Tag: food allergies

Allergy-Friendly Christmas Cookie Recipe

Post author By abundantpeaceandhealth
Post date December 11, 2020
No Comments on Allergy-Friendly Christmas Cookie Recipe

Christmas time is filled with traditions and quality family time that revolves around food. For those with multiple food allergies, it can be a tough reminder of everything we cannot eat, and we may feel left out of certain experiences. That is why I was determined to make these allergy-friendly Christmas cookies.

Christmas is important to me and I did not want my son to miss out on fun childhood memories due to his multiple food allergies. So, last year we started the tradition of making Christmas cookies together. It was not easy to think of a recipe with the few foods he can eat but I am proud to say that I made it work!

Allergen-free Christmas Cookies

These cookies are free of dairy, eggs, nuts, corn, soy, gluten, and grains. Unlike conventional cookies, these Christmas cookies are filled with healthy, nutritious ingredients. For the flour, I use buckwheat and arrowroot powder; instead of egg, applesauce and ground flaxseed; in place of butter, coconut/sunflower seed butter; and finally, to keep these cookies low-sugar and healthy, I used coconut sugar and stevia to sweeten. The applesauce also adds sweetness.

I was very surprised at how good these turned out! They are chewy and delicious. We love them. They are by no means as sweet as regular sugar cookies but we actually like that about them too. If you have more of a sweet tooth however, you may want to add more coconut sugar, stevia, or maple syrup.

The Christmas Cookie Dough

Conventional cookie dough should not be “overworked” and needs refrigeration before shaping the cookies. However, that is not the case for this dough.

When you use wheat flour, kneading the dough activates the gluten making the dough grow like a bread, which you do not want for cookies. However, since we are using gluten-free flour, you can mix and knead all ingredients until you have the desired consistency without risking overkneading. This cookie dough will also not expand because we don’t use any baking powder or egg (hence it does not need to be refrigerated).

In fact, you want the cookie dough to remain room temperature, not cold. This will make it easier to roll out for cookie cutting. I recommend cutting the dough in 3 sections and work on one section at a time. Keep the remaining dough covered with a cloth to prevent it from drying out and getting cooler.

I recommend you roll the cookie dough in between two sheets of parchment paper. This will keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll it out to about ¼ of an inch thick. You don’t want them any thinner than this or else they will become hard.

Decorating the Christmas Cookies

Because I want to keep these cookies healthy and allergen-free, I don’t use any icing to decorate them. However, you can get creative and use other things to embellish the cookies. You will want to decorate them before you put them in the oven.

To add designs, we used a comb to make lines and dots. Blend blueberries and strawberries to add some natural color. Shredded coconut, date paste, seeds, and carob add additional decorations. Get creative and see what you find in your kitchen to decorate the cookies.

Storage

These cookies are good for up to a week. You can keep them in the fringe or even the freezer to extend the life of the Christmas cookies. Because these cookies don’t have any baking soda, gluten, or egg (ingredients that help baked goods rise), they are very dense and will become harder when they are cool. You can warm them up in a toaster oven for a minute to soften.

Allergy-Friendly Christmas Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

5 cups sprouted buckwheat flour (see notes)
½ cup arrowroot powder
1/3 cup coconut sugar
½ tsp. ginger powder (optional)
½ tbsp. stevia powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup coconut/sunflower seed butter (see notes)
¾ cup apple sauce
5 tbsp. vanilla
¼ cup ground flaxseed
½ cup water

Instructions

Make a flaxseed egg by mixing ¼ cup ground flaxseed with ½ cup warm water. Whisk with a fork and let sit until it thickens into the consistency of an egg.
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl: buckwheat flour, arrowroot powder, coconut sugar, ginger powder, stevia powder, and salt. Stir well using a spoon or whisk.
Mix all wet ingredients in another bowl: softened coconut/sunflower seed butter, apple sauce, vanilla, and flaxseed egg.
Whisk the wet ingredients and add the dry ingredients slowly as you whisk until all ingredients are well mixed.
With your hands compact the dough together creating a ball and divide it into 3 sections.
Grab one section, place it on a parchment paper, and place another parchment paper on top. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
With a rolling pin, roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness and use your favorite cookie cutters to cut the shapes.
Decorate your cookies with seeds, coconut, blended berries, dates, or create lines and shapes with kitchen tools.
Place cookies on a parchment paper and bake at 350 °F (180 °C) for 8 minutes.

Notes

Buckwheat Flour: I make my own sprouted buckwheat flour by soaking, sprouting, dehydrating, and grinding the buckwheat. Store-bought buckwheat flour uses the whole buckwheat including the shell, and it is not soaked or sprouted. This can cause inflammation and digestion issues for those who have gut problems. You can buy sprouted buckwheat flour here.
Butter: I make my own coconut/sunflower butter by processing shredded coconut and dehydrated sunflower seeds, 1:1 ratio, with 1 tsp of salt. Recipe from the Autoimmune Plant Based Cookbook. If you are not on an oil free diet, and don’t have time to make this butter, you could use ¼ cup coconut oil.
Replacements: You can to replace the buckwheat flour with quinoa flour; apple sauce with pumpkin puree; and as mentioned above, the “butter” with coconut oil.

Tags allergy-friendly, christmas, cookies, food allergies, recipe

Recipes

Homemade Infant and Toddler Formula

Post author By abundantpeaceandhealth
Post date November 19, 2020
20 Comments on Homemade Infant and Toddler Formula

Every new mom has high hopes of breastfeeding their infant. We know that breast milk is best for our little ones and as moms we desire to provide what is best. I personally breastfed my boy for three years on a restrictive diet due to all of his food allergies. However, supplementing with this homemade infant formula when he had trouble eating solids was a turning point for our son to gain much needed weight.

Before you try an alterative infant formula, I encourage you to check all breastfeeding resources available to you. It is possible to breastfeed a baby with multiple food allergies when the mom eliminates all allergens from her diet. There are also natural methods you can use to increase milk supply. Two helpful resources are KellyMom.com and Ellen Fisher’s e-book “Breastfeeding”.

Who is this Homemade Infant Formula for?

There are multiple infant formulas on the market, but your baby may not tolerate any of them or you may wish to find a healthier alternative. This homemade infant formula may be just what you’re looking for. It is especially designed for:

Infants whose moms cannot produce enough breast milk or need to abruptly stop breastfeeding due to a medical procedure.
Infants with multiple food allergies and mom has a hard time adjusting her diet to continue breastfeeding.
Infants who struggle to gain weight with breast milk alone.
Toddlers who, due to health conditions, struggle to eat solid food and depend on formula for nutrition.

I can say with confidence that this formula will be adequate for babies starting at 6 months of age. However, I know of mothers with babies as young as four months old who have exclusively used this formula successfully. Use your own judgment when considering your child’s condition to establish if this formula is a good option for you. My son was two-and-a-half years old when we began supplementing with this formula. He barely ate solid food and this was his main source of nutrition for a year. At one point, he drank 28 oz of this homemade formula a day. Read more about his story here.

The Issues with Store-Bought Formula

Why go through the struggle of making a homemade formula? Why not simplify life and use regular, store-bought formula? After all, it has gone through extensive testing and approval to be certified as baby formula. Let’s take a closer look:

Dairy-based formula

The most commonly prescribed infant formula is dairy-based. There’s a good reason for this. Dairy is high in lactose, a good source of sugar and calories. Dairy also has plenty of fat that babies need to develop. The problem? Many babies, if not most, cannot tolerate dairy. It causes reflux, diarrhea, constipation, eczema, and asthma. Even if an infant may appear to tolerate dairy at first, they may be at a higher risk of developing these symptoms and diseases later.

Standard dairy-based formula is also filled with unhealthy oils such as palm oil, soy oil, and high oleic sunflower oil. Most of these formulas use nonfat milk, which is more processed and requires these refined oils be added. A health-conscious adult would not eat these oils on a regular basis, so why feed them to an infant?

Lastly, dairy formulas lack healthy, living bacteria and nutrients to feed the healthy bacteria. It is well established that a healthy microbiome is vital to health. Good, balanced microbiota live in living plant organisms. Additionally, it is essential to create a gut environment that will grow good bacteria. Some formulas may add probiotics. However, it is important to note that there are many different types of bacteria in our natural environment, but only a few are used in high amount in probiotics. This in itself can cause dysbiosis – an imbalance of the gut microbiota. It is best to trust the microbiome naturally occurring in food and nature.

Soy-based formula

The first alternative formulas prescribed to babies with a dairy allergy or sensitivity are soy-based formulas.

I am a strict vegetarian; I believe in a plant-based diet from infancy. However, I would rather give my child a dairy-based formula than a store-bought, soy formula.

The first ingredient in soy formula is either corn-syrup or brown rice syrup. According to their labels, 54% of the ingredients in soy formula come from these unhealthy sugars. I don’t think I need to go into detail about why this is horrifying. Again, no health-conscious adult would ever eat a diet based on 54% corn-syrup or brown rice syrup. How are we feeding this to infants?

Yes, breastmilk is around 50% sugar, but we cannot compare natural breastmilk sugars to processed corn-syrup or brown-rice syrup.

The ingredients that follow are refined vegetable oils (26%): palm oil, soy oil, coconut oil, and high oleic sunflower oils. So far, 80% of the ingredients don’t sound healthy or nutritious. Then we have the soy protein isolate and added vitamins and minerals.

And as with dairy-based formulas, soy formulas also do not provide healthy bacteria for a strong gut microbiome.

Elemental formula

When a child is allergic to dairy and soy, an elemental formula is prescribed. It is thought that the protein in foods is what causes an allergic response. For this reason, elemental formulas contain broken-down proteins, amino-acids, to make them easier to digest and not cause an allergic reaction.

EleCare and Neocate are the most commonly used formulas for infants with multiple food allergies. Similar to soy formula, elemental formulas contain as the main ingredients: corn-syrup (55%) and refined vegetable oil (24%: comprising palm oil, coconut oil, high oleic sunflower oil, and canola oil or soy oil).

For older children, Neocate Splash is available. The main ingredient here is actually water (85%), followed by maltodextrin (6%), sugar (5%), and refined vegetable oil (high oleic sunflower oil, palm oil, coconut oil, and canola oil). At first sight this looks like a better option, and I think it is. However, maltodextrin is associated with worsening irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, and increasing bad gut bacteria.

Sugars increase bad gut bacteria and these formulas don’t provide any healthy, living bacteria. Most infants and toddlers who have multiple food allergies already have an unhealthy microbiome, autoimmune conditions, and digestive issues. These formulas make the root cause of their disease even worse, making it harder to heal.

My son reacted to all these formulas with vomiting or diarrhea. He did best with Neocate Splash, but at the end it caused him diarrhea as well. Read about how we made the switch to this homemade infant formula here.

Allergy-Friendly Alternative Infant Formula

The homemade infant formula I want to share is plant-based, meaning it has no animal products. It is soy-free, nut-free, corn-free, and gluten-free. Yet, it is very nutritious. (Read the notes at the end for alternative ingredients.)

Fats
Infants and toddlers need more fat than adults to help develop their fast-growing brains. This homemade infant formula provides most of its calories from fats through coconut milk and flax seed oil.

Carbohydrates
Sprouted quinoa and buckwheat are the main source of sugars and carbohydrates in this formula. Coconut also provides a good amount of it.

Protein
For protein, this formula uses one of the most easily digestible legumes – sprouted mung beans.

Importance of Sprouting

Infants have a sensitive digestive track that has not been fully developed yet. Breastmilk provides easy-to-digest nutrition that is hard to find in solid foods. Toddlers with health conditions also have a sensitive digestive system which requires special consideration.

Sprouting the quinoa, buckwheat, and mung beans greatly increases their nutritional content and makes these foods easier to digest. Do not skip this step!

Especially if you are dealing with a baby or a chronically-ill toddler, you want to make sure these foods are sprouted. However, do not use sprouts raw! They can be filled with bad bacteria and hard to digest.

Soak the quinoa, buckwheat, and mung beans overnight and let them sprout in a strainer for two days (wash twice a day). Cook the quinoa and buckwheat in water for about 20 to 30 minutes and cook mung beans for 1 hour.

Important Nutritional Notes

Omega 3 is crucial for the development of healthy babies. For this reason, the formula includes 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil. However, flax seed oil can go rancid very fast and it can not be heated. A better option is ground flax seed. When your child is around seven-month- old, you can start mixing ground flax seed with baby food. Our favorite way is in smoothies or with avocado. Start with ½ teaspoon and increase the amount slowly as they grow. At around two-years-old, use 2 teaspoons.

Vitamin B12 is a bacteria needed for healthy brain development and it is not available in plant-based food. You will need to find a good, healthy supplement. We use Global Healing Center B-12. Just a few drops under the tongue once a week will be enough for infants and toddlers. Another great way to get vitamin B12 and other healthy bacteria is to play in the dirt! Take your children to nature or garden with them. Let them get dirty playing in the soil. This is not a reliable method of getting B12, but it has multiple health benefits.

Vitamin D is a hormone essential for the immune system and our overall health. Although Vitamin D is not found in plant foods, we can get it from the sun! Take your infant or toddler out into the sunshine daily, without sunscreen. Let their skin soak in as much sunrays as possible without getting burnt. In the winter, however, you may want to consider supplementing with vitamin D. We use this vitamin D supplement.

Homemade Infant Formula Recipe

Finally, onto the homemade infant formula recipe. Our son LOVES this formula. It tastes very good—in my opinion, much better tasting than any store-bought formula.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups coconut water (12 oz)
1 cup full fat canned coconut milk (8 oz)
½ cup mung beans (sprouted and cooked)
¼ cup quinoa (sprouted and cooked)
¼ cup buckwheat (sprouted and cooked)
1 tbsp flax seed oil (optional if child eats ground flax seeds)
2 dates (optional to sweeten)

Instructions:

Put all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth (about 3 minutes). Strain using a fine mesh strainer. Refrigerate in a glass container for up to 3 days. This recipe will make 26 oz.

Notes

You can substitute the coconut water and milk with 1-2 fresh young coconuts (water and meat depending on size). This will avoid the possible toxins found in the can lining. However, we have always used canned coconut milk.
Make sure the coconut water and coconut milk you buy don’t have any other added ingredients like sugar or preservatives (Guar Gum is ok). It may be hard to find pure coconut milk, but get the best you can. We buy ours at Trader Joe’s.
Substitutes in case of allergy:
- if your child reacts to mung beans, try sprouted red lentils or sprouted split peas
- if your child reacts to quinoa, try using a pseudo grain called Kaniwa or double the portion of buckwheat
- if your child reacts to buckwheat, try using Kaniwa or double the portion of quinoa
The dates are really not needed in the recipe but we did use them when we transitioned from regular formula that is very sweet. While our son adjusted to a sugar-free formula, we used 6 dates. Then, we slowly reduced the amount of dates. Now, we don’t use any dates.
Pro tip: sprout and cook the quinoa, buckwheat, and mung beans in bulk. Then, freeze them in bags to always have at hand. I made this milk daily for over a year. It can get tiring at times but having the ingredients ready to use in the freezer was of huge help.

Tags failure to thrive, food allergies, formula, infant, plantbased

Our Story

Part 3 – God Promises to Heal My Son

Post author By abundantpeaceandhealth
Post date September 16, 2020
6 Comments on Part 3 – God Promises to Heal My Son

Part 3 - God Promises to Heal My Son

My whole life, I had been taught that God leads doctors to provide you the best health treatment, that He blesses science to give us more knowledge, and that He blesses us through new drugs to treat illnesses. So when my son became chronically ill with all of these symptoms – severe eczema, vomiting, diarrhea, and failure to thrive – I naturally thought that what I needed to do was not to ask God for healing or inquire about how He would provide healing but rather simply follow doctor’s orders and ask God to guide them.

My beliefs were challenged when I was faced with watching my child’s health continue to deteriorate, in spite of strictly following doctor’s orders. What was most disheartening was that the medical community was not offering any true solutions, hope, or healing. Throughout those first 9 months, I was filled with anxiety, yearning for help so that my baby could thrive and be healthy. For months, I went from doctor to doctor, from one specialist to the next, only to see my child get worse from each drug or formula recommended. I felt desperate, helpless, and increasingly hopeless.

The turning point came when we received the diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) and the only solution given was to give him an oral steroid. No trying to find his allergies, no dietary changes recommended, no addressing of his diarrhea, no trying to figure out the root cause, and no view of him as a whole person instead of individual symptoms.

My motherly instinct screamed inside. I did not want to patch the problem only for it to return. My child needed healing. The idea of simply increasing his caloric intake instead of trying to figure out what was causing the chronic diarrhea made absolutely no sense. Covering his body in steroids, only for the eczema to return more aggressively, was nonsense. I knew these were not solutions. I didn’t know where to turn to or what other specialist I could contact. I was filled with immense anxiety as I saw no hope for a better outcome within conventional medicine.

Lucas, my husband, and I became very stressed from the hospital stay when they diagnosed Lucas with EoE. His little body did not take it well and we really struggled controlling his eczema once we got home. So we decided we needed a nature retreat and went to the beach for four days to recover and reflect. Personally, what I was seeking most was hearing God’s voice. I was in desperate need of His peace. My anxiety would get so bad at times that I would have full blown anxiety attacks. Anything could trigger me. My nervous system was constantly on the edge. The only thing I thought of was, “How many bowel movements has my baby had today? How many times did he vomit? What do I feed him that won’t give him diarrhea? Has he gained any weight? How do I help his frantic itching? How do I heal his eczema wounds?” Every day was a battle and although I would talk to God about it, I realized something wasn’t right because I couldn’t hear Him as I had other times in my life. I was not being filled with His peace that I once knew so well. I finally came to the point where all I wanted was to hear God and feel His peace. This retreat was the perfect opportunity.

I was truly not expecting much from God. I wasn’t seeking a new revelation or an answer to a specific question. I wasn’t even seeking healing for my son anymore, but rather that God would simply work out His will, even if that meant losing my son. I was finally in a place where, wholeheartedly, all I was seeking was to hear God’s voice, see His glory, and feel His peace.

So, there I was on September 3^rd, 2016, on the beach with my Bible, pursuing God. I had asked my husband to care for Lucas a little while for me to have some personal time with God. As I was sitting there, watching the waves and feeling the breeze and stillness, I poured out my heart to God. I confessed that I had not been seeking Him first. I confessed that I had let my anxiety take over my life. I confessed that I had lost complete sight of Him and that I had been trying to resolve Lucas’ health issues by myself instead of letting Him lead me. I told God I was ready to let Him take charge; I couldn’t bear this burden anymore.

I began reading my Bible with the intention to hear God and the verse that touched me most was Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” I began crying out to God for this promise to be true in my life and for God to answer me. My heart ached. All I wanted was for God to hold me, give me peace, and talk to me. As I was wrestling with God and claiming this promise, suddenly, everything became still in my mind, and these words came clear: “I will heal him, but not yet.” I felt the voice of God answering my call. I began crying, full of emotion, in somewhat disbelief, and an immense peace came over me.

I took that promise to heart and never once questioned it. God would heal my son. I didn’t care what the “not yet” part meant. I didn’t start questioning, “well, but how long?” God had answered and given me much more than I could have imagined. God knew just what I needed to hear to get me through the next 2 years that would follow. The bigger the test of faith, the clearer and more certain the promise.

Tags allegies, childhood allergies, eczema, eoe, failure to thrive, faith, food allergies, god answers, prayer

Our Story

Part 2 – Conventional Medicine

Post author By abundantpeaceandhealth
Post date September 10, 2020
4 Comments on Part 2 – Conventional Medicine

Part 2 - Conventional Medicine

Before Lucas was born, I had been on my own health journey. I was raised vegetarian my whole life. Due to severe chronic migraines however, I decided to adopt a strictly plant-based diet when I was 22 years old, 4 years before Lucas was conceived. I educated myself much on diet and health principals and adopted everything I learned. I was a firm believer of combining diet and lifestyle changes with conventional medicine. Therefore, I never doubted vaccinating my child or using medications when advised by a doctor.

I was determined to have a natural birth as long as my body allowed it and to breastfeed Lucas for at least a year. By the grace of God, I was able to do both. I had a completely natural birth and we had absolutely no problem breastfeeding, it came naturally to both of us, Lucas and I. However, because Lucas was born severely underweight, I was immediately pressured to feed him formula. His glucose levels were a bit low and his red blood cell count was off. The doctors urged me to feed Lucas formula to “fix” these issues, but in faith, I refused. I spent the first night and day breastfeeding 24/7, and when they tested his blood again, everything was normal! Praise God! However, the pressure to feed him formula was unceasing from then on.

I believed breast milk was best, especially if he had any health issues or growth problems, as the food that God created for babies had to be the best. I was certainly not going to try a dairy formula, being plant-based myself and having discovered early on that Lucas had allergy problems. However, plant-based formulas were not much better as the idea of giving my baby a formula that was 54% brown rice syrup or corn syrup mortified me! Surprisingly, plant-based infant formulas are very high in unhealthy sugars.

From the time Lucas was 2 months old we began seeing different specialist but it was not until he was 4 months old that we truly began getting desperate to get answers for his allergies, severe eczema, and lack of weight gain. Lucas’ conventional medicine journey included 4 doctors and specialist: the pediatrician, an allergist, a dermatologist, and a gastroenterologist (GI). We started seeing doctors almost every week and I noted how each one treated their own area of specialty rather than seeing the problem as a whole or discover the root cause.

Pediatrician

From the time Lucas was 5 months old, the pressure was on to put weight on him as it became evident that he was not catching up and had a hard time gaining any weight at all. One of the first recommendations was to give him MCT oil. The idea was that he just needed more calories and oil was the easiest way to add calories fast. We were very faithful in giving him the oil, but quickly realized that it was giving him diarrhea. He gained no weight at all. At around 6 months old, a soy formula was suggested in addition to my breast milk. I was skeptical because at this point, I felt the issue was not the amount of milk or calories he drank. However, as Lucas had been exclusively breastfed for 6 months and I was desperate to have him gain weight, we agreed to try the soy formula. Within three days of trying the soy formula, Lucas began throwing up and having diarrhea. Again, no weight gain.

The pediatrician also tested his iron, which showed to be low, so she prescribed an iron supplement, which Lucas also reacted to, causing him to throw up. Another month of no weight gain at all. Before trying these different things, he was at least gaining a little weight! But now we had several weeks of no weight gain.

While we waited for an appointment with the dermatologist, the pediatrician gave us a 2.5% hydrocortisone cream for Lucas’ eczema, which we faithfully applied on all critical areas. At first, the cream seemed to work, but the effect quickly wore off and the eczema came back with full force.

When Lucas was 5 months old, we did regular blood work to test for allergens, about 30 in total. They all came back positive: coconut, nuts, corn, soy, wheat, dogs, cats, dust, etc. They weren’t just positive—on the scale from 1-6, 1 being least allergic and 6 being highly allergic, he appeared to be highly allergic to everything. Curiously, he did not show to be allergic to dairy, eggs, and shellfish, something we attributed to the fact that he had never been exposed to them. His IGE was close to 6000 IU/mL (standard range 0-15 IU/mL), which is an indicator that the body overreacts to allergens. So, we were quickly referred to the Immunologist.

Immunologist/ Allergist

Our first visit with the immunologist was when Lucas was 6 months old. When we received the results that Lucas had so many allergies, I was devastated and filled with anxiety. However, the allergist assured us that the test results didn’t matter because they were hardly ever accurate, and to reintroduce all foods (wheat and soy). I asked her how I would know if he was reacting to the foods I was reintroducing, and she said that I should see hives or throwing up within 2-4 hours of ingesting the food, guaranteed. I remember asking her if there could be a reaction after 24 hours and she said no. Bottom line, she did not want me to restrict my diet because I could become malnourished as a breastfeeding mom.

Wanting to be a good mom and patient, I did just what the doctor said and reintroduced wheat and soy. I was so happy to be eating a regular plant-based diet again! I was even happier when I saw no allergic reaction after 24 hours. We even gave Lucas bread to eat! No vomit, no diarrhea, no hives! I was ecstatic!

But the happiness didn’t last long. As we later discovered, the steroids were masking the eczema. After 3 days of reintroducing wheat, Lucas was covered in eczema and later began explosively throwing up. I was so confused. I thought we were in the clear, it had been three days! I was heartbroken and desperate.

The immunologist also prescribed hydroxyzine, an antihistamine, to reduce the itching and for Lucas to sleep better. She said to start with a small dose and keep increasing it until it was effective, up to 10 ml. We did just that. A small dose would work for a few days to help him sleep. When it wasn’t effective anymore, we would have to up the dose until we reached the 10 ml. It never seemed to help his itchiness, but simply made him sleepy. Over time, we started realizing how he was constantly sedated and not himself. Eventually, this medication became completely useless (not that it ever really helped). When we first stopped using the medication, he itched even more than he did before we started the hydroxyzine, scratching desperately all the time. We know it was the medication because after a few weeks off it, his itching went back to his baseline. We tried the medication again sometime after and observed the same thing.

Dermatologist

We finally got to see the dermatologist when Lucas was 7 months old. By this point, he was covered in eczema from head to toe (due to exposing him to so many allergens and the 2.5% hydrocortisone cream not working anymore). The doctor saw Lucas for 5 minutes and immediately prescribed Fluocinolone Acetonide, a steroid-based oil that is suppose to be very safe and effective. We were to cover his body in the oil and use it 4 days on and 3 days off. We were also recommended to try wet wrapping after we applied the steroid (one layer of wet clothes to lock in moisture and one layer of dry clothes). I asked about food allergies and if that could be contributing to his eczema and he assured me that there is no relationship between food and eczema, and that Lucas would grow out of it soon.

When I went to pick up the prescription, the pharmacist warned me to be very careful and use as little as possible as it was a very strong drug. This confused me because the doctor had just assured us it was safe and to just slather his body with it. I trusted my doctor and started applying the oil liberally as instructed. Within 24 hours, Lucas was eczema free! We thought it was a miracle drug and were so excited. But then came the 3 days off the steroid and it took less than a day for Lucas to be covered in eczema again. By the 3^rd day, it seemed to be even worse than before. We were happy when it was time to put the steroid oil on his body again expecting the same result. However, this time, it took 2 days for his body to be clear and during the days off the steroid the eczema came back even worse. We went through this for a month, and each time it got worse and worse. It would take longer for the eczema to clear and it would come back with a vengeance when he was off steroids.

We went back to the dermatologist a month after. This time, we got to see a pediatric dermatologist and we hoped to get some more insight. However, she was both very rude and dismissive of all of our concerns. She told us to try to use the steroid for 2 days on and 2 days off. I shared with her the concern the pharmacist had expressed and wanted to know exactly how much I needed to apply as I was worried it could be too much. I was also beginning to doubt the safety and effectiveness of the steroid oil. The doctor assured me again to simply apply as much oil as was needed for the eczema to clear. I asked what we would do if he didn’t respond to the oil and the answer was to keep trying a stronger steroid until he grew out of it. I wanted to know her input about the connection with diet, and again she dismissed it saying it had no correlation and to not worry, he was going to grow it out. I was treated as an ignorant person. There was no respect for my questions and concerns.

At home, we tried the steroid for 2 days on and 2 days off, but it had absolutely no benefit. Lucas ended up being constantly covered in eczema and the steroids seemed to be having no effect anymore. Even worse, the eczema was more severe than we had ever seen it.

Gastroenterologist (GI)

We were referred to the GI because of the growing concern of Lucas’ lack of weight gain, his vomiting, and diarrhea. We saw the pediatric GI for the first time when Lucas had just turned 8 months old. He was weighing only 13 lb., 5 oz (6kg) and had not gained any weight in 2 months. This doctor was friendly, caring and took her time in addressing all of our concerns. Like the pediatrician, she also thought Lucas’ weight issue was just a calorie problem and that we just needed to increase his food intake. However, because we expressed that Lucas had reacted to the soy formula and was having diarrhea and vomiting, she advised to try Elecare, an infant formula for children with severe allergies. Again, the idea was not to replace my breast milk but to add calories to his diet. Lucas was having up to 25 bowel movements a day, and yet, at no point was his diarrhea addressed. The only thing that mattered was increasing his food intake. There was little concern about the amount of solid foods he ate because they believe that “food is for play” at that age. However, we did notice that he was vomiting more frequently after eating solids, and not with my breast milk.

The doctor ordered some more blood work and told us to come back when we had the results. Meanwhile, we were to keep checking his weight with the pediatrician. Upon reading the ingredients of Elecare, I was horrified. It contained 55% corn syrup! The other ingredients don’t get much better: Safflower oil (9%), MCT oil (8%), soy oil (7%), and then came the amino acids, vitamins and minerals. I did not want to feed my baby this, but we were desperate, and I had to trust the doctor. We tried the formula for 2 days, taking it very slow, just 4 oz at the start. By the third day, Lucas began explosively throwing up and his diarrhea got worse. These symptoms lasted a few days, leading to some more weeks with no weight gain.

We went back to the pediatrician, who was very concerned. That same afternoon she called the Immunologist and GI to consult on what else we could do. Because of his history of allergic reactions and a high eosinophil blood count, they came to the conclusion that, although unlikely at his young age, Lucas might have something called Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE), an allergic inflammatory response in the esophagus that can cause vomiting in children. The only way to truly diagnose it was to do an endoscopy and they would also perform a colonoscopy to discard any other issues. They wanted to hospitalize him for 5 days to run some tests and also to put a nasal tube (NG) in to feed more calories while he was there. So to the hospital we went, when Lucas had just turned 9 months old.

Doctors performed the endoscopy, colonoscopy, and put a nasal tube in him all while he was sedated. I was still to breastfeed and feed him as normal, and at night we would feed him through the nasal tube. They tried a different formula called Neocate, but it had pretty much the same ingredients except for the soy oil. Lucas would normally still wake up every 2 hours to breastfeed, but with the nasal tube, he didn’t want to breastfeed. The formula was not adding calories; it was just replacing my breast milk. On the forth day, Lucas began throwing up explosively; he was reacting to Neocate.

In addition, his eczema got so severe in the hospital that the tape they were using to hold his NG tube and IV, began to cut and destroy his skin. In the end, there was no way to keep the NG tube or IV in place and they took everything out. On the fifth day in the hospital, we got the confirmation that Lucas had Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). The solution: oral steroids for 3 months to reduce the inflammation of the esophagus. We were free to go home.

This made absolutely no sense to me. I had done my research on EoE and learned that the best way to control the disease was with diet, avoiding all allergens. I was willing to restrict his diet and mine in every possible way to help him—why was no one working with me in that sense? Steroids were not a solution, as the doctor herself expressed that the symptoms come back when you stop the steroids. My other concern was that, at this point, Lucas was not throwing up much, at least not enough to account for not gaining any weight in 3 months. His real issue was the diarrhea, not the number of calories he took in either; it was clearly malabsorption. As I expressed these concerns to the GI, the response was to try the steroid and we would see what happened in 3 months. I knew that wasn’t going to solve anything. I saw no hope in sight. This is the moment I realized I needed to start doing my own research and find healing with God’s guidance.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Tags allergy, childhood allergies, eczema, eoe, failure to thrive, faith, food allergies, infant formula