In Which Stonyfield Farms is Vindicated

We were struggling to find the common denominator. What ingredient(s) did the teething biscuits and yogurt have in common? We did copious research while waiting for our appointment with the allergist.

Pete has four older siblings, none of whom have had any trouble with food. The transition, for them, from breastmilk to food was a simple matter of serving up baby friendly portions of our meals on the highchair tray; they ate what we ate. Obviously, we stayed away from known no-nos like honey (botulism), hot dog circles (choking hazard), and peanut butter (potential allergen). However, our investigation into the source of Pete's illness turned up some surprising results.

Until this point, I had been using What to Expect the First Year only as a means of checking Pete's monthly development: "He's looking for a dropped object, that's a '... may even be able to!' He's a genius!" or "He '... should be able to' lift up his head by now. Where did we go wrong?!" (In Pete's defense, our babies' craniums tend to be larger than average. Big brains, we assure ourselves.) Anyway, while reading about Feeding Your Baby: Starting Solids, I came across a box on page 315 entitled Not This Year, Baby. And I quote:

These foods will have to stay off baby's menu for at least the first year:
Nuts and peanuts
Chocolate
Egg whites
Honey
Cow's milk

Some doctors okay these foods during the last few months of the first year; others recommend holding off on them until baby's birthday, especially if there's a family history of allergy:
Wheat
Citrus fruit and citrus juice
Tomatoes
Strawberries

Strawberries?! What the hell?! No one ever told us that babies shouldn't have strawberries! Isn't there someone at the hospital in charge of distributing this information - couldn't an information sheet be pinned to the car seat during the all important installation check? What about those parents who don't own What to Expect?! They could be feeding their baby strawberries at every meal, slowly killing their child with the greengrocer's equivalent of arsenic! And Stonyfield Farms is putting poisonberries in its yogurt - FOR BABIES?! Good God, people! What about the children? This set off a flurry of Googling.

And now is the point in the post where I apologize to Stonyfield Farms. I'm sorry I assumed the worst of you. And that I badmouthed you to all my friends and my mother. You pasteurize your strawberries, thereby destroying the substance responsible for reactions. You are good people who make a good product, and I'm sorry that I ever blamed you. Carry on.

No, the real culprit was milk. Hindsight being 20/20, this seems like a real no-brainer.