Today I found myself in the kitchen whipping up a dairy free milk substitute (here's the recipe from Quirky Jo) whilst breast feeding the baby who is in her sling. Very Earth Mama. I didn't sign on for this though. It looks like I am the latest victim of dairy intolerance. Did you know that intolerances often pop up post partum? I did not. I am not pleased. It may be something to do with the immune system recalibrating after being suppressed during gestation.
This is grim news for me. I was so delighted I could now eat the gorgeous local soft cheeses I had been denying myself whilst pregnant.Baby is windy when I do and I really don't feel good either. Maybe after two weeks there will be no difference and I will go back on the dairy but in the mean time I am eliminating it. I already know I can't deal with most soy. So making my own substitutes is where it is at.
Breastfeeding the baby who hates to be away from (reluctant Earth) Mama was something that had to be done to get some peace whilst I faffed in the kitchen. Kitchen faffing is extremely hard to do successfully with screaming children about.
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| Cute right? hmmmmm |
My four year old is a free spirit at the moment, if by free spirit you mean he doesn't like to wear knickers, wipe his bum, have his shoes on the right feet and touches everything he sees even if it is on the ground and disgusting. Especially if it is on the ground and disgusting. Most notable today was the rotting remains of a rat. Funnily enough I carry a little bottle of germ warfare handrub and some wet wipes everywhere now. I may have to start with a full hazmat suit!
Ah the umm joys (?) of parenthood or something.....
It looks like it has been a month since I Blogged so what has happened, so many little things, a kitten has come and gone (we found here in an abandoned house), I have been practicing my roller skating, the peas have died, the rabbit has eaten all the lettuce, the lettuce has regrown and bolted and Summer keeps coming and going!
none of these happenings are inspiringly blog worthy so the blogging has not been done!
Our youngest son has been cranky and developed the most alarming rashes and his face and stomach, not itchy but he has been picking at them and dribbling on them as he also had a runny nose so lots of mouth breathing. I had been smearing him with Calendula, comfrey, hemp oil, lanolin, Dettol, Soove... nothing was looking at the rashes and they weren't getting better
I was laughingly mentioning his temperament to a customer who told me his youngest was the same until they discovered he was lactose intolerant and then once no longer drinking milk, he was fine.
*bing* a Little bell went off or maybe it was a lightbulb coming on in my head. This cranky child of mine has a serious powdered milk obsession. At Three and a bit he is really too old for a bottle but has been demanding more and more milk bottles and getting furious if he doesn't get one. It has been reminding me of a heroin addict- more little bells in my head (or is that tinnitus?) I have read in passing of allergies or intolerances causing and addictive effect possibly through stimulating adrenals or maybe it was endorphin production stimulation and I thought to myself "It's a weekend so we can't get him to the Doc. anyway, why not try a milk substitute?". So using my trusty Thermomix I whipped up an almond and oat milk substitute flavoured with dates and vanilla and crossed my fingers.
The rash started clearing up with 12 hours of switching and now he is almost back to spot free, today he came to see us in our bedroom and didn't bellow at us once!
It seems almost too much to hope for but this one change (he is still eating a small amount of cheddar cheese) has done wonders in a week. I was going to see if he could be tested for intolerances but apparently the tests can be inconclusive anyway so we will carry on as we are for a while and see how things go!
Oh and did you know it is nearly Christmas?
