Hiya!
It’s been a whole month of nursing Mr. Happy on my elimination diet. I’m torn between cautiously acknowledging success, and jumping up and down with ecstatic joy at the success. (Sometimes pessimism creeps in and keeps me from getting my hopes up too high!)
Seriously, though, he seems to be doing great!
The problem with trying to run trials like this, I’ve found, is that my house and my baby are not a scientific laboratory. There is no ‘control’ to measure progress against, and there are many other things that happen in the growth and life of a baby that can confuse the data.
Things like teething. And weather changes. And heinie sensitivity to disposable diapers.
All of which can create symptoms that can mimic his build symptoms, but which are, in effect, harmless.
So, I have certainly been eagle-eyeing every little thing that happens to and by Mr. Charm, but frankly, so far everything that has been slightly ‘off’ has seemed to have a harmless explanation.
So, I think we were blessed to have randomly picked twelve things for me to eat that are safe for Mr. Happy!
Hooray! Woot! (Go ahead; do a little dance for me. I’m still a little scared to!)
In fact, though we haven’t been to the doctor for an official weigh-in, I did the “weigh myself holding Mr. Happy and then weigh myself without him” scale check and it appears that he has gained a whopping 3 pounds this month!
Yowza! Guess breast milk does a baby good!
So, with a month of successful nursing under our belts, a happy baby FINALLY doing well and healing, where to next?
There are a few options:
– I can just keep on keepin’ on, and not change a thing. This way I can continue to pump and save milk for emergencies/when I return to work, and know it is safe. A stockpile would be VERY good right now!
– We can call the doctor to schedule an appointment for Mr. Happy’s vaccinations. I would be comforted to know he was inoculated, however, there are problems with this. I would need to look into the inactive ingredients in the shots he’s about to get to make sure they’re safe, and I’ll want to check with my genius Mama’s on the message boards to find out if they know of any dangers associated with the shots for FPIES kids. Still, it’s an option.
– We can start Mr. Happy on a probiotic. There’s been some research indicating that a healthy gut flora helps heal FPIES kiddos and encourages more frequent ‘pass’ foods, and I’m sure that with the antibiotics I was on at his birth and the MANY antibiotics he received in his hospital stay his gut flora could use a little boosting. Again, research into the ingredients would be vital, and asking what strains were most successful on the boards wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. (Yes, I know I said I started him on a probiotic a while ago, but decided not to because I wanted him to have time to heal before messing with his body any more.)
– I can go hog-wild crazy and add ONE WHOLE NEW FOOD ITEM to my elimination diet. I’m thinking quinoa; it would open up a lot of options for me to eat!
Honestly, I don’t know which is the best choice for Mr. Happy right now, so the Geek and I will continue to discuss our next step.
I know we need to take a step forward in some way or other, but I’m a little scared to rock this boat…this steady, safe, healthy, non-reactive boat. It’s nice and comfy here, and taking a step puts us straight into the path of ‘unknown possibilities’, which could be very good…or very bad.
Very bad is very bad.
So, I’ll just sit back for now, pleased and satisfied that all is well with my sweet, happy boy.
For however long it takes us to decide our next move.
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I just have to ask: What would YOU do in my shoes?
