For the birds

Harlan's food trialing has been discouraging to say the least. To date, Harlan can only eat/tolerate 3 foods (pears, mango and spinach). I never thought at 10 months old (wow, already!), my child wouldn't be able to eat practically anything. My goal by his first birthday is to be able to eat a grain, a couple of veggies, various fruits, and a meat of some sort. I guess we have a few of those checked off the list, but it is my intent to get the grain one next. After doing some investigating in the FPIES blogger community, I discovered that "millet" is a common tolerated grain (practically the only one) amongst FPIES kids. I also discovered it is a common bird feed. Well, he does tend to eat like a bird, he is messy, picks at his food, and throws it all on the floor... so heck, this just might work?

 So, I went down to our local Co-op and got "hulled millet" out of the binned grains and came home to google how to cook it.

I boiled it like you would rice, and voila! He loves it!

Not the happiest expression, but he really gobbles it all up. So far, we are on day 3 of it and having no violent reactions. Keep your fingers crossed. His sleep has been disrupted the last few days (a huge indicator of a problem food), but my heart tells me it is because of his teeth (top 4 are all the way in, 3rd bottom one is coming right now, and 3 more are on their way), and activeness, not pain related.

We did finally get a referral from his allergist. He pushed very hard for Harlan to be seen by a pediatric gastroenterologist, so we will be heading to UCSF, hopefully, very soon. I will keep you posted.

 Here are some recent pics of him and the family...

swinging at the Ranch

my pathetic attempt at a picture of Doodle and me

with daddy and cousin Lucas on Turkey Day!

here he is using a wooden puzzle piece as a pacifier...he does this everyday!

"The Boy" update

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe that Harlan, "the boy", "big boy", "truck", whatever you call him, is 9 1/2 months old. I mean, really? It seems like yesterday he made his presence in the world, but when you see him, it seems like over a year ago. He truly is a BIG BOY. We just had his 9 month well baby visit today and here are his stats,

weight: 23 lbs 6 oz
height: 30 inches

How does he measure up to his sister? Elle at 9 months was,
weight: 20 lbs 12 oz
height: 29 1/4

Just because I actually have them (thanks parentals), here is how he compares to his mama at his age
weight: 18 lbs 13 oz
height: 29 inches

Needless to say, he is thriving. Despite his food allergies and troubling FPIES diagnosis, he continues to grow at an accelerated pace (94th percentile for both weight and height).

I was surprised to find out at his appointment that the little sores he had on his hands and feet were not from the constant sucking of them, like I thought.  Instead he had the very common, not as alarming as it sounds, "hand, foot and mouth disease" virus. It is highly contagious in the first week, which he has passed at this point (sores are on the mend almost null), but wow, I wish I knew this before having a play date with my dear friend, Nicole, an her two children (her oldest for sure has it and has already passed it to his preschool class). Or having Tony and baby tone, "Samuel", over for the first time ever to my place yesterday! It was such an amazing visit, so I only pray, Samuel doesn't get it. Oye vey!

How precious is he!

Oh yeah, he also has SIX teeth pushing their way through his gums right now...No wonder he has been pitiful for the last week, plus.

As for his allergies. We did go in for a follow-up/next step appointment, and he encouraged us to just continue offering new foods and textures to him systematically.  This is easier said then done given his painful reactions are hard to bare. I understand the logic, but it isn't fun. He recommended we start with Cheerios. Fail. He also put in a referral order for us to see a specialist, either an FPIES allergist specialist, or a pediatric GI. Hopefully we will find out soon, and get in to see them asap. The more we know the better. The allergist made it clear that this is not a common diagnosis, and admitted to only giving it out, a few times. We are among one of the lucky ones.

FPIES reactions are usually caused initially by rice, oats, soy and dairy. However, egg, barley, wheat, sweet potatoes, squash, poultry, corn, and legumes are also very common triggers. After joining FPIES mommy forums, and blogs, to do my own research, I discovered many other common first food triggers (prunes, peaches, banana,strawberries, blueberries, carrots, avocado). Harlan has reacted to many on ALL the lists. One step, or one food at a time, we will figure this out, and hopefully get him eating more table food, and relying less on "liquid gold" as he nears his first birthday. For those of you wondering, we have not given him egg yet, despite seeing the "guru". We plan to soon. It is on the "trial" list, and I am semi-confident he will pass. Right now, we are trialing "rice", and so far, so good. However, it builds and can create reactions as late as 10 days later. Keep your fingers crossed for us (we are on day 4).

I will leave you with some recent pics of the boy and the fam....

 

He was a lion for Halloween

Elle was a monarch butterfly

                                                    

Classic

 Sibling love