Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Maybe it is a milk allergy

OK. I admit it. As I thought about Miles' diagnosis of having a cow's milk allergy, I was skeptical. Everything I have read shows different signs (diarrhea, etc). But, I decided to give it a try and put myself on a dairy-free diet. I won't go into the pain and frustration that this diet has caused me because I would do anything for my boys. I have been dairy-free since October 13th (except for one minor glitch yesterday-oops!). Miles has pooped 1-2 times a day since Friday. 5 days in a row is a huge deal for him! I also started putting ground flax-seed in his cereal, so I am going to stop that and see what happens. I don't know which is the "cause" of the pooping - dairy-free diet or flax-seed.

Now, I have to decide how long he is going to continue nursing. I always have said I'd nurse around 6 months (or until teething gets the better of me). He will be 5 months on Friday. I am willing to stay dairy-free but worry that if I slip-up again and have something "forbidden" that I will feel responsible if he gets constipated. Why do we, as moms, always feel guilty about every decision we make and feel guilty over the other options available to us (I'll feel guilty if I nurse and slip-up and I'll feel guilty if I wean him)?

Mason has hit a "fun" new phase in the last few days. Back-talking has begun. He also has this look he has started giving me that I am sure I will see again when he is a teenager. In fact, I didn't expect to get this look for another 8-10 years. It's that look of "mom, have no idea what you are saying and I resent you for trying to correct me or tell me what to do". He is making me crazy with this attitude. If anyone has suggestions on how best to handle the backtalking, I would love to hear them. Time-outs and taking away toys/priviledges does not seem to be working so far.

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