Food Allergy Rant....

As previously posted on my other blog.


Sometimes I wonder (feel sorry for myself) why I had to have kids with so many food allergy issues. But, then I get a reality check. It really could be a LOT worse. I know that there are lots of families suffering with kids a whole lot sicker than mine. And, for the most part, I'm blessed with 3 healthy children.

But, last night was a rough night. And, this is MY blog, so it's going to be a pity party for a minute. We were up all night long with Chandler. And, I'm feeling very defeated. He had just started sleeping through the night. We had 5 glorious days of sleeping through the night. And, you see, we started our egg trial this week with him after we found out his IgE allergy test for eggs came back negative. Although Milk was supposedly positive. (what?) But, you would think good news right for the eggs? But, I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have food allergy issues that are so undefined. That aren't visible by a skin prick test. That are so hard to figure out. Sure, IgE allergies are awful. I know that. But, so is trying to figure out what is making your baby hurt like one huge complicated puzzle when there is no test. There is no simple solution. Lots of times, you just have to go with your gut. And, hope you're right.

But, then you have to defend yourself to judgmental people. Like, people that judge you because your child is still waking up in the middle of the night. When you try to gently remind them (when you really want to scream at them) that your child is different. He isn't on normal formula, he doesn't get that many calories during the day because he can't eat anything he wants like a normal 1 year old. You know they are rolling their eyes at what you're saying, so then you feel alone. Like no one gets it.

I was so hopeful that at 1 year we could just introduce milk, get him off this expensive formula, and all would be right with the world. Instead, he is IgE to milk (although not very severe). Eggs are obviously giving him issues (he is waking up screaming from a sound sleep again....feels all too familiar. Not wanting to eat foods he loves. Refluxing after MONTHS of not doing any of these things), and I have a sinking feeling in my gut that the GI is our next stop.

So, just try and be understanding. Don't tell me what I should be doing to let my baby cry it out, or stop giving him a bottle in the middle of the night. Because what you're saying basically is that it's all my fault. That if I want to get up with a baby in the middle of the night then it's my problem.

Well, it IS my problem. But, let me ask you this. If your child was sick with a fever, would you be taking care of him in the middle of the night? What if he had a horrible cold and just wanted to be held? You would probably do that too. Well, my baby has issues of his own. Food. Normal food that YOUR baby can eat, my baby can't. Because it makes him miserable. And you better believe that if he is feeling miserable in the middle of the night and all he wants is his momma and a bottle, then I am going to help him feel better. Even if it means sacrificing my own sleep. My own sanity. Even if it means he doesn't sleep through the night until he's 18 months old. Ah hum. Yes, I'm talking about you, Kyle.

OK, off my soap box for now.

Letting Go of Breastfeeding

I wrote a blog post over here about my decision to finally give up breastfeeding. My baby is so super  happy, and after many tears, so am I. Our next step will be trialing solids. But, for now, I'm enjoying a happy, healthy baby who is catching up on his sleep and his weight. :)

FPIES Baby #2?

I kind of thought I was done with this blog. But, I'm afraid to say I've been getting this nagging feeling to come back and document what I've been going through with my new little guy.

On December 7, 2012, I had my second sweet baby boy. Making me a proud mama of 3 kids. My FPIES baby is now 3 years old, and completely FPIES free. Although, he definitely has a sensitive tummy still. So, FPIES has kind of been a distant memory for me for the past year. I didn't worry about it that much.

Now that I have another baby things have seemed all too familiar. Chandler is now 4 months old, but these 4 months have been so incredibly difficult. When he was just a couple of weeks old, I started noticing the same issues I had with Kyle. Mucousy stool. Occasional blood. I was in denial. I wanted to pretend it wasn't there, because I knew that I would probably have to cut out dairy and soy all over again. When I went to his 2 month well visit (yes, I put it off that long), I begged the pediatrician to tell me it was something OTHER than a food intolerance. But, I'm sure you already know what he said. Cut out dairy and soy. So, I did. In addition to the yucky stool, we were dealing with Colic this time around and acid reflux. So, my little guy was a mess. I cut out dairy and soy and did not see improvement. Called my pediatrician and he suggested to cut out nuts, eggs, and corn. I also decided on my own to cut out chocolate (because I love it and eat a lot of it). The good news was that the reflux seemed to get better. But, the stool has never really improved.

Over the past four months, the sleep deprivation and fussiness have been the hardest. I wouldn't worry so much if it was just the yucky stool, but to have all the symptoms combined have been hard. Especially when trying to take care of 3 kids now.

The good news is that I have pinpointed that eggs are for sure a reactor food for my little guy. The week I tried to add them back into my diet, we had severe reflux and night wakings again. But, even with everything else I've cut out, I tested his stool for blood today (thanks to another fellow FPIES mommy who had access to medical test strips) and it tested positive. So discouraging.

A couple of weeks ago, through a lot of prayer, and thought, I made the decision that it might be time to think about giving up breastfeeding for the sake of my sanity and our family. Worrying about all of this for a second time has taken its toll on me. I feel like I am not being the best Mom I can be to my kids with all the stress of this. My hope was that if I could get him on a formula that he could tolerate and gain weight on, then I might have some of the stress lifted from me with all the constant worrying about what I'm eating him that's hurting him. I felt a sense of peace with that decision, which surprised me because I am so PRO breastfeeding and did it so long with Kyle.

But, the bad news is that I have had no success switching him to formula. The two kinds (Nutramigen and Elecare) I've tried he hates. He screams his head off, arches his back, and when he sees that bottle coming (or smells it...this stuff smells nasty) he is instantly mad. He has barely ingested a drop of either one.

So, what's a Mom to do? I go back and forth. The time is going by quickly. Some days, I think, I can do this another 8 months. But, I worry too. He is my smallest baby by far, and to think that I'm still eating something everyday that might be hurting him is hard for me. But, my pediatrician seems to think that I shouldn't worry too much about it. Yet, he is supportive either way.

Chandler seems much happier than in those first couple of months. He smiles at everyone and it makes my day to see this kid smile. He seems generally happy, too. Yet, he doesn't sleep good, and lately, I swear he doesn't seem interested in breastfeeding all that much.

I have his 4 month well visit this week. We will see what the doc says. I dread when we introduce solids with this kid. I'm going to be a wreck.

Oh Happy Day!!!

I've been meaning to update this blog forever. Life marches on. I'm expecting baby #3, and have been thinking a lot lately of my experiences with my little FPIES baby. Oh how I hope that nothing like that happens again, but if it does, I know how to handle it, and I'm grateful for everything I learned!

From time to time I get contacted by another FPIES mommy. I did today. I love responding to those emails because someone did it for me when I was in the thick of it. It's nice for Moms to share knowledge too that sometimes eludes the doctors!

Kyle is doing fantastic. He is 2 1/2 and is such a fun little guy. We have trialed both rice and oats at separate times, of course, and we made the decision to do it at home since his reactions were never life threatening in the past. It took a while for us to get there, but he has passed both, and is symptom free!! Hallelujah right?

I will say that I do believe these children have sensitive stomachs. I'm afraid he always will. I still inspect poop when it is yucky, and it frequently is. We still give probiotics to him on a regular basis. He has diarrhea more often than most kids, but he eats anything and everything he wants. Every once in a while when we are out to eat, I think to myself, "Thank goodness we can order..whatever and I don't have to ask any questions".

I am looking forward to having another baby around Thanksgiving time, and it's another boy. I worry about all this food intolerance stuff. I think, "could I go through all of this again?" and the answer is Yes. But, do I want to? No. But, thank goodness I've been there, done that, so to speak, and know that I could tackle it again if necessary. Let's just hope it won't be.

Please keep emails coming. I love hearing from anyone going through this. And, just know, it won't last forever. That's the positive part about living with FPIES.

It's been a while....

If anyone is still reading, I'm still around.

I don't frequent the FPIES babycenter board anymore, but FPIES is still a part of our lives. I hope that very soon it won't be.

My son turned two last month. We decided to trial oats at home. We got to day two with no problems, and then BAM! a double ear infection.

Remember my experience with trialing milk the first time? What are the odds he'd get sick again with something on the same week of the trial, again!?

So, the good news is that he has most likely outgrown oats because there were no signs at all of GI issues. YAY! But, we have to re-do the trial. Probably starting next week. We want to trial it for 2 weeks before calling it safe since this was one of his trigger foods! Once he passes that, we'll probably wait a couple of months more, and trial rice once it has been 18 months since his last reaction with it.

So, wish us luck! I feel like this journey is finally ending. So hang in there to all of you that can't feel that way just yet.

Oh, and another great development-He has a veggie he loves and eats! Green Beans!! :)

LIfe with FPIES gets easier.

Kyle is now 18 months old, and we are in a whole new world with him lately.

Sometimes I think to myself, did I make it all up? Was he really THAT sick? But, luckily, I have this blog to remind me.

However, I don't know how much I'll be blogging these days about FPIES anyway. Our lives have changed a lot with Kyle.

He drinks milk, and can eat soy. Those two things alone have opened up a lot of doors.

We started trialing chicken this week at home, and no reactions whatsoever.

In fact, we don't really "trial" anymore. My husband and I came to a decision a few weeks ago that we were going to go ahead with pretty much every food but rice and oats. However, we had a slip up the other day where he accidentally ate some oats, and again...nothing. So I'm wondering if he is already outgrowing FPIES. I hope so. However, we will do an "official" trial of those two foods...rice and oats when the time comes (18 months after his last reaction, which was when he was 9 months old). He did only have one bite of the oatmeal, yet I went semi crazy for a few moments. I started crying, imagining the worst, and when nothing happened, I thought, "did I make this whole thing up?"

But, I know I didn't. I remember. It used to be so hard. I cried often. Almost daily some days. From the lack of sleep, from the constant vomiting, from the worry of not knowing what the heck was going on, and why my baby couldn't even swallow the simplest food.

But, there is hope for all you Moms out there that are in the thick of it. Lots of hope. I have nieces who will never outgrow their food allergies, and most of our kids will. That's amazing. And, in just a few months, you may look back like me, and think, did that all really happen?

I know though that there are more severe cases than ours. We had a pretty mild case it seems. But, it's difficult no matter what. When you want to feed your baby. You want to do the simplest thing....feed. your. baby. And it is the biggest obstacle.

Kyle jumped on the charts at his last well visit. He is growing fast now that he can eat more foods. He seems to be a whole new kid. So, no matter what stage you're in. It will get easier. That is one thing that we have to hold onto as Moms of FPIES kids.

I would love to answer questions from any of you readers...please email me. Luckily, I won't be blogging as often anymore. And, as much as I've enjoyed it, I'm grateful for that.

Flashback

I had a flashback a couple of nights ago to the FPIES days.

We are getting way more relaxed about the foods we give Kyle now that he has passed dairy and soy. So, we were eating some nachos the other night, and my husband gave him a bite. I kind of gave him the "I don't think you should be doing that" eye and he still went for it. On the chip was a tomato, a black bean, and some cheese, of course.

That night Kyle would not settle to go to sleep. Then about 10:30 pm he woke up screaming for a good half hour. He was arching his back, not wanting to be held, but not wanting to be put down. My husband turned to me and said, "I've never seen him like this" I responded...YES YOU HAVE! Remember??? That night a few months ago we gave him one single pea at dinner? And then later, when we weren't in the thick of it, I reminded him of our previous FPIES days where he was always restless at night, with some sort of tummy ache.

We've been doing so good, that I think we had forgotten that there is anything "wrong" with him.

I am still puzzled as to what it was. I grilled my husband afterward...."do you know exactly what was swallowed?" "did he swallow a tomato, a black bean, what????"

That is the frustrating part to me, the not knowing. If you don't do one ingredient at a time, and then something DOES go wrong, you'll never know really.

All that happened was basically a lot of gasiness, and then he finally settled back down to sleep. I'm wondering if he just experienced his first episode of gas from a good old gas producing food like beans, or if maybe he has a problem with them?

As far as the soy, we are saying he passed, but we didn't do the greatest challenge known to man. We got him to ingest maybe 1 oz. per day for a week of soy milk (which he did not care for), so we are calling it good for now. That might be a little dangerous, but I honestly feel it is going to be OK. Now, we just need to give him some other things that have soy protein as an ingredient. But, I think we are in the clear.

He seems totally fine now.

Moving On....

My life has been crazy hectic lately. I've neglected the internet, and I actually didn't miss it too much, but I do feel strongly about this blog and keeping it updated to help other Moms out there.

Kyle is doing GREAT! We successfully passed milk the second time. He now has all organic, whole milk in his bottles. This makes me happy, and will hopefully ease the financial strain a little from all that formula! He likes cheese (sort of) and does not like yogurt. My daughter used to DEVOUR the YoBaby stuff, but he won't touch it. Still trying.....

Now, we feel a lot more comfortable with things. We've been re-introducing things he had in the past that we thought were problem foods (not a full blown FPIES reaction, but other weird things going on) and he's been doing fine with those too. Like green beans, for example.

This week we are trialing Soy Protein. I will be glad if he passes this one. We are going to do it the same way we did milk, just a little everyday for a week. We are going to use soy milk to trial. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm starting to feel like we should just go full steam ahead with everything but rice and oats, but I also don't want to jinx things. It's a constant argument in our house about when/how long, etc. to introduce things. I'm always erring on the side of caution, and my husband always wants to just go for it!

I'll be back in a week and let you know how it goes!

Milk trial #2

We have started milk again this week after our two week break, per the allergist's suggestion.

So far, no problems. I am going a lot slower. 4 oz. of milk per day for a week before we move on to cheese, yogurt, etc. But, he's doing great!

I got a stomach bug about 5 days after K was vomiting, so I'm pretty sure that it was NOT a delayed FPIES reaction, and simply bad timing. Really bad timing.

So, hopefully I will be reporting no reactions in another few days and I can give this baby some yogurt and cheese again.

Update and Article

Kyle seems to be doing better today. Although, he is still not really eating anything. Poor baby. I hate this.
I talked to his allergist today who was out of the office. He said to wait 2 weeks to give him dairy again, but to call him first so we can talk about it. He also feels it's probably a stomach bug because he was running a fever. I guess I can live with waiting two more weeks, but I can't help but get nervous about more vomiting again!
I think this next time I give him dairy, I'm going to do it in a more controlled way. Like, trying to get Kyle to drink x number of ounces of just whole milk for a week before we call it "safe". I don't believe giving him as much as he wanted was the right way to go. Hopefully if I control the amount a little bit more, and he's still doing good after a week, then maybe we can go on and introduce something else like cheese, or yogurt.
Anyway, I hope this link will work, here's another article that discusses non IgE allergies. Not a ton of new information here, but it at least calls for an awakening amongst doctors to recognize this, trust Moms that they know what they're talking about, and says insurance companies need to start paying for the formula for these little ones. Amen.
Go here to find the article.

Possible Reaction?

I'm really TRYING to remain positive and calm, but I'm really stressed too.

As you know, we trialed Dairy for the first time in the hospital on Tuesday (the 18th). DS only had 50 ml of whole milk that day. We stuck around for 6 hours and nothing happened. When we left, I asked the allergist...so what now? How do we proceed? He said, "Give him as much as he wants starting tomorrow" I responded, "Really? As much as he wants?" And he said, yes.

So, although I had my doubts, we started to offer him more dairy the next day. He had a string cheese....still nothing. Then, some milk in his bottle instead of formula, nothing. So, the next day, we tried yogurt. Still doing great. No signs of fussiness, loose stool, or not sleeping well. He was doing great!

Fast forward to day 5, which was yesterday (Saturday) morning. He was fussy as soon as he woke up, but had slept through the night great. I fed him his normal breakfast of cream of wheat with fruit. Waited about 45 minutes to give him a bottle of milk. He only drank about 4 oz. Still kind of fussy, walked into the other room, and projectile vomited all over the floor!!! I immediately thought, crap. My husband said not to worry, maybe he just ate to much. We cleaned him up, but he was extremely fussy after that. Wanting to be held non-stop, and not a happy guy. About 2 hours later, we decided to try and give him a very light lunch. He ate a little bit of ham and some fruit, but was obviously tired and not wanting to eat. Still fussy. So, we put him down for his nap with his formula. He wouldn't drink it. Then, after being in his crib just a few minutes, he vomited everything up again. Then, he did fine the rest of the day. Still very fussy, but no more vomiting. We obviously stopped all dairy that morning. Then, he ate a TINY bit of dinner, drank his whole bottle at bedtime, and went to bed. When he woke up in the morning, I went to get him and he had vomited in his sleep at some point.

It's the weekend, so I can't talk to the allergist, but I'm hoping this is a stomach bug. However, I just don't think so. My gut tells me it is the milk. I know it seems crazy when it didn't start until day 5, but Kyle's first reaction to rice was similar. Keep us in your prayers, and I'll keep you posted!

Success!

Kyle passed dairy!

I'm a little apprehensive still. The doc gave us the OK on "as much dairy as he wants", but I still feel a reaction could happen. Although, I think it's a slim chance.

Kyle drank 50 ml of whole milk over a one hour period. I convinced the doc that he was OK without an IV. This was a risk I was willing to take because Kyle's FPIES reactions have not been that severe in the past. So, after that, it was just waiting. Lots of waiting.

We stayed in the hospital for 6 LOOOONG hours. But, luckily, we were able to walk around, and that entertained Kyle for most of the day. We ate at the cafeteria for lunch, and he even took an hour and a half nap in the office in his stroller.

We got the OK to trial soy and chicken at home....I feel good about that with the way this trial went. I think it's a little overkill to do it in the office every time. Some kids with more severe reactions need it. And, we will do rice/oats in the office when that time comes after Kyle is 2. I think with milk, it was good to do in the office too since we had no idea what the reaction would be.

Kyle's reaction to rice took several days before vomiting started. I don't think that will be the case with milk, but I'm still going to go slow.

However, I gave him a string cheese for lunch. He gobbled it right up! He loved it!!

We are happy. Yogurt, cheese, and milk...here we come! :)

Milk Challenge Tomorrow

Oh my gosh.

I am so scared for tomorrow.

We are FINALLY doing a milk challenge for Kyle. My sweet baby boy.

Lately, he's been doing so good, we've been giving him lots of new foods, but to get the OK on dairy products would be....well, just amazing!

I am scared of them putting an IV in him, I'm scared that he won't pass the challenge which would be SUPER bad news, and I'm scared of being alone in a doctor's office for 6 hours trying to entertain a 16 month old.

I cannot wait though to give him his first taste of cheese, yogurt and milk. All things which children should not be deprived of!

I am excited for the prospect of no more formula. At $21/can that lasts about 3 days, it's time to get on with it.

I don't know how I'm going to handle it if he doesn't pass though. Please pray for us. This is a big deal for our little family.

It's a MYSTERY

Sometimes I feel like a first time Mom all over again with this little, FPIES child of mine. It can be so frustrating.
He is getting bad diaper rash, and mucousy diarrhea again. I think it could be strawberries? But, who really knows. I mean, he eats so many foods now that I just can't pin point it. I try to take things slow and as my previous post mentions, sometimes we don't. But, they start to make such great improvements and then you just go full speed ahead.
Today, he did not really want breakfast or lunch, but then for dinner, he ate this GIGANTIC feast. I swear he ate as much as I did! I am perplexed by these diapers though. I really can't figure them out. Maybe it's the strawberries, maybe not. I'm just tired. Is that bad to say?
I'm tired of studying poo, I'm tired of worrying, I'm tired of my baby boy pointing to the milk carton and whining, and I'm tired of denying him from everything.
It's funny how we have good days and bad huh? Compared to my post a couple of days ago, you'd probably think I was writing about two different kids. But, I'm not.
I'm just writing about one kid that I just can't figure out.
FPIES sucks.
I'm not chickening out of the dairy trial. Nothing is going to stop me from doing it this time!

New Foods Galore

I scheduled a dairy trial for May 18th.

I am sooo excited.
I'm to that point where I almost don't know what to do with his food until we pass milk.
I'm so hopeful, and yet so scared of being disappointed. My gut tells me I won't be. That he will pass dairy, and we will blissfully move on to eating cheese, milk, yogurt, etc. and we can stop buying that nasty formula!! Although, he seems to like it OK. I can't stand the smell of it.
Anyway, Kyle has been doing great lately, and we've been kind of crazy with giving him foods. We give him pretty much any fruits now, and don't even bother trialing them. I hope we don't regret that. He has just never reacted to a fruit, so we keep going with that.
Today I gave him Craisins. He didn't go for those.
Oh, and the ham went great! Although, he only liked the organic from Whole Foods. Go figure?
Also, I gave him a ritz cracker today. This will be the first time he has eaten a significant amount of something with soy oil in it. So, I'm not too worried, but I hope it's OK.
Anyway....I'll keep you posted. We're doing good so far.

Plus, he had his 15 month well visit. He is still about 50% for height and weight. So, that is great! Sometimes it doesn't even feel like he is sick. I hope that continues.

Easter Ham

OK, so we decided to get brave and trial a meat. Whew. I was scared. But, my baby boy (who is not really looking much like a baby anymore) tried ham for the first time on Sunday. No reaction....we are still doing good today. No reaction after lunch either where he gobbled that ham right up. Things are looking good!!
I'll keep you posted.

Taking a little break...

Please don't leave me!! I love that I have a few followers now. :)

We may not have the internet for the next couple of weeks while we are moving to our new place! YAY! Finally moving out of the in-laws and into a place of our own. It's only been about 4 months, but it always seems like FOREVER when you are living with someone else. No matter how great they might be.

Plus, it seems like we've had some snags since we've been here. Some of which I think are because Kyle is so into everything, and it's harder to control your environment when you are living in someone else's environment!

Anyway, we will be in our new place by April 15th.

On a good note, Kyle was "fired" by the speech pathologist this week. This is GREAT news. It means that he is not showing any delay in his motor skills when it comes to eating. What a difference just a month or two makes, and one or two new safe foods. We have seen drastic improvements in him since introducing wheat and eggs. But, as my previous post mentioned, I'm still unsure what to do next. I know there are some good mamas out there that have good advice.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. He seems more and more "normal" every day. I just have to get up the courage to get him caught up on his immunizations this coming month, and get even MORE courage to trial milk. Oh how I dread that. Seriously. But, if that door gets opened, I will be jumping up and down for joy!!!

Please keep checking back. I may or may not post the next two weeks....but, if I don't, you know where I am.

What next?

I feel like I'm at a standstill. I don't know where to go from here. Kyle seems to be doing good on corn, wheat, and eggs, but we need to trial something else this week. I need to see a nutritionist, I need to get him to learn how to use a sippy cup, and I probably need to move him to a toddler formula. *sigh*

I just don't know where to go next? I don't know what food to try next??? I got a little spooked by his bloody stool episode, so, now I've just been sticking with the staples. Wheat, corn, eggs, fruit.

I think I might try a bean next. Any suggestions?

Am I a Vegan?

NO WAY! But, I just might eat like one. It's weird, I thought when I got back on Dairy that I would go crazy eating cheese, and more cheese, and more cheese along with yogurt and ice cream.

It's only been a week and a half, but still....things are weird.

When I go to the grocery store, I still stick with all my dairy free stuff. I have eaten vanilla yogurt and cheddar cheese and didn't care for either. Weird.

I also have not had ice cream. I don't want it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure I still like that, but I don't crave it, and I don't want it after every meal.

I have enjoyed eating nutella again. YUMMY! And, having the flexibility to eat whatever I want at a restaurant, but it has made me realize something.

Dairy is addictive.

If you read some info. on Dairy and I would suggest this book:

You find that dairy is not the most wonderful thing in the world that we think it is. At least, not in the form we typically eat it here in the US.

This book is great because it not only is a cookbook with great recipes in it, but it also is basically a resource book on everything dairy, and everything about how to live dairy free. I love it.

Going dairy/soy free has also changed the way my family eats...in a good way. We cook more, and we eat less fat. And, I'm not craving pizza. Seriously.

In fact, I recently ordered this book (still haven't received it yet) off of Amazon that I'm really excited about....a VEGAN cookbook. Crazy. A year ago, I never would have entertained the thought.

I don't plan on becoming Vegan or Vegetarian, but my eyes have been opened and I'm going to stick with some of the changes I've made. No more cheese addiction for me. If you're just starting out with eliminating dairy...trust me, it does get easier. I did it for a year. I know.

Visit me at my other blog where you will find vegetarian cuisine and some dairy free recipes: The Cheating Vegetarian

Cross-Contamination

I haven't really worried about this issue too much since FPIES is not an anaphylactic IgE allergy, but now, I'm wondering. In my previous post, I posted about the fact that my son had bloody, mucousy stool again....out of the blue.

So, now that it is cleared up, and the episode seems to be over...why can't I let go? I can't. I hate the unknown. I'm that way in any aspect of my life, and I want to know what caused it!!

Lately, he's been eating a lot of Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat Bread. Love that stuff. So good. Supposedly there are only 5 ingredients. I called my local store and spoke with the manager. He said there are no hidden ingredients, but there is a risk for cross-contamination with oats. Hmmm....so could that be it? I don't know??

I had another FPIES Mom tell me that if it doesn't hit her baby's stomach, then she didn't worry about it too much. Like, if your child picks up an M&M off the floor and pops it into his mouth, but then you get it in time...no harm done. Well, what if it is contaminated (only slightly) before it ever gets to you?

Oats are one of his major triggers. He vomited the very first time he ever ingested them. With rice, it took a little longer for the protein to build up.

It's so frustrating not having answers. What do you think? Does Cross-Contamination matter?