A light at the end of the tunnel?

Emma Joy-less.  That's what she has been for far too long.  Perhaps we finally have a solution?


It all started back in February.  No wait, I guess if I want to be really accurate, I should say it started back in October.  Yes, October.  We all got a cold.  Emma and Grace each had their first set of ear infections.  Then Emma developed this awful cough.  It.would.not.go.away.  By January, after countless doctor visits and nurse phone consultations, she finally saw a children's pulmonologist.  (These guys are not very easy to get in to see!)  The verdict - Asthma and some funky condition called Bronchomalacia, which I am more than likely spelling wrong.  On with the inhalers and nebulizer, and within a couple of weeks she was much better.  We thought.  But, wait.  Next came the second ear infections (both ears) in February.  More antibiotics.  But they didn't work.  So, more antibiotics.  And they worked this time!  For exactly two weeks.  And then she had another ear infection.  I failed to mention that this entire time her eczema has been driving her crazy, and her scalp has been scaly and itchy, too.  Back to the ears - a new antibiotic and she was set.  For a couple weeks, when the problem of course returned.  Or never went away.  Who knows which.  All I can tell you is at this point we were losing our minds with not getting any sleep, repeatedly visiting a doctor of some sort, and trying to entertain a busy, chatty three year old while keeping an irritated one year old comfortable.  (Not having much luck)  Ear surgery and tubes were finally done on June 5th.  We were excited at the prospect of sleep and a happy baby.  Only, that didn't happen.


Turns out there is this thing called "atopic triad" which I can't pretend to know enough about to describe, but I found some helpful info here and of course from our doctors.  To sum it up, a combination of symptoms (such as chronic ear infections, asthma, and eczema) are often attributed to severe allergies, likely food.  Had an allergy test done last week (blood draw for babies = heart palpitations for momma, a mild cry from baby).  Here we are on June 22nd and we finally have some answers (or so we hope).  It seems that Emma has several food allergies.  Mostly things that she eats on a daily basis.  Lovely, I now feel like I have been poisoning my kid.  No more eggs, bananas, wheat, dairy, chocolate (poor thing!), or tomatoes.  Or beef, but I don't believe she's ever even eaten it, so she won't miss that.  What on earth am I to feed this kid?!  She's already been off dairy for a couple weeks, drinking coconut milk in her bottle which makes her smell insanely delicious.  But I was really hoping to get her back on cheese and yogurt since she loves it beyond belief.  Guess we'll hold off on that.  (And of course you probably know we are already a nut-free family due to Grace's allergy, sheesh!)


All in all, as overwhelmed and frustrated as I am and have been by all of this, I am grateful to at least have some direction that doesn't include pumping more drugs into my baby's little body.  There are so many helpful blogs and sources out there by moms who are pros at this.  In all of my free time (ha!) I have been exploring them a little, now I am ready to research the heck out of them.  Thinking about cooking and baking for my family in the long term feels daunting, even dreadful (which is crummy because that is one area of mommyhood that I have always enjoyed!), and it certainly is an art.  Those that have it figured out, hats off to you!  Anyone that has some helpful suggestions or resources, they are graciously welcomed.  In the meantime, I am hoping *fingers and toes crossed* that by eliminating these known problem foods she (we) can get some quick relief and a good night's sleep.