Month 15

December 2008

Well, we're halfway through the month and I thought I would post some interesting, if not totally food-related information about our journey.

We've been seeing a pediatric chiropractor who does cranio-sacral work for about 6 weeks, and have seen dramatic results in DD. Since starting therapy, DD has completely lost her gag reflex and has actually started eating and swallowing her food!

We also just discovered that DD has a tongue tie! I was shocked that I had never noticed it before. We did have all the classic symptoms in the beginning, but I thought it was just from a bad latch and that things would get better (which they eventually did). In the beginning, I had a lot of pain while nursing, and had cracked and bleeding nipples for the first few weeks. I also had the lipstick-shaped nipple after nursing, and DD often made clicking noises. The thing that finally made me notice the tongue-tie was a picture of DD sticking her tongue out. Instead of coming to a point, it is heart-shaped at the end- classic sign of tongue tie. Because her weight gain has been so slow (and at some points nonexistent), we decided to see a doctor specializing in tongue ties, and ultimately decided to have it clipped. In the week following the clipping, DD gained 3 ounces- her fastest weight gain in months!! We're really hoping that pattern continues.

So although not completely food related, the CST (cranio-sacral therapy) and tongue-tie clipping seemed to be pieces in our puzzle. I'm very optimistic that they will help DD eat, swallow, and digest her food better, which in turn will help her overall gut health and perhaps the food allergies themselves.

(Just a note about tongue ties- it seems to be very difficult to find a doctor that actually knows anything about them, so if you want to talk to your doctor about it make sure to arm yourself with info before you go in. Here's an article written by THE expert in tongue ties, published in the American Academy of Pediatrics Journal.)

Back to food.... I accidentally (ha ha) trialed some Enjoy Life allergen-free chocolate chips, and they actually passed!! I was shocked, but excited. It's nice to have a treat! On a more sad note, I also trialed nori this month, and it failed. DD reacted pretty bad to it. I'm still deciding on what to trial next, and will be back to post more updates later. But DD's skin is clearing up nicely (between trials) and she's doing better than she has all year. Things are FINALLY taking a turn for the better in our adventure!