We are pretty sure that Peter has a milk protein allergy. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, and he is still growing like crazy so it isn't affecting his nutrition.
A few people have asked me how we know, so here is what happened.
About a month ago, I had noticed blood in Peter's diaper. It wasn't a lot, just a few clots of bright red blood, but enough to freak me out. I took him to the pediatrician who confirmed that I wasn't just seeing things, and that there was in fact blood in the diaper. She explained that bright red blood comes from further down the digestive track and is usually caused by either a (cow) milk protein allergy or a fissure. Since there was no sign of a fissure, we decided that I would cut dairy out of my diet since I am breastfeeding and see if that cleared it up. If that worked, we would re-introduce the dairy after a month and see what happened.
It cleared up, then a few days later it came back. It cleared up again, then it came back. It cleared up, but when it came back a third time and there was still no sign of a fissure, the pediatrician decided to send us to a pediatric GI specialist.
The specialist explained that a milk protein allergy isn't like a regular allergy. There are large pores in a baby's intestines which the milk proteins (which are also large) can get stuck in. These pores shrink at about a year which is why most babies outgrow the allergy. She also explained that milk is used as a filler in a lot of items that you would never expect, such as hot dogs and deli meats. She was just about positive that Peter does have a milk protein allergy. She also thinks that he is probably one of the 15% of babies with a milk protein allergy who are also allergic to soy. This would explain why the blood kept coming back, since I was having a lot of soy heavy meals (yummy Japanese food). She wants me to completely cut out all possible milk and soy, and if it doesn't completely clear up in two weeks we will go back to see her.
If you thought that a lot of things contain milk, then you would not believe the amount of things that contain soy. In fact, for a week after that appointment, I was having soy in a salad dressing and didn't even know it (so I am now one week dairy/soy free instead of the two that I should be).
The good news is that this isn't affecting Peter in a negative way. He is still a happy baby, and you would never know that there was anything wrong. He is growing and developing as he should be. He still loves to play, talk, smile, laugh, dance and sing. The only difference is my diet, nothing is changing for him.
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