Monthly Archives: June 2010

Food Allergies: Not Just Peanuts

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You may remember, back in April around Micah’s first birthday, how we had an ugly run-in with a very small amount of peanut butter. I brought it up at his one year appointment and we were referred to an allergist. It took a few months to get an appointment with Dr. Krause, but in my opinion, it was well worth the wait. She is a great doctor. I have to give her kudos for being so patient with my son, who turns into a real tool when you try to listen to his heartbeat or look in his ears. (No offense, Micah.)

Within minutes of ingesting a tiny amount of peanut butter, Micah's face was covered in hives and his nose was running constantly.

The appointment consisted mainly of questions pertaining to all the allergy-related symptoms he’s ever had – and their surrounding circumstances. I listed off the foods he’s eaten (almost everything) and the different kinds of reactions we’ve seen (itchy eyes, itchy nose, runny nose, watery eyes, hives, diarrhea, eczema, etc.) I knew he was allergic to peanuts, and I knew he was allergic to something else as well, but that something else I could not figure out on my own.

Within a few hours, the rest of his body was covered in hives, and he was scratching himself and sobbing miserably until the Benadryl kicked in.

After the interview, we were sent to the lab to get a blood sample for testing. He is not old enough for a skin prick test. The blood draw was awful for us both. I had to hold him down, which was really hard because he is so strong. He sat on my lap and I wrapped my arms and legs around his body. When they brought out the needle, I had to turn my head because I’m terrible with that kind of stuff. I felt him jerk when they inserted the needle, and I squeezed harder so he wouldn’t hurt himself while the needle was in… and then I started crying.

The test that Micah received is called a RAST test. The blood test measures the body’s concentration of antibodies against specific allergens.  The results are then divided into six classes, “1″ being the lowest. (“0″ means antibodies are absent or are undetectable.) A couple days ago, we got the results from the blood work. Ironically, Dr. Krause called me while I was standing in the baking aisle at Walmart, doing my grocery shopping. A few minutes into the call, I realized that nearly everything in my cart, short of produce, was potentially harmful to Micah. I bought it anyway, considering Walmart doesn’t even sell the types of allergy-free foods I need. I planned to feed him whole foods until I could figure out substitutions for the list of things he can’t have.

For peanuts, Micah tested at  57 kU/L, which is on the lower end of class 5 and indicates very high levels of antibodies. He also tested positive for:

  • Beef (Class 1) – He eats beef all the time.
  • Green Peas (Class 2) – Another popular food at our house.
  • Egg White (Class 3) - He used to eat these – then he started refusing them. Perhaps he knew something we didn’t?
  • Milk (Class 2) – Also refuses. Only wants mom’s milk!
  • Soybean (Class 3) – This one surprised me, but may explain the random hives we couldn’t figure out.
  • Sesame Seed (Class 1) - Not aware that he’s even eaten Sesame seeds…
  • Dog (Class 3) - Both of our parents own dogs – which Micah visits every week at least!
  • Goose Feather (Class 1) - Thank goodness we got rid of our pet goose (just kidding.)

His combination of allergies presents quite a few obstacles, therefore we are going to be visiting a pediatric nutritionist this month. One huge positive in all of this is that I am still nursing. (Yay for extended breastfeeding!) If I were not, I’d probably have to go out and get a job just to pay for the extremely expensive toddler formula that Micah would need to keep from becoming malnourished. After all, he can’t receive calcium from milk or any other dairy products like yogurt and cheese.  Without beef, he’d be at risk for an iron deficiency. Soy usually replaces both milk and beef, and he can’t have that either. Anyone who thinks it’s weird that I’m still nursing this kid full time (not exclusively, obviously) when he’s two years old can stick their opinions up their you-know-what, because I’m not paying hundreds for fake milk. :)

Needless to say, I’ve been researching all about ways to prepare certain foods without the offending ingredients. The hardest one to go without may be eggs, since it’s a popular ingredient in many foods like bread or cake.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about allergies since we received Micah’s test results. For example, my husband didn’t understand why it was so important to avoid the Class 1 allergens, especially if the only symptom was sneezing, for example. The answer to that is small children like Micah have a chance to outgrow food allergies, but you reduce those chances by exposure, which can make the allergy worse. You don’t get rid of allergies by exposing yourself to them – you get rid of them by avoiding them altogether. According to the literature that the Allergist gave me, “approximately one-third of children and adults will eventually be free of their allergic reactions to foods after rigorously following appropriate diets free of the offending food allergens.” [Emphasis added]. So… I’m not being fanatical about reading labels because I’m worried about Micah suffering from a full blown, life threatening allergic reaction, even though that is a very real possibility for his peanut allergy. Rather, I’m being so strict because I want Micah to have the best chance of outgrowing these allergies. I don’t want him to go through life reading every label, never getting to eat ice cream or birthday cake at parties, never getting to eat a real cheeseburger, taking his epi-pen to restaurants, or having to bring his own food to every family function to be safe. That is the life that some people live, but I don’t want that for Micah.

The second question is: how do you get allergies? Well, primarily you get them from your parents. But you can also get them from excessive early exposure. With the peanuts, I blame my diet during pregnancy. I was a peanut butter fanatic during my pregnancy and even during my early months as a mom while nursing. I love peanut butter and I ate a lot of it.  It’s very possible that I played a part in Micah developing a severe peanut allergy. I also have allergies myself. I am allergic to penicillin, cats, and dogs to name a few. I am not aware of any food allergies, but then again, there does not go a day when I don’t sneeze excessively or start itching on my hands, ears, eyes or mouth, and I don’t know what caused it. It’s possible I’m suffering needlessly…. maybe some of my symptoms will go away once we eliminate these things from our house and then I’ll know!

We are coping the best we can. Today, I made a batch of wheat crackers from scratch so I could be sure there were no peanuts or soy products in them. They actually turned out great and Micah kept asking for more throughout the day. I also found a recipe for bread that does not include milk or eggs, and I hope to try that soon. We’ll switch up our menu and eat things like turkey burgers (without the cheese) on homemade buns instead of cheeseburgers. I’ll start buying rice milk instead of regular cow’s milk. I’ll also start shopping in the allergy-free aisle at Woodman’s, even though the store is 30 minutes from my house. I want to focus on what he can eat, not what he can’t. There are tons of fruits, vegetables, meats and grains that he can eat. It’s the preparation of these foods we’ll have to change the most.

Laundry Room or Diaper Depot?

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The cloth diaper saga continues…

Recently I transformed my cluttered laundry room into a cloth diaper changing station that makes clean up fast and drama free. I discovered that the top of my dryer is the perfect place to stick a changing mat.  It’s high enough that I dont’ have to bend over at all. My back really appreciates that. The shelf above provides tons of storage space for all my CD supplies. Everything is within reach and I don’t have to lug a heavy diaper pail around the house. Really yucky messes, such as the ones that occur when you make the mistake of letting your baby eat a whole can of mandarin oranges, can go straight from baby’s butt to the washing machine that is just inches away. Hooray!

The only downside to this system so far is that Micah keeps tossing items behind the dryer. I am going to have to somehow block that, perhaps with another shelf!

I made the switch from Econobum to Thirsties Duo Wraps and I really love the new covers. They fit Micah so well and despite the fact he’s been spewing mandarin orange poop all day like molten hot lava, the stinky orange gelatinous mess has been contained. The fleece liners I’m using, which I cut myself from an old purple fleece blanket, have worked wonders when it comes to keeping Mr. Stinky’s butt nice and dry. The diaper rash he developed this past weekend is now gone. I also use California Baby cream on his hiney with each change. If anything, it makes him smell nice and fresh. I also like how easily fleece cleans up. Stuff doesn’t stick to fleece like it does to cotton. For wipes, I cut up an old receiving blanket, and the squares are dampened with warm water. Water cleans up just fine without drying his skin. I love the Imagine prefolds I bought from Nicki’s Diapers. I only need a dozen to wash every other day. I’ve been twisting them for a trimmer fit that doesn’t interfere with Micah being able to run around. The toddler size snappies are a perfect fit as well.

The only other thing I’d like to get is a zippered wet bag, which would be a lot more portable (and smell proof) than the nylon lined trash can I’m using now. I like the ones that hang on the door. I’d probably get two so that one can hang in the bathroom by the toilet.

Aviary

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One of my favorite areas of the zoo is the aviary. My family used to have a Double Yellow-Headed Amazon parrot named Toby when I was a kid. Even though the average life span for a Double Yellow-Headed Amazon is fifty years or more, we lost Toby when she was about 4 or 5 to a tumor. It was really sad because she was part of the family. She would even say “I love you.” The parrots always remind me of her. They have such neat personalities and funny mannerisms. Micah was so fascinated by the birds. He stared in awe the whole time.

Could This Be Our New Tradition?

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Our Zoo trip this morning was so much fun.  There was rain in the forecast, but not a single drop fell until we were packing the stroller back into the car. Talk about perfect timing! As we predicted, Micah was pointing at everything he saw. He loved every minute of it. Lunch was extremely messy, especially considering I forgot to pack a bib, but Micah didn’t mind wearing nothing but a t-shirt and a diaper home. My mom bought him a plush python from the gift shop, which he cuddled with on the way home. I hope that’s the only time I ever see my baby sleeping with a snake, haha. It was so cute…

Last year, I took a picture of Eric and Micah next to this statue, so of course I had to take the same photo again this year for comparison. I should do this every year!

Micah was 4 months old at our last zoo trip.

Now he is 14 months old!

Diaper Update and Other Random Things

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(This is one of those really long update posts that probably only close friends and relatives will appreciate, so please feel free to skip through stuff, I won’t know or mind.)

Yesterday was an adventure. I babysat our friends’ three-year-old daughter during the day. I would like to say that three-year-olds are a lot more work than one-year-olds! She really kept me on my toes. If I lost twenty pounds trying to keep up with a toddler, I can only imagine what a preschooler will do for my figure. Haha! I really enjoyed the way they kept each other entertained. They were chasing each other around and laughing for most of the day. I love that Micah enjoys playing with other kids so much. I want to schedule more play dates for him so he can do that more often.

This morning I took Micah to the allergist to have him tested. They had to do a blood draw which was extremely painful for both baby and mama. I admit: I cried. I don’t know if the nurse saw me, because I turned my head away, but I was really fighting back tears while I struggled to hold Micah still. I HATE it! I don’t even like having my own blood taken. He is so little and he is so scared of strangers to begin with; when they are holding big scary needles, he is just terrified! I know it is a part of life, but I never got used to it until I was pregnant and getting stuck every couple of weeks. I hope to hear the results of the test within the week. There was a lot to test for; it’s possible we will have to go back for an additional blood draw. Ugh!

Tonight was the first time I’ve ever been able to lift Micah out of his car seat and place him in bed without waking him up. He must have been really tired. We just got home from Eric’s softball game. All four teams from our church played each other (only happens once in a season), so we had a church picnic.  The hot dogs were so delicious, I ate two! I changed Micah’s diaper right before we left the park, so when we got home I put him to bed in his clothes. I didn’t have the heart to wake him up by changing him into pajamas. The only thing I’m worried about is that he is wearing just a single cloth diaper. I’m not sure how it will hold up. I might have to sneak in there and change him before I go to bed, otherwise he’ll probably spring a leak! On the otherhand, I didn’t nurse him before bed, so he might be okay!

The cloth diapering is going well. It is definitely a learning process. We are using the Econobum system, and so far I have mixed feelings. Part of me likes it and part of me doesn’t. I think I am going to exchange it and buy a few Thirsties/Thirsties Duo Wraps with snaps instead. We did have a small leak when we got to the park tonight. One of the covers is already a little stained. It looks orange on the inside. The PUL fabric does seem extremely thin and I’m worried about ripping the snaps off when I take off the diaper. The biggest challenge thus far has been figuring out a process that works for me. I have changed the way I fold three times and have tried a number of different ideas for wipes, including soaked wash clothes, which I do like. I have gone back and forth between using snappis and doing the trifold. I have played around with the fit; I think I was putting them on too tight at first. I made some fleece liners out of an old blanket and that really helped keep his skin dry. He developed a diaper rash, which started to clear up as soon as I started adding the fleece liners to each diaper. The fleece wicks the moisture away from the skin, just like a disposable does. Plus, I’m thinking the fleece probably feels like heaven on his skin because it’s so soft.

I’m actually going to drive to Nicki’s Diapers this weekend so I can pick out a replacement system (for covers, anyway) in person. I want to make sure I am happy with the CD system I’m using without spending too much. I don’t need anything super deluxe, but I do want it to work. I also want something that is durable enough to last through a few more kids. I’m not sure the Econobum covers will hold up. They are also not really cut out for covering a traditional prefold. I may need to get a few different things to customize the absorbancy for day/night. I feel like there is so much I still need to learn about cloth diapering. Who knew it could be so complicated and simple at the same time? There is a definitely science behind the modern cloth diaper!

Not only are we going to Nicki’s on Saturday, but we’re planning a zoo trip as well. The zoo in Madison is free and a lot smaller than Milwaukee, which is actually a good thing when you have small children. My sisters are coming, too, so that should be a lot of fun! We took Micah to the zoo last year, but he didn’t really know what was going on. I think he will enjoy it a lot more this time around. I am going to bring my Nikon and I hope to get some really cool pictures of the animals. And the family, too!

Toledo Trip

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Eric and I have a similar history. My mom grew up in Wisconsin, so did his. His dad grew up in Ohio, so did mine. We both grew up traveling to Ohio to visit family. On Monday and Tuesday, I made that familiar trip again with my immediate family (Eric had to work) to see my dad’s sister Jennie who was visiting from Alaska.

I didn’t know what to expect when it came to bringing an energetic toddler on a 6 hour trip. As it turns out, he did just great! With my sister and myself on either side of him, it was easy to keep him entertained throughout the trip. We had plenty of snacks, books and toys to keep him happy.  Plus, we stopped a few times to stretch our legs. Micah enjoyed walking Rocco around the rest area.

The visit itself was a lot of fun. Micah ate too many cheetos. I sang too much karaoke. I enjoyed catching up with some family members that I have not seen in a very long time. It felt weird that Micah was the only kid. All of the grandkids, except for one, are over the age of twenty now. A handful of us are parents. I wonder what it feels like to be on the other end: to have great grandchildren… I hope to find out one day!

We only stayed until the very next morning, and after a breakfast at Bob Evans, we headed back home. We were in the car for a total of about 12 hours in just two days.

The highlight of the trip home, though embarrassing, is just too funny not to mention. We stopped at Chipotle for lunch, and as we were leaving our table on the patio, I heard a big commotion coming from my sister who was carrying Micah.  When I looked over, she was no longer carrying him. He was starting to run away. She was panicking and I thought it was because he escaped, but I soon found out that it had more to do with what had escaped from his diaper. We wrangled in the little guy, and soon we realized what Kelly was so upset about. She held out her arm, and there on her sleeve was a BIG. BROWN. TURD. The mystery was how he managed to poop on her arm without soiling his clothes. Apparently, under pressure, it shot up the back of his diaper and landed on her arm. I was laughing so hard I could barely stand up straight. The clean up process was complicated and extensive. Let’s just say there was no changing table in the Chipotle bathroom, so we had to resort to using the patch of grass near the car. Micah was laughing the whole time. I have a feeling this story will follow him for many years.