This is what cow's milk does to Wyatt...

I read that approximately 2% of infants are allergic to cow's milk. It looks like we are the lucky parents of a baby that falls in that 2%! We have been dealing with a mystery rash on Wyatt from the time he was born. The doctor suspected that he was allergic to cow's milk so she advised me to eliminate all dairy products from my diet while I was nursing Wyatt. That was difficult! Having to give up ALL cheeses, milk, cream, chocolate, sour cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream and ALL of the other foods that contain dairy products is NOT fun. I was not left with many food choices. I started drinking soy milk and I took most of the dairy products out of my diet. I also started giving Wyatt soy formula whenever I supplement with formula. His rash has never went away completely, so we were not positive it was the cow's milk causing his skin reaction. Saturday we finally solved the mystery. We went shopping so I made a bottle for Wyatt using Similac formula instead of his usual Nutramigen. I thought it was the soy based formula and I fed it to him while we were eating lunch. After lunch we went straight home. When we took Wyatt out of the car, we noticed he was covered in hives! Poor Wyatt was clawing at his head and body because he was itching so bad. I immediately read the label on the can of formula and noticed the first ingredient listed was nonfat milk! So, our baby is allergic to cow's milk :( Although I am happy we finally know what is causing his allergic reaction, I am disappointed that it has to be cow's milk. I will continue to nurse Wyatt, but I will have to make sure
I limit my dairy intake. I wouldn't mind switching him strictly to soy formula, but Wyatt doesn't care for the soy formula very much. Besides, I don't know if I could stand the smell of soy formula (or the cost) for 7 months! It smells horrible! I am hoping that he will grow out of this allergy by the age of one. I have read that some babies don't grow out of it until they are 3!! If this is the case, we are going to have a difficult time finding food for him to eat.