The "Diet"

In her first few months of life, Anna would regularly scream and cry in pain. It seemed to be at random times and was always very distressing for her- poor thing. She would also squirm around all night and have other symptoms like eczema, rash on her bottom, etc. We wrote it off to typical baby GI discomfort and some reflux.

It wasn't until recently when congestion and eczema on her face remained for over a month that we started to suspect food allergies/food intolerances. Considering that all of Ben's siblings have some form of food allergy- mainly severe nut allergies- and had lots of food intolerances as children, we should have figured it out earlier. My former boss had recommended going on the elimination diet beginning when she was born, but I thought it was totally unnecessary. I now wish I had listened to her. The first thing I did was cut out peanut butter after Anna had some scary breathing episode, which may or may not have been from the food, but it freaked me out enough to drop it quickly (why did I eat peanut butter to begin with? I should have been smarter). Then I cut out dairy and the congestion and eczema went away. Let me tell you how difficult a life without dairy is. It is my number one, all-time favorite food group- cereal with milk, ice cream, CHEESE!


Cutting out dairy still wasn't enough. We noticed Anna would continue to get very upset, though less often. Because food can take anywhere from 6 to 48 hours to get into your milk (or something like that), it's very difficult to know which foods are actually the culprit by the time in affects the infant. After a few weeks of frustration, I realized I had to go back to the basics if I wanted to make any real headway. So I started what I am calling "the diet". I'm only eating things that I know Anna is NOT allergic to- mainly the most non-allergic foods out there, as well as some others I know she's done well with. My diet consists only of the following foods right now:

Oatmeal
Avocado
Beans
Rice
Corn
Turkey
Lamb
Squash and zucchini
Pears
Mushrooms
Bananas
blackberry jam
bagels and multigrain bread
Pork
Potatoes
Green pepper


I'm adding in one food every 3 days to see how she reacts. This is painstakingly tedious... especially for someone who likes instant results. I tried adding a few foods in at one time on Monday (mango, apple, and cucumber) because I thought they were not likely to elicit a reaction. Sure enough, she reacted to something, and now I don't know which of the 3 it was. I feel like I wasted 3 precious days!

Did you know some of the most common allergies for infants/children are: citrus fruits, tomatoes, wheat, eggs, chocolate, peanuts and nuts, soy, fish, strawberries, and cow's milk? I have already realized Anna is sensitive to/intolerant of: milk/dairy, chocolate (boo), peanuts, nuts, possibly chicken, and raspberries. Yes, raspberries- who would have known? I bought some raspberry sorbet as a replacement to my poor ice cream ritual and Anna was up screaming the next night. She refused to nurse. I couldn't think of what on earth it was (raspberries just didn't come to my mind as a possibility). Then I remembered one day in Athens when Anna was the same way- screaming for hours- while we were visiting Fernando's. I had eaten a pint of raspberries the day before. This was somewhat easy to figure out because I rarely eat raspberries.

All that said, it is quite difficult to stay off of so many foods. Almost all processed foods have milk or soy (thankfully she is fine with wheat or I would really be in trouble). We don't each much processed foods anyway, but it's still difficult to find some staples. Food tastes bland. I often find that I can have one food but nothing to go with it (like a bagel with no butter or cream cheese, a potato with no butter or sour cream, a salad with no dressing). But on the bright side, I have been introduced to lamb which I really like, and I'm learning not to find comfort in food like I used to. It almost feels like a purifying experience- a healthy dose of self-discipline. I'm basically just eating to get my nutrition and fill up, and learning to find contentment in that. While at times it seems so frustrating (turning down meal invites or having to eat at home before I go while practically drooling over someone's plate), there are so many people in the world who live off of 2 to 5 foods their entire life. Still, I would be lying if I didn't admit that I miss my cheese, chocolate, and peanut butter a lot :)

I was getting annoyed trying to find meals to make that didn't involve some of the ingredients I can't eat. So, with Ben's blessing, I picked 6 meals that fit the bill and I'm making only those for now. Yes, we are eating the same 6 meals each week. It was really the only way to make it work for us right now. At least grocery shopping is easier. Here's the menu:

Monday- Lamb kebabs with green pepper and squash, white rice
Tuesday- Zucchini and potato hash with egg
Wednesday- Beans and rice, corn
Thursday- lamb chops, Lima beans, white rice
Friday- Lentil salad, avocado, banana
Saturday- turkey thighs, zucchini or squash, rice
Sunday- pork chops with avocado and black eyed peas, sweet potato

Breakfast consists of toast with avocado and banana, lunch is leftovers, and snacks are dry rice cereal, plain bagels, toast with blackberry jam, and bananas. It gets old after a while.

Hopefully she will grow out of the intolerances. It can happen anywhere from 6 months to 12+ months. All that said, breastfeeding has been a challenge for this and many other reasons. I'm not sure if Anna will continue to nurse well enough for us to stay with it, but I will keep it up as long as she wants (she's already had episodes of trying to 'wean early'- I won't go into the details of some of the additional reasons for you male readers out there :). Even though it's a major drag sometimes, it's worth it to see her happy and no longer in pain... and I know that she's still getting the best form of nutrition.