Asparagus, asparagus, how I love thee
You are so delicious, oh me, oh my, wow-we
But why, oh why do you hate CutiePie?
Are you just trying to make me cry?
All that smelly vomit all over my chair
It didn't smell any better when it got in her hair.
Or how about that horrible red diaper rash?
Is it just that you and her do not mash?
So until a new day, my sweet veggie of green.
When the breastfeeding is done you know what that means -
We can be reunited again you sweet little tree
And rekindle our love, asparagus and me.
Okay, so maybe I don't have a future career as a poet. :)
All-in-all Thanksgiving was a super happy great holiday. Our travel plans ended up being cancelled because CutiePie's daddy had to work, but we had a wonderful weekend with my side of the family instead. CutiePie was the center of attention and I think she ended up eating her weight in cheese (cheese and crackers are the snacks of choice with my family!). However, on Friday we sat down to a absolutly delicious steak dinner cooked by my grandmother complete with my favorite veggie - asparagus. I don't eat it very often (mostly because I have no clue how to cook it!) and I kinda pigged out on it. I even gave CutiePie a spear to play with. She didn't eat it (no surprise) but she did lick it a couple times. Honestly, I didn't even really think much about it. She has done fine with every other green veggie we tried, and I didn't think she'd eat it anyway but Friday night she was up ALL night screaming. By Saturday morning she had the worst acid poo diaper rash I've ever seen and about 90 minutes after having a bottle of my milk Saturday afternoon the vomiting started. The only thing we could think it may have been was the asparagus. There hasn't been anything new in either of our diets. At first I thought it might be the return of the stomach bug, but she vomited for 15ish minutes, emptying her stomach and then she was fine. Nothing else. Have I mentioned how much I hate the smell of vomit? And let me clue you in on a little secret. They say asparagus makes your pee smell funny, but I would argue that it makes vomit smell worse too.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Feeding Therapy and the Smell of Failure...
One step forward, two steps back.
The last time I updated I mentioned that CutiePie was being refered to the Feeding Therapy team at our local Children's Hospital. The hope is that they can evaluate why she isn't eating enough and help us increase her daily calorie intake and help her have a balanced diet outside of my milk. Sounds like a perfect match, right? Well I got a call from the intake nurse to schedule our appointment and the next available evaluation appointment isn't until FEBRUARY. That is a solid three MONTHS from now. AND after talking to the nurse it is common for insurance companies to deny coverage, and even if they do we have to a pay a co-pay for EACH specialty she will see that day - up to five different departments. Our specialist co-pays are $40 a pop, so $40 x 5 specialties = $200 FOR ONE VISIT! ::sigh:: And what the heck are we supposed to do for the next three months? The nutritionist we saw at Children's last week suggested I download an app for my phone called My Fitness Pal and keep track of everything CutiePie eats to make sure she is at least getting close to the 950 calories/day she needs. The ap is actually really cool - you can just scan the barcode of anything you eat and it automatically puts it into the diary. MUCH easier than the notebook I used to keep for CutiePie and WAY easier to track the number of calories. Well, after a week of tracking and using all the tricks the nutritionist gave us, and feeding her bowls of strawberry ice cream every evening she has yet to even reach 700 calories/day. I'm beginning to wonder if this little girl is any way genetically related to me. The other night for dinner she had on her plate a spoonful of sunbutter, Cheecha puffs with cream cheese, shredded cheddar, watermelon, and a strawberry milkshake. I cringed giving it to her because it goes against everything I've ever learned about what to feed a toddler, but all the ate was the Cheecha puffs anyway. ::sigh:: At least we have three months to get her to eat before having to spend a small fortune for some professionals to watch her not eat.
And then we had yesterday. She was eating so well all morning. She drank all her milk, ate several snack throughout church service, came home and actually ate lunch. It looked like she might have her best calorie day yet. I gave her a bowl of strawberry ice cream in the afternoon, put her down for a nap, and left her with daddy while I went out for a very rare, much needed dinner out with some girlfriends. I was gone for about 3 hours, so I expected her to be excited when I got home. I came in the door and immediately knew something was wrong. Daddy said she had been crying since she woke up from her nap, and as I went over to pick her up she immediately opened her mouth and puked. And puked. And puked. Daddy had given her a bottle full of cow's milk with her dinner and it all came back up. Plus everything else she had eaten all day. It was curdled and smelly and EVERYWHERE. However, after her tummy was empty she was back to laughing and playing and she was happy as could be. Totally suspicious. She played with me for a couple hours, drank a bottle of my milk, and then we snuggled up in bed and went to sleep. Two hours later I woke up to her puking all over me again. And our bed. And our pillow. I used to be a teacher. I taught anywhere from infants up to 1st grade and I've dealt with my share of kids with a stomach bug. You would *think* the smell of vomit wouldn't bother me anymore, but I swear I have the weakest tolerance on the face of the planet. Poor daddy ends up having to be the one to clean it up. (I married an AMAZING man who doesn't mind either!) So after another shower and new sheets/blankets/pillows we finally got back to sleep. This morning she is acting fine, but refusing any type of solids. So far today she's had a bottle of my milk and about 5 Cheecha puffs and 2 small noodles. I am *hoping* it is just a virus and not some reaction to something she ate, but either way we can't at this point afford for any set backs with her eating. The last time she had a puking reaction it took her SIX WEEKS to eat anything other than Cheecha puffs. And back then I was making a heck of a lot more milk than I am now.
On a positive note though, after four loads of pukey laundry my house is finally starting to smell normal again. I think I may bake some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon though, just to push it over to a pleasant smelling place rather than just an okay smelling place. And I'm thinking maybe I deserve a cookie or two (or twelve!) right about now!
The last time I updated I mentioned that CutiePie was being refered to the Feeding Therapy team at our local Children's Hospital. The hope is that they can evaluate why she isn't eating enough and help us increase her daily calorie intake and help her have a balanced diet outside of my milk. Sounds like a perfect match, right? Well I got a call from the intake nurse to schedule our appointment and the next available evaluation appointment isn't until FEBRUARY. That is a solid three MONTHS from now. AND after talking to the nurse it is common for insurance companies to deny coverage, and even if they do we have to a pay a co-pay for EACH specialty she will see that day - up to five different departments. Our specialist co-pays are $40 a pop, so $40 x 5 specialties = $200 FOR ONE VISIT! ::sigh:: And what the heck are we supposed to do for the next three months? The nutritionist we saw at Children's last week suggested I download an app for my phone called My Fitness Pal and keep track of everything CutiePie eats to make sure she is at least getting close to the 950 calories/day she needs. The ap is actually really cool - you can just scan the barcode of anything you eat and it automatically puts it into the diary. MUCH easier than the notebook I used to keep for CutiePie and WAY easier to track the number of calories. Well, after a week of tracking and using all the tricks the nutritionist gave us, and feeding her bowls of strawberry ice cream every evening she has yet to even reach 700 calories/day. I'm beginning to wonder if this little girl is any way genetically related to me. The other night for dinner she had on her plate a spoonful of sunbutter, Cheecha puffs with cream cheese, shredded cheddar, watermelon, and a strawberry milkshake. I cringed giving it to her because it goes against everything I've ever learned about what to feed a toddler, but all the ate was the Cheecha puffs anyway. ::sigh:: At least we have three months to get her to eat before having to spend a small fortune for some professionals to watch her not eat.
And then we had yesterday. She was eating so well all morning. She drank all her milk, ate several snack throughout church service, came home and actually ate lunch. It looked like she might have her best calorie day yet. I gave her a bowl of strawberry ice cream in the afternoon, put her down for a nap, and left her with daddy while I went out for a very rare, much needed dinner out with some girlfriends. I was gone for about 3 hours, so I expected her to be excited when I got home. I came in the door and immediately knew something was wrong. Daddy said she had been crying since she woke up from her nap, and as I went over to pick her up she immediately opened her mouth and puked. And puked. And puked. Daddy had given her a bottle full of cow's milk with her dinner and it all came back up. Plus everything else she had eaten all day. It was curdled and smelly and EVERYWHERE. However, after her tummy was empty she was back to laughing and playing and she was happy as could be. Totally suspicious. She played with me for a couple hours, drank a bottle of my milk, and then we snuggled up in bed and went to sleep. Two hours later I woke up to her puking all over me again. And our bed. And our pillow. I used to be a teacher. I taught anywhere from infants up to 1st grade and I've dealt with my share of kids with a stomach bug. You would *think* the smell of vomit wouldn't bother me anymore, but I swear I have the weakest tolerance on the face of the planet. Poor daddy ends up having to be the one to clean it up. (I married an AMAZING man who doesn't mind either!) So after another shower and new sheets/blankets/pillows we finally got back to sleep. This morning she is acting fine, but refusing any type of solids. So far today she's had a bottle of my milk and about 5 Cheecha puffs and 2 small noodles. I am *hoping* it is just a virus and not some reaction to something she ate, but either way we can't at this point afford for any set backs with her eating. The last time she had a puking reaction it took her SIX WEEKS to eat anything other than Cheecha puffs. And back then I was making a heck of a lot more milk than I am now.
On a positive note though, after four loads of pukey laundry my house is finally starting to smell normal again. I think I may bake some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon though, just to push it over to a pleasant smelling place rather than just an okay smelling place. And I'm thinking maybe I deserve a cookie or two (or twelve!) right about now!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Another Day, Another Doctor...
Yesterday was an exciting day for CutiePie. We started off the day by casting our votes for the next President and then it was off to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for a consultation with a new allergist. The hospital itself is so intimidating to me. Just floors and floors and building after building of doctors and sick kids. Just walking in the doors made me want to cry. It was a whole host of mixed feelings for me being there- anxiety for CutiePie's appointment, hope for some real answers, guilt that I was there with a mostly healthy little girl, sadness for the very very sick kids that I was sharing that building with, and just an overall feeling of frustration that all those doctors within those walls can do NOTHING to make my baby better. ::sigh::
All that aside, the allergist appointment itself was fairly productive. We were there for three long hours, and most of that time was actually spent with the doctors/nurses. Our doctor wanted to talk about each of CutiePie's severe reactions in detail as he typed it into her chart right then and there. He asked a million questions and we talked about a million things related to CutiePie's issues. Some of the things we talked about gave me some hope that he knew what he was talking about, but honestly nothing he told me about FPIES or the treatment was new news. I do feel like he listened to me a lot better than our old allergist and I feel like he actually cared about CutiePie and her quality of life. But I think that's the frustrating thing about FPIES. There's not really anything anyone else can do for her. It's just a day by day get through it kind of disease. Try something and if it doesn't work try something else. At the end of the day it is up to us as parents to make the decisions for CutiePie. For example, he told us that because she didn't have the horrible scary awful vomiting with oats that she likely was okay with them. Considering it coincided with crazy bad eczema and mucusy lime-green poops which cleared up as soon as oats were out of her (and my) diet, I don't really care if he thought oats was a trigger for her or not. I'm not feeding them to her.
After we were done talking to the allergist, he suggested having the dietician come in there and talk to us and evaluate CutiePie's diet to see if she could suggest some foods/supplements/whatever that could help her have a more complete diet and increase her calories so she might actually gain some weight. I think talking to her was more helpful than seeing the allergist. She gave us some great tips on increasing her calorie intake and gave us a goal for CutiePie to get about 950 calories/day. Right now she is getting about 350 calories/day from my milk, so we have a lot of work to do. We also talked about weaning her off of my milk and onto regular whole milk, which I think we will start thinking about after the first of the year. She also suggested we get CutiePie on the waiting list for the feeding therapy team at Childrens. I am waiting on a call from them to make that happen. Hopefully that will help her get over some of her food aversions which will in return help her get more, get more calories, and gain some weight.
Our original reason for visiting was to talk about the possibility of CutiePie also having an Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorder (EGID). The allergist said it was unlikely she has both FPIES and an EGID, but he did say he has seen kids with FPIES end up getting an EGID diagnosis later in life. He kinda came across as thinking a kid may outgrow FPIES and then develop an EGID. However, he did say with her poor growth it may be wise to have her scoped and evaluated. He wants our pediatrician to reevaluate her growth and then possibly refer us to a GI specialist. I think I want to hold off on that for a couple months though and give us the chance to work with the feeding therapy and the dietician to try and see if we can kinda get her to put on some weight and eat a little more before we take any steps in any other directions.
So tonight I am doing some high calorie FPIES friendly cooking. Up tonight - spinach dip to go with her CheeCha puffs. Because you know, adding spinach into some cream cheese and oil and mayo totally gives it a health-food feel! ;)
All that aside, the allergist appointment itself was fairly productive. We were there for three long hours, and most of that time was actually spent with the doctors/nurses. Our doctor wanted to talk about each of CutiePie's severe reactions in detail as he typed it into her chart right then and there. He asked a million questions and we talked about a million things related to CutiePie's issues. Some of the things we talked about gave me some hope that he knew what he was talking about, but honestly nothing he told me about FPIES or the treatment was new news. I do feel like he listened to me a lot better than our old allergist and I feel like he actually cared about CutiePie and her quality of life. But I think that's the frustrating thing about FPIES. There's not really anything anyone else can do for her. It's just a day by day get through it kind of disease. Try something and if it doesn't work try something else. At the end of the day it is up to us as parents to make the decisions for CutiePie. For example, he told us that because she didn't have the horrible scary awful vomiting with oats that she likely was okay with them. Considering it coincided with crazy bad eczema and mucusy lime-green poops which cleared up as soon as oats were out of her (and my) diet, I don't really care if he thought oats was a trigger for her or not. I'm not feeding them to her.
After we were done talking to the allergist, he suggested having the dietician come in there and talk to us and evaluate CutiePie's diet to see if she could suggest some foods/supplements/whatever that could help her have a more complete diet and increase her calories so she might actually gain some weight. I think talking to her was more helpful than seeing the allergist. She gave us some great tips on increasing her calorie intake and gave us a goal for CutiePie to get about 950 calories/day. Right now she is getting about 350 calories/day from my milk, so we have a lot of work to do. We also talked about weaning her off of my milk and onto regular whole milk, which I think we will start thinking about after the first of the year. She also suggested we get CutiePie on the waiting list for the feeding therapy team at Childrens. I am waiting on a call from them to make that happen. Hopefully that will help her get over some of her food aversions which will in return help her get more, get more calories, and gain some weight.
Our original reason for visiting was to talk about the possibility of CutiePie also having an Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorder (EGID). The allergist said it was unlikely she has both FPIES and an EGID, but he did say he has seen kids with FPIES end up getting an EGID diagnosis later in life. He kinda came across as thinking a kid may outgrow FPIES and then develop an EGID. However, he did say with her poor growth it may be wise to have her scoped and evaluated. He wants our pediatrician to reevaluate her growth and then possibly refer us to a GI specialist. I think I want to hold off on that for a couple months though and give us the chance to work with the feeding therapy and the dietician to try and see if we can kinda get her to put on some weight and eat a little more before we take any steps in any other directions.
So tonight I am doing some high calorie FPIES friendly cooking. Up tonight - spinach dip to go with her CheeCha puffs. Because you know, adding spinach into some cream cheese and oil and mayo totally gives it a health-food feel! ;)
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
CutiePie with FPIES and EE?!?!
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.
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 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.
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