Biggest Challenge

I initially was challenged by trying to figure out how to make food that didn't contain milk, whey, cheese or any other milk-based product and still give my daughter a balanced diet.  I eventually figured it out and feel very good about the meals we eat.  

My biggest challenge now is explaining to other people that she can't have milk and all the food that has milk in them along with watching my daughter interact with other people and the anxiety I get hoping they don't have milk on their fingers.  Or worse she picks up a toy that has milk on it.  Okay, that sounds like three biggest challenges, but they all go hand-in-hand.  It is really hard to explain what she can and can't eat to other people.  I still won't order food at a restaurant for her.  I just don't trust that a knife to cut one thing might not have been used to cut butter or cheese.  I understand people who don't experience an allergy really don't know what the reaction is like or could lead to.  I also understand that unless you are forced to read labels, you really don't realize that everything has milk in it.  I would say more than 60 percent of the meals I make have a milk product in them.  So people give me recipes, I say, oh, my daughter can't have that. They are usually shocked and I have to explain again what the allergy is all about.  She also has an egg allergy, so that adds to my anxiety.  I sure do hope she outgrows it soon.  They say 90 percent of kids outgrow the milk allergy.  Until then we do our best.