This is a fantastic post... I thought dairy would be the hardest thing to give up on my journey toward becoming a full fledged vegan.. but it wasn't as hard as I thought & frankly, removing dairy from my diet is probably the single best thing I have ever done for my body. I had chronic sinus issues and allergies myself - and can now say I am completely allergy free. I also long for a day when doctor's embrace a more holistic approach to health and healing and view food as the medicine it really is. I lost my own mom to cancer more than 16 yrs. ago, and I find it so disheartening that there have (sadly) not been that many advances made in treating the disease. If the cancer does not kill you - the traditional treatments (radiation & chemo) certainly will... I read Mina Dobic's book as well and found it so inspiring... I try to spread the good word as gently as I can to anyone who is open to alternatives and will listen. I agree that knowledge is power... the information is out there - we just need to arm ourselves with it so we can make better/healthier choices for ourselves & our loved ones going forward!!

How adorable is this kid?! :)

it's so great to see women questioning their doctors and following their guts!  The number of little kids who I see who would so benefit from getting the crap outta their diets is amazing - and dairy is the worst because the whole industry bombards us with this propaganda about how milk/dairy is necessary for a child, doctors second that cry and we are left with a lot of sick kids (who turn into sick adults!).  And they make you feel as if you are a bad parent for doing differently......its not just the dairy - question the fluoride, the sugar, the ever-increasing number of vaccines - don't buy the hype!  Its got nothing to do with our children's health, and everything to do with the almighty dollar.......

This is a great story/example.  I know people who would probably really benefit from cutting out dairy--or even just cutting back!  But like luvmadevisible said, "spreading the good word gently" will, I hope, make an impression.

As an aside, Ann, I see you mentioned questioning the fluoride and I have noticed others in the forum making a point to state they bought the natural toothepastes without the fluoride.  I hadn't heard about any ill effects with fluoride.  What's the scoop?

Thanks!

Very well said Ann

this is fantastic! i'm so glad she listened to her instincts! i've been allergic to dairy all my life and went through numerous tests, lost sick days, lost days in general when i was a young child. i had complications that caused severe pain. no one ever thought to question the dairy. i was given antibiotics for years. it wasn't until i was 25 that the doctors began suggesting a food allergy. i wish more people took this seriously.

wonderful!!  I am so glad we  are starting to learn that changing diet is the solution to solving health problems. Food is the real medicine.

First off Maxime is totally adorable!  Thank you Alex for sharing your story with us!
It's so wonderful that you kept fighting for your child and weren't willing to rest and allow the doctors to be the only voice.  It's great that you followed your judgement and bettered your sons health.  Where I live it's seems most people take the doctors word as final.  Yes doctors went to school and studied things I certainly didn't but I know my body and the way I feel and that counts for something.  It seems that many people believe that well "If the doctor said....." than that can be the only course of action.  I do think that traditional medicine has a place, and there is definitely doctors out there that mean well but I do not take their word as final.  It's best to research things for yourself, get a understanding of your health problems, look at what your eating and drinking- Basically look at the whole picture, not just take a med that will basically only mask the problem and could potentially lead to other health problem.  This is just one more reason why I love this site, I love reading success stories like this and love being surrounded with caring, like-minded people.  
Thanks Alicia for sharing Alex's and Maxime's story!

Patti - for more info on the fluoride question go to:

http://www.fluoridealert.org/

there are lots of links at that site to research/articles regarding the safety (or lack thereof) of fluoride, and a great book on the subject ( it reads like a spy thriller!) is Toxic Deception - all about the history of this chemical and how it ended up in our water and toothpaste -

Welcome back to Alabama Alex and Maxime...!
ahhh, the south where pork and fried foods are abundant. 
One cool thing though, is that we have a longer gardening season for those fruits and vegies !  

My two year old has dry skin that only improves w/ hydrocortisone cream...stress!
I am thinking of cutting back on dairy after reading your thoughts.  Thanks for sharing.

My son has had chronic cough issues since he was a baby (he'll be seven years old next week - time flies!).  Whenever he gets a cold, it turns into a horrible, crouppy cough and we schlep him off to the doctor for antibiotics and steroids for his nebulizer.  Last year, a different doctor prescribed Singulair tablets and they really seemed to work...for about 10 months.  Then, my little guy started coughing again.  Poor kid!

I really need to have a sit-down talk with my omnivore husband and tell him that  we should try giving our son a dairy-free diet.  I don't know how he'll take it, though.  He's very supportive about my being vegan, but he's made it clear on occasion that he doesn't want our kids to be veg.  Maybe if I can convince him to just try it for a few months and see what happens.  We have nothing to lose but worry about his coughing!

My son was 10 when we finally realized his dairy allergy. He had countless numbers of ear/sinus infections and way too many antibiotics to count! We just did what we were told to do. That is until I read an article about dairy allergies. I spoke with Hubby and we decided to have him tested for allergies. Since taking him off of dairy, he has had not even one infection! He misses no more school! {due to the infection itself, followed by stomach upset from antibiotics} It was hard for him to adjust at first, and I make all of his food from scratch, but his health has improved! So much so, that our family is now completely dairy free!
Never trust the doctor's aadvice completely! Always second guess and look for second opinions! If we did that years ago, we could have saved our son years of pain and illness!

Lisa F - But how do you deal with school lunches, or does your son just brown bag it every day?  I just sent an e-mail to the dietitian at my son's school to see what kind of options they have, if any, for dairy-free meals.  Just want to make sure I have my bases covered when I have that talk with my husband.  (I'll also need to check with our summer daycare - but I think I'll wait until we have our little talk.)

What a wonderful story!  We are in the process of getting dairy out of our home.  I have a four month old who had horrible cradle cap and eczema the first two months of his life.  His poor little head looked like a giant scab and was starting to crack and bleed.  His back had red welts on it where the eczema was irritated and he also had it on his neck and on the back of his little legs.  I caked on creams and tried everything, but nothing was working.  I was desperate, so I decided to give up dairy.  His skin was better in one week and completely clear and perfect in two weeks.  Now he doesn't need any lotion at all and had beautiful, glowing baby skin!  After my husband and I learned how dairy was effecting the baby, we are working on taking dairy out of our home for good!

Because of various factors in how our foods are produced today, allergies are becoming more and more common and are not often enoughor  quickly recognized as allergies. Here's another mother's story that became a crusade: http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2010/05/robyn-obrien-fighting-for-allergy-children/