Today was Cutie Pie's 15 month well baby check-up. I've been on edge for her appointment for at least a week. I knew walking into the office that they were going to say she hasn't gained enough weight, but even though it wasn't a surprise it was still frustrating. She weighed in at 20lbs, 4oz which means she's gained a total of 6oz in the last three months. Not enough. Her growth chart curve is plummeting and she has gone from the 90th percentile in weight down to like 10th percentile. Luckily her height and her head are right on the same curve they've always been.
I think I've said this before, but I love our pediatrician. He sat and talked to me for a long time about Cutie Pie and her FPIES and the problems we've had getting her to eat. He is so understanding and honest and tries so hard to be helpful but it was painfully obvious that we are still alone in our fight to figure her out. He even admitted that he doesn't know a lot about FPIES and doesn't really know what to tell us to help. However, we did come up with a plan of action of sorts. First step is that he wants us to be seen by the allergy department at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Although their allergy department is notorious for dismissing FPIES, they are the leading hospital in the country for EGID's and our pediatrician thinks some of Cutie Pie's symptoms might benefit from taking a little closer look to at least rule out Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE). If the allergy department at Cincy Children's isn't able to help us, he suggested maybe looking into the resources available at either Jewish National Hospital in Denver, CO which has a renown allergy department or possibly Children's Hospital of Philadelphia which is pretty well known in the FPIES community.
Reflecting on our discussions, I'm full of conflicting feelings. On one hand I feel relieved to know we at least have a plan and that our pediatrician is on our side and he made it clear he was dedicated to helping us figure Cutie Pie out. On the other hand, I'm terrified of the possibility of another diagnosis that has no real treatment. And then there is the prospect of explaining Cutie Pie's history all over again to another set of doctors. It's exhausting. I feel bad for having to put her through more tests not to mention all the expensive co-pays and medical bills - and that doesn't even include the possibility of traveling across the country to see yet ANOTHER set of doctors.
But somehow God always seems to laugh at my frustrations and He calmly reminds me that He is in control of this. It must be pretty amusing to see what He sees all the time. Sometimes I wonder what we all look like to Him running around making plans and trying so hard to do our own thing. I was doing some reading today and here is the verse I came across:
Luke 12:23 "For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing."
I get it God. I'm so blessed to have such a happy, goofy, beautiful little girl in my life.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Just an Update
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know - it's been a while. I've been thinking about updating this blog for several weeks now, but the truth is I really don't have anything new to write about. Here is the short version of the last month and a half:
Trialed wheat. Passed, I guess. Stopped supplementing with formula in her bottles, Cutie Pie started walking and stopped eating, lost a whole pound (according to our at-home scale), started with the formula in her bottle again.
Now you're up to speed. In all seriousness though, it has been a very frustrating month. Although there is really nothing new to report, it's because I feel like we aren't making any progress! She did pass wheat, but (like everything else) she won't eat it. Yesterday was a cold, rainy, yucky day so big brother and I made some sunbutter chocolate chip cookies. They were healthy and DELICIOUS. No sugar, whole wheat flour, dark chocolate chips, sunbutter, all sorts of goodness. Cutie Pie had fun carrying one around with her, but I don't think a single crumb made it into her mouth. We've tried crackers, pretzels, pancakes, muffins, and she pretty much refuses all of it. The only thing she has developed an affinity for is goldfish crackers. She asks for them by name - "feeeeshhhhh" but if you give them to her she might lick a couple of them and might eat the tail off of one. I think she just likes the salt.
Cutie Pie is almost 15 months old and still is pretty much exclusively breastfed (well bottle fed with pumped breastmilk). For example, tonight for dinner she ate one grape and one McDonalds french fry. And that was the biggest meal she ate all day. It's hard to get much trialing done when you can't get her to eat anything. I am beyond frustrated and I have no clue where to go from here. ::sigh:: And she is loosing weight now too. She was up to a whopping 21 pounds on our scale here at home, but just last week I weighed her again and she was back down to 20.0 pounds. :( That meas we are at a total gain from her 12 month check-up of 2 oz. TWO ounces. We go back to the pediatrician in a few weeks at which point he told us last time that if she isn't eating he wants her to be evaluated by an occupational therapist for her eating issues. I feel like a total failure here as a mom. I mean seriously I must be failing her somewhere along the line if I can't even get her to EAT. If she is this set against eating now, what do I do when she is a teenager and thinks she's fat? (Although at this rate that is never going to happen....) Plus, my family likes to eat. I'm from a family full of foodies. Is this just the universe's idea of a cosmic joke giving me a child that doesn't like food? I'm not seeing the humor, Mr. Universe....
Trialed wheat. Passed, I guess. Stopped supplementing with formula in her bottles, Cutie Pie started walking and stopped eating, lost a whole pound (according to our at-home scale), started with the formula in her bottle again.
Now you're up to speed. In all seriousness though, it has been a very frustrating month. Although there is really nothing new to report, it's because I feel like we aren't making any progress! She did pass wheat, but (like everything else) she won't eat it. Yesterday was a cold, rainy, yucky day so big brother and I made some sunbutter chocolate chip cookies. They were healthy and DELICIOUS. No sugar, whole wheat flour, dark chocolate chips, sunbutter, all sorts of goodness. Cutie Pie had fun carrying one around with her, but I don't think a single crumb made it into her mouth. We've tried crackers, pretzels, pancakes, muffins, and she pretty much refuses all of it. The only thing she has developed an affinity for is goldfish crackers. She asks for them by name - "feeeeshhhhh" but if you give them to her she might lick a couple of them and might eat the tail off of one. I think she just likes the salt.
Cutie Pie is almost 15 months old and still is pretty much exclusively breastfed (well bottle fed with pumped breastmilk). For example, tonight for dinner she ate one grape and one McDonalds french fry. And that was the biggest meal she ate all day. It's hard to get much trialing done when you can't get her to eat anything. I am beyond frustrated and I have no clue where to go from here. ::sigh:: And she is loosing weight now too. She was up to a whopping 21 pounds on our scale here at home, but just last week I weighed her again and she was back down to 20.0 pounds. :( That meas we are at a total gain from her 12 month check-up of 2 oz. TWO ounces. We go back to the pediatrician in a few weeks at which point he told us last time that if she isn't eating he wants her to be evaluated by an occupational therapist for her eating issues. I feel like a total failure here as a mom. I mean seriously I must be failing her somewhere along the line if I can't even get her to EAT. If she is this set against eating now, what do I do when she is a teenager and thinks she's fat? (Although at this rate that is never going to happen....) Plus, my family likes to eat. I'm from a family full of foodies. Is this just the universe's idea of a cosmic joke giving me a child that doesn't like food? I'm not seeing the humor, Mr. Universe....
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Maybe it isn't FPIES after all....
I'm in a weird place these days. It's like all of a sudden I am doubting everything that has happened the last year. We are in such a good place with Cutie Pie's FPIES that it is making me think that maybe, just maybe, it has all been a coincidence. Is that possible? Maybe all that baby spit-up was actually just spit-up. Maybe those puking episodes were just a fluke. Maybe all that night waking/crying was just from teething. Maybe I'm just crazy and have been stressing myself out and dragging CutiePie around to doctor appointments and slapping food out of her hands and pulling pieces of crackers out of her mouth for nothing. Maybe she really is just a "normal" baby. Maybe. Or maybe we just are managing it well right now. Either way, I am happy to be in a good place. CutiePie is sleeping all night in her own bed as long as she has two paci's and her pink kitty blanket. She is gaining weight now that she is getting her breastmilk bottles fortified with formula (according to our scale at home she has gained 1/2 a pound in the last month!). She is even starting to eat some real foods. Not much, but definitely better than a couple months ago! Today for lunch she ate some shredded cheese, a couple bites of chicken lunch meat, and a couple bites of fresh peaches. For her, that's a feast!
This week we started a wheat trial - scary stuff, but like I said, I'm in a comfortable brave place right now! CutiePie doesn't have a good track record with grains, but I wanted to make sure I did a wheat trial before I wean her off my milk. Right now we are on day 3, and so far so good. We've been using Matzo crackers to trial it (only ingredients are organic wheat flour and water. Have I mentioned how much I love Jewish foods?!!?). I'm not sure she's really eaten enough to get a good enough feel to call it a pass yet - and it's only been three days, so there is still plenty of time to fail. But she's still sleeping, still having normal diapers, still not crying/screaming in pain, so I'm thinking we are headed in a good direction! I have visions of giving her pancakes topped with real butter. Cheese and crackers. Bread. I feel like if she does pass wheat she will be able to have a "normal" looking diet. Even more normal than big brother's diet was like at her age (he was allergic to eggs, milk, and peanuts).
Now if I could just get her to EAT those normal foods, we'd be in business!!
This week we started a wheat trial - scary stuff, but like I said, I'm in a comfortable brave place right now! CutiePie doesn't have a good track record with grains, but I wanted to make sure I did a wheat trial before I wean her off my milk. Right now we are on day 3, and so far so good. We've been using Matzo crackers to trial it (only ingredients are organic wheat flour and water. Have I mentioned how much I love Jewish foods?!!?). I'm not sure she's really eaten enough to get a good enough feel to call it a pass yet - and it's only been three days, so there is still plenty of time to fail. But she's still sleeping, still having normal diapers, still not crying/screaming in pain, so I'm thinking we are headed in a good direction! I have visions of giving her pancakes topped with real butter. Cheese and crackers. Bread. I feel like if she does pass wheat she will be able to have a "normal" looking diet. Even more normal than big brother's diet was like at her age (he was allergic to eggs, milk, and peanuts).
Now if I could just get her to EAT those normal foods, we'd be in business!!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Dairy is a......
PASS!! WHOOHOO!!
It's been a week or so since I last posted because it has been a happily uneventful dairy trial. I was so certain dairy was going to be a fail and I had braced myself, but it never happened. Cutie Pie is getting a scoop of regular ol' Similac formula in her bottle twice a day and doing just fine. She drinks it, she enjoys it, and she does great with it!
I almost feel like I am a mom to a "regular" kid. Feeding Cutie Pie has all of a sudden become so much more fun. Earlier this week I made her noodles (Ge-Fen potato pasta, but they look, feel, and taste like the regular stuff) and then I thought "hey, I could add butter to these!" It was exciting. Of course, Cutie Pie didn't actually EAT the pasta with butter, but she could have if she wanted to! She is, however, enjoying shredded mozzarella cheese. Only mozzarella - apparently cheddar is evil and she expresses her distrust of it by immediately throwing it on the floor and giving me dirty looks if I attempt to put it on her plate. I even gave her a glass of chocolate milk one night for dinner. Again, she didn't actually drink it (well, she sipped some out of her cup and the spit it right back out) but she COULD have it if she wanted to. Now I just need her to WANT to eat.
The downside of adding formula in her bottles is that it seems to make her fuller than just breastmilk. From what I understand, this is a totally normal thing. However, she is now down to only four bottles a day, which is only 20oz of breastmilk (plus 2 scoops of formula, so the equivalent nutritional addition of 4oz). I can't decide if I think it is better for her to get 20oz of breastmilk + 4oz of formula, or 25oz of breastmilk. Part of me says screw the formula, breastmilk is waaaaaaaaaaay better, but the other problem we were running into is her iron levels were still on the low side at her last check-up and we decided to cut out her iron supplement. Since we cut out her iron drops her whole attitude has improved. She's sleeping 10-11 hours straight at night consistently plus taking a 3ish hour afternoon nap and she is generally just more agreeable during the day. Those iron drops were apparently really causing issues in her tiny body. So I think I will just keep up with the formula in the bottles to get some more iron into her little body. Plus, since I am able to freeze an extra 5oz of milk a day my freezer is filling up pretty fast. I've donated my freezer stash several times this past year (I think it totals around 1500oz) and it feels good to know my milk is helping to feed other hungry babies! I'm teaching Cutie Pie to share early. ;)
Up next on the food trial agenda is pineapple. I'm sure she isn't going to really eat them, but with some canned fruit being packaged in 100% pineapple juice, it would be nice to have something like a simple fruit cup that we can pack for on the go snacks. Again, not like she would actually EAT the snacks but at least she would have that option.
It's been a week or so since I last posted because it has been a happily uneventful dairy trial. I was so certain dairy was going to be a fail and I had braced myself, but it never happened. Cutie Pie is getting a scoop of regular ol' Similac formula in her bottle twice a day and doing just fine. She drinks it, she enjoys it, and she does great with it!
I almost feel like I am a mom to a "regular" kid. Feeding Cutie Pie has all of a sudden become so much more fun. Earlier this week I made her noodles (Ge-Fen potato pasta, but they look, feel, and taste like the regular stuff) and then I thought "hey, I could add butter to these!" It was exciting. Of course, Cutie Pie didn't actually EAT the pasta with butter, but she could have if she wanted to! She is, however, enjoying shredded mozzarella cheese. Only mozzarella - apparently cheddar is evil and she expresses her distrust of it by immediately throwing it on the floor and giving me dirty looks if I attempt to put it on her plate. I even gave her a glass of chocolate milk one night for dinner. Again, she didn't actually drink it (well, she sipped some out of her cup and the spit it right back out) but she COULD have it if she wanted to. Now I just need her to WANT to eat.
The downside of adding formula in her bottles is that it seems to make her fuller than just breastmilk. From what I understand, this is a totally normal thing. However, she is now down to only four bottles a day, which is only 20oz of breastmilk (plus 2 scoops of formula, so the equivalent nutritional addition of 4oz). I can't decide if I think it is better for her to get 20oz of breastmilk + 4oz of formula, or 25oz of breastmilk. Part of me says screw the formula, breastmilk is waaaaaaaaaaay better, but the other problem we were running into is her iron levels were still on the low side at her last check-up and we decided to cut out her iron supplement. Since we cut out her iron drops her whole attitude has improved. She's sleeping 10-11 hours straight at night consistently plus taking a 3ish hour afternoon nap and she is generally just more agreeable during the day. Those iron drops were apparently really causing issues in her tiny body. So I think I will just keep up with the formula in the bottles to get some more iron into her little body. Plus, since I am able to freeze an extra 5oz of milk a day my freezer is filling up pretty fast. I've donated my freezer stash several times this past year (I think it totals around 1500oz) and it feels good to know my milk is helping to feed other hungry babies! I'm teaching Cutie Pie to share early. ;)
Up next on the food trial agenda is pineapple. I'm sure she isn't going to really eat them, but with some canned fruit being packaged in 100% pineapple juice, it would be nice to have something like a simple fruit cup that we can pack for on the go snacks. Again, not like she would actually EAT the snacks but at least she would have that option.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Dairy, Day 1
We've decided to bite the bullet and jump into a dairy trial with Cutie Pie. Momma is TERRIFIED. We've been talking about it for a while and the last two weeks I've been trialing dairy in my diet (oh sweet glorious dairy) and it is going great! Cutie Pie is still sleeping well, playing well, and symptom free! WOOHOO!
What finally pushed us over the edge to try it with her was our lately pediatrician check-up. Cutie Pie is at 19lbs 12oz which is only the 30th percentile for weight. At her four month check-up she was in the 90th percentile. That is a BIG drop. And since she isn't doing well eating her real foods, our pediatrician suggested that we try adding a scoop of formula into her bottles of breastmilk to try to up the calories and nutrition she is getting. Hopefully that would also help with her anemia, so it sounded like a good thing to try. Instead of just jumping to the elemental formulas, we figured we might as well just try out good ol' milk-based Similac. I'd much rather spend $25 for a can of formula instead of $80 if we can help it.....
Yesterday we went for it. At around 4:30 she had 5oz of breastmilk mixed with half a scoop of formula. She drank the whole bottle, so that is good (at least we know she actually got some to her tummy vs what we encounter when we try to give her solids!!). Right about two hours later I had a very grumpy girl on my hands. She was crying, wanting to be held, and just in a bad mood. But, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no rashes, etc. After a while she perked back up and was fine the rest of the night. It could have been so many things that were making her mad, and then she slept for a whopping 12 hours last night (that NEVER happens), so today it is on to a full scoop of formula in one of her bottles. Eventually we will try to make it up to a scoop in each of her bottles (she gets 5 bottles a day, so 5 total scoop would be the equivalent of about 10ounces of extra formula in her belly, or about 200 calories).
Our pediatrician also told us that at this point he isn't terribly worried about her having trouble eating and swallowing foods. Obviously it is an issue because her weight is dropping off, but as far as developmentally he doesn't usually worry until around 15 months. So when we go back in October we will re-evaluate and then possibly refer her to speech or occupational therapy to help her develop more muscles in her jaw. Until then we will just keep working hard to get her to eat the few things she can!!
In other news, Cutie Pie is TALKING! She has her first real, understandable by everyone word. It is.... drumroll please...... baby. She crawls around all day saying "Oh baby!" It is the cutest thing in the world. She's also developing a form of "look" and "this" except it sounds more like "oook" and "dish". Forget momma and dadda - we don't even get mama and dada babbles. Of course, Big brother gets "buddabuddabudda." ::Sigh:: this girl has a serious case of misguided priorities!
What finally pushed us over the edge to try it with her was our lately pediatrician check-up. Cutie Pie is at 19lbs 12oz which is only the 30th percentile for weight. At her four month check-up she was in the 90th percentile. That is a BIG drop. And since she isn't doing well eating her real foods, our pediatrician suggested that we try adding a scoop of formula into her bottles of breastmilk to try to up the calories and nutrition she is getting. Hopefully that would also help with her anemia, so it sounded like a good thing to try. Instead of just jumping to the elemental formulas, we figured we might as well just try out good ol' milk-based Similac. I'd much rather spend $25 for a can of formula instead of $80 if we can help it.....
Yesterday we went for it. At around 4:30 she had 5oz of breastmilk mixed with half a scoop of formula. She drank the whole bottle, so that is good (at least we know she actually got some to her tummy vs what we encounter when we try to give her solids!!). Right about two hours later I had a very grumpy girl on my hands. She was crying, wanting to be held, and just in a bad mood. But, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no rashes, etc. After a while she perked back up and was fine the rest of the night. It could have been so many things that were making her mad, and then she slept for a whopping 12 hours last night (that NEVER happens), so today it is on to a full scoop of formula in one of her bottles. Eventually we will try to make it up to a scoop in each of her bottles (she gets 5 bottles a day, so 5 total scoop would be the equivalent of about 10ounces of extra formula in her belly, or about 200 calories).
Our pediatrician also told us that at this point he isn't terribly worried about her having trouble eating and swallowing foods. Obviously it is an issue because her weight is dropping off, but as far as developmentally he doesn't usually worry until around 15 months. So when we go back in October we will re-evaluate and then possibly refer her to speech or occupational therapy to help her develop more muscles in her jaw. Until then we will just keep working hard to get her to eat the few things she can!!
In other news, Cutie Pie is TALKING! She has her first real, understandable by everyone word. It is.... drumroll please...... baby. She crawls around all day saying "Oh baby!" It is the cutest thing in the world. She's also developing a form of "look" and "this" except it sounds more like "oook" and "dish". Forget momma and dadda - we don't even get mama and dada babbles. Of course, Big brother gets "buddabuddabudda." ::Sigh:: this girl has a serious case of misguided priorities!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Birthday Bonanza!
Cutie Pie's birthday was a BLAST!! My little girl turned one - I can hardly believe it. Where did the last year go?
As a last minute addition, Cutie Pie's mamaw decided to come up for the weekend and bring along Cutie Pie's uncle and a few of her cousins, so we had quite the full house to celebrate. My goal all along was to make everything we had at her party FPIES friendly, and I'm going to be quite vain for a moment and talk about how amazing everything was. Delicious. There were hardly any leftovers - and considering four of the guests were picky eaters between the ages of 11 and 13, I'd say delicious would be a unanimous descriptive for the food. And then there was the cake. I ended up deciding against the watermelon "cake" that I originally planned and created a coconut macaroon cake with chocolate ganache frosting. It was amazing. It tasted like one giant mounds candy bar. Incredibly sweet and chocolaty and delicious and messy. We got some amazing photographs of one intensely chocolatey Cutie Pie. I cried while taking the pictures because they were pictures I never thought I'd get to have from her first birthday. What did we eat you ask? Well let me share some pictures and recipes! These were all definitely keepers!!
First up:
It was a lot of cooking to get everything ready, but we had a great time. I just still can't believe my little Cutie Pie is already a year old. Time needs to hurry up and slow down already! It doesn't seem like a year ago I was bringing home a not-so-tiny 8 1/2 pound newborn. One year, a million questions, a hundred frustrating days of trying to figure out this FPIES thing later I have one beautiful, stubborn, happy TODDLER! AHHH!
As a last minute addition, Cutie Pie's mamaw decided to come up for the weekend and bring along Cutie Pie's uncle and a few of her cousins, so we had quite the full house to celebrate. My goal all along was to make everything we had at her party FPIES friendly, and I'm going to be quite vain for a moment and talk about how amazing everything was. Delicious. There were hardly any leftovers - and considering four of the guests were picky eaters between the ages of 11 and 13, I'd say delicious would be a unanimous descriptive for the food. And then there was the cake. I ended up deciding against the watermelon "cake" that I originally planned and created a coconut macaroon cake with chocolate ganache frosting. It was amazing. It tasted like one giant mounds candy bar. Incredibly sweet and chocolaty and delicious and messy. We got some amazing photographs of one intensely chocolatey Cutie Pie. I cried while taking the pictures because they were pictures I never thought I'd get to have from her first birthday. What did we eat you ask? Well let me share some pictures and recipes! These were all definitely keepers!!
First up:
Coconut Chicken Nuggets
I overheard Cutie Pie's uncle (age 11) tell someone else I had dipped the chicken in sugar. He could taste it. They did have a slightly sweet aftertaste that was really quite nice. I made two huge cookie sheets of these nuggets and I think I was left with about four at the end of the party.
Ingredients:
*I'm guessing on the measurements. I'm more of a pinch-of-this, handfull-of-that kind of cook*
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I had two big packages) cut into chunks
1/2 c Coconut flour
1 c unsweetened shredded coconut
coconut oil
4 eggs
1/4 c coconut milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly coat cookie sheet with coconut oil (I use a pastry brush)
2. Mix eggs and coconut milk in a small bowl. (I really didn't measure the milk - just poured some in until it looked like the right consistency to coat the chicken)
3. Combine coconut flour and shredded coconut in another bowl.
4. In small batches, dip chicken nuggets into egg mixture and then bread with coconut mixture and place on cookie sheet, making sure to spread out as much as possible.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
Fruit Kabobs
1. Cut up safe fruit. Put on a stick. We did watermelon (cut into E's and 1's with cookie cutters), peaches, blueberries, and raspberries.
We also had safe potato chips and a cold green bean and potato salad from this recipe which even my granny, a self-professed green bean hater, enjoyed.
But then there was the big finale:
Coconut Macaroon Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting
(adapted from a recipe by François Payard)
This stuff was RICH. And in now was was it a low-calorie, low fat food. The coconut milk I used has 22grams of fat in one serving, and there were 3 servings in the can. That's not even including all the sugar and chocolate. I'd be afraid to know the actual nutritional content for this delicious wonder-food.
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups coconut cream or 1 can GoldenStar brand coconut milk (if going for the coconut cream, get a can of full-fat coconut milk and let it sit in the fridge overnight to seperate and gently scoop the cream off the top. If I were you, I'd just go for the GoldenStar brand. I found it at Wal-Mart in the Asian food section)
1 bag Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
coconut oil
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
10oz unsweetened grated coconut (I found 5oz bags at Kroger, so 2 bags was perfect!)
1. Heat coconut cream in a saucepan until barely boiling. As soon as you see the first bubbles, take the pan off the heat and add the whole bag of chocolate chips. Mix until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. It would probably be better to go more like 2-3 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350, line jelly roll pan with parchment paper and then coat paper with coconut oil.
3. Prepare a double boiler. (This really isn't hard. Just put an inch or so of water in a saucepan and get a good heatproof bowl that will sit on the top without touching the water. I use a round pyrex bowl). While the water is heating, mix the eggs, sugar, and salt until smooth.
4. Set bowl over water and wisk until egg mixture is warm to the touch.
5. Remove from heat and beat until the mixture has tripled in volume (about 5ish minutes).
6. Fold in all but 1 cup of the grated coconut. That extra cup will be used as a garnish.
7. Spread coconut mixture onto the pan in as even a layer as possible and bake for 20-25 minutes.
8. When cool, flip cake onto a parchment paper lined work surface. I then used the top of a cup to cut two round circles for the layers of Cutie Pie's smash cake, but you could do the layers however you want. For the everybody cake I used two big rectangles.
9. Use the refrigerated ganache to spread between the layers and then to top the cake. Press remaining coconut onto the sides of the cake and refrigerate until fully set (mine sat in the fridge overnight).
It sounds pretty complicated, but in all reality it wasn't that bad. I've said it before - I am NOT a chef and just look at how much Cutie Pie enjoyed it:
It was a lot of cooking to get everything ready, but we had a great time. I just still can't believe my little Cutie Pie is already a year old. Time needs to hurry up and slow down already! It doesn't seem like a year ago I was bringing home a not-so-tiny 8 1/2 pound newborn. One year, a million questions, a hundred frustrating days of trying to figure out this FPIES thing later I have one beautiful, stubborn, happy TODDLER! AHHH!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Allergist Drama Continues...
My last post was about how annoyed I was at our allergist. Well today, the drama thickened. I got home from taking Cutie Pie and Big Brother to a baseball game (Have you ever taken two small children to a baseball game alone? One that contains free ice cream and candy? No? Well try to imagine the state of my nerves by the time we got home....) and innocently checked the mail. I saw I had a letter from the allergist's office. The last time we went he kindly wrote a very nice letter to our pediatrician about the things we had discussed and the current plan of action, so I thought this new letter might be interesting considering I don't think he heard a word I said at our last appointment. I was right. I'll just let you enjoy the drama and read it yourself. I'll put my comments in red.
Dear Todd, (Seems like he should address our pediatrician as "Dr." but whatever)
I wanted to update you on Cutie Pie. She continues to be breast-fed but has tried some solid foods. Her mother says that Cutie Pie does much better when she (the mother) avoids dairy, corn, soy, peas, rice, oats, sweet potatoes, and quinoa in her own diet while breast-feeding. Currently, her mother describes Cutie Pie as a very picky eater who primarily eats watermelon, avocado, potato and chicken with each meal. (This paragraph wasn't so bad)
Physical Exam - on exam she is happy and healthy appearing and has a normal HEENT and clear lungs (Amazing how he could tell this by never coming closer than the door of the exam room. He must have super-sonic hearing to hear her lungs over by the exam room door).
Diagnosis -
1. Peanut allergy
2. FPIES - rice creates severe reactions but other grains have not been fed directly to Cutie Pie (except he misspelled her name). However, when her mother eats corn, oats, or quinoa Cutie Pie has significant problems. It is unlikely she has FPIES for all these foods but since they seem to bother her we will not advance them just yet. (Except that she has been fed oats and quinoa and both caused an FPIES reaction. Corn causes vomiting through my milk which sounds like FPIES to me too. No mention of any other trigger foods. If he listened to a word I said or read the paperwork he photocopied and put in her chart he would have known this.)
Plan - at this time I recommend the following dietary precautions.
1. Strict avoidance of all peanut and tree nut products.
2. EpiPen Jr available for potential IgE mediated reaction to peanut.
3. Continue breast-feeding for as long as desired (No mention as to what to wean her to. At the appointment he told me there was no need for me to breastfeed her and I needed to wean her to cow's milk)
4. I instructed her mother to cautiously introduce cheese and other cow's milk products such as yogurt. She will also try to advance soy, beef, and turkey in Cutie Pie's diet.
5. At follow-up in 6 months we will discuss advancing other foods. Until then she will avoid rice, sweet potatoes, corn and other grains such as oats and quinoa.
I will keep you up to date with any significant changes. Thank you for the opportunity to consult in Cutie Pie's care.
Sincerely,
Dr. I-Never-Listen
I just don't know where to go with this. Should I reply back to the allergist? Just drop-it? Find a new doctor? I feel the need to write some snarky letter to him, but I'm thinking maybe I should wait until I'm not so irritated so maybe any type of reply would be more level-headed. But then again, when it comes to my kids I'm a bit of a mama bear anyway so any reply will most likely be snarky.
Dear Todd, (Seems like he should address our pediatrician as "Dr." but whatever)
I wanted to update you on Cutie Pie. She continues to be breast-fed but has tried some solid foods. Her mother says that Cutie Pie does much better when she (the mother) avoids dairy, corn, soy, peas, rice, oats, sweet potatoes, and quinoa in her own diet while breast-feeding. Currently, her mother describes Cutie Pie as a very picky eater who primarily eats watermelon, avocado, potato and chicken with each meal. (This paragraph wasn't so bad)
Physical Exam - on exam she is happy and healthy appearing and has a normal HEENT and clear lungs (Amazing how he could tell this by never coming closer than the door of the exam room. He must have super-sonic hearing to hear her lungs over by the exam room door).
Diagnosis -
1. Peanut allergy
2. FPIES - rice creates severe reactions but other grains have not been fed directly to Cutie Pie (except he misspelled her name). However, when her mother eats corn, oats, or quinoa Cutie Pie has significant problems. It is unlikely she has FPIES for all these foods but since they seem to bother her we will not advance them just yet. (Except that she has been fed oats and quinoa and both caused an FPIES reaction. Corn causes vomiting through my milk which sounds like FPIES to me too. No mention of any other trigger foods. If he listened to a word I said or read the paperwork he photocopied and put in her chart he would have known this.)
Plan - at this time I recommend the following dietary precautions.
1. Strict avoidance of all peanut and tree nut products.
2. EpiPen Jr available for potential IgE mediated reaction to peanut.
3. Continue breast-feeding for as long as desired (No mention as to what to wean her to. At the appointment he told me there was no need for me to breastfeed her and I needed to wean her to cow's milk)
4. I instructed her mother to cautiously introduce cheese and other cow's milk products such as yogurt. She will also try to advance soy, beef, and turkey in Cutie Pie's diet.
5. At follow-up in 6 months we will discuss advancing other foods. Until then she will avoid rice, sweet potatoes, corn and other grains such as oats and quinoa.
I will keep you up to date with any significant changes. Thank you for the opportunity to consult in Cutie Pie's care.
Sincerely,
Dr. I-Never-Listen
I just don't know where to go with this. Should I reply back to the allergist? Just drop-it? Find a new doctor? I feel the need to write some snarky letter to him, but I'm thinking maybe I should wait until I'm not so irritated so maybe any type of reply would be more level-headed. But then again, when it comes to my kids I'm a bit of a mama bear anyway so any reply will most likely be snarky.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)