Confusing
Just to put another twist in things: We found some organic bananas that have not been treated with any pesticides or fertilizers and, most importantly, have not been fumigated with corn-derived gasses.
Baby E seems to be able to tolerate them just fine. She had half a banana twice yesterday, and it certainly didn't give her diarrhea.
She's also been eating pears bars fairly frequently with no obvious problems.
I'm actually wondering if, as can happen with lactose intolerance, her tolerance to fruit fluctuates with the state of her digestive system. It seems that when she's had a recent reaction, is fighting a virus, etc. she can tolerate almost no fruit at all. But when she's doing well she can digest fruit much better.
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I've been keeping really detailed records of her eating and her symptoms again for about a week now. The biggest thing I've realized is that she nurses a lot. She's still nursing at least 5 to 8 times per day, usually every 2-3 hours during the day. She does sleep through the night most nights, but otherwise she nurses almost as much as an infant does. With a few exceptions (meat, potato chips, occasional fruit, kohlrabi, yogurt and scrambled eggs) she eats only a few nibbles of whatever solid food she is offered (even if she hasn't nursed recently). She almost never eats more than a nibble of anything containing a grain--even rice, lately. Some days she doesn't eat much at all of any solid food, even her favorites. [Edit: Of course, I keep thinking that eating little nibbles of this and that is pretty typical for a 2-year-old. I may be making myself crazy trying to find patterns where none exist. :)]
She's also learned this past week how to say "My tummy hurts" (sounds more like "My ummy uhts"). It's a huge milestone for her to be able to communicate this in words reliably and on her own initiative. She says it fairly frequently--and often it's times when there's little or no other indication that she's uncomfortable. She might be a bit quieter than normal, or she may be pulling at her shirt a bit or chewing on her hand, but she's not being fussy or having diarrhea. The times she complains of her tummy hurting correlate well with the times she doesn't want to eat much of anything.
I'm glad she's becoming more able to communicate such things.
M&M complains often of her tummy hurting, too, and gets some of the same symptoms. So I wonder if part of this is some issue they share. We haven't been able to pinpoint a clear pattern for either of them, yet. I want to keep detailed records for M&M, too, but it's much more difficult for an older child who can help herself to food at family gatherings and who takes herself to the potty without help. Even though I ask her to tell me when she has diarrhea, etc. or when her tummy hurts, she doesn't necessarily remember to do so. I'm not really sure how to make the record-keeping work well for her.
AJ, we've recently realized, seems to have hypoglycemic tendencies. Her most severe emotional meltdowns almost always coincide with being hungry, and are quickly mitigated by a healthy snack.
I hope we can figure out how to best feed our kids soon.
Baby E seems to be able to tolerate them just fine. She had half a banana twice yesterday, and it certainly didn't give her diarrhea.
She's also been eating pears bars fairly frequently with no obvious problems.
I'm actually wondering if, as can happen with lactose intolerance, her tolerance to fruit fluctuates with the state of her digestive system. It seems that when she's had a recent reaction, is fighting a virus, etc. she can tolerate almost no fruit at all. But when she's doing well she can digest fruit much better.
########################
I've been keeping really detailed records of her eating and her symptoms again for about a week now. The biggest thing I've realized is that she nurses a lot. She's still nursing at least 5 to 8 times per day, usually every 2-3 hours during the day. She does sleep through the night most nights, but otherwise she nurses almost as much as an infant does. With a few exceptions (meat, potato chips, occasional fruit, kohlrabi, yogurt and scrambled eggs) she eats only a few nibbles of whatever solid food she is offered (even if she hasn't nursed recently). She almost never eats more than a nibble of anything containing a grain--even rice, lately. Some days she doesn't eat much at all of any solid food, even her favorites. [Edit: Of course, I keep thinking that eating little nibbles of this and that is pretty typical for a 2-year-old. I may be making myself crazy trying to find patterns where none exist. :)]
She's also learned this past week how to say "My tummy hurts" (sounds more like "My ummy uhts"). It's a huge milestone for her to be able to communicate this in words reliably and on her own initiative. She says it fairly frequently--and often it's times when there's little or no other indication that she's uncomfortable. She might be a bit quieter than normal, or she may be pulling at her shirt a bit or chewing on her hand, but she's not being fussy or having diarrhea. The times she complains of her tummy hurting correlate well with the times she doesn't want to eat much of anything.
I'm glad she's becoming more able to communicate such things.
M&M complains often of her tummy hurting, too, and gets some of the same symptoms. So I wonder if part of this is some issue they share. We haven't been able to pinpoint a clear pattern for either of them, yet. I want to keep detailed records for M&M, too, but it's much more difficult for an older child who can help herself to food at family gatherings and who takes herself to the potty without help. Even though I ask her to tell me when she has diarrhea, etc. or when her tummy hurts, she doesn't necessarily remember to do so. I'm not really sure how to make the record-keeping work well for her.
AJ, we've recently realized, seems to have hypoglycemic tendencies. Her most severe emotional meltdowns almost always coincide with being hungry, and are quickly mitigated by a healthy snack.
I hope we can figure out how to best feed our kids soon.
Labels: allergies and adverse reactions, food, health issues
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 10:38 AM[Permanent link]
4 Comments:
not to confuse you even more- but Baby E's eating habits sound pretty similar to my 2 year old. He's not nursing, but drinking tons of milk, will try a few nibbles of whatever is for dinner, but only has a few stand by foods that he'll eat more than that of. I think figuring out food is a lifelong thing and I know it's hard not to stress out about in your complicated case, but hang in there!
Yeah, I keep thinking that eating little nibbles of this and that is pretty typical for a 2-year-old. I may be making myself crazy trying to find patterns where none exist. :)
My oldest, at 2 yo, hardly ate any solids whatsover. He would nibble a couple of times a week but nursed a great. In fact, E's nursing frequency matches the nursing patterns of all of the Hobbits. I don't think it is at all uncommon, especially kids with food issues.
WRT tolerating things better when she's not reacting, this isn't surprising. Reactions create inflammation all the way down the line and inflammation, IME, increases sensitivities.
Good luck in figuring this stuff out!
I should probably be doing this too. Another campaign?
Best wishes and best of luck, I know how difficult it is to keep recording these things, keeping track, adding in all the variables [probably the wrong ones in my case]
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