Millet, Millet the Magical Grain!

I think I'm going to finally call millet a pass!  Jake's been eating the puffs fairly regularly now at breakfast.  He hates the millet porridge.  The $33 millet porridge from Austrailia.  Oh well.  I tried.  I even mixed it in with some other pureed food.  He knew.  Actually, he doesn't really like much pureed food anymore.  My older son did this at the same age.  Jake wants to feed himself.  He will still take applesauce from me, as long as he has some kind of finger food on his plate, also.  He will also eat sweet potatoes with no problem.  But he L.O.V.E.S. sweet potatoes.  I make them thick enough so they stick on the spoon.  When he gets tired of me feeding him, he can actually pick up the spoon (with food already on it) and feed himself.  It's messy, but he feels so independent and proud! 

So now I'm on the quest to make some sort of millet cookie or muffin.  Millet doesn't rise, so this will be interesting.  I think a cookie might be a better bet.

In six weeks Jake will be one.  I can't believe it.  I need to start thinking about his birthday.  Do we do it up big with a huge party?  Or do we keep it small and intimate and have good crumb control?  I feel like this year should be celebrated, yet I want to be able to enjoy the party.  I don't want to worry the whole time about someone giving him a bite of cake because they think I'm just some over anxious crazy mom.   Decisions.  In the meantime, I will practice making some pear sorbet and some kind of cookie.  It would be fun to have some cookies in the shapes of "1" with a little frosting.

Christmas was great.  Jake would have been happy with some wrapping paper and empty boxes, but he got a few new toys that he's enjoying, as well.  He's also happy playing with his older siblings toys!  Zoobles and Zhu Zhu's seem to be favorites of his, too.

It's been a difficult week crumb-wise.  Having everyone home for the week for every meal and snacks is... well... messy.  I about flipped yesterday when Jake seemed like he was choking on something.  I did a finger swipe and found the inside of a piece of popcorn.  You know those little things that get stuck in your teeth?  I'm not sure what the technical term is.  I was so mad I had let the kids have popcorn.  I watched the clock.  He went to bed about the time he should have reacted.  Jake was cranky.  He was up a lot last night.  He did spit up a little.  But that was it.  No full blown reaction.  One more week of having the kids home.  Popcorn may have to be banned, or limited to outside.

We see our allergist again in four weeks.  I had been debating doing some kind of formula trial.  However, the elimination diet I'm on is much easier now that I can have wheat.  I'm not wasting away and starving anymore.  I plan to stick it out until 18 months.  We're still nursing 6-8 times a day.  I still feel like Jake's food menu is so small.  I think we're just about ready to tackle some bigger items.  Eggs?  Lamb?  I think we'll stick to a few more fruits and veggies until Jake is 12 months.  After that (if we're reaction free), I might get a little more aggressive with his trials. 

One other thing I want to ask the allergist about... probiotics.  Or maybe this is more of a GI question?  I never made the follow up appointment with the GI.. on my to do list.  I just felt the last appointment was so pointless.  Anyway, probiotics seem to be the new buzz word on the boards.  Definitely something I want to look into.  It seems like some kiddos have had success with the gut healing bacteria!  I have probiotics most days through the kefir I drink.  Does this pass through the milk, I wonder?  Something to think about.

One other important thing I wanted to mention. 

Because FPIES does not rule our lives...

Jake took TWO STEPS yesterday. 

This kid will be running before I know it!

Pantry Predicament

Hi Jake!  I see you learned how to open the pantry door. 

What do you have there? 



 Oh that familiar shiny wrapper of a chewy granola bar. 

The kind that contains rice AND oats. 

Can I have it please?

Thank you.

Note to self: 

Time to clear out the pantry and reorganize. 

Or put a lock on it.

OR BOTH...

Wheat a minute...

This week kind of threw us for a loop.  Mama got sick.  Mama got really sick.  Stomach virus.  I will spare the details. 

Millet got put on hold.

Housework got put on hold. 

Laundry was only done when everyone ran out of underwear. 

Pizza was ordered in. 

Wheat was re-introduced into my diet. 

This was my plan, eventually.  Just not yet.  However, when I hadn't eaten for 24 hours and the ONLY thing that sounded digestible was a piece of toast, I caved.  And nothing happened.  I barely ate more than bread for two days.  And Jake was fine. 

This Mama is no longer starving without bread and pasta. 

Maybe wheat will be a pass for us some day.  We won't be trying any time soon, however.  In the meantime, I will enjoy my shredded wheat for breakfast once again.  A sandwich for lunch every once in a while and some pasta at dinner if I feel like it. 

It's been about two months.  I'm proud of myself. 

Next I plan to re-introduce some hidden corn products.  Not yet, though.

We will get back to millet soon.  Once Jake is over this little cold.  Viruses are spreading like crazy around here. 

Fun Facts about Millet

It's the holiday season.  This always puts me in a list mood. 

• Millet has been cultivated for some 8,000 years and is one of the oldest foods known to man.
• Yesterday I ate millet twice.  Breakfast and Dinner.  It's OK to be jealous.  I won't fault you for it.
• Millet is mentioned in the Bible and was used during those times to make bread. 
• I ordered infant millet porridge from Australia a few weeks ago.  It's still not here.   
• There is such a thing as millet beer (ummm where can I find some, Mama could use a beverage on this elimination diet!)
• The U.S. uses millet mainly for cattle and bird feed.  (and those who have FPIES or nourish a baby with FPIES, or in our case BOTH)
• My visa actually called to tell me someone was using my credit card in Australia and they suspected fraud.  Someone had charged $33.00 to a food company.
• Yes, I paid $33 freaking dollars for infant millet porridge.  The things we do. 
• Millet is grown in hot, dry climates where other grains will not thrive.  Hmmm...  I live in the southwest.  It is awfully hot and dry here.  I may be on to something. 
• Millet puffs are very tiny.  They fit up a baby's nostril.  With patience, time and long finger nails you can carefully remove them from a baby's nostril.  As long as he doesn't snort it up.  Whew. 
• Jake has had a very small amount of millet puffs six out of the last eight days.  With no reaction. (doing a very small happy dance... taking things slow, going to start increasing amounts today) 

Reference: http://chetday.com/millet.html

Today...

...I actually heard a crumb drop on the tile as my DS1 ate a potato chip.  My ears now have FPIES tuning.  The crumb was about 1/4 of the size of a dime.

...I was criticized once again for still breastfeeding my almost 10 month old, by my grandmother.  "you need to start pumping if you're going to still give him breastmilk".  Isn't family supposed to be supportive?  "He'll become too attached to you".  Um, he's a baby.  Isn't he supposed to be attached to his Mommy? 

...I learned that "breast milk" is actually two words.  Thank you spell checker. 

...Jake charmed the heck out of the old people at my Granddad's nursing home, as always. I love our weekly visits. 

...is December 1st, seriously?

...Jake has discovered the joys of unraveling toilet paper.  Then shredding it to bits.

...I drank too much coffee.  It's not working. 

...Jake and I had the same lunch. Broccoli and baked potato. 

...Jake and I had the same breakfast.  Millet and pears.

There I said typed it for the whole world to see. So far, so good.  Day 2 of millet is done. 

No reaction.

Mulling over Millet, Pondering Spelt, and now Mama's gone green

First things first... broccoli!  I think we may have a pass.  Today will be day seven, and we've had no issues.  Jake's had one bad diaper, but I'm going to chalk that up to a crumb of some sort.  The rest of the week went well. 

With this recent run of passes, I'm really considering trialing millet this week.  I've been eating it once or twice a day for a few weeks now and it doesn't bother him through my milk.  I have millet puffs in my pantry just waiting to be presented on his tray.  The thing is... we have a busy week.  AND The hubs is out of town.  What to do?  The last time hubs was out of town, I trialed ascorbic acid.  It was our last fail. 

Spelt is a new grain option I've come across.  (I have been learning way too much about food lately)  Spelt can replace wheat in almost any baking.  Spelt has more protein than wheat, yet the protein is supposed to be easier to digest.  If I soaked the grains, it should make the proteins even easier to digest. I may start introducing spelt into my diet and see if Jake reacts.  Maybe after a millet trial pass.  Nothing wrong with some positive thinking, right?

 Food for thought. 

In the meantime, I've found a way to make millet tortillas/flatbread out of just millet flour and water.  They are not quite as good as a corn or flour tortilla, but they serve the purpose well.  I've used them to hold some beef fajitas, scrambled eggs and even slathered a little butter, sugar and cinnamon on them for a treat.  It's been satisfying my need for a "bread" while I'm eliminating wheat.  I found the recipe on the Book Of Yum blog.  Sea shares some really great gluten-free, vegetarian, and TED recipes.   Click here for the recipe.

Another new food item in my elimination diet... Green Smoothies.  I may be addicted.  Here is one I made this morning:

Creamsicle Green Smoothie
1 cup low fat plain kefir
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 handfuls fresh spinach
2 small clementines, peeled
1/2 cup frozen mangoes (to ice it up a bit)
1 Tbsp Flax Oil
1 Tbsp Agave Nectar

Combine in a blender until smooth.  It was almost as good as a creamsicle!  I was so full and satisfied after, too.  The great thing about these green smoothies are a.) you can't taste the "green" and b.) you can use any fruit, frozen or fresh, and get a great result. 

I think this elimination diet might be turning me into a health nut. 

Survived First Thanksgiving, now we're going "green"

We had Thanksgiving early this year.  I was so glad we were hosting because that meant I had a little control over the menu.  I was able to partake in the turkey, sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.  All the other food looked fantastic (especially the pies), but it was easy to avoid those foods.  The elimination diet is getting so much easier.  I think mostly because of the huge difference I see in Jake.  He's happy, well rested and feels good.  Jake had his own little feast of sweet potatoes and his favorite freeze dried pears. 

My family all knows about Jake's FPIES, so I tried to relax as much as I could without following everyone around with a dustbuster and insisting everyone eat at a table.  Only once did someone try to feed Jake some whipped cream.  I was calm.  I didn't over react.  I just grabbed Jake and said, "oh he can't have that!".  Trying not to be that crazy over protective Mom, yet knowing I need to be if we don't want him sick. 

With all the family over, I don't think Jake's feet ever touched the ground!  This lessened my crumb paranoia.  He was passed around, loved on, snuggled, hugged and kissed over and over.  He loved it.  By the time everyone left, we did a scan of the floor and it wasn't bad.  Accidental ingestions, diverted. 

It was a great first Thanksgiving for my little man. 

In other food news... we've passed white potatoes.  I wasn't too surprised.  It's one of those things he's kind of had off and on.  I say we're safe now.  He's not a big fan of them, however!  Not enough flavor, I guess?  They are rather boring.  I need to try an oil so I can bake some of my fabulous french fries for him. 

I think mangoes are safe.  We did four days of freeze dried, then tried fresh.  The last day he was a little fussy, but not sure if it was the mangoes or not.  He didn't really like the fresh ones.  Too tart, I think.  He loved the freeze dried ones, however.  They come in big slices, so I put them away for now.  He won't eat the fresh ones, but the freeze dried ones will be nice to have once he gets a little older and can bite pieces off himself. 

So, our next trial?  I'm being brave.  I think having two passes has made me feel like branching out.  Branch, hee hee, since our next trial is a green little tree looking veggie... Broccoli!  It's so different from any of the foods he's had. It's so healthy.  It's GREEN.  It scares me.  He's never had anything green.  But I feel brave.  I eat broccoli almost every day.  Since he's so sensitive to my milk, I'm taking this as a good sign. 

Today I grabbed some broccoli that had already been steamed yesterday.  I steamed it AGAIN.  It was practically falling apart.  I diced it up.  He LOVED it. I think he liked seeing something rather than orange or white on plate!  He ate all of it.  Then he signed for more.  I wanted to give him more, but I refrained.  I really want this one to pass.  I will do it "right". 

Millet... the next brave step.  I've been eating millet for breakfast every day for a week now.  It's not bothering Jake through my milk.  I've been pre-soaking the grains in plain Kefir hoping to make the proteins even more digestible.  Nothing wrong with some extra probiotics either!  It's making me feel a little more comfortable about possibly trialing millet soon.  Those little puffed millets would be a perfectly easy thing to give him as a snack.  I will probably wait until after Christmas.  Although, I don't have a lot of patience.  I think I'm getting greedy now.  We'll see how broccoli goes...

What CAN you eat?

This is the question I am constantly asked.  Here is what I've eliminated...

• Rice
• Oats
• Wheat
• Corn (ascorbic acid, corn syrup)
• Bananas
• Quinoa
• Beans, legumes of all kinds

So I guess that makes me gluten free?  Thankfully I still have dairy.  Here was today's menu...

Breakfast - millet mixed with cinnamon, agave nectar, walnuts, raisins
Lunch - baked potato topped with Fage Greek Yogurt and Salsa.  Plain greek yogurt tastes just like sour cream to me and it contains 20 grams of protein in one cup!  Fills me up.
Dinner - Baked Chicken "breaded" in almond meal, spaghetti squash and broccoli

I'm constantly snacking throughout the day on..

• Fruits (apples and pears mostly, clementines)
• Veggies (carrots, celery, red peppers) with Trader Joes' Yogurt and Chive dip
• My Trail mix (sunflower seeds, papitas, almonds, cranberries and dark chocolate nibs)
• Milk
• Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate frozen dessert
• Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate with Almonds
• Peanut Butter
• Plain Kefir mixed with some agave nectar and fruit
• Organic vanilla yogurt

I'm keeping things pretty simple on the dinner homefront.  Grilled steak, chicken, pork chops.  I made ground turkey burgers the other night.  I used lettuce as my bun.  I baked our own french fries and made a "clean" ketchup.  The ketchup was disgusting.  Nobody quite does it like Heinz.  I use an organic spaghetti sauce and add it to my ground turkey and veggies.  Instead of pasta, I just put it over spinach.  Odd, but it works.  I have a chicken soup recipe I plan to make tomorrow.  I'm leaving out the egg noodles.  I'm taking a lot of my regular recipes and trying to make them fit into my elimination diet.  Nobody around here really seems the wiser.  The kids and the hubs are eating the same things I normally make.  I'm just tweaking them to meet my reqs. 

I do miss pizza night though.  At least I still have my chocolate.

Doctor visits

We had two doctor's visits yesterday. 

General Ped 9 month visit - went great.  Jake is staying on his curve.  He weighed 19 lbs 4 oz.  He's a short little dude, but staying on his curve.  He's reaching all his milestones appropriately.  Our doctor seemed like she had read up a little on FPIES since our last visit.  She just said she hadn't seen it before, and just really hopes he outgrows it by 3 or 4 so he won't have any recollection of it.  I agree. She asked about our allergy visits, what his recommendation were.  She didn't have too much to offer, just to keep doing what we're doing.  No vaccines, just a toe prick.  Iron levels were normal.  Yay! 

GI Follow up visit and nutritionist - disappointed.  First, our visit with the GI was really just that.. a follow up.  He threw out some ideas, but at this point I feel like the allergist has really taken ownership of Jake's diagnosis.  GI did say something funny... "So Jake's allergic to rice and air?"  ha ha, yes pretty much everything. GI mentioned Jake could try Alimentum Ready to Feed formula. It's corn free.  Well, I looked up the ingredients, it contains ascorbic acid.  Really I don't think there's a formula he could totally tolerate.  I'm fully committed to nurse him for the next year at least.  He seemed a little concerned about Jake only pooping once or twice a week.  They are soft and formed, so I'm not worried.  My other son was EXACTLY the same way as a baby.  And now he's fine.  GI said if his poops become very hard to try prune juice.  As if it's that easy.  Try prune juice.  I will trial it at some point.  I did find some organic prune juice that contains no ascorbic acid.  Only at Whole Foods though. 

After the GI left, the nutritionist came in.  I was really hoping to pick her brain about different grains, different food families, some ideas of what to try next.  She kind of looked at me like a deer in headlights.  She was no help at all.  She kept saying he looked healthy and my breastmilk is all he needs.  Well that's great, but not FOREVER!  She wouldn't recommend anything because the doctor hadn't ok'd any other foods.  Huh?  I tried rephrasing myself several times, but in the end I think I knew more about food then she did.  She hadn't even looked in Jake's file before she came in.  Didn't even know his name.  Very disappointing. 

GI asked that I make an appointment for three months from now.  I didn't.  I'm not sure what his role is for us.  If Jake's vomitting were to return without a known cause, then yes.  If his symptoms still existed after removing the offending foods, then yes.  If he was having bowel issues, yes.  Maybe in three months things will be different.  I don't know.  I should probably go ahead and make the appointment.  It doesn't cost us much to go. 

We're done with doctor visits for a few months at least.

Getting back to baseline, again

Is this what we always do?  Try to get back to baseline?  I feel like we're on a hamster wheel sometimes. 

Lots of factors this week.  Major quinoa ingestion at the beginning of the week, patch testing (showing quinoa and wheat reaction), accidental ingestion of corn starch (by me), shredded wheat (possible sleep disturber?).  I'm trying to put all these pieces of the puzzle together.  This week has been an off week for Jake.  Back to bad sleeping, tummy pains and lots of gas and burps.  All because of my diet.  I'm glad I know about the quinoa, now.  It all seems to make sense.  I think because so many other people have been successful with quinoa, I never attributed any of his tummy pains to it.  I just assumed it was safe.  No more assuming. 

I'm eliminating shredded wheat from my diet.  I'm limiting myself to two pieces of bread a day.  The bread I eat doesn't seem to bother him.  But I think the shredded wheat does.  Last week I was out of the cereal and ate toast for breakfast... last week he slept better and felt better.  I haven't had the shredded wheat in a few days.  Last night he slept better.  Up only twice. 

This week I'm going to finish up our mango trial.  I'm pretty sure it's a pass.  I'm going to start white potatoes, which I'm also sure are a pass.  Meanwhile, I'm going to try millet for myself.  I want to see if it disturbs his sleep patterns. If not, I'll stick with it a while, and maybe this will be the first grain we try.  I think for anything major, I'll try it through my milk, first. 

As much as I like to cook, I do like to eat out, too.  I found this amazing vegetarian, all organic, all local little cafe in my neighborhood.  FINALLY!  I can eat out.  I had a yummy salad from there yesterday.  They know exactly what is in everything they make, it is all made right then and there with all fresh ingredients.  They didn't seem bothered by me asking for ingredients for everything. I felt normal.  Maybe Jake can eat there, too, some day.

Patch Test Results - I'm so confused

Jake's FPIES triggers from our experience (which trumps any patch test) are RICE, oats, bananas and corn (in the form ascorbic acid).  Here are the results from his patch test:

Definite reaction - Oats, green beans and QUINOA (wth?)
Slight reaction - wheat, banana, green pea
No reaction - milk, soy, corn, chicken, turkey and RICE (wth?)

So what do I do with this information now?  How did rice not have a reaction? Rice has been his worse FPIES reaction.  This alone makes me not trust any negatives he had.  And quinoa?  I eat a lot of quinoa.  Quinoa looked just as bad as oats on the patch test.  Now that I think about it, I didn't have much last week.  He slept better last week.  Maybe it is all related?  I feel like I need to process all of this.  I feel lost now.  I was hoping this test would reffirm things, but all it has done is left me confused. 

We're supposed to watch the patch spots for the next 5 days, recording any changes.  Call back to the office with our observations.  Continue to feed him foods we know are safe.  We may start trialing those foods that tested negative.  I don't know.  I didn't plan on trying any of those foods until he was a year old. 

I guess this is where I use my Mommy instinct more than medical advice.  I think we'll still continue some fruits and veggies before I do anything big.  I just need to step away and process this new info.  I need to do a little more research.  Maybe millet?  I wish we had a grain.  But the slight reaction with the wheat has me worried.  I'm definitely staying away from quinoa.  I know he reacts to corn.  I'm curious about edamame... it's soybean, but is it a legume?  Is it related at all to a green bean? 

All this testing did was provide me with more questions than answers.  *sigh*

Patch Test Today

Today was the big day.  I took my little lunch cooler full of cooked chicken, turkey, rice, green beans, peas, banana and quinoa to the allergist.  He supplied the milk, soy, oats, corn and wheat.  In two days we'll hopefully see some results.  Jake was a trooper.  Clapping and smiling in the waiting room.  Being as still as a nine month old can be in the exam room where he got the patches applied.  Now we wait.  He doesn't seem too bothered by them yet.  I'm not sure what exactly to expect.  Based on my diet I think milk, wheat, quinoa, chicken and turkey will be OK.  That pretty much sums up my diet these days.  I'm expecting reactions from peas and beans, due to some tummy pain a few weeks ago.   Definite reactions from rice, oats, corn and bananas. 

But then I wonder.  What if they come back OK?  What if it doesn't work?  I KNOW he had reactions to these four.  Rice and oats were the worse.  I'm counting down the hours until Wednesday morning.

Here's the proof with the patch...

In other news, I think mangos are going to be a pass for us!  No reactions at all.  We did freeze dried mangos for 5 days.  I stopped trialing for the patch test.  I would like to give him some fresh mangos.  Maybe this weekend.  Then I'll call it a definite pass.

This and that

Mangos!  I don't know why, but yesterday I grabbed the bag of freeze dried mangos and gave them a taste.  They melted right in my mouth.  I couldn't resist.  I had planned on white potatoes (boring), but I just didn't feel like it.  We have no big plans this week.  We're recovering from a whirlwind of busy weeks behind us. Jake is feeling good.  Why not?  I had a good feeling about them.  Jake LOVED them.  We're on day two right now.  No signs of a reaction yet. 

I have been very strict on my Elimination Diet.  And guess what?  Jake just seems to be getting better each day.  Last night he was only up once at night.  ONCE.  I just about fell out of bed when I looked at the clock and it was 3am.  I was so confused.  Is the clock right?  He's just now waking up?  He nursed and went back to sleep until 6.  Wow.  The night before he was up only twice.  I hope this is a new trend.  I hope being so strict in my diet is paying off.  It's certainly paying off on my waistline!  Ha. 

The countdown is on until our patch testing on Monday.  I need to start putting a few things in the freezer to take with us for the testing.  I'd hate to be cooking up six different things on Sunday evening.  Knowing the procrastinator in me, I'll probably be doing SOME cooking.

Ups and Downs

We're on our way UP.  Jake is happy and feeling good again.  I'm ready to finish our white potato trial.  Sleep, well... we're only up 3 times a night again.  After the past week, this seems doable for some reason.  Last night he slept for 5 hours straight.  Every time he woke up during the night it wasn't because he was in pain.  He was just barely fussing and very happy and smiley when I came into his room.  I think he was just lonely.  He's used to having me with him throughout the night, I suppose.  I hate having downer posts.  I don't feel that is totally me.  But I'm leaving them there as a reminder. 

Happy Halloween!  The hubs picked up a dark chocolate Godiva bar yesterday for me.  It was yummy and had no sign of rice, oats or corn. Just pure chocolate and sugar! I've had some treats. Is it time for some tricks? 

Elimination Diet

Wow.  I didn't realize how tough this was going to be.  I'm tempted to start with just a few items to eat, like Jake, and grow from there.  Do I have the patience, strength and will to do this?  To do it for another year, most likely?  I'm hungry.  I'm really hungry.  I can't believe we're 3 days away from Halloween and I haven't had one piece of candy.  I've lost 6 pounds.  I guess the one positive is that my old jeans fit.  The bad news is that I get cranky when I'm hungry.  Every time Jake cries I wonder if it is something I ate and I blame myself.  I over analyze EVERYTHING.  He was up all night with the sore throat/fever virus he had.  But now that it's over, he's still up all night.  I'm pretty sure the big helping of snap peas I ate were a culprit on Sunday.  Then I made this hummus pasta for dinner on Tuesday night.  Is a chickpea a pea or a bean?  Or both?  Needless to say, I'm cutting beans out for now, too.  I'm pretty sure he was up 5,362 times last night.  Give or take a few.  Poor little man.  I just want him to be happy.  I just want Jake to feel good.  We haven't been trialing anything.  I'm anxious to see what comes back on his patch test in a few weeks.  I feel like that will definitely give us some direction and we can start trialing more confidently again.  In the meantime, I'm trying hard to keep my diet to a minimum and get Jake back to feeling good. 

I feel like nobody "gets" it.  No more fast food.  No more eating out.  I just canceled a trip I was supposed to take in a few weeks.  A friend's 40th birthday party in Southern Cal.  I was going to take a quick 24 hour trip.  When I agreed to go, I assumed Jake would be further along.  Eating more foods, nursing less.  I think the reality of this hadn't really set in.  It's starting to.

I'll take it day by day.  Today I continue to eat what I know I can eat.  Tonight, maybe we'll all sleep. 

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.

The Allergist

I think our circle of doctors is now complete.  We met with the allergist recommended by Jake's GI doctor yesterday.  He was fantastic.  He listened, he typed as I spoke, writing everything down, and he listened some more.  He spent almost an hour with us.   After hearing our story, he said it sounded like FPIES.  He has one other FPIES patient!!  I was sad there's another patient, yet thrilled he's already been through this.  His other patient is almost two years old. 

He seemed so knowledgable and immediately gave us a plan.  We are going to do patch testing the first week in November for all the main trigger foods for FPIES, and also quinoa.  He agreed that quinoa would be a good grain to get under our belt.  Especially since I eat it almost every day now that rice is gone from my diet.  He isn't reacting at all to the quinoa in my diet.  He said to continue to eliminate Jake's offending foods from my diet.  He asked how I felt about nursing until at least 18 months.  I said I would.  He'd like breastmilk to continue to be Jake's main form of nutrition.  No cow's milk or milk alternative until then.  His other FPIES patient has a trigger of milk, so I think he's really leary of the milk.  He said if I want I can try Neocate or Elecare, however there are corn solids in those formulas.  And with the ascorbic acid fail, I'm scared to try anything with corn in it.  I will continue to breastfeed until 18 months for now.  He asked that I start taking a prenatal vitamin again.

After the patch test he will determine what foods we should start trialing next.  We won't trial any of our failures until Jake is 2 or 3 years old.  He will do the trials in his office.  He gave us a plan if we have another full blown reaction.  Since that last reaction was not as severe, he said we can monitor at home unless Jake becomes unresponsive, turns a different color, especially around his mouth, or is completely listless.  We are to call 911, have them start IV immediately, route us to Phoenix Children's Hospital, then he will consult with the ER.  He also prescribed the epi pen in the condition Jake is having an anaphylaxis reaction.

I left his office feeling very confident with his care.  He said to google "fpies" the few top links are good ones.  We all know I've already done that... to an extreme.  He said he tries to stay on top of the FPIES research.

I feel good.  I feel like we've really lucked out with our doctors.  I've read so many stories of families struggling to find doctors who even know what FPIES is, let alone how to treat it.  We have a plan.  That's all I need right now.  I know things are going to get harder once Jake gets a little older.  I'm enjoying this calm we have now.  A few good doctors, a plan, five solid foods, and endless milk supply.  Jake is thriving and happy.   

Nighttime Nursing

The truth is, it's been over eight months of nursing around the clock.  Every 2-3 hours.  Day and Night.  While Jake gets up 3-4 times a night still, his nursing sessions are shorter.  He nurses only 5-10 minutes.  Is he really hungry?  I'm starting to wonder if we are just in the rut of a very bad habit.  Yet, being the FPIES mom, I wonder how to make up those extra calories he'd be missing at night, if I were to stop.  However, he's a big fat baby.  I know it's not PC, but that's what we call him around here.  He has more chub than his siblings did.  And he's ACTIVE.  Crawling, cruising, and getting into everything.  He eats solid food three times a day, but nursing is still his main form of nutrition.  I've been toying with the idea of eliminating the nighttime feedings.  Mama guilt.  And then there's the torture of teaching a baby to sleep through the night.  I don't know if my heart can bear it right now.  Decisions.

In the meantime, we've put trialing on hold for now.  Jake's body needed a break.  I mentally needed a break.  The ascorbic acid really threw me for a loop and now I'm scared.  However, I did make it to Whole Paycheck  Foods this weekend.  I found the freeze dried pears (Crispy Greens).  Oh my goodness, he LOVES them!  I like them better than the Parent's Choice apples.  They seem to melt in your mouth much quicker.  I also picked up some Just Apples. I found Organic Prune juice that is JUST prune juice.  No ascorbic acid.  I have blueberries in the freezer, white potatoes in the pantry and now prune juice.  I have plenty of foods ready to go.  I just need the confidence. 

The irony is... Jake failed ascorbic acid today.

So after freaking out over Jake's spit up incident, we failed ascorbic acid.  At least that's what I think we failed.  I picked up some prune juice with the ascorbic acid in it.  I was a little leary, that's two things we haven't tried.  I didn't want to do them both together.  So I thought first I would try some jarred pears that contained pear concentrate and ascorbic acid.  He has fresh pears almost every day.  He has had jarred food a few times before he had any FPIES reactions.  This was probably his third time having it.  Three.  It's the magic number.  He ate the whole stage 2 jar after his nap today.  One hour later (less than normal reaction time of 2 hours) he vomitted.  Then he went into his zombie state.  I was very confused.  This wasn't his textbook reaction, but it was definitely a reaction.  He only vomited once.  Then it was the lethargic, red rings around his eyes, stiffening with stomach pains every once in a while, then back to being lethargic.  Even his brother who always puts a smile on his face, got nothing.  Every once in a while, he'd look at me with this pitiful, pleading eyes, rubbing his face, obviously in pain, then surrendor and just lay there, unmoving.  I kept waiting for the vomiting to start.  I kept wondering if I should take him to the ER.  I kept thinking... when is he going to start the full blown reaction?  I always thought his lethargy was caused by his extreme vomiting.  After today, I'm sure it's not.  So what's going on inside his little body that makes him react this way?  What puts him in the zombie state?  After about 90 minutes it was over.  He was asking to nurse.  He nursed, fell asleep for about 45 minutes, then woke up like nothing happened.  I googled ascorbic acid.  The man-made version is derived from corn.  Is it corn then?  Then I thought... I just bought a bag of corn chips a few days ago.  I've eaten a lot of them.  Bad, I know.  Maybe that's why he wasn't sleeping well the past few nights?  Maybe that's why he spit up?  I think I may drop all corn from my diet.  I mean all corn, even corn syrup. 

FPIES is like this giant puzzle that I feel like I never have all the pieces to.

There is rice in Rice Crispies.

I put Jake down for a nap half an hour ago.  Last night he was up every two hours.  While he does wake up at night quite a lot (2-3 times), 4-5 times in one night is excessive.  This morning he's been happy, however.  We went to Big Bro Z's soccer game.  It was snack day for us.  Without a thought I picked up rice crispy treats.  Hello!!! Rice!!  Doh. I kept an eye on Jake. No one touched him with their rice crispies and they were gobbled up fast.  We stopped by Dunkin Donuts on the way home from the game.  It was an 8:00 am game.  Dad's out of town, so I try really hard to be the fun Mom.  He was a trooper and I put him down for a nap late.  It's been two hours since the rice crispies were passed out.  Jake just started crying.  I check him.  I pick him up. He burps.  He spits up all over me.  I panic.  It's been exactly two hours.  He burps a few more times.  I sit down with him.  Rock him.  Is he reacting?  He's tired.  He acts like he wants to nurse.  I let him.  Is he having a reaction?  He falls back asleep.  I rock him.  Twenty minutes later, I finally set him in the crib.  I watch him.  Am I sure he's not reacting? 

The whole scenario plays out in my head.  My mom is 40 minutes away right now, I can't call her.  That leaves Pops.  The one with the really bad gag reflex.  I envision him driving us to the ER.  Vomitting baby in my arms, Pops trying hard not to vomit himself.  Big kids afraid.  Me trying to contain the vomit.  Explaining everything to the ER when we get there.  We haven't seen the allergist yet.  We go in a week and a half.  We don't have a letter explaining everything from a doctor.  Do I explain FPIES?  Do I demand an IV right there?  What are they going to say?  Are they going to think I'm crazy?  The last reaction was a few months ago.  Was it as bad as I remember? 

I realize I need some kind of plan if we ever do have a reaction again.

Jake's OK.  No reaction.  It's been an hour now.  Whew.   I rack my brain.  When he spits up, it's usually something in my milk.  The vomitting is a reaction from something he ingests.  Was it something I ate last night?  I didn't have anything out of the ordinary.  He was up a lot last night.  I had my usual toast with peanut butter this morning to eat.  Oh the donut.  What's in a donut.  Google ingredients.  Nope.  No rice or oats.  There is barley, however.  I've always been suspicious about barley.  Once I had a beer.  He spit up.  Hmmmm.  Maybe someone breathed their rice crispies on him?  Maybe he *gasp* got a hold of one of those dang rice crispies??  If he did he'd be vomitting.   It was only some spit up.  More than usual.  But still. 

I'm never buying rice crispy treats again.

Nothing to report

It's a boring FPIES week for us, which is always good, right?  With the hubs gone, I'm freaking a little about trialing anything.  Right now we're trialing cinnamon.  Does that even count?  We're on day three.  Hubs picked up some freeze dried apples with organic cinnamon.  They taste pretty good.  (one for me, one for Jake, one for me...) They're in big chunks, so I've been breaking them down into little pieces.  He likes the cinnamon.  Although, he likes anything he can grab with his fingers and put in his mouth.  He's constantly reminding me that I really need a new vacuum cleaner.  Oh, he trialed a little sand at the playground yesterday, as well.  He didn't like that AT ALL.  I guess he does have some opinion on what he deems as edible.  Cat hair, definitely edible. Board books, paper?  Edible.  Sand.  Not Edible. 

Prunes are still on my list of "want to trial", although he seems less constipated the past few days.  I think I may pick up some prune juice and just add a little to his food or water.  I need to find a juice without any extras in it.  Ahhhhh the constant quest of an FPIES mom.  Give it to me straight up.  No extras, please!

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning, I'm barely out of my pj's at 10am, kids playing amongst what looks like the remnants of a tornado which we call our house, and mountains of laundry calling my name.  I'll get to it eventually today, but in the meantime I'm wondering what to trial for Jake this week.  I thought I would do something simple like white potatoes, then maybe olive oil and some spices.  However, Jake's been very constipated this week.  I'm thinking of trialing prunes.  I can't find any info on failing prunes with FPIES.  But how many babies are actually constipated with FPIES?  I don't think it's a food that gets trialed very often.  After three passes in a row, I think my confidence has grown, yet I feel like we're due for a fail.  This would not be the best week to have a reaction.  Hubs is leaving for two weeks for work.  Luckily I have the grandparents here in case I need some help if we have a reaction.  I think we'll do prunes this week, and maybe white potatoes next week.  That's the plan today, anyway.  We all know how quickly it can change.

Change the rules or get a dog?

The game of FPIES just changed, and now we need some new rules, since we don't have a dog.  Jake started CRAWLING.  Gone are the days of a quick scan of the carpet where I set Jake down.  He's never where I leave him now.  I'm trying hard not to empty my pantry of all foods that contains rice and oats... hello granola bars!! Granola bars are a staple. They are their own food group in our house.  My kids eat them EVERY DAY.  This is the day I wish we had a dog.  Dog's eat crumbs.  How convenient would that be?  Unfortunately, we have a cat.  And hubs is not a big fan of dogs.  And I'm not ready to have the responsibility of another "baby" in the house that needs to be potty trained and fed and taken care of.   

Since a dog is probably out of the question...  We need to change the rules.  No more eating.  Just kidding.  We've started eating only at the kitchen table.  Which means I have to start sweeping up the floor after every meal AND snack, which means I'm sweeping all day long. The old rule was to only eat on the tile.  Easy clean-up.  But Jake can get onto the tile now.  My kids don't like the new rule.  I don't like the new rule.  I really like to sit and eat my dark chocolate covered pomegranate (yes, I have a costco size bag), mixed with a few nuts, while watching season 6 of Lost, or our new obsession, Dexter, after the kids have gone to bed.  But I think I need to follow the rules, too. 

Accidental ingestion just became my biggest fear. 

An apple a day...

Squash was a success!!  Yay!  Of course, after we started trialing it, I find out that squash is one of the trigger foods for FPIES.  Thankfully we passed.  That gave us a big boost of confidence.  It also made me a little more aware of what some of the main trigger foods are, and what I should avoid for a while.  In light of the fact that the hubs will be OOT for a few weeks, I'm going with some safer foods next, anyway.  I'm a little nervous Jake may have a reaction while he's gone.  I think if he has any warning signs at all, I'll probably stop the food trial.  I can't imagine taking three kids, including a vomiting baby to the ER by myself.  So apples it is for this week.  Possibly white potatoes next week?  Hubs picked out a nice bag of organic apples yesterday.  I also found a package of freeze dried apples at the big box store.  It was the ONLY item in the baby food section that Jake could eat at this point.  Every one of those little fun finger foods contain rice or oat flour.  EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

On a side note, there has been an FPIES Research Fund set up to hopefully find a cause and a cure for FPIES.  CHOP needs $300,000 to fund the research.  There is a link on the side of my blog.  Every little bit will help!

Wood - Pass?

I'm thinking of giving a pass to wood for Jake.  I just can't figure out what food group it would be, though.  This boy will chew on anything wood.  His crib rail, the coffee table, Jenga pieces, blocks, the leg of the kids' Ikea table, whatever he can roll/scoot/army crawl to.   He's been sampling it for over a week now.  Surely wood is a pass, right?

In the meantime... we're on day three of butternut squash.  No real reactions yet, just a little burpy.  I'm starting to think that burpy is his normal and I'm overreacting to reactions.  The past two days have been great, actually.  He's been very happy.  He's been napping well.  And only up twice during the night.  That's normal for us.  Sad, isn't it?

Thankfully he doesn't react to COFFEE

Well, I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the squash, yet.  But I will say yesterday was just an OFF kind of day.  Jake was really gassy, burpy, clingy and just plain not happy.  While he's normally easy to put down for a nap, yesterday it took me over an hour just to get him to go to sleep, then he only slept for about 45 minutes.  The night was miserable, as well.  He was up at 11:30, 2, 3, 4, 5 and then I gave up.  Three of the times he was up he had pooped.  I'm not sure whether to blame the squash or not.  His top two teeth look like they're going to come through pretty soon.  And he won't have a real reaction until he's had the food 3 or 4 times.  This was just the first day.  I'm going to skip squash today and try again tomorrow. Let his tummy feel better today.  Hopefully get some rest tonight.  He's already on his second nap of the day and it's only 10:30.  Poor little man is tired. Thank God he doesn't react to coffee in my milk.  I don't think I would have survived the morning without it.  I'm sure I see a Diet Dr. Pepper in my future, as well.

Fresh Veggies

This weekend Big Sis N and I planted a garden!  The hubs had made a nice spot for us on the side of the house.  He and Big Bro Z cleared the area, put down a raised bed my Dad had made and filled it with nice dirt.  Big Sis N and I turned the dirt, added some peet moss, planted, mulched and watered.  This is our first time having a garden.  I always joke that I'm a good harvester.  My Dad has had gardens for 30 years.  I'm really good at picking and eating.  Not so much at growing.  Since the grandparents live within walking distance to us, I never had the desire to grow my own since I could just walk down the street and pick some nice organic veggies from Pops.  BUT Big Sis N has been begging to have a garden and Pops made the raised bed for "her".  So here we are, planting carrots, onions and green beans.  Next week I think I'll add some spinach and zucchini. I'm crossing my not so green thumbs that something grows.  I will admit it felt good to be out there sweating and getting dirty! 

In the meantime, it looks like Jake will start butternut squash this week.  I had originally planned on spinach (to get a little iron), but based on what I've read, we should wait until at least 10 months.  There is a possibility of high nitrates in Spinach?  I may have to research a little more.  I didn't want to chance anything though.  So butternut squash it is.  Another orange veggie!

Rice is not nice

Wednesday was Grammy's birthday.  She requested salmon for her birthday dinner.  I usually serve it with rice, but decided to do quinoa since I'm eliminating rice from my diet.  Grammy had never had quinoa before, and I thought she would like it, too.  On a whim, I picked up some sushi.  Bam.  The next day, Jake was spitting up.  Just a little bit.  I was bummed.  I thought it might be the quinoa.  I didn't realize until right this second, that it was the rice in the sushi!  The hubs is making dinner tonight and mentioned he would pick up some sushi, too.  I said I would pass since I'm not eating rice. Then it dawned on me.  I had three pieces on Wednesday!  That must be why he spit up!  So no more sushi for me.  Sushi is one of my favorites.  I gave it up while I was pregnant.  I guess I will give it up once again.  On the positive side, maybe quinoa is something Jake will be able to tolerate. 

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

Today is day three of the carrot trial.  I sit and I watch the clock.  Jake's FPIES reactions happen on that third or fourth try of a food, two hours after ingestion.  Today I was brave and went to a play date with Big Bro Z.  I thought for sure we'd be home by the time that two hour mark hit.  I fed Jake his carrots and sweet potatoes at 10:45 while Z played.  When it was 12:30, I started gathering our things to head home.  We didn't get out of there until after 1:00.  Thankfully, we had no reaction.  Not even a hiccup.  I don't know what I was thinking, but time kind of escaped us.  But, if Jake is going to have a reaction I can usually tell.  He's cranky, he stiffens, he arches his back.  We call it the scorpion move. This starts an hour before his reaction.  He didn't have any of the warning signs.  I'm crossing my fingers that we have another food to add to our safe list.  Especially with all those carrot cubes in our freezer!  We'll see what tomorrow brings. 

First Trial - Carrots

Day one of carrots today!  Jake gobbled up the first little teaspoon I gave him.  He was super happy today.  I found some really yummy soft pears and cut them up in very tiny pieces today.  He occupied himself while I made dinner.  A few actually made it into his mouth and he was so excited!  I pulled him out of his high chair later and found tons of pear bits in his chair. He may not have ate a lot of the pears, but he got some good practice with his pinchers. 

I love to cook and take pictures, but I'm not a great chef or photographer.  However, I thought it would be fun to put up a little tutorial of how I make my baby food.  I had fun making it for Big Bro Z and Big Sis N, I naturally planned on making it for Jake.  I feel better knowing EXACTLY what he is eating now, especially with his FPIES.  The store bought food can have lots of extra ingredients added. 

1. I picked out some pretty organic carrots from our grocery store

2. I peeled the outer layer off.  Lovely aren't they?  Bright, orange, smooth.

3. I roughly chopped the carrots and put them in my handy dandy Pampered Chef steamer.  Oh how I love this thing.  I use it almost daily.  I have a bigger one I found at a garage sale for $2.00.  I jumped up and down screamed and felt guilty for taking change from my $5 bill.  I ran the heck out of there.  I felt like I was stealing.  If you are not as lucky to have a $2 Pampered Chef steamer from a garage sale, any microwave safe bowl and lid will work.

4.  I put about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom, put the lid on and put it in the microwave.

5.  I pressed this button.  If your microwave doesn't have this button, microwave about 5 minutes on high (maybe a little more if your carrots are a little chunky like mine are).

6.  Once the carrots are tender and easy to pierce with a fork, place them into a blender or food processor along with the water.  I used this cheapy food processor that has two settings, Lo and Hi.  I chose Hi.  I have no patience.

7.  After a few seconds on Hi, it looks like this. Yum!  Orange!  Puree!

8.  Next spoon the yummy orange carrot puree into an ice cube tray. There is no way to make this look pretty.  No matter how good the lighting is!

9.  After a few hours, the carrot cubes are frozen.  Twist and turn your tray and pop out your carrot pops.  I've found they equal about a tablespoon each.  Place the carrot pops into a labeled freezer bag.  Next time you want to serve up some carrots, pop them in the microwave for 45 seconds.  Your baby will thank you!

Official Diagnosis - FPIES

Today was the big day.  Jake's first visit to the GI.  Why are doctors so young these days? It certainly can't be because I'm getting older.  So he took down some of my history about the pregnancy and birth, then Jake's feeding history (EBF), and onto the food journal I've kept since Jake has been having reactions.  I decided I wouldn't even say the words FOOD PROTEIN.  I really wanted to know what his professional opinion was before I started shoving medical articles at him.  Do you want to know what happened next?  He said it sounds like a food protein allergy.  We call it F-PIES.  I nodded.  "Oh you've heard of FPIES?".  I was relieved.  I was relieved that we didn't have a doctor baffled and scratching his head.  Or declaring my son had just had a stomach bug.  Or ordering a bunch of unnecessary tests. He had actually heard of FPIES and diagnosed Jake with it. 

Now we have a PLAN. I started asking some specific questions about possible foods to avoid.  He suggested we see an allergist and recommended one.  He wants us to hold off on grains for the next few months.  We're going to focus on adding some more veggies and fruits to his diet.  We're going back to Dr. GI in November and will meet with him and the nutritionist.  She will answer any more food specific questions I might have.  When the time comes to re-introduce rice, oats and bananas we will do it in a controlled setting. When he left the room I felt like crying.  Crying because my poor little man has to go through this.  Crying from relief that this is something my son will grow out of.  Crying because here is a doctor that seemed to understand these symptoms and had a name for it. 

I had noticed Jake spitting up a lot on Saturday.  Friday night I ate rice.  I decided to eliminate the offending foods from my diet completely.  The doctor also agreed with this decision, as well.  He said such a small percentage of the offending food's protein ends up in my milk, but it does have trace amounts.  It's possible it could be bothering Jake's tummy.  It certainly doesn't hurt to eliminate.  Since then, we've had no spit ups. 

Tomorrow we will be trying CARROTS!  Something with some color!  I'll be heading to the store for some fancy organic carrots and steam them myself.  Maybe I'll even chop up a few cooked ones for Jake to practice some fine motor skills.  Maybe he'll even get one or two in his mouth.  Just like a normal 7 month old would.

Gaining Weight

Because there is never a dull moment around this household... Jake woke up yesterday with PINK EYE.  A quick visit to our ped resulted in some drops and quick weigh in.  Wow.  He's up to 18 lbs 2.5 oz!  I was so happy!  Almost a full pound in the last month.  I kept a journal on big bro Zach (now 5).  I looked back at his weight stats.  He was about the same as Jake.  However, I was reminded that between 9 and 12 months he had no weight gain.  That's the time he took off crawling, climbing, and running.  All that activity, coupled with self-feeding, starting to wean off breastmilk, meant no weight gain.  He didn't have a limited diet like Jake will.  This just brought on some worries about what the future will bring for my little man.  Keeping positive... we have a great baseline. 

Sweet Potatoes and Pears

The one good thing about ignoring the three day wait rule when we first started feeding Jake... he tried quite a few foods the first few weeks of solids.  We found his reactions occurred the 2nd or 3rd time the food was consumed.  We learned quickly that he could eat sweet potatoes!  Sweet potatoes are versatile too... mashed, boiled, baked, fried... however it always tastes the same.  At least we can play with texture a bit.  He had tried pears a few times those first few weeks. I thought it may prove to be a safe food, as well. He's had pears every day for over a week now.  Jake can eat two foods!  I'm afraid to try anything else.  The reactions are just so awful to watch him go through.  So we'll stay with these two until we visit the GI doc next week. 

I'm trying to come up with some questions and figure out what I want out of this GI appointment.  I don't need him to diagnose Jake with anything.  I just want a PLAN.  I don't want any unnecessary tests either.  I just want a plan. Meanwhile, I'm trying to come up with some questions to ask the doctor.

Here we go...

Jake is my third child.  My baby.  When we started solids a month ago, I assumed he'd be like the other two.  I was wrong.  It started one evening after a meal of oatmeal with avacodo mixed in.  We thought he had a stomach bug.  He vomitted for two hours straight, became very lethargic and listless, then fell asleep.  After a call to the pediatrician, we decided to let him sleep rather than take him to the ER.  He woke up like nothing happened, hungry and happy.  The next incident was a few days later with rice cereal mixed with bananas.  Same reaction.  I thought maybe he still had this "stomach bug".  A few days later I started over with just rice cereal.  I thought I better stick with the three day wait rule.  He ate a little rice cereal (later in the evening) and went to bed.  A few hours later he was crying, lying face down in vomit.  Never again will he eat before bed.  Mommy GUILT.  This is when I searched the internet for some answers.  The only thing I could find was a rare condition called FPIES.  Does he have it?  I don't know.  I'm not a doctor. We've had two more reactions since then.  Once to just bananas.  The last reaction was to 1 teaspoon of rice cereal.  Our pediatrician had us feed him only breastmilk for four days. After the four days, we gave him rice cereal.  My hubs and I knew what would happen.  And it did.  Again. 

Something's not right with my little guy's tummy.  The pediatrician has done a full allergy panel that came back all negative.  He has NO FOOD ALLERGIES, according to his blood.  So what is it?  We have an appointment with a GI doctor next week.  Hopefully we get some answers.