Why Our Family Is Going Dairy Free

If you remember a few months back, I shared how to go dairy free for breastfeeding. I was able to share that experience because 4 of the 5 children I gave birth to had a dairy sensitivity. I cut dairy and soy out of my diet four different times in hopes of getting my babies healthy.

All four babes were luckily able to handle dairy before the first year was up. Hallelujah!

Okay, so why are you cutting out dairy?

Don’t worry! I will explain it all below!

But first, if you missed how to go dairy free for breastfeeding, you can catch that here.

How To Go Dairy Free For Breastfeeding

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Why We Are Going Dairy Free

Have you ever had to cut out dairy? If you have, you know that there is dairy in almost everything!

Except Oreos. There’s no dairy in Oreos. *Happy dance*

When I had to cut out dairy and soy for Raymond Wyatt over 5 years ago, I had a heck of a time trying to figure out what I could eat. At this point, we were eating anything but healthy. I would “doctor up” boxed or frozen meals. I didn’t know the first thing about what was actually good for you.

Although I wish I would have known sooner that my baby was in so much pain, I am grateful for having the experience to understand how food works for our bodies.

Symptoms Of A Dairy Sensitivity

There is quite a long list of possible symptoms for a dairy sensitivity.

For our kids, as babies, they all had:

• baby acne
• upset stomach
• diarrhea
• stomach cramping
• eczema
• bloating
• vomiting
• poor weight gain

They also all made a grunting noise after they ate because their stomachs were in constant pain from the dairy I was consuming.

Once I was able to figure out that they were having these symptoms from the cows milk enzyme, I was able to cut out dairy and like magic all the above symptoms were gone in less than two weeks.

Of course, when I was able to cut out dairy and my babies were all healed, I thought that would be the end of it.

Now, we have some of the symptoms coming back as well as new ones for the older boys. So, we are cutting dairy out once again for our four youngest kiddos in hopes that their symptoms will clear up.

Also, if you are new to the dairy sensitivity, it can take up to two to three weeks before all the dairy has left your body so it is good to be patient and not have a drop of dairy while trying to clear up symptoms.

So right now, we are in the testing phase and on day 4 of no dairy. I even had my sister come get all the dairy and products containing dairy. Surprisingly, or no surprisingly, we didn’t have too much in the house. Of course, with me doing keto a while back, we did have cheese and heavy whipping cream, but the kids never had that, just mama.

My fingers are crossed that dairy is the culprit for our youngest boy, Vincent. He has had the worse eczema in the world and we can’t get it to go away to save our lives. We have tried everything! Cutting out dairy was a last resort as I swear they were passed that. So, fingers crossed!

Is It Hard To Cut Out Dairy?

To be honest, I have never felt better in my entire life than when I wasn’t consuming dairy. BUT the only reason I had the discipline to cut it out was because it was for my babies when I was breastfeeding.

As I mentioned above, I was able to cut it out cold turkey along with soy and never once had an issue any of the four times I had to. Well, I have tried a few times to eliminate it for myself and I never seemed to have the discipline the way I did when it was for my kids.

Self discipline is not my strong suit.

However, when I first cut out dairy and soy for our oldest, it was a tad bit difficult because I just didn’t know that dairy is in EVERYTHING.

I shared in my previous post the list I had found with the hidden dairy labels. This was a LIFESAVER. If you are eliminating dairy, print this out and stick it everywhere! SO DANG HELPFUL!

Even after 5 years since I practically memorized this list, I have been able to look at an ingredient list and tell you almost immediately if there is dairy in the product or not. You just don’t forget something like this.

Are You Going To Be Dairy Free Long Term?

So, as I mentioned previously, we are testing the waters for our kids symptoms. And I guess I am on the fence because if it is dairy that is causing these symptoms, then I did my job and I know what to look for. If it’s not, then I have to do some more digging and that could be a whole other mess of eliminations.

Honestly, I just want my kiddos to feel better. That is my only goal.

We don’t eat a ton of dairy anyway, especially since when I cook I usually use the dairy substitutes such as coconut oil, olive oil, and chicken broth in a lot of recipes that calls for butter or milk. I’m telling you, switch out milk in mashed potatoes with chicken broth. Game changer. I have never once made them with milk since I tried it with chicken broth.

So I guess the simple answer is, I’m not sure yet.

I am currently just focusing on no dairy and making my kids as many homemade options as possible.

Dairy Free Snack Ideas For Kids

I wanted to make sure to share some of my favorite dairy free recipes that I have found from Pinterest over the years. Many times all I have done if it calls for milk is replace the cows milk with almond milk. Lately we have been LOVING the Milkadamia milk made from macadamia nuts. I have drank it straight, it’s that good!

• Pancakes – Use almond milk in place of milk
• Honey Mustard Chicken – I can’t find the one I use but this looks similar
• Peanut Butter Banana Muffins – Just made these this week for kids lunches. They love them!
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
• Zuppa Toscana – This was a hit in my book!

Dairy Free Foods

In case you don’t want to make everything from scratch, let me share what I have found for dairy free snack options off the grocery store shelves.

• Enjoy Life Brand – Delicious and free from most allergy culprits
• Fritos – I lived off of these when I was breastfeeding Raymond Wyatt
• Tostitos
• Oreos
• So Delicious Brand – Read labels
• Earth Balance – Love this brand but double check labels
• Fresh Fruit and Veggies are always great snacks
• Daiya Cheese – Plenty of dairy free options – does take a bit to get used to
• Silk Coffee Creamer – I cut out coffee for a looooonggg time before I found this!
• Oat Milk – Chobani oat milk is what I am currently using in my coffee along with Skinny Syrups and I recommend!!

Honestly, the best thing to do is to double, even triple check labels before consuming anything, especially if allergies are involved. It can be tricky, but with the right support, you can do it! And you will fee a MILLION times better!

Until next time,