Ascorbic Acid: Pass?

We are trying a new iron supplement:  Enfamil's Poly Vi Sol with Iron. 

Ingredients: Glycerin; Water; Ascorbic Acid; Ferrous Sulfate; Vitamin E Succinate; Niacinamide; Artificial Flavor and Color (Caramel); Polysorbate 80; Vitamin A Palmitate; Thiamin Hydrochloride; Riboflavin-5-Phosphate Sodium; Vitamin B6 Hydrochloride; Vitamin D3

I waffled back and forth.  The iron supplement we were giving him had no Vitamin C.  He needs the Vitamin C to absorb the iron.  Since his last iron check we gave him the same supplement but made sure he had an orange or some strawberries along with it to help with absorption.  Then we forgot it at the in-laws when we were on vacation.  Dang.  I picked up the MyKidz iron supplement that the PA had prescribed at his last check.  The ingredients made me uncomfortable.  There was a "starch" listed, but didn't say where the source was.  Was it rice starch, potato starch, corn starch?  It contained ascorbic acid, of course.  The kicker though?  It was strawberry-banana flavored.  Jake had a classic FPIES reaction to bananas.  I don't want to go there.  So we chose the lesser of two evils and went with the Poly Vi Sol with Iron where only one ingredient made me uncomfortable:  Ascorbic Acid. 

Jake's doing great on the new iron supplement.  He takes it everyday mixed with his applesauce and shredded coconut. 

So what does this mean?

Ascorbic Acid is not a trigger?  All Ascorbic Acid is not created equally?  Gerber has some serious cross contamination issues?  Jake grew out of his Ascorbic Acid trigger?  That jar of Gerber pears that contained only pears and ascorbic acid was a FAIL! 

I don't know.  I'm still leery of it.  I still scan labels for it.  But when that label says "less than 2% of one or more of the following:" and Ascorbic Acid is listed, I don't cringe anymore.  I let him have it. 

So there it is.  One less item on our trigger list. 

Still Anemic.

Talk about having the wind knocked out of you.  Jake's numbers were actually WORSE (hemogolobin 9.8)!  I admit I haven't been giving him the iron every single day, but we should have seen SOME improvement.  So this leads me to believe he's not absorbing the iron.  He's not getting enough vitamin C.  The nurse practitioner we saw today (our doctor was not there, and *yay* another new person who has no clue about FPIES) prescribed a different iron supplement with Vitamin C.  "I don't know if the Vitamin C is ascorbic acid or just plain old Vitamin C."  Hmmm... I don't understand this.  Any Vitamin C listed on any food or medication label I have ever read (and I've read A LOT of them) use ascorbic acid for Vitamin C.  But hey, maybe this one time I'm wrong.

So I went ahead and had our pharmacy order the new supplement.  We'll get it next week.  The hubs and I talked about giving it a try, even if it has ascorbic acid in it.  While Jake's new toddler formula contains AA, it's listed under "less than 1%".  I really do wonder if that reaction eight months ago from what we thought was ascorbic acid (pears and ascorbic acid were the only ingredients listed), may have been a cross contamination of another baby food containing rice/oats/bananas. 

Do we risk it? 

In the meantime, I'll continue to give him the iron supplement we have and try to push some Vitamin C with it. 

Anemic.

Jake had his 15 month well check today.  He's growing.  20 lbs, 2 ounces (20%), 29 inches (3%). He's on his own curve, the doctor tells me. 

My main concern I wanted to share with the pediatrician was Jake's new "breath holding" behavior.  It has happened twice in the past month.  The first time it happened, Jake fell off a stool.  He didn't hit his head.  He just laid there doing a silent scream.  He was red faced.  We were waiting for the giant wail to come out, but it never came.  I picked him up, he went limp in my arms.  He wasn't breathing.  We called 911.  We were scared.  He came around with in seconds, but was very lethargic.  A few minutes later, we was crying and back with us.  A few minutes later he was FINE.  We stopped the ambulance from coming and thought maybe he had the wind knocked out of him. 

Last week, we were all walking to the park.  Jake went to tackle his big brother.  Big brother faked him out and Jake fell to the ground.  He hit his head.  I picked him up immediately.  He did that same silent scream.  We waited for the wail.  It never came.  His eyes rolled back in his head and he became very lethargic.  It scared us.  Again.  Within minutes he was crying, then back to his old self. 

Apparently these breath holding spells are normal.  It is the body's way of saying... "if you're not going to breath, I'm going to make you pass out so you're lying down and blood and oxygen can get to your head easier". 

However, breath holding spells can be a sign of anemia.  The pediatrician did a quick hemoglobin check.  Guess what?  Anemic.  His hemoglobin level was 10. 

The doctor wants Jake to start iron supplements.  I don't think they make them without ascorbic acid.  I'm not willing to "trial" ascorbic acid yet either.  I may see if I can have the pharmacist compound some for us. 

So guess what Jake is trialing this week? Beef. This boy needs some iron.

Medication and FPIES

Friday night Jake started running a fever.  I waited.  I hoped it would go away on it's own.  Turns out it was just the start.  I debated with myself at 2am.  Do I give him the Tylenol?  He had been up ALL night.  Nobody was getting any rest.  But if I give him the Tylenol, there's a chance he'll have a reaction.  He had a temp over a 100 for a while now.  I caved.  I gave him the Tylenol.  Tylenol contains corn syrup.  Not a specific fail for us *yet*, but corn, nonetheless.  Not good judgement at 2am.  His fever broke and he went to sleep.  Two hours later (anyone watch spongebob?)...  Crying, screaming, horrible tummy pains for my little man.  It lasted about an hour.  I felt awful.  Granted it was a minor reaction, but he's already feeling horrible from being sick.  I don't want to try Tylenol again for fear of a worse reaction.  His reactions seem to get worse every exposure to an offending food.  Ugh.

So I went to the pharmacy first thing in the morning.  He recommended FeverAll suppositories.  No corn, and it's going in the other end.  No exposure in his gut.  These have been working OK.  It's Monday, he still has a fever and we've had three nights with no sleep.  *YAWWWN*  We visited the pediatrician this morning. Thankfully he's negative for strep, but he has a red throat.  Just a virus, she thought.  If he still has a fever by Tuesday night, bring him back in.  Hopefully we're at the end of this.