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I've been going through old files, photos, posts here and things I've written elsewhere compiling data to color-code charts of Baby E's behavior and symptoms. The key to what the colors and symbols mean is here.

Several people have asked what they can do to help. Here's something people can help with if so inclined.

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The next thing I have to do is go through and get a few details for each date, to flesh out the coding on the calendar. If anyone would like to take a few days or a week's worth of posts to sort through and take notes on, that would be a huge help. I'm trying to get as much of this done as possible before E's pediatrician appointment Monday, but I'll still be working on it after that.

I need information about what Baby E and I have eaten, as well as any specifics about bowel movements, rashes or other specific symptoms she experiences. If she has a screaming and flailing spell, or is awake for 4 hours in the middle of the night, that's the type of thing I need to know.

Information about any unusual activities or places we went might be useful, too. Whether we went to church or stayed home on a given Sunday might make a difference. Any illnesses should be noted if mentioned.



Basically, I just need anything in the post that's a specific detail the doctor might want to know to flesh out the chart.

When the doctor looks at the chart above and wonders what variables might coincide with the color-coding, he'll probably have specific questions.

For example, he might want to know what time a particular bout of diarrhea took place or whether a screaming episode happened before or after she ate a specific food. I need specific brand names and ingredients of food wherever it's mentioned, to help track down possible reactions.

I'm trying to make it concise enough to be quick and easy to use; no long paragraphs of description of the day's activities or other extraneous information.

For instance, from this post here's the information I gathered (copying and pasting as much as possible to save on typing):

Tuesday, September 26, 2006 (you'll want to make sure the post isn't really about the previous day and is marked Tuesday instead of Monday just because it was written after midnight).

Saw Dr. B 7pm

Checked ears, head, throat etc. Cutting molars. No other problems noted; probable allergy issues?

Now, we're going to have data on several dates in this post. That data will go under the correct dates.

So it will look similar to this:

Sunday, Sept 24, 2006

Reaction started during dinner. Sunday night's dinner nightshades. (You'll possibly be able to fill in more details from Sunday's post later.)

Monday, Sept 25, 2006

Better by breakfast, then fussy off and on during the day. In afternoon she was fine, then in the evening after dinner she got fussy again, especially after her before-bedtime snack.

Ate Nature Bake bread (possible yeast grown on corn?), few bites of sweet potato and chicken dinner by Earth's Best (possible corn cross-contamination?)

Tuesday, Sept 26, 2006

Fine when she woke up this morning. Shortly after breakfast, she got really grumpy and fussy. A few hours later, she was in a great mood. Then we had lunch, and she got whiny again. Just before her nap I fed her a snack, and during the snack she started refusing the food and acting really miserable again. That's when she was so tired and yet the pain was waking her up. It took several hours before she started smiling again after that.

Didn't have much appetite.

Ate Nature Bake bread (possible yeast grown on corn?). Off and on during day ate sweet potato and chicken dinner by Earth's Best (possible corn cross-contamination?). She started refusing to open her mouth and acting really uncomfortable immediately after finishing most of the jar this afternoon--and she hadn't had any of the bread at that time.

Saw Dr. B 7pm

Checked ears, head, throat etc. Cutting molars. No other problems noted; probable allergy issues?

I gave her a dinner containing no nightshades, no bread, and no jarred baby food. She was quite cheery and normal all evening, went to sleep easily, and is now sleeping peacefully.

I'm starting from the present and working back in order to get the most important (most recent) data done first. I hope to get at least 6 months' worth of data compiled before Monday, but we'll see how far I actually get.

If you want to help, just post in the comments which dates you'll take. Posting it on the blog will let others know what dates you're working on so we don't have people both doing the same week. You can e-mail me the results at purplekanga(at)gmail.com as a text file (unwrapped would be best) or just in an e-mail.

I'm already doing November, so I'd like it if we could start with the end of October and work back. Some days and months will have little or no data.

Thanks so much! I'm eager to see how it will all look and what it will tell us when it's done.