The Chicken Trial

Saturday we did the scariest thing we’ve done since the first food trial last summer.

We fed Zac chicken.

I knew it was coming up; we’d decided that if the reintroduction of cucumbers went well, we would call them a pass on Friday and start chicken on Saturday. I knew this.

Still I was scared.

Chicken (poultry) is one of the biggest FPIES trigger foods, and I know I was eating a LOT of chicken in the first two months of Zac’s life. The time when he was having acute reactions we didn’t know about, and going into shock via my breastmilk.

So, yeah, chicken scared me.

But it has been two years since his last chicken exposure, and the cautious FPIES advice says 18-24 months should pass before re-trialing a suspect food.

Since my parents provided us with such beautiful, soy and corn free chickens a couple weeks ago, it was time to be brave.

Saturday night I baked some chicken for him and made a quinoa “pizza crust” for him to eat as a bread.

At first, he didn’t even look at the chicken. 

He drank some of his milk…

He ate his quinoa bread…

And finally, he picked up a piece of chicken.

It required investigation and contemplation.

Eventually he put it in his mouth.

Being a new texture, he didn’t really know what to do with it. Finally I had to cut it into tiny little bites for him to eat, and then he only ate about half of what I’d given him. Since he only got about 1.5 T. to start, this was not a large serving of chicken to consume.

It was enough for a first exposure, though, so I didn’t push him to eat more.

For most FPIES kiddos, acute reactions begin 2-4 hours after exposure. For Zac, he has historically presented with an acute reaction sometime between 4-24 hours after exposure.

This makes for a LONG pins-and-needles wait for signs of a reaction.

Four hours later, though, and he was just fine!

He fought going to sleep, but it was more of a “I have a lot of energy! I’ll pat Mommy’s face, play with the sheet, and make random babbling noises until I wind down” instead of screaming in pain. So I took that to be a good sign.

Then he slept for almost 5 hours straight without waking. Once he woke and nursed again, he went back to sleep…and slept almost 6 hours straight without waking! That is amazing for him!

Sunday he was energetic, playful, and perfectly fine. By mid-afternoon, I started to relax. He had a few poops that were different than his typical poops, but nothing weird or wrong; just slightly different for him. That’s normal with every new food; his body has to adjust to it.

That night, I served him chicken again. 

This time, I took the cooked chicken, some quinoa and goat milk butter and stir-fried it in a skillet.

He ate a whole bowl and screamed for more!

The second bowl, he picked out all the chicken and left the quinoa behind!

Again, he struggled with bedtime, but once he did, he slept like a log.

This morning he’s been happy and hungry, playing with his brother and behaving like a perfectly normal little boy!

Chicken is – so far – looking really good!

Actually, this week was just full of “New and Scary” things for my kiddos. Aside from the big chicken trial, last Monday I stopped on a whim and bought Jed some watercolors.

I’ve talked before about how my kids – especially Jed – are severely arts & crafts deprived thanks to FPIES, and how it bothers me that I can’t let them create that way.

It’s always on my mind when we’re in stores, and on Monday I was possessed by a sudden desire to see Jed do something creative and threw the paints in my cart.

He LOVED them!

I mean, really, really loved them!

Every day he would ask to paint, and every day I would get out the paints for him. At first I only did it at naptime, so Jed and I could paint together and I wouldn’t have to worry about Zac.

Wednesday, I left the paints out after Zac woke up from his nap. I hoped that he would have fun with the paints and I could keep him “safe” by hovering.

It didn’t work; he decided paper was boring, and what he really wanted to paint was his hands! Even though I scrubbed his hands (and chest, and arms, and legs) with soap and water immediately, he had a poop that gave him a little too much redness for my liking a few hours later.

From then on, water colors only came out at naptime and immediately were cleaned up as soon as Zac woke.

Even though it is more work for me, and a little nerve-wracking, I love that Jed can finally do something typical and creative for his age.

So on Thursday, I made a special trip to the store for Play-Doh.

Jed has been asking for Play-Doh almost constantly since Easter, when he got the chance to play with some at church. I’ve resisted, mostly because I’ve been trying to find ways to make it from scratch at home with no corn, soy, or wheat.

Finally I decided that even if I made it corn, soy, and wheat free, it would STILL have ingredients that Zac may react to; may as well buy the store bought stuff and assign Play-Doh the same restrictions as watercolors.

Y’all, Jed was in HEAVEN! I didn’t think I could make him any happier than water colors, but Play-Doh is Jed’s idea of the MOST AWESOME STUFF EVER!!!

He screams for Play-Doh. He nags for it. He begs for it. He asks where we’ve hidden it so he can get it himself.

He’s a downright annoying little bugger about Play-Doh. 

And yes, having water colors and Play-Doh in my house is making me nervous, but I’m trying to cope with it. Jed needs this.

Though, I’m going to have to find better hiding places for it. The lure of paint and Play-Doh is too strong; yesterday Jed taught himself a nifty trick for getting to my hiding place:

Heart don’t fail me now!

Last night I stayed up late and completely cleaned off the top of the refrigerator. If there isn’t anything interesting there, with any luck he’ll stop doing this!

What was your scariest food trial? How did it go?