DC Metro & Suburbs

The Leesburg/ Ashburn Stay at Home Moms Meetup Group is fantastic. I have connected with wonderful mothers who I admire in all of the groups I have joined over the years, but never before did I see so many in the same group sharing with and supporting each other. There are moms of all ages and all parenting styles in this group and the group has a great energy…. active, friendly, and easy to jump into. Kudos to the dedicated (volunteer) organizer and the many active members and assistant organizers for all they have done and continue to do to keep this group’s momentum. I am so glad to have found you!

GreenerLoudoun is a blog for all you local folks interested in greening your lives. It covers a wide range of topics — from information on reuse and recycling, to how our choices affect local wildlife, to educational events suitable for children. The blog is interspersed with fascinating photographs, as well.  Have a look!

You’ll find this series on our community calendar. My fondest memories of our first summer in Leesburg were moments filled with music on these Saturday nights. The concerts are always family friendly, and children often gather to dance and frolic near the stage. The concerts are free so you can spend your money on gelato and/or iced coffee drinks at Market Street Coffee.

My breast-fed daughter was extremely sensitive to dairy as an infant. It presented at around 6 weeks — in the middle of our cross-country move — as extreme fussiness and obvious tummy pain. It finally went away, for the most part, within a week or two once I completely cut dairy out of my diet. This meant reading labels and watching not just for milk, but also for milk proteins. Since then I have come across many moms more savvy than I was at the time asking for helping in living dairy-free. In response I have typed up a cryptic ramble on how I survived. I am sharing our experience here, but it is up to you and the experts in your babies’ lives to decide if you need to cut dairy out of your diet.

I was milk-free for eight months while nursing then slowly added milk products back to my own diet. By about 15 months my little one started on occasional milk products. By two she was a champion cow milk drinker. The dairy-free diet was pretty easy once we got used to it, and was totally worth it for us. My little one went from a gassy, colicky, unhappy creature (with a very cranky mom) to a sweet little baby (with a much happier mom) in a matter of weeks.

Based on my own unscientific research — lots of reading and talking to folks — it is my (completely unprofessional) understanding that dairy sensitivities are often misdiagnosed as reflux and unnecessarily medicated. At my own pediatrician’s office every doctor I saw gave me different advice. Much of it was conflicting, and one doctor even suggested that I stop breastfeeding and use the really expensive formula made for kids with dairy issues. I never got a clear professional diagnosis, but I know the changes I saw in my baby.

Tricks for dairy-free living

• Read labels. Even things like bread, instant oatmeal, frozen meatballs and cereal bars often have milk protein hidden in there, and we found that if we let any dairy sneak in we did not see the results.
• You need to get fat from other places. In my case, and probably in a toddler’s case a lot of every day fat comes from milk products. I needed to add in lots of nuts (cashews, cashew butter, almond butter, sunflower butter are alternative to peanut butter) and olive oil to make up for lost fat & protein and avoid cravings.
• It is harder to stick to it when there’s “regular” food around. I put my whole family on a no or low dairy diet along with us.
• Bring your own food on any outing.
• Go to a “crunchy” website and look up vegan recipes. You can always add the meat back in.

Staples and products we relied on (and where we found them)

• Soy milk — The Kirkland brand at Costco is pretty good & most little kids love it. Mine like it too much so I water it down. It also comes in little single boxes at Trader Joes. If you have concerns about too much soy consider oat milk, hazelnut milk, almond milk, or rice milk.
• Fake cheese — Most cheese substitutes suck when you first cut cheese out of your diet but you get used to them. We liked the Trader Joe’s selection best because they had both shredded and singles which were easy to manage.
• Soy yogurt — Target has the “silk brand” and the vanilla flavor is so sweet is tastes like pudding. Trader Joe’s carries their own brand, and it has a re-useable lid (silk just has a foil lid). If you like the big containers, you need to go all the way to Whole Foods.
• Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese — This is carried by the health food store in market station, Giant, Wegmans (I think) and Trader Joe’s. Watch out though - it is like 100% evil partially hydrogenated oils.
• Tofu (as ricotta substitute) — We used the food processor to blend tofu, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and olive oil for a yummy vegan lasagna filling. We never stopped making lasagna this way. It is really good.
• Costco Potstickers — A lot of prepared food has milk products in it, but at Costco you can get Potstickers in the freezer section that are dairy free. Trader Joe’s has lots of dairy free stuff, and great labels.
• Veggie Booty — They’re like green cheetos. For Goodness Sake, the health food store in Market Station, has it.
• Coconut milk — It’s a good substitute for making things like cream of tomato soup.
• Vegan cookies — Both the health food stores in Leesburg have them
• Trader Joe’s Cats Cookies
• Tofutti Cuties — They’re like ice cream sandwiches
• Homemade smoothie popsicles — Just pour smoothie into popsicle molds and eat them instead of ice cream
• Dried fruit

Eating out is hard, but a lot of Asian food is dairy-free. Thai, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants are good places to eat out. We also tried and enjoyed Z-pizza in Leesburg after hearing that they can make your pizza with soy cheese on request.

Further Resources

• Kellymom
• La Leche League
• Loudoun Allergy Network — I blogged about it here

P.S. I was always ravenous while nursing and snacked a lot back then. I also craved junk food of all kinds while nursing, hence all the snack/ junk food on my list 

JumpingJackSports.com
44710 Cape Court Suite #128
Ashburn, VA 20147 (map it)

(703) 858-9901

I have not checked this place out yet but have heard good things. In the meantime, check out their site. If you’ve been there, please share your impressions by leaving a comment below.

Reston Interfaith, Inc.
11150 Sunset Hills Rd. Suite 210
Reston, VA 20190 (map it)
(571) 323-9555

I don’t have much experience with this group, but I am on their mailing list and know they do good work so thought I’d put them out there for folks who are looking for a place to donate or volunteer.

Small Change
1629 Washington Plaza
Lake Anne Village Center
Reston, VA 20190 (map it)
(703) 437-7730

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 - 5

There’s nothing like a used children’s shop right next to a used book store to draw folks like us! I love visiting Lake Anne and recently shopped at Small Change. I walked in and found exactly what I needed with help from the staff. While there I noticed that they carry a lot of name brand toddler shoes in great shape, but as with any consignment store, it’s best to walk in without an agenda and let serendipity take over.

Please note: Small Change is currently closed and will re-open this July 15.