My son had his first birthday this weekend and while he walked early, is starting to babble and surprises me every day with the crazy things he understands, there is one area where I’ve let him fall behind: eating.
We started baby-led weaning at around 7 months, once we were back from my sister’s wedding in Colorado. It started really well. He liked most things and was excited to try new stuff. But then introducing a new thing every few days got away from me and now I feel like he’s not eating nearly enough variety of foods. So I’ve loosened up on my one-thing-at-a-time rule and started giving him a lot more things.
But I’ve come to a standstill over one thing: I’m terrified to give him dairy.
Both my girls were eating yogurt and cheese around 9 months and drinking milk after a year. And by a year old my elder son had been off milk three times. Three weeks we’d spent dealing with massive diarrhea and all the joys that come with it like frequent, stinky diapers, blowouts, and horrible diaper rashes. Three times we tried it before his first birthday and found his body just couldn’t handle dairy. And despite reassurance from our pediatrician that most kids outgrow milk sensitivities by 2, 2 1/2, 3 years, another half a dozen tries over the past 2 years has yielded the same messy results.
And while I can expect that this little guy will be more like his sisters and love dairy since he hasn’t had the same skin and other tell-tale allergy issues his brother always had, I can’t help but be nervous.
I know the research that says early introduction may actually lessen allergies and I’ve never adjusted mt diet through pregnancy or breastfeeding for any of my kids but I can’t get past the worry that this little guy may react to dairy as well. That his reaction could be worse. That he could have a severe reaction and I just can’t bring myself to give it to him because while I know and understand the research and findings, he is just so little and I want to protect his tiny, fragile body from dealing with a bad reaction if I can.
So I’m now neurotically reading labels to feed two boys: one who can’t have any dairy and can only have minimal corn and the other who I’m scared to give any dairy, corn, wheat, nuts or shellfish.
I keep waiting for the “right” time when life isn’t so crazy that I can easily deal with a reaction but let’s be real, I’m a homeschooling mommy to 4 with a competitive gymnast and busy dancer. There is no calm time. There is no right time.
Eventually I’m just going to have to go for it. Throw him some cheese or yogurt melts and cross my fingers. But I’m just not ready yet.
