Trials and triumphs..

It seems as you go through life with your children there seem to be successes and failures constantly. One thing may go perfectly and five minutes later something else is falling apart. That is how things seemed to be when we were in the middle of diagnosing Theo's dairy allergy. Please don't get me wrong it didn't take me long to figure out what he had but getting others to see it was near impossible. After I stopped nursing and switched to formula (I dried up prematurely due to thyroid disease but did EVERYTHING I could to keep nursing him) I started using the formula that had been left over from his sister when we were on WIC. He kept refluxing, and I was worried. I tried an anti reflux formula and it just made things worse. It wasn't for another week or two that I discovered that there were formulas with broken down dairy proteins (NOT Nestle thought because I boycott them). Nonetheless I had a new 5 month old in a matter of a week. What a relief. Then there came the lectures because he was 10 mos old and I wasn't really giving him "food" (AKA cereal) yet. He wasn't acting full after his bottles and feeble attempts at still trying to nurse. I knew better than to give him empty fillers. He started out on table food at around a year. I made most of it and what I couldn't afford to make I bought in the form of organic baby foods. He loved the flavors of his carrots and sweet potatoes. He also did GREAT on the pastas with zucchini. He was a happy fella with NO issues what so ever. Then came the old school lectures about "Milk is so good for you". Yeah, right I know my son. Then it was "have you taken him to an allergist?". Um, NO....I was told NOT to do that and to keep doing what I had been doing. It's likely he'll grow out of it. Why is it that people love to act like they know so much more than you do even though you're the one going through it? Some habits die hard I guess.

Well, he definitely hasn't grown out of his allergies but we are getting really good at cooking for him and treating him for the occasional accident when people shove food at him during family gatherings. Usually it's a cousin that is the culprit now. We have discovered the beauty of probiotics as well as some wonderful digestive enzymes. I am not saying this works for everybody but with Theo only being allergic to ONE protein it is a sure fire way to keep the side effects at bay. If you suspect your little one has an allergy you're likely right. Please DO trust your instincts and it doesn't hurt to add prayer into the mix. God was good to us in the fact that we had already dealt with these issues in my niece. I already had some experience and it saved us from a TON of heartache.

**If anybody has advice on a spirited little lady I'm ALL ears**