Do you know the Muffin Man?

Well, Emmalee does. Last Saturday while I was at work, Daddy and Emmalee were having quite the day at home. On Friday we had picked up a dozen of Costco's oversized muffins for breakfasts and snacking. Well, Joel was enjoying Saturday afternoon when he realized it was time to come pick me up from work. So he put the muffin on a bookshelf he didn't think Emmalee could reach in the living room, then left her in the living room to play with toys while he went to get ready to come pick me up. Where there's a will, there's a way. When he came back in the living room, she was not playing with toys. She was on the floor in front of the bookshelf eating his muffin. And from what he tells me she was quite enjoying it. The last time Emmalee had milk-based formula she broke out in hives and rashes, was vomiting blood (not a lot, but enough to worry me, it would more blood tinged spit up than actual blood), and had a very difficult time breathing. This muffins not only contained the dreaded milk, but also wheat, soy and egg. Allergy city. He grabbed her up, washed her mouth out thoroughly and washed her hands (which had been her utensil of choice while stuffing her face) and called me. I was worried so I called the pediatricians office. The nice nurse told me if Emmalee had any signs of breathing difficulty at all to rush her straight to the ER, and not to let her fall asleep for at least two hours, even if she was acting okay.

After all of our stress, something amazing happened. Well, actually nothing happened. That's what was so amazing about it. We hung out at the hospital for about half an hour after I got off work just so that we'd already be there if need be, but she was completely fine. I was so relieved! So was Joel, who was feeling pretty bad by this point. I was actually pretty pleased about the incident because I have been growing increasingly uncomfortable about her being on Neocate for so long. Neocate is a completely Amino Acid based medical formula which has been keeping the allergy monsters at bay with Emmalee. After the muffin incident I gave her pediatric G.I. doctor a call to discuss the idea of maybe changing her formula. So today we officially changed her formula to Nestle Good Start Protect Plus. It's a milk based formula with whey hydrolysate proteins, so partially broken down proteins, for easier digestion and added probiotics. He GI doctors thinks that she will benefit from the added probiotics because of all of her stomach problems. So far everything is going well with it and she doesn't seem to have any reactions to it. Her doctor said he was pleasantly surprised to hear about her lack of reaction to the muffin. He said he normally expects most of his patients to outgrow their allergies between 9-12 months, but he wasn't expecting her to outgrow hers--at all. He pediatrician was also positive she would never outgrow her dairy allergy. We still don't know about soy (she had a bad reaction to soy formula as well) but that was also in the muffin, so who knows.

I'm hoping that this is a good sign and our pleasure over this won't be short-lived. I so happy that my baby is no longer miserable all the time! I also feel lucky that she outgrew (hopefully) her allergy so quickly. She is eight months right now which is still pretty young. I'm so grateful that her colic and most of her growing problems have finally ended (or at least they seem to have ended). I know so many people who have had to deal with it for so much longer. She is still on one of her medications, but going from around 5 down to one is okay with me. She is on cyproheptadine which is an antihistamine that is being used in her as an appetite stimulant. It seems to help calm her gut down and allow her to eat. We also still bring her to the chiropractor three times a week which I think has made a world of difference. Yay for professionals in their field who can help big people and little people feel better and help get their bodies to function properly!