dairy free but not for me

I am a natural born skeptic. I had my suspicions raised about Olive being sensitive to milk when I saw someone post something about evil dairy on Facebook, that was the seed planted in my mind. I assumed it could be any number of things that caused her to be spilly and hard to settle. I am not quick to diet, I love food and so I waited until I had loads of evidence before I cut out dairy. I wasn't sure how much my diet affected my breast milk, some people will find that a no brainer and I know people cut out a lot of things for their babies sake. Allergies and intolerance's have tricky science and I wanted proof. When Olive developed exema and it got worse and worse even after cutting out harsh soaps and detergents I had more suspicions. At first you assume her drool is what is causing the rash on her chin but eventually she was covered in splotches due to dry skin and all her creases, her wrists, behind her knees etc, were red and cracking. The last straw was when Olive got a rash on her face one night when given some formula, within seconds the milk that had been on her face left a bright red mark that lasted for over an hour.

Henceforth, I decided to eliminate dairy to see if it would help. I removed yogurt, milk, ice cream and cheese (sob) from my diet but I haven't worried about dairy as an ingredient in baking or similar scenarios. Even when doing this slowly, I had a little cheese one day, a flat white another, but getting stricter over the course of a week Olive's skin cleared up on her tummy and back in only four days. It is a sacrifice, but once I saw it made a difference I was more than happy to do it. I don't mind a soy flat white bit I mostly drink straight espresso at home. I missed yogurt on my breakfast a lot at first but not any more. Cheese, a fried egg and relish on vogels was a go to lunch and I do miss that. Lately I have snuck a little dairy in (aforementioned go to lunch...), sometimes I plain forget and eat a piece of pizza while out. Oh pizza, you delicious trickster.

Olive loves cheese and things with cheese in them, a bread stick that I looked at more closely was her first taste and I have given her a small square of cheese to observe what happens, nothing, a good sign? However, when she swipes one of Ada's cornflakes from her highchair she gets marks on her chin immediately. Could this indicate a lactose intolerance rather than dairy allergy? At least we are not worried about an anaphalactic reaction! We are not sure what the plan is from here but feel we have things under control for now. Has anyone else dealt with a dairy sensitivity? Other advice from the floor?

waffle mania