This is my rant!

Unless you've had to avoid a certain food, you've no idea how hard it is... I had no idea dairy was found in crisps, stuffing and even some processed sliced sandwich meat! Seriously, it's actually really hard to be standing in the supermarket reading the ingredients to everything 'just in case'. But having said that, it is do-able and it does get easier, so if you're just beginning to be dairy free due to your little one having cows milk protein allergy, I promise there's light at the end of the tunnel and amazing support especially on facebook of all places. You must search for 'Cows Milk Protein Allergy Support (@CMPAsupport)' I can't tell you how much the other parents on there have helped me, they are all going through similar situations and understand, they have tips on foods and great advice on reactions so it's a must for any new cmpa parents. And very importantly, it's a place to find that you're not alone.

I've been dairy free since little miss Isabelle was 11 weeks old and on 17th December she will be 9 months old so for a major cheese loving chocoholic I think I've done amazing, my love of breastfeeding Isabelle really helped me, pushed me to continue to be dairy free and I think it really helped that having got to 11 weeks exclusive breastfeeding already, it was established so there wasn't the 'oh it's not perfect yet'. What also really helped was Michael's support.

Oliver had a hospital appointment today which was meant to be this morning but like they usually do they were running late because their clinic was 'overbooked', I promised Oliver to get a little meal in town before taking him to school but in the end we didn't get to school because we were at the hospital for too long. We went to get Oliver a meal, I checked several places for something dairy free that I could eat. Unable to find anything we popped into Marks and Spencers fast food section but they were literally useless, I asked if they had an allergy menu showing me what had dairy in so I could just get something to eat and they were just so unhelpful, I left feeling like an idiot for even asking for the allergy menu. Also the lady had no idea about the new regulations on food labels regarding allergens so I had to explain it, I think she thought I was making it up!

It was impossible to find a pouch for Isabelle, for some reason there weren't any just plain sweet potatoe or carrot by Ella's kitchen. She's a difficult one with various allergies/intolerances so it's really hard to be able to feed her out and had I of known we were going to be running so late then I would of taken something with us.

Rant over.