It wasn't the Strawberries...

So, you remember that post a while back with these pictures:



Well, when we took him to the Dr., she told us she was confident that it was the strawberries he had eaten that day.

However, we had also fed him milk for the first time that day. If you remember, Micah was extremely fussy the first 6 months or so of his life. The Dr suspected a milk allergy, so I went off all dairy products as I was still breastfeeding at the time. It made a HUGE difference in his eczema and his demeanor. When we switched to formula, he went on the soy.

So....Micah had never had strait cow's milk until the same day he had strawberries ( I know....I shouldn't have introduced them together, but hey...). We gave him 1 ounce mixed with some formula that day. When we saw the Dr, I asked her if she thought it could have been the milk, but she assured us that it is extremely rare for a cow's milk allergy to produce that type of a hives reaction. It almost always produce more of an eczema like reaction. She was confident it was the strawberries.

We stopped giving him milk and had him tested anyway.

And...He is severely allergic to cow's milk protein. So much so, that she told us he would likely stop breathing if he were to drink more than an ounce or so. It isn't just lactose intolerance. He could die from this if given too much milk! SO SO SCARY!

Anyway, I am SO glad I know! Can you imagine if I had continued giving it to him? She said that in children that are this allergic (she has only seen 20 or so in her career), about 50% grow out of it by age three. The less exposure they have to it (cheese, yogurt, whey, etc) the more likely they are to grow out of it.

So, it will be a tough few years trying to figure out what to feed him (even a lot of cereals/crackers have whey), I am SUPER motivated b/c I really don't want him to have to deal with this all his life.

So, that's a quick update.