Full Circle Birth Collective
  • Home
  • Meet the team
    • Our Labour Doula Team
    • Our Postpartum Doula Team
    • Our Childbirth Educators
    • Our Menopause Doula
    • Our End of Life, Loss Doulas
    • Join our team
  • Classes & Services
    • Classes for Partners
    • Celebrations >
      • Birth Blessing
      • Closing Ceremony
    • First Moon Celebration
    • Circles & Cafes
    • Hypnobabies Self-Study
    • The Need to Know Class Series
    • Infant CPR
    • Virtual Online Support
    • Placenta Support >
      • Placenta Information
    • Local Resources
  • Parent Drop in groups
  • Become a Doula
    • Labour Doula Training
    • Postpartum Doula Training
    • Mentorship
    • Scholarships
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Full Circle Shop
  • Full Circle Community Fund
Picture

Dairy Free Chest/ Breastfeeding

5/7/2022

5 Comments

 
Picture
When my first born child was around four months old, her poop began to change. I think Google searching what your baby’s poop looks like is something every parent does at some point, but when her strange diapers didn’t clear up after a few weeks, and then we began to find blood in her diapers, we knew something wasn’t quite right. 

We took our daughter to our family doctor, who diagnosed her with a Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA). CMPA is a fairly uncommon condition, occurring in only around 2-3% of babies. The baby’s body reacts negatively to the proteins found in cow’s milk (and products containing cow’s milk). However, much to our surprise, this condition didn’t just affect our baby. Our daughter couldn’t consume any product containing cow’s milk proteins, but at four months old, she wasn’t  consuming anything other than chestmilk, so where was she being exposed to her allergen? This is how we learned that cow’s milk protein can actually transfer through chestmilk. This meant that not only would she be unable to consume anything containing dairy, it meant that if I wanted to continue to feed her my milk, I couldn’t consume it either.

Switching to a dairy-free diet was incredibly overwhelming at first. Once you start looking for milk products on the ingredients  of your favorite snacks, you realize very quickly that it’s in pretty much everything, and it goes by many different names. 
Some ingredients are obvious; milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, cream (heavy cream, sour cream), ice cream… but others are less easy to recognize, such as whey, lactose, or casein. 
With my husband’s help, we screened ingredients and switched over products I used frequently with dairy-free alternatives. As the years have gone by, dairy-free foods and alternatives have become increasingly more common, making it much easier to eat dairy-free than before.

Eating out can be quite difficult, and often I would choose vegan restaurants or restaurants with vegan options to make things easier. When I couldn’t choose vegan, I would always be sure to search up the ‘Allergy Menu’ of the restaurant we would be eating at, so that I could pre-plan what I would be able to eat, and save myself the time spend searching for an allergy-friendly meal while sitting in the restaurant.
Luckily, many infants with CMPA grow out of their allergies, and this was the case for my daughter. We successfully reintroduced dairy into my, and then her diet, when she was 11 months old. Since then, my toddler son (who did not have CMPA as a baby) has been diagnosed with a milk allergy, and I find myself thankful that because of my experiences with my daughter, I have the knowledge I need to help him and our family avoid his allergen.

Common Symptoms of CMPA:
  • Frequent reflux
  • Vomiting or diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Blood in stool 
  • Eczema 
  • Swelling
  • Chronic cough or wheezing
  • Runny or stuffy nose
  • Colic

Not all babies will have every symptom of a CMPA. My own daughter only had gastrointestinal symptoms. 

My favourite dairy-free alternatives 
Milk             Not Milk   
Butter            Earth Balance, Becel Margarine (Vegan)
Yogurt            Riviera Coconut, Silk Soy Yogurt
Ice Cream        SoDelicious, Sno Dairy-Free
Creamer        Silk Vanilla Creamer, Milk’s Own Barista Oat
Cheese         Daiya, VioLife
Sour Cream        Daiya
Cream Cheese    Tofutti Cream Cheese
Whipping Cream    Silk Heavy Cream, SoDelicious CocoWhip
Chocolate        EnjoyLife
Cheese Sauce        Daiya
​
Snacks        EnjoyLife, MadeGood
Local Restaurants​: You can make your life easier when eating out by choosing vegan restaurants or restaurants that offer vegan options. Here are some of my favorites: 

Doughnut Party
Cinnaholic Bakery
Bliss Baked Goods 
Bloom Cookie Co.
Kind Ice Cream
Made by Marcus 
Copper Branch 
Mini Mango
Loma House
Panago Pizza
Sweet Pea Cafe (this cafe has a cute play area for kids too!) 
Moth Cafe
Cafe Mosaics 
KB&Co
Padmanadi

Love to hear your favourites, comment below. 
5 Comments
    Welcome to Full Circle's blog, creating content for our clients and readers with a focus on all things pregnancy, birth and beyond. 
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Birth
    Birth Prep
    Birth Stories
    Breastfeeding
    Cloth Diapers
    Considering A Doula
    DIY
    Doula Approved
    Doulas
    Herbs
    Humour
    Hypnobabies
    Learning
    Loss
    New Baby
    Newborn
    Pandemic
    Parenting
    Placenta
    Postpartum
    Rainbow Baby
    Recipes
    Reflections
    Sacred Pregnancy
    Siblings
    Sleep
    Solstice
    Trust In Your Body

    Archives

    September 2024
    May 2024
    August 2023
    July 2023
    January 2023
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    December 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2014

    RSS Feed

Office Location

By appointment only
7903- 14 Ave SW
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
​T6X 1H3

What Our Clients Are Saying

Contact Us

    How can we help?

Submit
© COPYRIGHT 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • Home
  • Meet the team
    • Our Labour Doula Team
    • Our Postpartum Doula Team
    • Our Childbirth Educators
    • Our Menopause Doula
    • Our End of Life, Loss Doulas
    • Join our team
  • Classes & Services
    • Classes for Partners
    • Celebrations >
      • Birth Blessing
      • Closing Ceremony
    • First Moon Celebration
    • Circles & Cafes
    • Hypnobabies Self-Study
    • The Need to Know Class Series
    • Infant CPR
    • Virtual Online Support
    • Placenta Support >
      • Placenta Information
    • Local Resources
  • Parent Drop in groups
  • Become a Doula
    • Labour Doula Training
    • Postpartum Doula Training
    • Mentorship
    • Scholarships
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Full Circle Shop
  • Full Circle Community Fund