Wanted to add to allergies, since three of four have had some problems.
At first Drs. thought #2 was reacting to milk. I was surprized at how
many products contain milk. After trials, she was worse not better.
Finally at 2 1/2 we stumbled onto the culprit - chocolate.
Unfortunately, due to the long time in finding it and the fact that I
had breastfed and eaten, plus a child's normal desire to have what the
other kids are having, she progressed into asthma. With #s 3 &4 we were
prepared. I heartly recommend Dr. Rapp's book, as she does realize how
difficult it is to maintain a restrictive diet as children grow.
There are many alternatives out there, I used Rice Milk to cook my
recipes with for 18 months and it helped relieve the milk-free without
changing our diet that much. Carob and carob products provide the
'chocolate' fad without milk. We need to watch diets much more carefully
than we do, with #3 the problem turned out to be artificial colors -
another thing that is in a lot of food items you wouldn't suspect. But
without going to great lengths or special stores I have been able to
manage our diets without 'depriving' the children of a fairly 'normal'
diet.