so that you will not have to learn every possible ingredient that could mean milk. It will take about 18 months for labels to be cycled through so that the shelves only stock new labels. And then after that time, if a product has so much as a drop of milk in it the label will be required to list it. That should help you out a ton as you deal with this. But then, he'll probably grow out of it anyway! ;)
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