Milk This

I love cow's milk. I have it daily, in my lattes, and sometimes with cereal. I remember drinking "Quik" all the time as a child. Man, that stuff was good.

When Hutton was a toddler, I did the expected thing, and introduced milk to his diet when he turned one. He was still nursing, so it wasn't something he drank a lot. When he weaned at 15 months, he moved from drinking my milk to cow's milk. At that time, he also developed his first ear infection, and started to get a funny rash on his face. As I was a first time mom, and pretty clueless, I didn't think this had to do with cow's milk. That he'd weaned - sure, that might be it. He wasn't getting immunities from me, so he was more likely to get sick and get an ear infection.

The pediatrician gave me a steroid cream to give him for his rash, which turned out to be eczema. His ear infection went away with antibiotics. Another one happened a few weeks later, and his eczema flared and cleared, but never stayed gone for long. I can't remember what led me to decide to stop cow's milk in Hutton's diet -- if it was a suggestion from the pediatrician or something I found online while looking for eczema treatments. Either way, I stopped giving Hutton milk around 17 months. He still ate cheese and yogurt, but no more cow's milk straight up.

Soon after, he stopped getting eczema. He stopped getting ear infections (the one he currently has is the first one since he was a toddler!). I had my "aha!" moment. Keeping cow's milk out of his diet wasn't too much trouble. I mean, it was nothing compared to the diet he's on now!

I, of course, still had my milk in my lattes, and drank it throughout my pregnancy with Harrison. Though, at this point, Hutton had been diagnosed with Autism and we were trying the gluten and casein free diet for the first time. While I was pregnant, I read in various Autism groups that cow's milk was a big problem for many with Autism. That mothers drinking it could cause their nursing babies to get colic. Huh. Hutton had colic. I decided Hutton definitely had a milk problem, and he hasn't ever had milk straight up since I first took it out of his diet. When he had ice cream around Christmas time, he said his stomach hurt. So, even if we ever are able to add back in dairy to his diet, I'll still be very watchful of cow's milk.

Fortunately, Harrison never had colic as a baby, so I was able to keep up my life-affirming addiction to the delicious goodness of lattes. He doesn't drink cow's milk, either, though, because it's easier for us all to be on the diet. (Or for me to hoard the precious cow's milk for myself.)

So, when Hutton came home with milk propaganda in his backpack the other day, I just laughed. They're talking about nutrition this week at school, and we all know how cow's milk "does a body good!" Especially when you're allergic to it and it causes ear infections, eczema and colic.

If anyone wants, I'll scan the "How We Get Our Milk" coloring book, too, brought to you by "Your Dairy Council, 'The Nutrition Education People'" so you can indoctrinate your own kiddies!