FREEEE the "Dairy Free-k"

We've been battling an annoying dairy allergy with Tatum since she was about 9 months old. She has a serious respiratory reaction to any type of dairy ingestion and so we've been pretty careful about reading labels and letting caregivers (i.e. nursery and babysitters, etc.) know about it. Plus the older girls have been really good at knowing what she can and cannot have.

Each year at Easter, we make sure that the bunny knows that she can't have chocolate and she gets stocked with appropriate treats like Skittles and Starburst (and Oreo Cookies...they don't have milk. I know. Go figure!)

Anyway, this past Easter, Tatum kept hiding behind the couch and eating the other girls chocolates. She just couldn't resist. The poor kid LOVES chocolate. She would come into the kitchen with a thick ring of chocolate around her mouth and I thought for sure we were gonna be seeing the ER in a few days, but about a week later, I noticed that she hadn't had ANY reactions to it.

Over these last few months we started with letting her have hard cheeses. She loves Mozzarella sticks. A few weeks ago I let her eat a 1/2 of a gogurt. Nothing. Then we had an ice cream party at the their dentist's office and I let her have "dairy" ice cream (that post is on it's way with pics). Nothing, again. A few days ago, I started putting "dairy milk" on her cereal. Still, nothing.

HALLELUJaaaah...

......oh. wait. Roxelle was born with the same allergy. She got her first runny nose at about 9 days old. I couldn't eat dairy while nursing her and that was HARD! Hers manifests a little differently than Tatums. Her first symptoms are goopy eyes. Tatum would always start with the wheezing and hacking cough. Roxelle has only worked up to the cough once or twice after someone accidentally gave her something with dairy. I can only hope that she grows out of it as quickly as Tatum did!