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Hello friends! Thanks for finding your way to our story today. We’ve had a blissfully reaction-free week over here- no one’s fussing uncontrollably, pooping blood, or sprouting hives- does life get any better? 😉 So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share who we are and why I’m blogging. We’ve had quite a few new friends and followers lately, so let’s get acquainted! For those familiar with us already, I hope there’s something new for you today. Either way, drop me a line in the comments or on instagram (@chunkythighsandfpies) and introduce yourself… so glad you’re here!

Without further ado, here’s the folks that make up our Chunky Thighed, FPIE-ed existence:

Yours truly! Mary. Mama Bear, mom blogger, and potato vodka connoisseur. I’m a former and future fourth grade teacher, but I’m staying home full time these days. I’m all about my baby boys, Netflix binges, pedicures with my girlfriends, walks with my family and cocktail-and-movie dates with my husband. Currently living life on a TED diet and navigating all things FPIES.

Chris. The life of our party and the calm to my crazy, not to mention the payer of our bills and fixer of all things broken. An attorney, technology buff, and sand-volleyball lover, we have very little in common and it somehow makes us work pretty darn well (90% of the time?). Chris loves music, a good podcast, and a great workout, all of which these boys seem to make harder to do than they once were. He’s the best of the best.

Lincoln Mac. My firstborn and the babe who made me a mama! A challenge from day one (and the day prior, and the pregnancy prior…) but the most rewarding, joy-filled, curiosity-driven toddler I’ve known. His smile lights up all of our rooms and he can’t get enough of buttons, lids, doors, and containers… so he keeps our toy budget low. Diagnosed with FPIES at 6 months after an acute reaction to rice cereal, he’s now up to almost 30 safe foods and eating like a champ! Dislikes include diaper changes, snuggles that last longer than .03 seconds, being told no, and any activities where his beloved lion wubbanub is not present. Also currently obsessed with giving “kisses”, which are in fact long slow head butts:

Miles Peter. Our second son and the boy who renewed my appreciation for newborns! Happy, sweet, smiley, and quick to let us know when his tummy’s not quite right. He loves to watch his big brother, play on his activity mat, coo, and really anything that doesn’t involve the carseat or mama attempting to expand her palate. Also seems to be following in Lincoln’s footsteps with blocked tear ducts, FPIES, and a very sensitive immune system.

Jackie O, more often known as dingus. She’s the sweetest dog, very protective of her mama and her babies, and she’ll do just about anything for a good piece of cheese. Loves to bark but never bites, even when Lincoln is determined to fully remove her tail or take up residence in her kennel.

So there you have it. My entire world, distilled into less than 500 words. As you (now) know, we’re not entirely consumed navigating FPIES- we are more than the allergies we’re battling and I’m sure you are too! So let me know who you are, how you found us, and what you’d like to read more of on the blog. I love to process and vent, but I also LOVE to find ways to support you to keep at this beast of a fight! All the best, from my 5 member household to yours.

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Recipe Round-Up

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your week has been reaction-free, sunburn-free, and generally uneventful in the best of ways. I asked yesterday on instagram (find us @ chunkythighsandfpies) what you wanted to hear more of, and the resounding answer from FPIES mamas was, RECIPES! I’ll share my go-tos in a sec, but first, a few quick updates from our happy, albeit sleep-deprived, home!

-After 3 weeks of occult blood positives (after I tried a single scrambled egg!), Miles is FINALLY back to baseline and occult-blood-free. Thank goodness.

Quite possibly the surest indication we’re back to baseline: he spontaneously falls asleep, even during tummy time.

-Lincoln had what we thought was a hive after an earlier shrimp trial, but he tested fully negative for a shrimp allergy so we’re proceeding with the trial! 4 days in and no hives, so we’re almost ready to call it an official pass. Bonus, he loves shrimp!

We haven’t kicked the Neocate habit yet, but every pass is one step closer!

-The rest of his allergy tests- dairy, soy, egg yolks/whites, and wheat- all came back negative as well, which means we’re good to go ahead and trial them for FPIES responses. Dairy and soy we’ll trial in the hospital in November, but wheat and eggs are coming up here at home, just as soon as I work up the courage and no random sickness gets in our way.

Alright, if you’re not an allergy mama, this may be where we part ways for today. I promise, I’m not offended! If you’re a fellow FPIES mama forever in search of simple, short-ingredient-list-recipes, read on. Here, in no particular order, are my staples:

Almond Cookies: (Recipe adapted from post on FPIES facebook support group)

1 Cup Almond Flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar, syrup, or other safe sweetener

2 Tbsp water

Optional: add enjoy life chocolate chips, coconut flakes, raisins, etc.

Mix all ingredients, roll into 8 balls of dough. Optional: score with a fork. Bake at 350 for approximately 12-14 minutes.

Watermelon pedialyte: 

4 Cups Water

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Sugar

2-4 cubes frozen fruit puree

Heat water to a boil. Add salt and sugar; stir until dissolved. Add fruit; stir until dissolved. Cool. Optional: strain mixture through a strainer or coffee filter to remove pulp.

Quinoa Pancakes:

1 Cup Quinoa Flour

1/2 Cup Applesauce or fruit puree

Water or Milk (we use water, coconut milk or Malk)

Toppings: syrup, jelly, nut butter, etc.

Mix all ingredients. Add enough liquid to create a thin, pourable batter. Fry in safe oil. Serve with safe toppings!

Tinfoil Dinner:

To be fair, this isn’t even really a recipe. But I’ve found it’s one of the easiest ways to get Lincoln to try new foods, complete food trials, and gobble down a lot of calories! We usually start with about 2 oz meat and half a potato. You can then add: broccoli florets, apple slices, mushrooms, or whatever your grill able safes are! Load up with plenty of safe butter or oil (or lard or tallow!). Wrap TIGHTLY in foil and grill for about 15 minutes, depending on the size.

Basic Beet Muffins: Go ogle the beautiful Healthy Bambino website and make this tasty recipe, stat! The only thing I’ve done differently is doubled the amount of beets. Lincoln gobbles these bad boys up.

Quinoa Drops: If quinoa is a safe, and especially if it’s one of a very few, the Cradle Rocking Mama is your girl. Try any of the quinoa recipes- she hasn’t let me down yet!

That’s all for now allergy friends, but I certainly intend to add more recipes as I discover them and as you share them! I hope if you’re working with a short list of safes, some of these can help you out…and I hope one day we can all just pick up a muffin mix, fast food dinner, or store baked cookie and enjoy those now and again, too 🙂

Allergists, assemble!

Happy Tuesday to this lovely virtual allergy-minded community! I shared yesterday on an Instagram story (@chunkythighsandfpies) that Lincoln passed a round of allergy skin testing with flying colors. And message after message come flooding in celebrating with us! Most from mamas I’ve never met, but it’s clear they know as well as our closest friends what those results mean for us. They can share this sigh of relief we’re breathing today. I don’t yet know what the future of this blogging journey is, or what this powerful community that’s forming will become, or really even what I’ll share next week. What I do know is that I’m incredibly moved by your support and stronger for your insights. Thanks, social media. You do me proud.

One advantage of this platform is getting messages from mamas who are just a few months behind us in their FPIES journey. And one of the first questions they tend to ask is, “who gave you your diagnosis?” Because as so many of us know first hand, finding a doctor who understands FPIES is a challenge by itself! Having already run this gauntlet,  I’ll share who makes up our superhero care team, in the hopes it will help you form yours.  We sure couldn’t manage without ours.

Note: with the exception of our pediatrician, we found our team through other FPIES mamas and the Facebook FPIES support group. Reach out! This is the best way to find doctors who are familiar with this rare condition we’re up against.

Pediatric Allergist: Dr. Stillerman has been the anchor of our care team (the Thor, if it were). He diagnosed Lincoln after the first acute reaction. Together with his saintly nurse, Theresa, they’ve hooked us up with promotional formula, insurance coordinations for coverage, and necessary hospital food challenges. They guide us on food trials, provide skin prick testing when needed, and are impressively up to date on current FPIES research.

Pediatric Gastroenterologist: Since FPIES is a gastrointestinal allergy, it’s no surprise you’ll want at least one gut expert on your team. We just saw Dr. Downs for the first time last week! I had taken Lincoln to a gastroenterology clinic early in his life, pre-FPIES diagnosis, and didn’t find it particularly helpful. This time, however, it was a whole different story with Miles! Dr. Downs clearly knows FPIES well and was able to advise me on breastfeeding, my TED diet, and eventual introduction of solids with Miles.

Dietician: Truly, a crucial piece of the care team. We have been seeing Lea Wetzell at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. While she’s not particularly familiar with FPIES, she is incredibly helpful with gut healing, diet balancing, food trial recommendations, and generally just a wealth of knowledge. She is outstanding and flexible, which helps tremendously when you’re plotting your little one’s food-introduction journey.

Pediatrician: If it’s in your capabilities, search for one who knows FPIES. Despite our fortune finding other specialists, it took us over a year to find a pediatrician who truly understands FPIES. And all by happenstance! We stumbled across Dr. Nolan for a sick visit a month ago. What a difference we’ve had in the last month! Running blood work, following up after reactions, recommending medications, and playing the never ending “reaction or virus” game is infinitely better with a doctor who gets it! Also, ordering those all-too-frequent occult blood tests.

Last but not least, if you’re breastfeeding, make sure you also have a primary doctor overseeing your own nutrition, diet, and general health! As I wrote about last week, it’s easy to forget, and it’s definitely not healthy.

Our medical team manage Lincoln and Miles’s health care,  and you keep me sane. Thank you for your support, friends! If you’re having trouble finding doctors, reach out! That’s how we found our team. Let’s connect and get our littles the doctors they need to thrive! Wishing you a sunny, delightful, reaction-free week.

A Sailor’s Life For Me!

(Alternate Title: That Time I Got Scurvy.)

Kids, y’all. I couldn’t love the two of mine more, but I’m pretty sure they’re at least 50% dementor. Lately, they’ve legitimately drained every ounce of life from me!

Luckily, they’re also the cutest.

My sleep, my energy, my patience, and every last vitamin and nutrient…straight out of my soul (or bones) and into theirs. I saw this picture and it’s been the sweetest, most intense reminder lately, that I’m doing this work of building whole humans and it’s taking more and more of me by the day.

father and son

I felt I needed to find out just exactly how much these lovable monsters were sucking from me, so I headed to a primary care doctor recommended by a fellow FPIES and TED mama. (If you’re in the Twin Cities area, do yourself a solid and go visit Dr. Okulaja… she was warm, thorough, knowledgeable, and delightful!) She ran blood work to test my levels of various vitamins and nutrients, check my thyroid, etc.

The following week, I returned to look over the extensive results and put together a care plan. We chatted briefly, cooed over sleeping baby Miles, and turned to the computer. I was expecting some pretty generic results- you need more iron, your hormones are out of whack, and/or up your calcium intake. Instead, she grabbed my shoulders, laughed, and said, “You have scurvy!”

Turns out, I’m so severely Vitamin C deficient, I do in fact have a level that qualifies as scurvy. I’m also severely deficient in Vitamin D and B12, with other milder deficiencies in plenty of other categories. While women’s bodies are absolutely incredible and can create lives, there are, apparently, limitations. My body can not take massive quantities of the exact same food every day and turn it into a wildly diverse, nutritious menu. It’s doing the best it can, but it needs some help. And maybe an orange or two.

I had originally given up on supplements and vitamins when it seemed Miles was reacting to everything under the sun, but I’m reintroducing them to be sure we’re both getting what we need. After all, if I’m going to these great lengths to breastfeed him and it isn’t even healthy for either of us, what’s the point! I’m supplementing Vitamin C, D, B12, MethylFolate, calcium, and iron, at this point. I’m eager to see what effect these changes have on my energy, sleep, Miles’s growth, scurvy symptoms, and both of our lives in general.

I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about frustrations with the medical community. In my early experience, I talked about how they don’t know enough about FPIES, they don’t believe me on this or that, etc. but it became abundantly clear to me last week that these tests, results, and recommendations are vital to Miles’s continued development and to my own health. So please be sure, allergy minded amigos, that you have medical professionals you trust to help you on this difficult journey and advise you along the way. It’s necessary for so many reasons, and I forgot that in my distress over the last few months! I’m now in a much better place, knowing I have an excellent doctor looking after me and my boys and reviewing our dietary choices. It’s so easy to forget, but don’t forget that there arrrrrrrr consequences.

As always, thanks for stopping by and checking in on us on this sunny Tuesday. I hope you have a warm, reaction-free, beautiful week! Yo ho!

 

It’s not about the (damn) fries.

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Spoiler Alert for today’s content: I’m very tired, and very lucky.

Fairly often as the week goes by, a few ideas cross my mind of what I want to share with you all. I have plenty of drafts started. This week in particular, I knew exactly what I’d write about: our first successful family trip to a restaurant! Never mind that it was going to be Chick fil-A. Never mind that the only menu item Lincoln and I could enjoy is the fries (which, FYI FPIES mamas, are only canola oil and potatoes)… We were going to teach valuable lessons, practice restaurant etiquette, and for once in his 16 months of life, Lincoln was going to try food not prepared by me! Ever since we trialed canola oil several weeks ago, I’d been working up the courage to take Lincoln and test out the restaurant experience. Exciting stuff, people.

We decided to go Saturday, mid afternoon, so we could also take advantage of the play place and time it with everyone’s current nap regimens. I packed up some sides for Lincoln and myself (because even for us, just french fries wasn’t quite going to cut it!) and the entire suitcase of stuff it takes us to get out the door these days. And off we went!

I was all kinds of excited. In case you aren’t picking up on the foreshadowing here, I had definitely gotten myself way too attached to this idea and it wasn’t going to end well. We pulled into Chick-fil-A, and saw two incredibly long lines of cars in the drive through. Zero parking spaces in the lot. A double stacked line straight out the door. Zero empty tables visible. A play place so full you couldn’t see through it. At two o’clock on a Saturday afternoon!

We contemplated our options and I insisted I wanted to make it work. We unloaded the kids from the carseats, but by the time we got to the door we realized we couldn’t even get all the way in the entrance. Those damn french fries just weren’t meant to be! We loaded the kids back in the car (as well as aforementioned suitcase of supplies, menu items, etc), and drove home. About three blocks into the drive, Chris finally noticed that I was sobbing in the passenger seat next to him. And at that moment, I was too disappointed and worked up to really articulate what in the world made me so sad about missing out on the 900 calorie binge fest of not-even-that-good Chick-fil-A fries.

But now I’ve had time to process, and here’s the thing: FPIES mamas, we never, ever get a break, do we! It’s not about the fries. It’s about exhaustion. Lincoln has been eating 3 meals a day since he was about 7 months old, which puts me somewhere in the ballpark of 750 meals in a row in my kitchen for him. It feels like I meal prep all day, every day. It’s about spontaneity. We can’t decide on a whim to stay at a friend’s house through dinner, because that means Lincoln won’t eat. We can’t extend our stay one more night at the cabin if I haven’t thought that through in advance. Even bad rush hour traffic can send me into a panic if I haven’t prepped enough snacks. It’s about convenience. Homemade hashbrowns, gluten/egg free meatballs, fresh beet muffins…all these foods that delight Lincoln sure aren’t available prepackaged. It’s about family time, summer fun, happy hour patios, and social lives. For now, FPIES has imposed quite a few restrictions on us, and I’m tired of it. Up until our Chick-fil-A fiasco, I don’t think I’d realized how much all of these stressors had weighed me down.

(I hope you know me well enough by now to know that overall, I’m so grateful for my sweet, healthy family, for a diagnosis they’ll outgrow, and for the VAST amounts of progress both my boys have made! This one experience may have gotten me down this week, but overall, we are in a GREAT place. Maybe I don’t need that disclaimer at this point, but if you’re new to my site, just know that I’m a grateful mama. FPIES just has it’s moments!) 

There are certainly ways to prevent this from being quite so heavy. I make sure to keep a bottle of water and a few pre-measured canisters of formula in my car and in the diaper bag. Both are also stocked with safe snacks like these fruit crisps, applesauce pouches, and olives to go. Whenever we can, we make plans with friends at homes instead of restaurants, and I’m finding more and more ways to make treats for Lincoln that we can take on the go! But we sure look forward to the day the four of us can go to a restaurant and order off the menu.

It will happen. It just didn’t happen last Saturday. And probably won’t happen this Saturday. Eventually, it will. These boys will get fast food on family road trips. They will learn to hold a fork properly and put their napkin in their lap. They’ll get to order off the dessert menu and hide under the table when they’re done. And I won’t have to cook all of their food forever. It just feels like I will because that’s my life today and tomorrow and the next day and the next. And the day after that, too. This schedule is hard, but not forever. Just like the infant/toddler phase. It would just be easier to wash it down with some fries I didn’t make.

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Like I said…very tired, very lucky.

In the meantime, how are you making it work? How do you prepare foods to have available on the go, and are there any restaurants (especially if you’re in the twin cities area!) you’ve found to be particularly accommodating to food allergies? I’d appreciate any and all insights, as always! Hope you have a wonderful, healthy, reaction-free week, friends.

 

Welcome to my TED talk.

Hi all! Where in the world is July going?! My babies are almost 3 months and 16 month. I, for one, would be thankful if time could Slow. The Hell. Down. This summer is way too lovely to rush to a close.

A few weeks ago, I shared about some of the ways hidden ingredients, particularly soy, dairy, and corn, have tripped us up in our journey to hit baseline for Miles through breastmilk. Since then I’ve received several questions on instagram about the diet that led us there, so today I’ll just quickly share the details of my very exciting diet these days. To be honest, this post is both cathartic and (as always) to help mamas and kiddos and anyone in similar circumstances. In particular, those of you in your TED journey or FPIES journey, but please remember that every babe is SO different and what’s safe for mine very well might not be for yours! Several of the foods on my diet now were originally fails for Lincoln, and several things that he tolerated well, Miles does not. So even in my own family there’s no consensus on what’s truly “safe”!

Anyway, after much trial and error, here’s the menu in my humble (chaotic) abode these days:

Safe Food List: pork, white potatoes, spinach, mushrooms, parsnips, (fresh) sauerkraut, watermelon, blueberries buckwheat, salt, pepper, olive oil, 100% agave tequila, plain sparkling water

Breakfast: hashbrowns and these safe sausages from Costco.

Lunch: Cream of Buckwheat, brown sugar, blueberries. If I need more calories, I add in some additive free bacon!

Dinner: Grilled tinfoil packet with: ground pork, potatoes, mushrooms, parsnips. Served over spinach and this safe sauerkraut for gut healing. Sometimes I substitute the ground pork for these safe brats.

Snacks: spud crunchies, watermelon, and chick-fil-A fries (who it pains me to patronize…) are all approved for snacks on the go.

And that’s it, people. We’re on week 7 with this menu. It didn’t take me long to learn that tiny cheats- a handful of allergen free chocolate chips, a different type of berry, or even a lick of my finger after prepping Lincoln’s meals, goes straight to Miles. And no bite of chocolate, no matter how decadent, is worth three (or more!) days of a sad, fussy baby!

If you’re new to this journey, I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you. It is so hard. Figuring out what’s a trigger is a slow, painstaking process. For Miles, every tiny fail takes 2-3 days of extreme fussiness, followed by more than a week of bad diapers, to recover from, so new trials are terrifying. He finally hit baseline again yesterday- it took a full 10 days for the two drops  of Vitamin D I gave him to clear his system.

There are a few key things I’ve learned in this process:

-Peeled and cooked fruits and veggies seem to be much easier for you, and your little, to digest. Peel and cook all your apples, potatoes, and so on- it saves a lot of pain (though not time) in my experience! And foods that might be a fail raw may very well be a pass cooked, so it’s worth the trial.

-Find a doctor who will help you manage this! Just this morning I saw a primary care doctor who ran quite a few tests for vitamin levels, iron levels, etc, and I’m very eager to see what she’ll find and recommend. Between her and my dietician, I’m confident that, while this diet isn’t ideal, it’s not destroying my body. If it suits your goals, find a medical professional who supports your decision and won’t just push formula- it may take quite a few appointments to find the right person but it’s so worth it.

-Eat a LOT of your safe foods! You need 300-500 extra calories a day to breastfeed, which likely means eating a ton of your safe meat, protein, and/or starch. I’ve learned through trial and error, as well as from my dietician, that Miles struggles when I lose weight too fast. You don’t want your body burning too much fat and releasing a whole host of new metabolites (previously stored in fat) into your breastmilk. So count, or at least be mindful of, your calories! (These kids sure have a way of raining on my parade… 😉)

-And, last but not least, find a group of people to help you brainstorm. I’ve found the TED Mamas group on facebook to be the best for troubleshooting diet issues and suggesting foods to trial, but I also have a few friends who are going or have gone through this. Picking their brains, asking for recipes, solidarity, and texting back and forth what foods we’re daydreaming about is crucial to sticking with this tough road.

 

Hang in there food allergy friends, TED mamas, and all the rest of you. We’ve got this and we’ll get these babies healthy one way or another! And a friendly reminder, I chose formula with Lincoln and that was there with choice for him and for our family. I’m in no way trying to promote one option over the other. Do what you need to, to be a happy, healthy mama and grow a tiny human! It’s a marathon, but you’ve got this.

As always, wishing you a healthy, reaction-free week! Stay tuned for more details of our adventure next week. Thanks for attending my TED talk!

 

F is for FPIES, food, friends, and FEARS.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend and you’re tackling this week feeling healthy and refreshed. We enjoyed family, friends, barbecues pools, and even a date night! Photographic evidence:

Over said gloriously long weekend I started quite a few posts, including one I’ll share sometime soon with the new recipes Lincoln Mac is loving. But since the original point of this here blog-o is catharsis for me, you’ll have to indulge me today, because this is the only post I seem able to complete in my post 4th recovery. I mostly use this space to process and make my peace with this challenging ordeal we’re going through. Today (most days?) what’s in my mind is fear. And how to temper it in a way that creates a healthy home and peaceful space for my boys to thrive.

And this week, that has been HARD. Fellow food allergy mamas, how in the world do you cope with this anxiety day in and day out? I’ve never been totally anxiety free. I definitely wrestled with it (and took medication for it!) in college, but for the most part I’ve been able to cope ever since. But this FPIES diagnosis has got me riding the anxiety train 24/7. And more often than not, attempting to drag my husband on board with me. I lay awake worrying about each and every trial. I sometimes abort plans en route if I’m too worried about what food will be out when we get there or what weird symptom Lincoln is experiencing. I find myself zoning out of conversations when I’m with friends to stare at Lincoln and watch every move his little (giant, actually) toddler hands makes. And, on the occasion that I miss a moment or he has a possible exposure, it takes me hours or even days to let it go.

Over the holiday weekend, he nearly ate a green bean from a friend’s dish, found a piece of shredded cheese on another friend’s floor, and took a dish out of our dishwasher and picked a piece of spinach off of it. (Big disclaimer here: I am not calling out our friends, other toddlers, or inanimate dishwashers. The risks are inevitable, even in our own home! We have exceptional friends who go the extra mile to understand and take precautions for our little ones!) Three times! In four days! Each could have landed us in the hospital. Did it? No. Would it, even if he had eaten the tiny piece of offending food? Probably not. Did I still lose hours of sleep and spend days obsessing over my near failure to keep him safe? Absolutely. Definitely to an unhealthy level.

And the list goes on. What if Lincoln and Miles have totally different safe foods? I’m already drowning in food prep; how will I make a third separate meal three times a day without cross contamination?! How will these kiddos ever safely go to daycare or preschool, or even just stay with a non-family babysitter? What do we trial next? When do I have to bite the bullet and start scarier food trials, like wheat and egg? What if we’re all getting deficiencies from these crazy restrictions? Or developing IgE allergies? Is there blood in this diaper? Or this one? Or this one? And on. And on.

Some of these worries are totally unwarranted and some are valid. We trialed one tiny vitamin D drop for Miles on Saturday and we’re just starting to recover from the harsh fail three days later. Tiny exposures can definitely be devastating, and comforting an uncomfortable baby for three days straight is legit exhausting. But there’s also just times when babies and toddlers fuss, and are crabby, and don’t feel great, and I don’t need to stay up all night for those. So how do I tell the difference?

And as anticlimactic as that is, that’s my point. I don’t know how to tell the difference. Unfortunately for all of us, our little ones are in their infancy at the same time as FPIES research. So until this is more fleshed out, my research is with you all- coping in the face of the unknown. How do you manage your (food allergy) anxiety with your little ones? Therapy? Meditation? By never leaving the house? Starting to teach your child allergen avoidance as early as possible? What words do you use and what tools might help?

I’m grateful for any and all advice. I hate that some of these incredibly precious days are passing me by, because I’m too busy obsessing over the color of poop in a diaper to appreciate the giggles and smiles on my happy boys faces. FPIES already takes every afternoon for meal prepping; I refuse to give it any more. Can’t wait to hear how you cope and how I can improve! Thanks in advance for the insights, lovelies. As always, have a fantastic and reaction free week.