Soy allergy

Today was Brighton's appointment with the allergist. They did one of those skin tests on his back and soy came up as an allergen. It was a pretty strong reaction, too! We will be doing a follow-up blood test to confirm this finding, but in the interim and since I am breastfeeding Brighton, it is time for me to say "Good-Bye" to all soy-containing products!

Soy is in sooooo many things these days! It's used as a filler (it's cheap) and soybean oil is one of the main oils used quite frequently (again, it's cheap!) I'm terribly relieved that he is not allergic to wheat, however. I love to grind our own wheat and make our own pizza and pancakes and muffins and cookies, etc. That would've been hard. There will be a LOT of things I won't be able to eat (I already checked my favorite cereal, Nature's Path Organic Flax Plus Pumpkin Raisin Crunch, and it contains soy!) Luckily, a lot of products now list allergens in bold print below the ingredients list so that you don't have to read through the whole list, you can just glance and see if any of the major allergens are used in the product. That is very handy and nice of them to do.

Now that we know what he is most likely allergic to, Brighton gets to start eating some solid food! :) At 7 months old, he has been eyeing our food for awhile now! I'll probably start him on some oatmeal and a few bites here and there of what we are eating (that is soy-free, of course!) We don't really do the whole rice cereal/baby food route. Rice cereal is nutritionally pretty void and is very bland....but it's a great money-maker and marketing ploy! Baby food, again...pretty bland and costly for the nutrition...and another great money-maker for the companies that produce it! If I want my baby to try pears...I will feed him some mashed up pear. If I would like my baby to eat squash or sweet potato...I will feed him some mashed up squash or sweet potato! Mostly, we feed our babies what we are eating and don't get caught up in how much or how little they eat. Breast milk is usually their main source of nutrition until they wean (around 2 years) but we offer and they eat as much or as little solid foods as they want. Babies don't have to have rice cereal and baby food...unless, maybe, their education fund is tied to stock in Gerber! :)