Carter used to have extremely bad eczema.  Not just dry, flaky skin.  Like oozing flare ups on his arms and legs.  We started giving him soy formula.  They went away.

You know how when something has been gone for a long time, and you sort of forget how bad it really was?  Like maybe it was mostly just a figment of your imagination?  Now that there’s no proof anymore, it just must have been a fluke–or something along that line.

Fast forward a bit.  Carter had a blood test at nine months to look for any allergies, because of his eczema (which, at this point had been gone for quite some time).  It showed a dairy sensitivity.  The doctor said we shouldn’t really get him tested that early because usually allergies don’t show up on the blood test until at least a year for some reason.  So even if it is a sensitivity that shows up, really it could be much worse.  It might not be though–it might be just a sensitivity like it showed.  Just one of those slightly inconclusive things.

A few months later, after going through many shopping trips to Wegmans, searching for ANYTHING that I can give my child without milk products or whey in it, I decide that maybe he really is okay.  That there really isn’t anything.  This conclusion was sort of finalized in my head when I took Carter in for a sick visit yesterday (in which they found an ear infection), and one of the pediatricians at the practice said that his number on his test at nine months really wasn’t anything.  “A blip in the radar”.  It was low enough.  Why don’t I try giving him something with milk in it?

You don’t have to tell me twice.  It’s hard enough trying to feed a child who can’t have any dairy anything. . . I was gung ho about giving him some bites of Brayden’s mac and cheese.

Five minutes later, this is what my child looked like. . .

A red-faced, coughing mess.

I think it’s time for another trip to the pediatrician.  This time, I better leave with an allergist referral in my hand.

And I’m positive now that I have no more doubts.  It definitely wasn’t a figment of my imagination.  The boy is allergic to dairy.

Why can’t it be something easier like pickles or mushrooms or something?