>Deborah Garner wrote:
>>
We take very much the same approach that Deborah takes with raising
Avigayil. We have been dealing with a dairy-free diet for 4 years now. My
daughter was 5 and in Kindergarten then. She was very good about adapting
to the changes I think mostly because she still remembered how bad she felt
all the time. Plus with the change in diet she in some ways seemed more
like the other kids because she wasn't requiring asthma meds at school. But
now that she is a preteen and she naturally wants to be more like all the
other kids and it's harder for her socially. Plus she has forgotten some of
the pain she dealt with daily back when she was age 3 months thru 5-1/2
years.

My new approach is to allow she some play with her diet. Please remember
Genna's allergy isn't life threatening. When the other girls at school went
on a salad bar kick at the cafeteria I let her join them. I let her buy
lunch on salad bar days and reminded her that often clear salad dressing
are a safer bet. She reviewed the 1,000 island dressing bottle against her
dairy ingredient card and decided it was safe. She eat happily with her
girlfriends for about a month. Then she started to have her old problems
again: asthma and eczema. She and I reviewed what we had added new to her
diet several times.(I call this our Sherlock Holmes thing.) Then a week
prior to Christmas break she told me she suspected the 1,000 dressing may
have changed at school. And that SHE wanted to stop eating at school. So
after 2 weeks break from school she is back to her old healthy self. And
she learned how to "say no" all by herself. This was a life leason for her.
Mommy didn't take over or MAKE her do it.  She researched the problems and
decided what action she needed to take for herself. After all before I know
it she will be grown up and totally responsible her health. But I realize
we are so lucky to be able to allow her these learning learns that other
cannot afford.

Positive side note: When Genna was younger and she accidentally eat milk,
was with -in 2 feet of a dog, OR in a room for more than 5 minutes with a
real Christmas tree it took 7 to 10 days for her to recover from ONE of
these exposures. But now it takes her far more exsposures to react and less
time to recover. I think it's because she has had a totally dairy-free
diets for almost 4 years and her body is better able to handle the odd
exsposure to milk proteins, animal dander and various plants. Thank God:-)


Sorry about the long post.

Take care,

Helen