Hindsight and Food Allergies

This is a picture of Autumn at 3 3/4 Months. We were visiting my in-laws for Christmas. At this time we were just figuring out that Autumn might have some food allergies. We never solved all of her food allergies until I stopped nursing her at 13 months. This meant that she never slept through the night for the first year. In fact, for the first 10 months or so, she was up every 2 or 3 hours wanting to nurse because her tummy hurt. We didn't know this was the reason at the time. I could never even start an exercise program because I was always sleep deprived. Autumn also had extremely bad eczema until we got rid of most of the offending foods (from my diet).

Here is what we learned, mostly through trial and error. Autumn has a milk protein allergy, which she should grow out of eventually. 50% of kids with milk allergy are also allergic to soy. This is the case for Autumn. Additionally, Autumn is allergic to tree nuts including almonds as well as another member of the soy family, namely peanuts. For now, that leaves us to use rice milk. The interesting thing is that Autumn was getting these allergens through my milk. When she started on solids like rice cereal, we found that most brands contain soy as a filler. We caught onto this slowly. Now we read labels for everything. It also helps to have a neighbor with a similar problem to trade information with.

I've learned to keep a bottle of children's' Benedryl in the medicine cabinet and I remember to ask the doctor for the correct dosage by Autumn's current weight when we go for check-ups. Autumn's had a few food reactions that required Benedryl. Sometimes doctors forget about our sensitive children. Autumn's doctor said "Now she's one. You can give her peanut butter!" After a teeny, tiny sliver of peanut butter and a huge reaction later, I am more cautious about advice like that.

The good news is that Autumn, at age 2, is starting to be able to tolerate small amounts of dairy including yogurt. The other good news is that I'm going to make every effort to have my next child sleep through the night and be pain and eczema-free. I'm going off dairy, soy, and nuts next week so that I can help Calvin be a happier baby when he arrives. All mothers with milk allergy babies that I have spoken with, improved their emotional health tremendously by stopping nursing and using special soy-free, dairy-free formula. At $25 a can, this is a decision that we can make after we figure out what if any allergies Calvin has.