Ice Cream

With a week of milk under our belts, I thought it would be alright if Claire took part in our after dinner treat.  The coldness of the ice cream caught her off guard, but otherwise, I think she's an ice cream fan.  I can't stop marveling all the deliciousness that she now has at her fingertips  :)

Trying

This whole milk thing has made for a trying experience... Mostly because I know what hangs in the balance--DAIRY FOR ALL!!! Clairey was disgusted by her 3 ounce bottle of milk this morning. I tried warming it up a little, and that wasn't the trick. Then I mixed it with breast milk (50-50) and she still wanted nothing to do with it. I couldn't figure out why her taste buds could handle all the asparagus she scarfed last night and reject a little cow's milk... At wits end, I put her bottle in her car seat with her and headed out on errands. Apparently, if she gets thirsty enough, Claire will drink anything :)

Got Milk?

I got milk. It felt weird to put organic whole milk in the shopping cart this week (next to Andy's 2%, JP's skim, and my almond milk). As I walked through Kroger, it dawned on me that it isn't my fear of Clairey's reaction to milk that's holding me back (although that's a big concern)... I'm in complete denial that she's actually OLD enough to try drinking cow's milk. Where has the last eleven and a half months gone? I've been so wrapped up in counting the days between food trials that I've failed to change the months on the calendar. She might be my baby, but that won't stop her from moving on to bigger things...


Yesterday I gave her 1/2 ounce of milk and today I gave her 1 1/2 ounces. Tomorrow we'll do 3 ounces, then 6, then two servings of 6, then three servings of 6. By the end of this week, she could be a dairy queen... That is, if I find the perfect way to serve it to her. I'm hoping she's a temperature snob, because she definitely wasn't digging her cold bottle of milk today. Regardless of the faces she makes or how far she chucks her bottle, her body seems to be embracing her new beverage :)

Mommy Gatekeeper

It's funny how drastically different two medical opinions can be.  Yesterday, I called the allergists office first, spoke with a nurse (I think...), who told me to stop giving her beans immediately, watch her respiration, give her an antihistamine, and take her to the ER if I notice anything alarming.  Immediately afterwards, I called my pediatrician's office, who told me that it was most likely a form of heat rash.  Since Claire wasn't having any GI troubles and her body was exposed to more heat, sunblock and sweat than usual, they felt confident that I should continue to feed her beans.  I guess this is a perfect example of Mommy Gatekeeper... It was my call (that's a lot of responsibility for the person who initially blamed FPIES for a bladder infection and now heat rash).  I sided with the pediatrician on this one.  So, I've been keeping her indoors, in airy clothing and free from any topical moisturizers-- and we've been chowing down on beans! 

Rethinking Beans

We just wrapped up the fifth morning of our bean trial.  All in all, Claire is happy, no vomiting, loose stools, or visible signs of discomfort.  I'm starting to question a suspicious rash that is appearing all over her body though.  At first I thought it might be a reaction to sunblock, something we've been slathering on a lot these summer days, but now I'm not so sure.  The rash (little red dots, spaced out all over her body and found more densely on her tummy) is located in regions that sunblock is not.  Her skin is striking an unsettling resemblance to that of days gone by.  Hmmm....

Breakfast of Champions

PANCAKES!

Budding Garden

Our garden is growing!! I swear, all it takes is a good rain and the plants are inches taller by the next day.  Nature is miraculous!  If the rest of our crops turn out as tasty as the spinach and lettuce then we're in for a treat of a summer :)

Creamed Wheat

We completely PASSED WHEAT! For breakfast, Claire has been eating banana muffins that I concocted with whole wheat flour, extra bananas in place of eggs and applesauce instead of butter. She gobbles up the gooey-ness :)   I can hardly wait to pull out my waffle iron... What's more, in just about a month,  she's going to dig into her very own smash cake at her first birthday party.  Watching Claire eat her cake will mean so much more than cake-in-the-face entertainment...

I can't believe how well her body has responded to everything I've spooned into her mouth over the last four months.  I'm hoping that the same goes for what I'm about to put into her bottle... Milk. Real cow's milk.

I've been thinking a lot about weaning Claire and it's just about time for us both.  She hasn't had a drop of anything but the good stuff since her reaction to regular formula in November.  So, I mixed up a bottle of uber-safe formula, Alimentum, last week to give it a shot.  Based on the fact that she nearly gagged and then threw her bottle, I think her answer is a resounding, "Hell no!".   I started to panic a bit, since that was my only known back up plan.  Then I talked to my pediatrician who told me to go ahead and try cow's milk.  We discussed a plan to start small and rapidly increase the serving size each day.  By the end of a week, she should be taking three six-ounce servings.  I'm a little in shock and a lot relieved.  Both our pediatrician and allergist agree that Claire should outgrow her intolerance to cow's milk protein (she has an intolerance, NOT FPIES to milk) between 12 and 18 months.  Apparently, we're close enough :)

We have a hefty trip to California planned during the better part of July, so, in order to give us plenty of time to trial while in close proximity to our physicians, we're going to be starting milk in the next week.  As far as I'm aware, the worst that could happen is she's developed an allergy to milk (although all of her previous skin prick tests would say otherwise).  If her intolerance remains, we'll deal with an upset GI system and more blood in the stools, but nothing that would land us in the ER.  If she passes her dairy challenge, she'll be indulging in nutritious and delicious big-kid foods in no time.

We've nailed 17 fruits and vegetables, we've proven corn is no match for us, and we've creamed wheat... Watch out milk, you've got another thing coming...