And the Journey Continues

November 2009 through March/April of 2010 we continued with the pattern we had established, no questions asked. No more visible blood in Ellie's stool, and she continued to grow and measure in the 90 percentile. Vomiting continued, as did stool problems, but overall we didn't question it. The crying was less, the extreme pain seemed to be gone, and we just assumed what we had left was 'personality'. This view was encouraged by doctors, and I just resigned myself to having no clothing without stains.

We were instructed to delay the introduction of solids, starting at 6 months with rice cereal, and adding vegetables and fruits. Sounded pretty standard. At 8 or 9 months we could introduce cooked noodles, lean meats, and beans. The restrictions were: no milk or soy until after 1 year, no egg or tree nuts until after 2 years, and no peanuts, fish, or shellfish until after 3 years. "By postponing diet the introduction of food allergens, the development of food hypersensitivity is delayed in high-risk infants but this does not prevent the disorder". That final statement made me think that there was no hurry to get onto solids, so I figured we would wait until a year to introduce most. By April and 8 months of age, Elianna was still not sleeping through the night. She woke frequently, cried lots, ate a LOT of formula, and was a chubby, roley-poly baby. I decided that I had better introduce some food to help her sleep at night and make her feel more full.

I had no idea that this would quickly start our new adventure and change our lives forever.