Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Here We Go Again

So, you may remember that when Aven was a baby she had an allergy to dairy protein called Allergic Colitis. We saw blood in her diaper when she was about 6 weeks old, took her to the doctor, and I was told to go dairy free. Over the next couple months I also discovered that she was sensitive to corn protein and removed that from my diet as well.

The day after Etta was born our pediatrician came to the hospital to check on her and I asked him what the likelihood of Etta developing the Allergic Colitis was. He said that her chance was much greater since Aven had it- it's probably a genetic thing. So I started watching for symptoms right from the start. A month ago, when Etta was three weeks old, I saw blood in her diaper. We took her to the doctor to rule out other potential causes and I jumped right on the diet I was on with Aven. After a week and a half she was symptom free- yay!!!

I was pretty upset at first because it was such a traumatic experience with Aven. Her symptoms were greatly reduced by the diet but they persisted until she was about six months old. Because the symptoms persisted we had to do blood work, stool samples, and a scan at Primary Children's plus two trials of hypoallergenic formula- those just ended in tears (mine and Aven's).

So, here we are again, but this time I already know exactly what I can eat and which restaurants have things that are friendly to this very restricted diet. It might not sound like a big deal, but just try to find basic things like crackers, cereal, and bread that are free of both dairy AND corn ingredients. The upside is that I am just about the healthiest eater I know. About 90% of my food is prepared at home from fresh ingredients with little or no preservatives. Another upside is that babies tend to grow out of this allergy by the time they are about 9 months old. To be safe I'll stay on the diet until she turns one. So here's to another year of reading labels and losing ridiculous amounts of weight!

No comments:

Post a Comment