Eating woes

The first thing Alex wanted to do when he was born was eat.  This kid is one hungry eating machine.  Unfortunately eating has been a challenge for him since the day he was born.  First he had to struggle to get enough milk because I wasn't producing as much as I thought I was and I didn't supplement him enough to make up for what he wasn't getting from me so he was very hungry for his first 4 months.  I had to start feeding him formula full time when he was 4 1/2 months which was also about the time we introduced cereal to him so he was happy for a little bit because he was finally learning what it was like to feel full.  At about 6 months he started eating vegetables and some fruits.  That's when he also started getting a bad diaper rash.  I thought it was a yeast rash at first because the medicine for yeast cleared it up.  Unfortunately the rash kept coming back.  Eventually nothing would clear it up and diaper changes became torture for both of us, although he got the worst of it.  I didn't want to go to the doctor.  I guess I felt that it was just a diaper rash and that as a mother I should be able to handle it without running to the doctor.  Hind sight is always 20/20.  Anyway, I did pray much about it for help on what to do.  I got the answer that he was having an allergic reaction.  The only experience I had with allergic reactions was when Lizzie was an infant she had to have soy formula because she would spit up too much with regular formula but that was about it so I didn't realize that this rash might be a food allergy. 

I stopped giving him all solid food except for rice cereal because I knew it was safe.  His rash did get better so I started giving him solid foods one by one to see what he reacted to.  It seemed to be any "orange" foods would cause a reaction like carrots, sweet potatoes, and peaches.  I cut all those out of his diet and things were okay for a short time and then the rash came back.  After a while I cut him from all foods again out of frustration and just gave him formula deciding that I should just call the doctor and ask for help.  It had been about 5 months since we had started battling the unknown allergy.  With more prayers I again got the answer that it was an allergy but this time it was a little more specific.  The one thing I had not cut out of his diet was the one thing that he was allergic to.  The cause of all the misery and frustration was the formula.  I immediately went and got a can of soy formula.  The result was immediate.  His rash had started going away with the first bottle of soy and was completely gone by the next day.  I felt like such an idiot.  What a simple fix and because of my stubbornness my son had to suffer much longer than he should have. I'm sure the doctor could have told me right away to try soy formula.  A little back story on that though.  Because Lizzie had to use soy formula I just gave all my children soy formula without really giving much thought to it other than it wouldn't hurt to be on the safe side.  When Alex's doctor asked what formula I might need to supplement him with I told him soy and he asked why.  After telling him that it is just what I've always done he said that it wouldn't hurt but usually soy is only if the child needs it.  I thought about that for a while so this time instead of giving him soy I started him on regular formula since he wasn't Lizzie and he was just fine.  Things seemed to be okay so I didn't think anything more until the day I switched back to soy.  Now looking back I can see that he had a problem with it from the start.  He used to spit up so much we called him the spit-up king.  I now remember that was the reason Lizzie was switched to soy.  Because he was only supplemented with it in the beginning and I didn't give him full time formula until he started eating food I didn't see the connection between the rash and the milk.  If I had just given him soy in the beginning like I always did and not second guess myself then this all could have been avoided. 

With all the formula issues solved one month before he is old enough to not need formula anymore...ahhhh...I thought his eating woes might be over...nope.  Not wanting to give him regular milk, now that he can drink milk, I give him soy milk.  Unfortunately he is allergic to that too.  Poor little guy.  I did talk to his doctor at his one year check up and he said that I could just keep giving him the formula in a cup for now so that is what we are doing.  He is still a little eating machine.  He will eat as much as Megan at mealtimes and be hungry five minutes later.  I have a hard time keeping him full because he is hungry all day long.  I knew boys ate a lot but I didn't realize just how much "a lot" was.