feeding the little man

 (A bite for me, a bite for you)

Yesterday we had an appointment with an allergy specialist. I didn't know if we needed to go because we have a pretty good handle on it these days but the specialist was great and it turned out to be informative. We still didn't know if he had Celiac disease or not because you have to be eating some sort of gluten to be tested for it and his symptoms are so extreme that we would never do that to the poor guy at this point. But the good news is that the doctor said what we already sort of figured, that his symptoms are too extreme to be Celiac. He has wheat colitis, which  means he's allergic to wheat. So there is a small chance that he could outgrow it at some point. He's actually lactose intolerant too which complicates things more but that's another story. If he gets some in his system his stomach hurts, enough to where he'll just scream for hours, and has unbelievable diarrhea. It used to be that I could change him right after he was finished and still he would have awful boils on his bum.

 It's been quite the trial but we've figured it all out and now the only time we usually have a bout is when he gets a hold of something that other kids have, which I'm learning is almost impossible to avoid 100% of the time. It rarely happens now but when we are around other kids and there's snacks everywhere he'll have picked a gold fish off the floor or grabbed something off someones plate. That's when I get to look like a crazy mom and swipe his mouth like he just ate dirt or something worse. But even when he just puts something in his mouth for a second he can get sick. Crazy, right? The worst is when someone gives him something and I have to say no after the fact. It will be better when he's older but no he's just too little to understand so I'm sure he thinks I'm just the meanest mom.

I've been learning a lot about gluten-free cooking. Up until now we have fed him mostly meat, eggs, fish, yogurt made from coconut milk, fruits and vegetables.  And we use other flour blends to make him pancakes and things like that. Stir-fry with gluten-free soy sauce for him is one of our go-to meals lately.  It helps that he's a good eater for the most part and loves fruits and veggies. Thank goodness for that.

 This blog and this one has been helpful in finding some good recipes.  And I've found that just using my own recipes and substituting with the right blend of flours works well. Let me tell you there are some gross gluten-free recipes out there. I've had to throw some things away they've been so bad.  My cute friend Jesse has a Paleo food blog where she posts gluten-free recipes too.