The kids and I had to come down to Houston last week to take care of some family business and we are staying with my parents.
My parents are WONDERFUL about their grandchildrens’ food issues; last year, Mom and I even made the entire Thanksgiving dinner allergy-free for Mr. Charm so he and I could eat everything on the table. It was such a joy to be able to feel ‘normal’ at a holiday dinner!
My parents have always gone out of their way to make sure my kids stay safe with foods, but we may have finally stumped them.
Fructose free is a b***h, let me tell you.
I’m still not even sure what is safe and what is not, so there’s no way for me to educate my parents (or anyone else) on good foods for Mr. Charm.
Consequently, their house is an absolute MINEFIELD of unsafe foods for my son. And there is just nothing to be done about it. What am I going to do? Ask them to throw away hundreds of dollars worth of foods that Mr. Charm can’t have for the short visit we’re going to be here? The idea crossed my mind to pack away any foods that aren’t safe and store them in some other area of the house, but Mr. Charm is quite handy at doorknobs nowadays, and he’s always been a climber, so that plan wouldn’t work.
So, we’re stuck. Mr. Charm, quick little stinker that he is, has been sneaking fructose-laden foods by the handful all week long. We catch him, stop him, take the food away, put it on a higher shelf, blah blah blah all the good things a responsible family would do for a child who can’t have fructose should do…whatever! He still gets fructose food several times a day and stopping him after the fact doesn’t do much good.
Can I just say…any doubts I had about fructose malabsorption being his problem have completely dissipated this last week.
Mr. Charm has been…less than charming.
In fact, he’s been a royal pain in our heinies.
Oh, the belligerence! The “NO’s” I’m hearing from him! The fit pitching tantrums we’ve endured! The downright ugliness that is his behavior is SO trying for my patience this week – I’m out of my comfort zone (my house is relatively ‘safe’, everywhere else is not), dealing with stressful financial issues, Mr. Happy has been teething like crazy (moaning, crying, whimpering, refusing to be put down, only happy on his ibuprofen – which is, I believe, causing him to have an FPIES-like reaction), and then Mr. Charm has to top it all off by being absolutely horrible to deal with.
And, of course, he’s still completely precious and adorable, even when he’s rotten. ‘Cause that’s just what Charming Children do – make you want to scream in frustration and then ‘fix’ it all with something totally wonderful the very next second.
Sleep has become a huge challenge again, too. He fights naps and bedtime with every trick he knows. Once he’s down for bedtime, he’s down for the night, but naps? Have dropped from nice, long 2 to 3 hour siestas to brief 1.5 to 2 hour breaks where he wakes up grumpy, disoriented, grouchy, and entirely out of sorts.
Oh, and he’s lost weight again. He had finally, FINALLY gained a pound in weight after two weeks of mostly fructose-free living, and we’re back down about a pound and a half after a week of noshing on sugars. Yip. Pee.
And need I mention – the FARTS. I’d forgotten what FM Farts smell like. Ugh.
The worst of it, though, is that he learned a new word: “Bread”. And he wants to eat it.
Bread has dairy and egg, well, at least several of the types my parents keep around does.
Egg will freaking KILL Mr. Charm!
Y’all, I’m going to seriously be in need of a massage/valium/bottle of vodka by the time this visit is over…my nerves are FRIED!
Sigh. I give up. I can’t do anything about this for the time we are in Houston. He’s going to just do everything in his power to get foods he shouldn’t have. I will absolutely keep him from dairy and egg, but I flat give up on the fructose. I can’t monitor him that closely in this environment.
No, I won’t make his meals with fructose laden ingredients, but the foods he sneaks? I’m going to have to stop sweating it over those. Otherwise, I’ll go crazy.
One thing I’ve noticed is that he hasn’t really been eating a LOT of unsafe foods for him…about the equivalent of a large snack per day. That’s not a lot of fructose, so he is obviously VERY sensitive to fructose. That’s not comforting to me.
So I now get to look forward to about another 2-3 weeks of Mr. Charm-less behavior before the fructose is out of his system and we can have our even-keeled son back.
I usually love visiting my parents. Truly. But right now? I can’t wait to go home!
Good grief! At least you have further proof that it is the fructose? My son John is a carb-aholic, so I know what you mean about the food sneaking. If I ever had to limit his intake of sugar (which is more or less fruits + breads + high-fructose candy for him… all the no-no’s in your house), he would totally do everything in his power to get it. I am amazed by the way your boy’s weight is affected by the consumption of fructose. How is that not compelling evidence for ANYONE (and EVERYONE)?!?
I know, right? I couldn’t believe it, either. But the scale doesn’t lie, so yeah, his weight is highly affected by fructose – along with his other symptoms! Ugh.
The doctor believed me that it was probably fructose malabsorption, he just wouldn’t do the test for us! When I told him how Mr. Charm was doing (during the phone call when he was annoyed with me) on a fructose free diet, he even said “Well, there’s your answer.” So the evidence is compelling, even for the doctor!