Allergic Reaction

Yesterday morning was quite eventful for our family.  The boys had their first allergic reaction.  God was gracious keeping them safe and keeping me calm.  The boys have been doing so well with eating table food and feeding themselves. They love eating whole grain bread and I decided to spread a little peanut butter on it.  They were eating it up and making their "num num" sounds indicating that they liked it.  They ate the first couple cubes so I gave them some more.  Winston started whining and rubbed his eyes and started pulling on his ears.  I thought it was his standard sleepiness signals since they eat breakfast shortly before their morning nap.  I realized that he was getting a red ring around his mouth.  He was developing hives in the blink of an eye.  I pulled the trays off the high chairs and pulled Winston out of his high chair first since he was not looking good.  I quickly washed Winston's face and hands since everywhere he had touched his face was turning red and puffy.  He was breathing fine but was irritable.  I was mentally preparing myself to call 911 if his breathing became labored or wheezy.  Abraham was completely unfazed.  He had some minor redness around his mouth and a few hives on his face but was looking a lot better than Winston.  I called Eric at work and thank God he picked up right away.  I explained what was happening and that I had no Benadryl in the house.  Eric left work right away and got children's Benadryl for me.  While I was waiting I had the boys on the floor playing.  I started nursing Winston because my thought was that if he was having trouble breathing then he would not be able to nurse.  He was nursing just fine so I knew he could breathe through his nose okay.  Then I nursed Abraham who was still acting like nothing was wrong despite his red face.  I got both boys into the bath tub to rinse off any peanut residual.  At that point Eric got home with the Benadryl and we began discussing dosage since it was not for infants.  I had tried calling my pediatrician several times at this point and had no success even getting the answering service.  I called the hospital where the boys were born and asked to speak to a nurse in the pediatric unit.  I explained what was happening and they connected me to the pediatrician on call who is an associate of our regular pediatrician.  The doctor was fabulous and made sure about the concentration of the Benadryl we had bought and gave us a dosage to use.  She reassured me that it was prefectly acceptable to let them try the peanut butter and that I did not do something wrong.  She was going to leave a message with our regular pediatrician and that he would refer us to an allergist. The boys were happily splashing in the tub at this point and I knew they were going to be okay.  The boys got their Benadryl and took some good naps yesterday.  Winston had the stronger reaction so he actually took three naps and I had to wake him up for dinner.  They look great today and are acting like nothing ever happened. 

 This is Winston about 4 hours after his reaction.  His face was looking a lot

better here but his whole body had a rash. 

I LOVE peanut butter and eat it all the time. I have continued nursing the boys and they never developed eczema which can be a tell tale sign to being allergic to something within my diet. Neither Eric nor I have a family history of food allergies.  Eric has some problems with lactose but nothing severe like what happened yesterday.  The boys love peas and pinto beans which are also in the legume family like peanuts and have had no problems with eating them.  I actually made sure before I let them try the peanut butter that I was not doing something against the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations.  I read how in countries like Israel where infants are exposed to peanuts there is a lower prevalence of peanut allergies than in countries where it is advised against until later in toddlerhood. The abstract is here.  So all that to say I was not being flippant or taking an unnecesary risk in giving it to the boys.

I am humbled as a mother.  I did everything "right" yet this still happened.  I will confess that at times when I hear about kids having severe food allergies that I have wondered if they were not breastfed or if they were introduced to solids too soon.  I am a jerk like that sometimes.  God has used this to again show me of His sovereignty and that my children truly rest in His hands.  I can try to control everything but ultimately things like food allergies are out of my hands.

My husband actually wrapped up two jars of all natural peanut butter for me for Christmas because I love it so much.  Costco had discontinued their organic peanut butter several months ago and they finally got an all natural version in shortly before Christmas and Eric knew I was so excited about it. I now have several jars of peanut butter to get out of my pantry.  I ate oatmeal for breakfast instead of peanut butter toast.  It's going to be a process for me to get it out of my diet and to be vigilant about reading labels for the boys.  I am going to eliminate tree nuts as well until we know what we are dealing with.  I am telling myself to take it one day at a time and that this will again become our new normal. 

My three men.  I love them more than life.

Our Country is Addicted to Corn

I enjoy food. I do not like being enslaved to it however. With the increasing obesity epidemic not just here in the United States but all across the world (and yet we have a global food crisis, mmmmh) I often ponder what is making us all so fat. Well the reality is that calories are not created equal. Even food banks in this time of economic duress have begun to kindly refuse high calorie but nutrionally empty foods laden with saturated fats and/or high fructose corn syrup. Can a person be nutritionally deficient but still obese? Yes. As a person consumes food that does not have the micronutrients (or sadly even macronutrients) they need their hunger mechanism will not be satiated telling them to consume more in hopes of meeting their nutritional requirements...in a word, nutritionally starved but obese people.

The Western diet is largely based on corn and meat raised on corn and we banked our hopes on cleaner environment with corn based ethanol. I sure wonder why food prices have gone up so much? Type II diabetes used to be known as adult on-set diabetes but with the prolific "fast-food" culture we live in we now see public service announcements to address the prevention of this disease in children.

But please don't take my word for it. Michael Pollan, a respected writer when it comes to American eating habits and our agricultural history, has written two well known books, An Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. A brief synopsis of In Defense of Food can be read here. People have no concept of how much corn they eat (a starch), that fortified foods are not insurance against nutritional deficiency and that food manfacturers pay for the labels like "American Heart Association Approved." The "whole grain, heart healthy" Pop-Tarts are not good for you regardless of whatever the package says.

I think the key here is that the maxim, "You are what you eat" resonates with me. If I eat processed foods that bare no resemblance to the original counterparts that helped create them, a list with things I cannot pronounce then I am not a healthy, well balanced person. If my bread has more than six ingredients, why in the world would I want to put that in my body? I will be honest in saying that I am sugar/bad carb addict that is constantly in the process of reformation because my body feels so much better when I do eat well. Even the aisles at Trader Joe's with their convenient frozen food options call my name but they add so much stuff my body does not need.

I have some food books on my list that I want to read and can hopefully post some more stuff down the road. Let me know if you want some recommendations on other foodie books.