I could tell something wasn’t right when my baby spent most of the evening hours screaming if she was not sleeping in my arms.  If I put her down, she would wake up and scream.  I couldn’t figure it out, so I did what many moms might do, I did a search online for something like “newborns who scream all night long.”  One search result that caught my interest was the possibility of a food intolerance for my baby.

So, I hopped to it and cut out my dinnertime glass of milk that I had each night since dairy was one of the top intolerances for many babies.  I figured it was easy enough.  At my daughter’s 2-week check up, I informed our pediatrician that I thought that my daughter was intolerant of dairy.  When she asked me to tell her why I thought this, these are the symptoms that I told her about:

• My baby screamed in pain and did not want to be put down.

• Tons of spit up!  I used receiving blankets as burp cloths.  At least 4 per day.  She went through many sleepers and swaddles each and every day.

• She had projectile diarrhea numerous times per day.  It flew out of her during diaper changes.  A diaper change sometimes required 2 people and 5 diapers.

• She went through triple the amount of diapers in a day as my first baby.  I never felt like I had enough diapers on hand unless I had a box of diapers from Costco.

• She had a constant diaper rash.  It was so sad.  Nothing would clear the rash up.

• Her breathing was affected at times.  She would have high pitched hiccups that didn’t sound right.

Our pediatrician agreed that something wasn’t right, but warned me that cutting out dairy was going to be much more involved than eliminating a glass of milk each day.  She offered me the option to try dairy-free formulas, but I was determined to try to make it work with breastfeeding.

It took a ton of research, self-education, and commitment, but I was able to eliminate dairy and soy from my diet for over 14 months.  My daughter’s negative symptoms disappeared as soon as dairy and soy were out of my system.  By the age of 16 months, she outgrew her intolerances and we were thrilled to introduce her to our favorite food, pizza!

Sarah Cole is a freelance write and stay at home mom to two busy toddlers. She eliminated dairy and soy out of her diet for over 14 months so she could continue to breastfeed her baby even though her favorite food is melted cheese.