Read all labels...

is what I am doing constantly if Luke is going to eat something. So after 2 1/2 months we finally figured out that Luke is allergic to milk. Yes he is 8 1/2 months old and we finally figured this out. When we went to the ENT back in June, Luke had already been on 2 antibiotics thinking he had an URI, because his symptoms were congestion, runny nose, cough, and so the ENT put him on a 3rd antibiotic and took a culture to test for bacteria. When the culture came back negative and his symptoms were still there after the 3rd antibiotic, he told me that maybe he could be allergic to something in his diet. At this time I am thinking that if Luke was allergic to something, he would have broken out in a rash or anaphylactic shock, not these kind of symptoms. So we did the trial, and I actually took away the milk, bananas, and all rice products at one time to get him better and then reintroduce them all to see what actually he was allergic to. So the entire trial took about 2 1/2 months to pin point that milk is what he is allergic to. So then I started thinking, that when I breastfeed him for the first 5 months, he really didn't have those symptoms, so was it really milk that he is allergic to? I eat cereal every morning with milk, and eat all kinds of food that contain milk, and so why didn't these symptoms show up sooner while breastfeeding???  So I get on the internet and do some searching about products that I can substitute for milk since Luke is starting to eat table food, and find that eczema is also a symptom of an allergic reaction. What??? Yes, he suffered from eczema the first 5 months while breastfeeding on his legs, and then when I switched over to formula is when the nasal congestion started. Who would have ever thought? Come to find out that Jayson and his other two brothers also suffered from milk allergies and then out grew it. So I hope that Luke will also out grow this by the age of 1. So anytime I pull something out to cook, make, eat, etc. I have to read all labels to make sure that milk or any kind of traces of milk cannot be in the product. You will be surprised how many items contain milk that you wouldn't think if you only read the labels.