It almost felt like going
through time warp writing this especially as a lot of our journey was done
sleep deprived and with a lot of stress!
I had a very easy
pregnancy with Lachlan, apart from a bout of sciatica I had no other
complaints.
I again went overdue with
him (as I did Riley) only this time I opted to be induced as it was for us at
the time the right thing to do with a 21 month old at home and little support
around us in case I went into labour whilst hubby was at work. (I also had to
be partially induced with Riley as I went into labour and stalled at 3cm and he
had to be born with forceps so I was hoping to avoid all that stress again).
Labour was a breeze (compared
to that of Riley’s) after the induction period it lasted all of about 2.5
hours. Little (or should I say not so little 3.92kg) Lachlan Cooper was born
into the world he latched on like a baby possessed and fed and slept like a
little dream so life was good.
Collage from birth (good and bad weeks) till 2 years of age
It was about the 3.5/4
month mark that Lachlan developed eczema and from my notes in his Blue Book he
had a really bad bout of it which required antibiotics and steroid creams.
(I was no stranger to
steroid creams in that I had to use them for a very small period of time with
Riley when he was small as he also had eczema - his was more environmental
issues as he has dust mite and pollen allergies, and once we started air drying
his clothes inside his eczema disappeared within a month or two. I never liked
to use them & used the least amount I could as I didn’t believe what the GP
was telling me that these steroid where safe to us.. I mean they are
steroids!??
We battled his eczema
round after round and had another lot of antibiotics much to my dismay, I
personally hate the use of antibiotics but it had gotten so bad even after
following all the GP’s advice it was the only way of keeping him out of
hospital with a skin infection. At this point I felt hopeless, like I'd let my
son down and life with two babies under 2 was getting on top of me.
Being the
very determined person I am I threw my very sleep deprived self into
researching everything I could about eczema. I would read till I fell asleep
and even then tried to read some more. The more I read the more connection with
food allergies and allergens in general I came across, I asked our GP who
didn’t think there was a connection but my gut was telling me something wasn't right.
I tried a dairy free
period of which I saw a significant improvement in Lachlan’s skin (I wasn't eating much dairy at the time as dairy isn't really my friend either) and when
I would reintroduce it his skin became worse. I also noticed every time I
breastfed him his face would become quite red and hot to touch for a period of
time and would then subside.
Months past and I plodded
along with the boys doing the best I could with a very unsettled cranky itchy
baby who would constantly attack his face. We were awaiting an opening with a
paediatric dermatologist but there was a couple of months wait to see one so I
continued to research.
Then on the 8th
November 2010 (the eve before my husband’s birthday) I was in the kitchen
clearing up the boys dinners when I gave Lachlan a baby teething rusk as his
teeth were giving him some grief only to turn around and find his lip had
started to swell tenfold. Then the drooling started I knew something was going
horribly wrong so rang 000. I can’t recall much of what happened in the time I
was on the phone or when the ambulance got there (Thankfully we lived about 10
mins from a major hospital at the time and the ambulance arrived quite quickly)
but I remember I was shaking and terrified with a toddler sitting with me just
waiting unable to do anything. I still feel sick to my stomach about that
night. I was also able to call my husband at the same time (somehow) and he
raced straight home. The two paramedics who arrived where just amazing, they
calmed me down, got Lachlan in the ambulance and started to administer
adrenalin to stop his reaction. At this point I remember Lachlan trying to
scream but he couldn't, his eyes wide open staring at me helpless.
Being so little (6 months old at the time) I
knew how quickly a baby’s health could deteriorate so I was petrified I would
lose him. They worked on him in the ambulance for a bit and managed to stop the
reaction and my husband got home at this point and Lachlan and I were driven as
fast as they could to the ER. It didn’t help that evening a huge hailstorm was
brewing and the traffic was horrendous. It felt like the longest drive of my
life.
We got into the ER
straight away and given his age he was given priority and it took a good 3-4
hours to stabilise him and even get the necessary needles/drips etc into him.
It took 3 or 4 nurses to get one drip into him I think we had seen half of the
ER staff by this point as they couldn’t find his veins. It was horrible to
watch him go through it and he was badly bruised all up his little arms after
it. Finally stabilised very late that night we got transferred to the
children’s ward waiting room of the hospital to wait for a bed. My husband had
gotten Riley off to bed and my In-laws had come to watch him for the night and
he made his way over to the hospital to see us. The two paramedics I cannot
thank enough, they came to see us several times whilst we were waiting for a
bed just to check up on him.
I remember it being a
very long sleepless night, I couldn’t let Lachlan go nor did I want to. I think
I eventually fell asleep with him on my chest in the world’s most uncomfortable
chair. I was physically and mentally drained that night but so thankful to have
my baby boy safe in my arms.
The next day the
hospitals head paediatrician and what felt like a thousand trainees came to
access Lachlan. It was recommended that we avoid all dairy, eggs, nuts, peanuts
and wheat until our appointment which they had organised at Westmead Children’s
Hospital Allergy clinic in the December until we knew what sort of allergies we
were dealing with. We were not prescribed any Epi Pen given his age and were
just to go on life as normal until then. The waiting and not knowing what to
feed him for this period was very hard. I almost became too scared to feed him
anything and I didn’t have any other advice from the hospital staff as what to
do.
As fate would have it we
actually had our appointment with the specialist paediatric dermatologist
scheduled for later that week. (I had forgotten this until now I went through
my notes in his blue book. I always thought we saw him before Lachlan’s
reaction). When we arrived he was quite arrogant and fobbed off every question
I had regarding food allergies, sensitivities and their links to eczema. He
told us straight up there was no connection at all it was all environmental and
in his words “was something he would learn to live with for the rest of his
life” and it could be managed easily with steroids and antibiotics.
As you can imagine we
were outraged, my husband actually told me when we walked out the door he had
the urge to hit him as he was so arrogant and rude to us (and my husband has
never hit anyone in his life). Needless to say we never made the follow up
appointment with this dermatologist and waited for our allergy testing for the
following month still forever researching.
We celebrated hubby’s
birthday late due to the events of the evening and week and when Riley was
helping me make the birthday cupcakes he accidently brushed up some raw egg on
his cheek, he immediately broke out in a rash all over his face. My heart sank
and thought oh no not again so I quickly gave him some antihistamines and
within 10 mins he was fine. I rang the allergy unit and spoke with the
allergist we were due to see and he booked Riley in as well for cross testing
with Lachlan. (Riley had been eating eggs baked in things with no reactions
since about 12 months old).
December rolled on and
Hubby, Riley, Lachlan and I went to Westmead Children’s hospital. It was a long
day with two kids in a waiting room with lots of tests and questions and trying
to recall the events of that evening. The allergist had us have skin prick
tests for both boys.
The verdict for Lachlan
he tested positive to Milk, Wheat, and Peanuts, Egg (both yolk & white)
with the egg and milk readings being quite high. I sat there reading and being
told the results and the flood of information that came with it and burst into
tears. It was so much to take in and so much to process in such a short amount
of time. I really wasn't expecting a list that extensive and they had only
tested the major allergens today not to overload us.
Riley’s came up with eggs
and peanuts. (He had never previously had peanuts before thank goodness!) The
allergist was confident that his readings to eggs and given he had eaten them
before with no major issues he would grow out of but for now we were just to
avoid till the next appointment.
We saw the Dietician and
spent some time with her got handed a folder full of information and that was
it till March... We could email or call with any questions but that was it. No
Epi Pen just we will see you in 3 months.
Lachlan’s wheat reading was
considered low so they arranged for him to be challenged in hospital at this
time as he did not have the developmental skills as of yet to be able to eat
textured foods (they test with weetbix in the oral challenge). I did question
the allergist and asked him in order for me to continue breastfeeding should I
go allergen free which he said he didn’t recommend as it was very stressful on
the mother. My heart told me it was the right thing to do so I did it anyway.
This is when I put my already very healthy diet under complete scrutiny.
Everything changed for the better when I decided to do this. Lachlan’s skin
started to clear up (but we would still have our up and down weeks) but we
seemed to be getting there but still using steroids.
At this time the allergist
discussed a formula if I wanted to go down this path, my heart was telling me
no, my head was fighting me with maybe this is the way things need to be? so we
did a one day trial of soy formula (which I have only just forgiven myself
about recently) as they would not give me a script for a specialty formula for
him. Both he and I cried that day like nothing else, he refused to drink it and
I don’t blame him it looked and smelt awful, and I immediately knew that there
was no way I was going to do this. I also started researching soy at the same
time and knew after reading the first 2 or 3 documents that this was NOT ok nor
would I continue. If I had to remain allergen free I had done it for so long I
could do it till 12 months of age at least.
March came and we went in
for the 6 hour challenge. We were placed in a large room filled with kids, and
their parents and a host of nurses and allergists and this is where we would
remain till the end of the challenge and observation period to make sure no
delayed reaction occurred. First they nurses started with a smear of weetbix
(in water) on Lachlan’s cheek and then waited 10 mins, no reaction meant we
moved to the next step of on the lip, wait, not reaction, then move onto inside
the mouth etc etc till he was able to eat a full spoon of weetbix with no
reaction. We were considered a pass by
the end of the challenge but needed to keep this up to build full tolerance to
wheat and we had to stop if his skin got worse or we had any other symptoms. We
did this and didn't see any major changes in his skin so kept going with it to
build the tolerance of it.
It was the month before
in February that I purchased my Thermomix. Not trusting anything from a shop
other than pure veggies, fruit and meat I learnt quite quickly that this
machine would save my sanity with two young children and the amount of meal
prep that lay before me.
I weaned Lachlan at 13 months and he never
went on to any other form of milk or formula much to the dismay of the dieticians.
Riley had never been a milk drinker nor did he have milk after he weaned at 12
months and he was a great eater so I had no concerns. Once I had weaned Lachlan
I instantly saw changes in his skin. Even though I was completely allergen free
he was still reacting to some of the proteins in my breast milk.
In this time we had
decided to sell our older style home (which wasn’t helping the dust mite
allergies Riley & I have or Lachlan’s eczema despite it being an all timber
floored home) and build a new one, a fresh start for us all. So we hunted
around for a carpet free home to rent whilst we waited for our land to register
and the build to start. We noticed a change in Lachlan’s skin when we moved
into our rental home which was all tiled. The older style home (which was still
very neat and tidy) still had 50+ year of dust and obviously wasn’t helping
with Lachlan’s skin.
In this time I started experimenting with different
recipes trying to get my head around allergen free cooking now he was a toddler
and not a baby although the delay in lumpy textures meant he was on purees for
a lot longer than what most children are.
We were back in June for
more testing and this time we tested tree nuts as well which added to our list
of positive skin prick tests.
It was in the September
that Feeding Two Growing Boys was born. I had lots of my personal friends
asking me for recipes and a few allergy forums I belonged to at the time so I
started the Facebook page to keep in touch with others newly working their way
through this maze.
It was during this time
that through pure trial and error I worked out Lachlan was soy and beef
intolerant. This was through short elimination diets (which I talk about in my
blog post “The right diet, is there such a thing”.) The nappies that came from
eating beef where horrendous. Think about the worst nappy you have changed ever
and multiple it by 10 and then some and this was 6 – 12 times a day. Something
was very very wrong. I later came across the cross reaction theory in that
children with cow’s milk allergies have an extremely high percentage (the
actual percentage escapes me and I can’t find the source of where I got the
info from anymore) of being cross reactive to beef. The stomach pains and
screaming that happened at night time where like that of a child having
nightmares, it was so heart wrenching to watch him in so much pain so beef
& lamb (similar symptoms) were off the menu and through more eliminations other foods such as broccoli as well.
So I did the cooking with
all the easy substitutions (egg replacer, Nuttelex etc) whilst I was finding my
feet into healthier allergy friendly cooking. I found most of the recipe books
written and the info given from the hospital to be high in sugar, bad fats and
made it my mission to work towards better options. This is when I stumbled onto
Fed UP by Sue Dengate. We trialled the “Failsafe” diet for a short period but
once again I knew it wasn’t right for us. I found it very highly processed and
once again bad fats and the no fruit other than pears honestly freaked me out.
I grew up eating every fruit imaginable and the boys loved it to so this was
going against everything I knew!!! (I know this diet works so well for so many
but for us it wasn’t the right fit, we were always additive, preservative and
colour free which I completely agree with we should all aim for this).
I then came across a few
gut healing books which at the time had me in a spin, The Body Ecology diet by
Donna Gates which at the time I had to reread a few time to process the
information as it was full on. How on earth was I going to get a toddler to eat
what she recommended?? I mean the boys
where great eaters but I didn’t see it happening. I understood the connection
with healing the gut so I kept researching as I was determined there had to be
better ways to manage this but I did take a break with the trying to find the
right solution as life with the two boys and the new build and running a
business was all I could take at that point so just went with keeping Lachlan
fed and safe which I did.
We had our next
appointment in the May and we added a few more tree nuts to the list of
positives and milk & egg readings were higher again.
A much happier, healthier child actually wanting to partake in activities
Once we moved into our
newly finished home in June, I had gathered enough information for me to start thinking
about making some big changes. I did several more elimination diets (mostly
gluten and wheat free) all whilst having a toddler who had gone from sleeping
quite well to not at all. He was itchy, cranky and we where both so sleep
deprived it was a horrible time one where I am surprised we both survived sane.
Something had to give; I was in tears constantly through sheer frustration and exhaustion.
The upkeep of the house from a constantly skin shedding child was huge, vacuuming
his entire bed morning, after his day sleep and before bedtime, the floor and
keeping our house clutter free was essential as was the mountains of washing. I also found Riley playing up a lot in the
last few months given all the time I was spending researching and trying to
keep Lachlan from attacking himself and the amount of cooking I did. It was
exhausting to have to deal with them both.
It was at this point I found
a lot of the Failsafe ladies had moved onto Biomedical Dr’s and specialists and
started investigating that route and then noticed a lot of them had then moved
on to GAPS which I started to research (another Gut healing program), before
taking a leap of faith and seeing a Naturopath as everything was pointing to
leaky gut something no Dr knew anything about. The allergists couldn't even
explain it to me I felt like I was the one giving them a lecture every time we
had an appointment.
Everything changed from
here. We started him on a few supplements (I had always had him on magnesium,
flaxseed oil, a probiotic and a green calcium through my research) but our
naturopath wanted to detox his liver. We then ordered the IgG blood test in
which we opted to test 93 foods this one test has changed our lives
dramatically.
Lachlan tested very
highly to grains (including rice, oats, barley and wheat). I always said to my
husband I had a gut feeling that something he had every day would come up as an
irritant (rice) and sure enough it did. I started researching Grain free diets
and it lead me to Paleo which I had heard quite a lot of following the pages
that I had been for sometime but never thought to look into it anymore. Since
being loosely Paleo (and I say loosely as Paleo is a diet rich in red meat,
eggs and nuts are also included so we couldn’t follow 100% due to his known
allergies) his eczema within a couple of weeks was nearly all gone. It was like
a miracle cure that you hear or read about. I was amazed how quickly his body
responded, the grains where irritating his gut and therefore causing the
inflammation (which is what eczema is – it’s your bodies way of showing you
something on the inside is not happy!).
To date we are currently doing the full
6 month elimination of all the foods he tested to and will then slowly
reintroduce one by one and see what happens. I have also loosely done a
Automimmune Paleo diet with him which is Paleo with some exclusions
(nightshades, seeds, eggs etc) which a mix of the two is working well for us.
He does tolerate spelt so we have chosen to keep that in his diet but only use
it very sparingly as we don't want to upset his healing gut.
He is now back to
sleeping 12 hours a night, isn’t shedding the piles of skin a day so my workload
has decreased and he isn’t scratching nearly as much (if he is tired or bored
he will start out of habit). He is such a happier little boy and has gained
so much confidence in himself (he was very self conscious about his skin even
at the young age of 2, he wouldn’t let anyone look at his skin but me and even
then he was embarrassed about it) and now he is quite happy to show you his
“Lovely skin, like Riley’s” as he calls it.
Last week we had our
yearly skin prick test review and to no surprise to me he tested IgE (an actual
allergy) to wheat again the same as when he was originally tested as a baby. He
also tested IgE to rye, oats and barley which he also did in his IgG
intolerance testing. Surprisingly though the allergist wants to perform a egg
challenge on him due to his egg reading coming down slightly. Now I know from
his IgG tests his body is highly rejecting eggs as a intolerance so he may
never be able to eat them but it would be nice to think we could move from
being labelled highly allergic to intolerant to eggs.
We have a month and a bit
to go on the recommended 6 month elimination we are currently doing based on
his IgG results which I will then sit down and reevaluate our next move.
How far he has come!
So there you have it,
long but to get the full story it had to be this way.
It’s been a long and
stressful journey but I tell you it’s opened my eyes to so many different
things and opportunities I would have never considered even doing in life like
running FTGB’s facebook page, starting to write a cookbook and helping so many
people who are at their wits end with their kids allergies/intolerances or just
who are just overwhelmed with information they don’t even know where to start.
I’ve been there and I know how they feel, it’s a lonely long road to travel and
I hope that FTGB’s is a place you can come and “nut out” ideas, theories and
most of all be supported by people going through a similar journey.
If you suspect leaky gut
or digestive issues with your children or yourself it’s worth investigating the
Paleo diet or even GAPS or Autoimmune Protocol if you have a confirmed
autoimmune disease.
With 70% of our immune
system located around the digestive system it is essential to eat well. Your
overall health literally depends on it.
~
Kat
Disclaimer:
The information shared on Feeding Two Growing Boys is based
solely on my own personal experiences and research.
The information
offered here is not intended to replace medical/trained holistic advice.
Before beginning or making any changes please always consult
your chosen health care provider.
