Bananas PASS!

"I'm big now, I can eat bananas" - Jake

No reactions whatsoever.  He's had them just straight out of the peel and mixed into smoothies for over a week now.  He's one happy dude.

Next up is rice and oats.  Not sure when because our schedule gets really crazy starting next week.  But I have a lot more confidence in trying these two, now!  

Onward! 

Day 1 - Banana

Go Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

My excitement is not as high as that fun cheer we learned as kids. It is with great hesitation and a sense of mommy guilt that I just fed Jake a few bites of banana. If he gets sick, it's my fault.  Right?

HOWEVER, Jake has officially been signed up for preschool starting in August.  The truth is I need to KNOW what is going to happen when he eats a banana, a rice crispy treat or a cheerio.  Will he vomit profusely?  Will his body go into shock?  Or are we passed this and he can just smile and wave and go on his merry way eating whatever the h-e-double-hockey-sticks he wants?

We shall wait and find out.

P.S. I know it's been a year since I posted... what's the past year been like?  A normal year.  Jake turned three recently. Jake likes to do whatever his big siblings are doing, he loves to hike, play baseball, ride his bike, eat candy, smile, laugh, throw tantrums, test his boundaries, play with trains, superheroes, matchbox cars and tools. He would rather wear superhero costumes than any form of normal clothing.

P.P.S.  I still check EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. that goes in his mouth for rice, oats or bananas.  He also knows he's allergic to them and before trying anything new he says "does this have oats in it Mama?", "do these fries have rice on them, Mama?".  Kids are so dang smart.

Why can't I do it?

I haven't updated since December.  So sorry.  We had our appointment with the allergist in January.  Jake had his patch test.  We tested rice, oats, bananas and quinoa.  Oats had a slight reaction, and we're talking very, very slight.  ZERO reaction from the others.

Dr. S said we have the green light to orally challenge Jake.  The green light has been on since the end of January.  It's now April 8th.  He said challenge bananas, then rice and oats last.  If he passes, then we graduate and he hopes he never sees us again.

Why can't I do it?  Why am I so afraid?

I look back and wonder if it was as bad as I remember it.  Was he really that sick?  Did he really turn that pale gray color and lie limp and helpless in my arms?

Jake's grown leaps and bounds.  Well, he's very small (3% in height), but other than size, he has grown leaps and bounds.  My once extremely shy, hide in mommy's shoulder or behind her legs, little guy actually said hi to a stranger yesterday.  He rides his bike EVERYDAY.  He drives his brother and sister crazy.  He throws tantrums.  He makes us laugh until we cry.  He has strong opinions. He hasn't had a bad diaper in months.

Why can't I do it?

Jake turned two in February.  Two.  Time keeps moving forward.   We celebrated with Elmo cupcakes and a ride on the train.  He was thrilled.  I still say "shhh.... the baby's sleeping" when he's napping.  He's not a baby, anymore.

He can TELL me if he doesn't feel well.  

Maybe this week.  Maybe.

I will start with bananas.  He knows he can't have them.  He'll probably tell me no.  He really likes to tell me "NO".  He is two, after all.  I will keep y'all posted.

Some new passes!

This is what happens when I don't update for a few weeks!  I haven't been listing all our food trials lately, but we've had some exciting new passes.  Jake's food trials have been less strict.  After a few days, if I see no sign of discomfort, I call it a pass.  I really think we've hit all our "fails" that we're going to have. 

Chicken
Beef
Sunflower Seeds (sunflower seed butter is a great peanut butter sub!)
Strawberries (these were iffy before, but I think it was something in my diet, not Jake's)
Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Several spices (basil, oregano, garlic)

At this point we're just avoiding Rice, Oats, Bananas, Avocado, Grains other than wheat, millet and corn, Soy, Legumes, Nuts.

I'm think we're ready to try soy and nuts soon!

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. 

Making passes...

I can't believe I will write these words but...

JAKE PASSED WHEAT!!

And because he's an over achiever like his siblings... I'm calling eggs a pass, too.  We've been trialing it off and on for a while.  Baked in treats, straight up scrambled style... We only had one incidence of a bad diaper.  We'll chalk that up to an "unknown" ingestion. 

Eggs and Wheat. 

I'm almost brave enough to try soy.  Almost.

We have our allergist appointment next week.  He's going to fall over when I list our passes.  I'm leaning towards asking for a patch test for the few things he failed when he was 8 months old.  Although the good old breast milk test seems to be working for us.   He's practically eating what we eat (slightly altered, of course). I really need to trial chicken. That's the other biggie we eat that he's just had bits and pieces of here and there. No real trial. However, chicken.. turkey... aren't they kinda the same? Nevertheless, he's doing great with his food options.

I see an end to our nursing coming soon.  There have been days I've only nursed him 2 or 3 times.  Most days we nurse 4 times. 

Update on our iron intake... he doesn't really like beef.  So I've been giving him his iron supplements.  I mix it into his yogurt or applesauce and he just makes a face.  It really makes his food taste like metal.  But he eats it.  We go back to the ped in two weeks for that test.  However, I think I'll ask the allergist to do a quick test next week to see if his numbers are any better. 

Side note:  Jake's becoming a pro at spoon feeding himself!  It's messy, but he's learning.  I know I've wished this year would hurry up and pass so he could be "normal", but man, I'm missing him being a baby.  He's growing up too fast.  *sniff*

Second side note: He now says "thank you" when I give him food.  double *sniff*

Four days... Nothing.

Four days of wheat now and nothing.  Nothing at all.  Normal, happy, Jake.

Could he really be starting to grow out of some of this already?  He had a slight reaction on his patch test 8 months ago to wheat.  Back then I thought he was reacting to wheat in my diet.  I stopped eating wheat for 2 months.  When I introduced it back into my diet, he was fine.  Of course the patch test is not that reliable.  He could have been fine with wheat back then, too.  Or maybe he's healing and his gut is maturing?

If this really is going to be a pass... I'm just going smile and take it.  Again, I don't understand it.  But we'll take it.  And I thought dairy made our life easier.  This takes the cake.  Literally. 

Its unofficial... Jake's trialing wheat.

Yesterday Jake begged and cried until I gave him a bite of my steak soft taco.  I have no idea what was in the tortilla.  I'm guessing white flour and soybean oil.

Today he begged and cried until I gave him my pizza crust.  PIZZA CRUST.  I think I've jumped off the deep end. 

I'm not winning mother of the year over here.  But it's not like I gave him a rice crispy treat. I will draw the line somewhere. 

I guess I could be one of those moms who say "if Jake can't have it, then none of us will".  But why should my big kids be punished for Jake's dysfunctional gut?

The truth is, every time I eat something, I think about his reaction.  Will he whine and cry for it?  Can I make something that looks similar and trick him?  Some days I make my older kids wait until Jake's taking a nap to have a snack. 

Some days I've just said NO too many times.

I don't like hiding things from my kids.  I don't like eating when he's not looking.  I don't like telling my older son we can't meet his friends for pizza at lunch time because Jake will throw a fit.  I don't like eating dessert in shifts so Jake doesn't see.  But when we're at the grandparent's for dinner (every Sunday), dessert is always there. I'm so tired of saying NO.

So, today I said YES.  We're trialing wheat.  In our own unconventional way. 

I really hope this doesn't come back and bite me in the ass.

Supply down, Confidence up

My supply is going down.  It's obvious.  Jake has stopped nursing at night.  We're down to 4 or 5 times a day now.  At least half of the time he nurses he stops and says "More?" and signs more at the same time.  *sigh*.  Part of me wants to do all the tricks to increase supply again.  The selfish part of me says... finally.  I like nursing, I do.  I like nursing babies.  But he's a toddler.  With really sharp teeth.  It's starting to be really uncomfortable for me.  And he has plenty of dairy now.  I wish I could get him to actually drink regular milk... we're working on it. 

We don't go back to the allergist until June 1st.  I wonder if I should be supplementing?  While his menu is not large, it is well rounded.  I personally am not worried about his food intake right now.  But I am not a doctor. 

Jake's getting two top molars and two bottom incisors.  Ouch.  He is cranky.  Double Ouch. 

After our strawberry fail, I've been thinking a lot about corn.  Yes, corn.  So if strawberries were a fail... which I'm positive that they were... we only had a really bad diaper.  Had we continued, maybe it would get worse, but it was only one bad diaper.  He recouped quickly. 

I've been questioning his possible corn intolerance.  Looking back when I thought he was reacting to corn in my diet, I hadn't eliminated quinoa, which, according to his patch test, was a fail.  Corn was not.  I ate a lot of quinoa at the time.  But what about the ascorbic acid fail?  Was it corn?  The allergist said ascorbic acid could be derived from pineapple?  Gerber never got back to me on what their ascorbic acid is made from.  Was it cross contamination?  Were those pears processed on the same equipment as the oatmeal?  Or the chicken and rice?  So many unanswered questions. 

I've ramped up my corn intake.  No signs of tummy troubles.

Yesterday, Jake had some kettle corn. 

He was happy.  (minus the teething)

Today he will have some kettle corn again.  Maybe I'll pick up some Kix to help us continue this trial. 

I feel like getting aggressive with the FPIES after our minor fail of strawberries and our MAJOR pass of dairy.  Maybe our fails are not going to be as bad now that he's getting older? 

It seems like when I post something like this it bites me in the rear the next day.  I hope this time it doesn't happen.

Dairy - Winning!

I've been waiting to use that one!

I have finally given Jake a full serving of dairy.  No issues.  Nothing.  Nada.  He and dairy are holding hands and singing Kumbaya.

I made organic whole milk yogurt yesterday in my $18 Yogurt Maker.  It worked beautifully!  Perfect yogurt tang.  The face Jake made when trying it this morning was priceless.  It was more tolerable when I added a little sugar and coconut to it.  I have some Mango Sorbet leftover in my freezer.  I think it will be great mixed in with the yogurt! 

Jake ate about half of his little jar of yogurt, so I decided to take the rest and replace the canola oil in our Millet Pancake recipe.  I also replaced the 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup organic whole milk.  They turned out fantastic!  Jake ate three of them.  Big Bro ate seven of them.  I'm not kidding... SEVEN.  This was after Jake and Big Bro had already eaten breakfast!

We are basking in dairy goodness over here. 

FPIES just got a little easier to tolerate.

P.S. I let Jake taste a little double chocolate frozen yogurt at a school fundraiser last night. 

P.P.S. I tried strawberries again.  He was fine. 

Shh.... Got milk?

I think we're ready.  But not ready to just fill up a glass of milk and hand it over.  So we're going to go about this sneakily for the following week.  Sneak some organic whole milk into his morning pancakes.  Maybe into some baked goods.  And just see how things go.  Any sign of trouble... we will abort. 

There you have it. 

We're trialing dairy.  Slowly.

Meanwhile... I'm declaring ORANGES a pass.  He loves them.  They love him.  It is decidedly not the "annoying orange". 

Anyone?  If you don't know what I'm talking about.  Google it.  It's hilarious.  And annoying.

Pork Trial

Random.  But I made a pork sirloin in the crockpot yesterday.  With just water and salt.  I gave him some.  It ended up undigested in his diaper this morning. 

Jake is cranky.

Ugh.

Not sure what to do next.  I hate FPIES.

Day 1 of Probiotics

I decided to stop food trials for a few weeks.  I feel like this week we've been knocked backwards.  Jake's sleep is AWFUL.  Up every hour.  He's been cranky.  His tummy just isn't right.  I stopped the sorghum trial after two days.  Was it the sorghum bothering him?  Or was it the bean test I put him through?  (mean mommy)  Either way, I feel like we need to get back to happy baseline.

I gave Jake his first sprinkling of probiotics in his Coconut Applesauce today.  I went with the Culturelle for Kids.  I also picked up a box for me, as well.  We'll do this together. 

Meanwhile, we've had a fantastic day in Jake's world.  I took a much needed break from the kitchen.  Today included 80 degree weather, the skate park, and dining al fresco with good friends. 

This is the good life.  This is what life is about.


**I have a few new coconut recipes coming up soon.  I've been busy in the kitchen this week!

Probiotics

I think our next trial is going to be probiotics... for the whole family.  I've been doing some research and am slowly becoming convinced.  My family eats yogurt, so we do get some probiotics.  I drink Kefir.  But not every day. 

It's been a rough year for our little family with sickness.  My kids NEVER get sick.  However, my daughter has been sick three times already this year.  Between the five of us, we've been hit with the flu (even with flu shots), strep throat, fevers, viruses and colds all in the past few months.  We eat healthy.  We wash our hands.  Probiotics will just be another defense for us.  For Jake, I'm hoping it will help level out some good bacteria in his gut for some healing. 

Next is to decide which probiotic?  I'm leaning towards Culturelle.  It seems very allergy friendly. Off to research some more...

Coconut, day 4!

So far, so good! 

The only thing I have noticed is better sleep at night (well, 2 of the last 3 nights). 

Coincidence?  Or Coconut?

Here's my only frustration... baking with coconut flour.  I have YET to figure it out.  And I thought millet was hard.  Here's the thing...  Coconut flour likes to be baked with eggs.  We can't do eggs...yet.  (I'm still hopeful)  The egg replacements I've tried are not working.  Or maybe I need MORE of them since coconut flour is extremely absorbent.  I'm going to make one more effort today with the coconut flour and crossing my fingers and toes I can make something that doesn't dissolve into a powder when I touch it.

Meanwhile, our trials have consisted of coconut/millet granola and coconut sweet potatoes.  I've been adding a few teaspoons of organic unsweetened shredded coconut to Jake's sweet potatoes.  He's been taking them OK, although he prefers his sweet potatoes straight up. 

Since I haven't seen any sort of build symptoms, I'm banking on a pass this week with the coconut.  I think I'm going to try coconut milk next week.  However, I need to look up what all the "extras" are.  Guar Gum?  What the heck is Guar Gum?  Off to research...

Day 1 Coconut

Day One of coconut went great!  I made up some millet/coconut granola for Jake.  I used millet puffs, organic shredded unsweetened coconut, freeze dried blueberries, raisins and coconut oil.  I Toasted it for about 10 minutes at 300 degrees and it was a success!  Jake ate it off his tray just like he does his puffs.  It was very messy, too, just like his puffs!  I added some to my yogurt this morning.  Delish!

I ventured to Whole Foods yesterday to pick up some coconut flour.  I'm going to attempt some popular coconut banana muffins that have shown up on the BabyCenter FPIES board recently.  Minus the banana, of course.  I also picked up some coconut water and coconut milk.  The milk has a lot of "other" stuff in it though.  I think if we pass coconut, I'll trial the milk separately.  I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself. 

Here's the strangest thing about yesterday...  He only woke up once last night.  What???  Huh???  He hasn't been up less than 4 times a night for the past, I don't know how long.  Is it the coconut?  I'm really not sure how much he actually ate.  I put a pile of the granola on his tray.  I didn't know how much would actually get in his mouth.  Then the hubs was in charge while I ran some errands.  Hubs said he ate "a lot" of it.  We're real specific around here.  Then again, maybe it was the large amount of turkey he ate yesterday?  I don't know, but today I feel like Superwoman!  Jake woke up very happy, too.  I will gladly just take the good night of sleep without an explanation at this point. 
 
Today is a good day. 

Moving on to coconut!

I'm not going let the whole egg trial let me down.  So eggs are on the shelf for now, along with the avocado.  We will come back to them at some point. 

Today we try coconut!!  I've been adding it to my diet quite a bit lately.  I've become somewhat addicted.  I love it in my millet, yogurt, granola.  It's such a great natural sweetner.  I didn't even put honey in my millet this morning!  I just added some shredded coconut and raisins.  Oh my it was tasty. 

Crossing my fingers that Jake finds it as tasty as I do.  He's starting to get a bit picky about his foods.  I love when babies starting forming opinions about their food.  Not. 

Now how do I introduce the coconut?  Sneak it into his pancakes?  Mix up some special millet granola?  Decisions.  I may start with the granola for now since it's easy to make and I can easily monitor how much he eats.  Or maybe I sneak a little into his potatoes?  He's kind of smart though.  He knows when something's invaded his yummy potatoes. 

I'll keep you posted on what we decide. 

Here's to coconut!  *clink* (that would be coconut shells knocking together, not glass)

Day 1: Eggs

Well, I went off course.  I had said coconut next.  Really, it will be NEXT, after we trial eggs.  I keep going back and forth between "Jake needs more protein" and "Jake needs more calories and fat".  I happened to make scrambled eggs for lunch for my big kids today.  And, well, maybe a few pieces found their way to Jake's high chair.  So that sealed the deal.  We're trialing eggs this week.  He gobbled them down, by the way.

Day 3: Turkey

This is where things get a little nerve racking.  Jake will have his third serving of turkey at lunch today. 

I have very high hopes and big plans for Thursday.

Jake's first birthday.

It will be a Thanksgiving, of sorts.  (if we pass turkey, please, pretty please....)

Yesterday went well.  I boiled the turkey breast forever.  I doubt there was any sort of nutritional value left in it.  He ate some. 

Oh one thing though... he pooped 562 times yesterday.  Ok, it was only 7 times.  But that's a lot.  However, they were all NORMAL.  Strange, but not fail worthy by any means. 

Fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed.  Ok, not my eyes.  My cousin used to tell me they'd stick like that when we were kids.  I believed him.

Day 1 Turkey

I'm leary.  Jake didn't like the turkey I made.  I just stir fried it in some canola oil.  He did eat a few little (and I mean little) bites.  This was lunch time yesterday.

This morning he spit up.

He hasn't spit up since I ate one of his triggers last.  I didn't eat any triggers recently. 

Was it a crumb of some sort?

I'm going to skip today and tomorrow (we'll be out of town for the day).  I plan to start again on Sunday.  My plan is to crockpot, cook the heck out of, break down proteins like crazy, for his next bite of turkey. 

Part of me wants to shelf the turkey and try lamb instead.  But it's definitely too early to be shelving it.  I'll give it another try and see what happens.  Typically it takes three or more tries of a food before Jake has a reaction. 

Meanwhile... the ice cream/sorbet maker I ordered off Amazon got delayed due to snowmageddon. Darn.