My little peach.

Thank goodness for safe foods!!!  Peaches are safe.  I hope to get through the rest of the peach "food family" soon (nectarines, apricots, plums...) but for now- we are enjoying the peaches.   Little Man even asks for them by name!   We couldn't resist letting him have it the way he asked for it- whole!  No skin, but eating it whole!

Of course, I have a few dozen pictures just like these!   I am so happy to see him eat.    We are also readdressing millet.  My concern is that it was too much "grain" for him following the vitamin (corn derived ingredients) fail.   That with his acute inflammation - his gut needed a "bland" diet.  We have reintroduced it (again!) and are not seeing any signs of symptoms we were prior.   So, maybe that mystery is solved.   Why this happens is another mystery.   

Squirms in the night....

A possessed monkey another mom describes it as, I giggle.  A squirmy caterpillar?   How do you describe this dance they do?  This, my-tummy-hurts-and-I-have-gas, I'm awake-but-don't-want-to-be dance in their sleep.  

A few nights ago- just fresh on the excitement that Little Man was eating his Merry Muffins; we had a rough night of no sleep, coupled with gas? attacks.  He was just so uncomfortable.  But it wasn't constant, it wasn't inconsolable- he would console, fall into what seemed like a relaxing deep sleep; only to be awoken by a waxing/waning, what I can only think to be gas pain.   It wasn't reflux-y pain, he wasn't arching and it was lower.  He was thrashing and kicking his legs...and passing gas.

We make it through the night, and he is a happy boy in the morning.  What is this about?  These are his safe foods, safe ingredients to make a safe food- muffins.  What is going on?  Are his safe foods not safe?  Is his inflammation hurting him?  How much inflammation does he have, from the fermented corn starch (tested negative for detectable proteins but apparently still has trace or cross contamination of corn) in that vitamin trial. 

Is the inflammation making it difficult for his body to breakdown/process/digest even his safe foods?  Maybe.
I post the question for feedback on the active FPIES support group and am reminded of the other little one's that experience similar "threshold" to foods - grains, vegetables, fruits, and sugars.   Daily servings need to be monitored closely as to not cross over a threshold of tolerance (for unknown reasons, not FPIES triggers- simple digestion tolerance)- carefully teaching the body of the safe food.   Also, other mom's express success in pseudo-rotation type diets.   I have had this thought about Little Man for some time....that even when we do get "passes" for a tiny menu- we will have to watch his menu closely as his body appears to be so sensitive to subtle changes.  

Why does this happen is my pondering question.  Pondering....pondering....pondering....because if I can figure out why it is happening, then I can help him more- right?   I hope so. 

I wonder if it is similar to a flare in Chrons or colitis, a flare of intestinal inflammation so bad it causes a bowel obstruction.    The treatment for this is often bowel rest and a bland/low-residue type diet.  Millet and peaches are safe-nonFPIES trigger foods, but if he has inflammation - his body may be less able to digest the sugars and proteins in these foods.  We will have to limit his consumption for now, play around with recipe modifications, and monitor for signs of healing from the recent fail.  

The next 2 days, with scaled back amount of muffins- we have had better sleep.  Still waking up, but to eat and then goes back to sleep (mostly)...

For now, Little man continues to take his hemp milk formula very well - meeting his caloric needs daily.  Weight gain should follow.....

Very Merry Muffins!

Thanks to Baby B for the great recipe: babybeesfpiestestkitchen.  I have been able to make a muffin from Little Man's safe ingredients: millet, safflower oil, arrowroot, and peaches, add in baking soda and we have VERY Merry Muffins!  The first batch, was the other day- I made according to the recipe, with only the changes in ingredients.   The batch I made today, I made a few additional modifications.  I took the recipe down to 1/3 so that I would get just 12 mini-muffins so he will have fresh ones every few days.  I could also simply freeze some and thaw as needed but this recipe is so super easy, and he has so few foods right now- I'm ok with just making a smaller batch and making it every few days. 

I was making peach dots....

Peaches were a pass a few months ago....just in time for them to be leaving the stores as their season closed out!!!  So, I had some in the freezer (cooked, purred and portioned out in ice cube trays and piped out in "dots").   Little Man used to look forward to his "dots"; but we have run out.  The only way he will eat the ice cube trays is in a mesh feeder but he has lost some interest in that now too.   I found a baby food brand that does their peaches with no other additives. No citric acid, no ascorbic acid -- so no corn.   Plum Organics, ordered online and received the shipment this weekend.  Little Man squealed with delight when the box came in the door- as if he knew it was ALL for him!   I immediately let him open one of the pouches and play with it...he didn't like it.   I piped it out and froze it- hoping he would accept his familiar dots.  He was excited when he saw them but one taste brought on gagging.  I tried it a few more times, same results.   I think since I had to add water to cook and puree the peaches I had done, they weren't as strong tasting as this was and since he is not accustomed to strong tastes (his formula is bland) and 4 weeks of no new tastes; we're going to have to build back up to that one.   So, tonight- I thought I would cook the Plum Organics Peaches with some water and pipe them out for his "dots".  This made soup, so I had the idea to add my ever trusty Arrowroot (I heart Arrowroot!) and this worked very well.   As I was making this, I was mixing up his new batch of Merry Muffins and thought this peach blend might work well in the muffins- arrowroot will act as a binder, and thickener.  And having it cooked first might help.  Well, my experiment worked!  They are lighter and softer (taste and texture). 

I imagine I will continue to work with this base recipe- variations as we add in safe ingredients.  The BEST part of all is that he EATS it!!  ASKS for his snack, sits with his brothers and proudly eats his safe snack, sits by himself and eats his snack, licks up the crumbs....he has been eating at least 3 a day.  I calculated out the calories in the batch and then in each muffin and I have made him a 100calorie snack!   Each muffin is 100calories!! And he's licking it up to the crumbs!!   This gives me such hope for future food trials, for future recipes, for adding foods-- adding nutrients to his tiny menu that he will actually eat! 







Just Peachy....

It had been a few days since little man had had anything to trial....well, unless you count the sheet rock or wood he keeps "sneaking".     Last week, I had picked up nectarine's at a local produce store.  I accidentally mixed a peach in with them.   Well, maybe it was Divine Intervention as the nectarine's were not very good once I peeled them and I ended up throwing them away -- the last thing I need is to give him spoiled fruit!  But the peach went into the fridge, maybe I'll eat it one day....

Well, the other night at dinner- he was "crying" for our food once again.  He has done this in stages for the past 8mo....when his gut is inflamed, he doesn't even ask for food.  When he is healing, he begs.   It is enough to break a mother's heart in a million pieces and some days so hard to not just give him SOMETHING!   I caved....I went to the fridge, where I knew the peach was - got a knife and sliced it up for him.  I put it in teeny-tiny pieces (the size of his millet puffs) and he picked it up (although slippery) and ate it!!  He picked up another piece and ate it!!  He tried to eat a bigger piece and gagged on it....but he recovered quickly and went for more.   He wanted to hold the peach, touch all aspects of it. He started to get frustrated that he couldn't pick up the pieces fast enough so I cut up a few more pieces and put it in his mesh feeder.  He is a little old for a mesh feeder and at first didn't know what to do with it but he got it!  He loves peaches!!

That was a big "no-no"- we trialed at night and we let him decide how much he wanted.   But I have been so frustrated with his oral aversions and not wanting to trial, and his most interested times to eat are at dinner -- with the family.  So, as I've done all along with this crazy illness -- I need to let him guide us a bit here.  I've been "throwing" (ok, not quite literally) food at him over the past week- see if I could find something he was interested in, taste and texture.  He tried persimmon, liked exploring this (freeze dried) but it came through whole in his diaper the next day and it is red- so that makes me too nervous right now.  It is in the date family, so it may be too high fructose load for him to tolerate in large enough quantity's for a true trial anyway.  He has tried buckwheat (good flavor if I do say so myself) but spit it out.  He tried spinach- gagged and spit it out.   Mango's, liked those the first day but won't let me come near him (they may have caused a big of a stomach discomfort as they are high in fructose, and his body has a hard time digesting high sugar load foods).  But we have to start somewhere....

So, we've moved on to peaches.  The next morning, I gave him what was left of the feeder (after putting it in the freezer all night)-he carried that around all morning and sucked it dry!  He was so happy with his new treat!!  

The rest of the peach (1/2 of it left), I cooked down and mashed.   Little Man's aunt gave me a great idea to try....put the puree in a piping tool (used for decorating) and pipe little dots out on some freezer paper and freeze his puree- so he could have a pureed finger foods.  So, that is what I did with the rest of the peach.   Last night, while making dinner- I sat him down and gave him his new treat.   He gobbled those up faster than I could finish making dinner!!  Thanks Aunty M!!!!! 

Now, I was out of prepared peaches, but I had just picked up a few dozen more at the store; so I got some and cut it up like the previous night.  He was more interested in the skin!!  He wanted to "chew" on the skin!  We let him explore it a bit, but I had to stop it soon....there is a spray put on most fresh fruits and veggies for preservation and this spray often contains corn byproducts!   So, even if washed- it would be a chance I'm not ready to take yet for him.  But it was really great to see him putting something with so much texture in his mouth.....

So far, so good with peaches....and we celebrate our little victories.   Could it be that we are FINALLY building little man a tiny menu??   Peaches are good source of vitamin A and C -- just what he needs!!  Also, they even have a bit of iron in them.  They would be a perfect addition to his diet.  Now if everything else in Little Man's complex care could be "just peachy", we could celebrate more.   But for now, I must go and prepare/puree/pipe/slice/freeze the rest of those peaches!!