If you check out my Instagram, it wasn’t more than two weeks ago I was enjoying some ice cream with crushed cookies on top.  Now, I don’t eat ice cream…or cheese, or milk, or cream cheese, or dairy products of any kind.  While I feel like it’s limiting in some ways, let me tell you the ways it’s made our lives so much better around here.

For my first son, I endured the “colic,” the crying, the nights when it seemed like we couldn’t do anything to make our baby feel better.  I lived through that the entire time he was breastfed because I felt it was my mom duty…wasn’t everyone’s kids this way?  Now for the second peanut and experiencing similar issues, I was given advice by a number of moms to cut out dairy.  After reading countless articles online, I decided to try it for a couple of days and see if it made any difference.  For two days, we had a happy and smiling baby.  We slept much longer stretches through the night.  He had a big nap during the day rather than a bunch of short naps. 

And then I had half and half in my coffee.  And all hell broke loose. 

The peanut cried for six.hours.straight.  He couldn’t stay latched on to nurse because he had uncontrollable gas and fussiness.  It was miserable, and at that point, I vowed that no amount of cheese or ice cream was worth it.

So here’s what I’ve learned about being one week diary free:

1. It’s hard to find good coffee creamer at first.  I don’t like any of the nut milks or nut milk blends in my coffee.  After trial and error, I’m a fan of Trader Joe’s coconut milk creamer.  It took some getting used to at first, but now it does the trick.  I’ve also tried soy creamer and I like it, but I’ve had some tummy issues with soy in the past so I’m trying not to use it too much.  Nutpods are also yummy.
2. There is no such thing as delicious vegan cheese.  After trying soy cheese and almond milk cheese, I’m ready to just swear off cheese altogether.
3. You make mistakes A LOT –  There’s so many times when I start eating something out of reflex and then realize it has milk in it.  Just the other day, I was eating a house salad at one of our regular restaurants and didn’t even think about the cheese that was on it.  Later that night, it took about two hours for the crying to stop.  Geez mom.
4. Thank goodness for coconut milk ice cream. This is one of the non-dairy finds I am most excited about.  Trader Joe’s has an amazing one, but there are so many brands I’ve yet to try.  I’m so glad I don’t have to “give up” ice cream!
5. If it’s going to help me lose baby weight, it hasn’t happened yet.  I’m so over the breastfeeding “myths” out there.  My body stores fat for breastfeeding like I’m a hibernating bear, so NO, breastfeeding doesn’t help every woman lose weight.  I’m not holding my breath for the non-dairy diet to help either.  But it’s all for my peanut, so it’s completely worth it.

I’m in the middle of week two as I write this blog post, so stay tuned for updates.  Until next time, ya’ll!

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