No one in our family has food allergies or intolerances, so I'm not sure if this is what we're dealing with. I was hoping you lovely ladies could help me out.
Iris has had a really gross, snotty runny nose for two weeks now, with no sign of let-up. I thought at first it was a cold, because it started about when both DH and Lilah had colds, but now I'm not so sure. It isn't the first time she's had a really gunky nose, either. I'd say she's had it for the majority of the past 2 months... it will stop, then start up again. I thought it was that she'd catch a new bug every time we'd go to work in Lilah's preschool class, but it doesn't seem that she has any other cold symptoms-- no cough, and she doesn't seem to be in pain from a sore throat. Lately she's also developing some tiny patches of eczema on her cheek and in the diaper area. She's also lately starting to have horrendous NWings, which I have read can be associated with milk allergy. At 6 months, she was starting to sleep through now and then, but was still not an independent sleeper, so it wasn't consistent. But now she's been going to sleep independently the majority of the time and her NWings are worse than they were when I was still nursing her to sleep.
I'd say we introduced yogurt about 2 months ago, too, so the timing seems to be matching up.
I would just go right ahead and eliminate the dairy from her diet just to see if it helps, but we're vegetarian, so dairy is an important protein food for us, and she does usually eat what the family is having. That's why I wanted to check in with you and see if any of this matches up with milk allergy/intolerance and see if I should go ahead and try eliminating it for awhile and see if it helps. And if so, how long should I do it for?
I'm planning on BFing for 2 years or until she self weans, so I'm not too worried about introducing cow's milk when she turns one year. But it would be a pain in the neck to have to completely revamp my family's diet in order to cut the dairy out... oh, and of course she's a picky eater but does love cheese and yogurt.
But I'm totally willing to try if any of this matches up.