In time for Halloween!

Here is a link to an article for the PIC organization I recently wrote in regards to fun Halloween ideas with little ones dealing with food allergies. Enjoy! http://www.facebook.com/notes/pic-protein-intolerant-children-foundation/halloween-for-kids-with-pi-written-by-board-member-amanda-lefew/169844073028410

And the carousel begins once more. . .

Time to get on with another food trial "ride"! The last few nights since we ended green beans have been QUIET and she even slept through the night TWICE in a row! TWICE!!!! Only cried out once or so and stayed asleep. Wow!!!! My big girl. . . Anyways, once we get a probiotic, we will trial that and then after a week or so of that, we will then trial our lovely rutabagas. This way I have plenty of time to get crafty in the kitchen. . . Currently, I am trying to order them, but apparently amazon doesn't like the idea of me ordering culturelle either. .  . perhaps Kirkman's and my mama gut have won out after all. . . I am nervous though because what if the allergist specifically chose culturelle because of the TYPE of bacteria and if the ones I am looking at on Kirkman's aren' the same, will we not get the effect desired? So should we try the culturelle for a couple of days? And just wait and see? The pork thing has me very unsure. . .

Determination has set in. . .

So back to the grind-- trying to work out some new challenges for food without throwing another fail in there for B. Coconut yogurt is our goal for this week (homemade with an allergen free starter, of course) but the first recipe was a bust, so I will try another tonight or tomorrow.

In another week or so, we will be back to food trials. After much mulling and much research (felt like I was playing food chess!!!), I have decided that rutabagas will be our next food of choice. They are supposed to cook up just like potatoes (lots of recipe possibilities here!) and they have a great nutritional profile (http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2611/2). They also don't seem to share any food families of foods that we have failed (which is never a guarantee, mind you. B has some safe foods that are in the same family as some food fails-- we are just trying to tread a little more carefully right now) and are cheap and easy to find. Excellent! I already have a few recipes in mind to try--- rutabaga pancakes, rutabaga fries, some interesting variation on an eastern european dish, rutabaga gnocchi, a little pot pie. . . and the list goes on. I have also read on many baby food sites that these are an excellent choice for baby foods to intro between 8-10 months of age, so they should be fairly mild. If anyone is interested in joining me in my quest, I will be posting preparation and selection tips as well as recipes (and pics!).

I will update on the yogurt if we get results and stay tuned for rutabagas!!!

Bummed

Well, after hearing from the docs today, the decision was made to pull green beans. The allergist said that we might be able to come back to it eventually, but to move on for now. So no veggies in our diet for now. :( The doc recommended trying some probiotics (already have my yogurt starter, so I am going to be brave tonight and make this stuff!) and maybe increasing her reflux meds, switching her to something stronger. I am most bummed about this. I know it isn't a big deal, I know it could be so much worse, but in a way, it feels like we are back pedaling a little, and it is frustrating. It just seems like we are back to where we were-- we can never really get in a good passing streak without having a sudden fail streak. So no new foods for this week-- we will work with what we have and change it up a little by adding the yogurt and hopefully that will help out the digestion situation.

I am trying to stay positive though and this is why. A year ago, we were so lost. DH was deployed, we were living halfway around the world, we had little to no medical support and B was doing so poorly with foods, having big, severe fails. I was facing heart surgery and didn't know what was going to happen, scared because I didn't know how my baby was going to survive if something happened to me (no formula for us). But the surgery went great, B eventually passed a couple of foods before we left Japan, and now I not only have my husband HOME (outside of work, of course!) but we have SPECIALISTS and they listen to us and WORK with us and B. . . well, she is thriving, even with the recent fails. :) We have come so far and have so many more resources at our fingertips, it is something to be so thankful for. Sometimes the new information scares me and makes me think back to how sick she really got at times and that I had no idea WHAT was happening, but for the most part, I keep hoping that the worst is over and that right now, well, we are stuck in the middle. Not where I want most to be, but not the worst place to be either. And I really really hope that soon, we can start moving forward again and hopefully, move past the middle and closer to the end of all of this craziness.

I will keep you guys posted for my yogurt endeavors! Hopefully this will be the key in getting her to move past some of these fails!

Not super concerning, but just keeping an eye on things. . .

Well, the hiccups have arrived. And the wet burps and the frequent swallowing. . . But they aren't awful. And there is a lot of gas, some of which makes her literally cry out, I am guessing, in pain. The beans are passing through whole, but they are a little tough so I am going to start cooking them down a lot more tomorrow AM. Sleep has been rough the past two nights, but not horrible (although I did just have to go in and get her again so who knows what tonight holds. . .). So some little things to watch for but not enough to end the trial or cut back. Hopefully it is all adjustment, fluke or some other such nonsense, like teething. (This kid will get more teeth eventually, I am sure of it! haha) Anyways, tomorrow's breakfast will contain FOUR green beans, so hopefully all goes well! At least she really likes them! She calls them "baby green beans" and then makes her little cutesy face.

day two and we are still golden!

Day two and we are still rocking out with the green beans! And Bridget keeps asking for them! So tomorrow, we serve up THREE green beans (we are just going wild over here. Hahaha)-- they are about two inches in length, so chopped up, they are a little more than a tablespoon. Wish us luck! I am feeling really hopeful!

Hold your breath. . .

Day one of green beans. Our first "common trigger food" trial since squash (zucchini), and that one was a bust. Day one of green beans looked good though! She had one green bean (cut into little pieces) and really enjoyed it! Tomorrow we will do two, the next day will be three. . . and so on and so on. But I am, in a word, petrified. All common trigger foods that we have tried have been fails, and ugly ones at that. Three severe rice reactions, one severe reaction to sweet potatoes, and we pulled squash by day 3 because it was producing BLACK, gooey diapers. I didn't want to see what would happen if we continued. And of course, she reacts to soy through skin contact and in my diet, used to react to "heavy dairy" in my diet (no straight cow's milk, for instance) and failed several other "common triggers" on the patch test. But green beans were a pass with the patches and I am hoping that they are a pass orally. Our track record with common triggers is what has me scared. But we are going slowly and being super aware of any changes, and hopefully, I am worrying for no good reason!! She really needs another veggie since she can only have spinach a little here and there (gives her an AWFUL diaper rash, increased reflux and odd diapers (not really reaction ones, not really normal either). So wish us luck and hopefully green beans will be friendly every day, not just today!