I finally made it to a year of breast feeding! I'm so proud of myself that I didn't have to supplement at all over the last year. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of times where I was ready to throw in the towel. I was so ecstatic when I hit that one year mark... but sadly, that excitement wasn't shared by anyone else in my life. It seems as if, the moment you hit one year, everyone around you starts asking when you're going to stop. As if, turning one, means that all the sudden you must switch to cows milk, wean your baby, and never look back. I was being asked at least 2-3 times a week by various co workers, relatives, and friends, if I planned to wean, and when. When did this become anyone's business? When did people start to care so much about when my baby would stop drinking milk from my breasts, and what my plans were for stopping. That seems so absurd to me. Minimal to no support throughout the entire year, and here everyone is, all of the sudden vested in when my output will end.
Well, as it turns out, we will likely be breastfeeding much longer than what I had originally anticipated. Not for her comfort (per say), or for my own desires. We have recently found out that our daughter has a rare food allergy called Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (called FPIES - like the letter F and apple pies). This very rare food allergy is not your typical food allergy. No ma'am, it is the kind that makes you hate feeding your child. As we started to transition our daughter from being primarily fed on breast milk, to eating more and more solid foods, we found out that our daughter is allergic to rice. Yes, rice. That isn't a typo. I've heard from so many people that it's not possible to be allergic to rice. I've even had doctors tell me this. Our pediatrician first suggested it, and we are headed to visit an allergist/specialist in the coming weeks. For those of you unfamiliar with FPIES (like I was) I will give you the nutshell version. It's not a normal food allergy. You don't get a rash, hives, wheezing, breathing difficulties, closed airways, etc. Instead, you get delayed projectile vomiting followed by mucousy, stringy, diarrhea diapers for days. The vomiting can start anywhere from 1-8 hours after a "trigger food" (rice in our case) has been ingested. The vomiting happens every 5-15 min for hours on end. It can lead to dehydration, lethargy, and shock. Sadly, you can't do a blood test, or a skin test for this kind of allergy. Those types of allergies are called IgE allergies (think testable by the immune response in your blood). Instead, the ONLY way to test for this food allergy, is by giving your child the food that will make them violently ill, sick for days on end, and not want to eat for potentially days to weeks. As you can imagine, breast feeding is one of the few ways you can keep a child who is this sick, well hydrated. It is hard on me, but when she gets sick, it's this or having to potentially go to the ER for an IV.
I had planned to start tappering down the number of feeds I was doing, so that we could wean by 18 months. As of last week, that plan is on hold. We ran accross another food that triggers an FPIES reaction. It appears she is also allergic to turkey. We're not 100% sure what caused it, since she had a couple new foods at the same time. But, I am back to breast feeding on demand. As you can imagine, with a 14 month old baby, that means she needs a lot more milk than I can keep up with right now. So you aren't rid of me yet, and this blog may eventually become very geared toward informing and educating the public about FPIES and our journey. For now, I will need to continue nursing, as it has been 6 days where she has eaten less than 2oz of solid foods a day. Until she is back to normal, I am on duty 24 hours a day.
