When she had her second FPIES reaction i decided to cut all the food i was feeding her for awhile. Her poor gut was a mess! The poo was insane and she needed a break so we could try get her back to baseline. Since then i have been in contact with an amazing lady who was the one who got me started on the whole gut healing journey our family started about 4 years ago now. She also had kids with FPIES and she used the GAPS diet to help heal them. She gave me some awesome insight into the unpredictability of FPIES and how sickness, teething and anything detoxing can trigger FPIES flare ups. It is all to do with inflammation in the body and the body not coping with the food proteins and rejecting them causing the reactions. If the body isn't fighting inflammation too much then more foods can be tolerated. I definitely see this is true with how Halle can have safe foods (herself or ones that i'm eating and she can tolerate through breast milk) and then after a reaction to something else, or when she's sick she will lose them. Sometimes i can add them back after a break but not always. I saw the same with Abbey and Iyla, but back then i never understood what was going on! FPIES is such a mystery and so confusing!! It goes against the basic understanding of most allergies. After my chat to this knowledgeable lady i realised that i needed to slow down on feeding Halle. Her body struggles to even cope with the fiber in vegetables, it's all too much on her gut. So now it is all about healing and reducing inflammation. Slow cooked broth and meats are amazing at healing the lining of the gut, so that is what we have started with. For about a month now that is all i have been feeding Halle. Boring i know, but if it will help in the long run i am all for it. Soon i am going to VERY slowly start introducing carrot juice. Carrot juice is known for it's anti inflammatory properties. I really hope she will tolerate it! Then after she turns one I'll start adding in vegetables that i know she doesn't react to through breast milk. They will be slow cooked in broth to help them be easier to digest.
Over the past month, most of the time things were great with Halle. She was such a happy little girl again. Life was easy and i was actually getting back into a nice routine and even keeping the house clean! hahahaha. But without warning things have been pretty rough again lately. She cut her 5th tooth and true to FPIES form, this messed with her gut again. She also found some crumbs of things on the floor and has had a mild reactions which have caused screaming, gross poo, fighting every single sleep, waking a million times a night and just not being her normal happy self. I have also lost a few foods that i used to be able to eat. It's so hard to become even more restricted. But i know without a doubt that breast milk is the very best for her right now. I have gotten this far and she mostly does amazing, i can't even play with the idea of formula that she more than likely wont even tolerate. She is putting on weight, i am able to maintain my weight and she is getting enough to eat. It's a lot of work and there are definitely days i wish i could give up, but i know i can do this!
I'm really hoping things settle down with Halle again soon and we can avoid more reactions. But with her starting to be on the move i have a feeling we are only at the start of the hardest part of this journey. She isn't crawling yet thankfully but she is learning to bum shuffle and can move short distances. It's amazing the things she finds on the floor even after i've just vacuumed!
