The things you give up

A few weeks ago I gave up chocolate because it was keeping Riley up at night. It was hard but to be honest not as hard as people might think. While I do crave it at times, as long as it isn't in the house I can resist. When I gave it up I often told people that while it was hard to give up I could think of much harder things to have to give up, like breathing, walking, or dairy. Yes dairy is ranked up there with breathing in my book. Why? Because I live on yogurt, milk and cheese as a main source of protein.

I have watched in awe as friends have given up the liquid goodness of milk because their child has reflux and thought many times that I couldn't imagine having to give it up myself. Many nights I will have milk and graham crackers as a snack before bed that on top of the two glasses with dinner, the grilled cheese for lunch and the glass of milk in the am I have with my breakfast.

But....

I would do anything for my son. Run into a burning building to save him: anything. And it looks like that is going to include giving up dairy for a while. The pedi says we can start with just milk, and give up that first. If that doesn't help then I will need to give up all dairy. This on top of him getting meds three times a day. Yes my son has reflux, it is a new development one I thought we had been blessed not to get, but according to the pedi reflux can happen suddenly at this age, grrrrr.

I have to admit if it stops the screaming at the breast I will be fine with giving it up, that isn't to say it won't be hard, much harder than giving up the caffeine in chocolate. But the sacrifice will be worth it, because it is much harder to watch my son scream in pain than it is to give up dairy.