Chantelle

Marix is almost 20 months old, and is the youngest child of four boys. When Marix was born at a whopping 10 pounds 4 ounces, he wouls gag and gag in the hospital. He had his stomach pumped, and that seemed to help a bit so we brought him home. He threw up everything that I had fed him (I was breastfeeding. I had spent many many many sleepless nights watching my baby projectile vomit, scream, get rashes, excema, and bloody sores. By trial and error over the next few months, we figured out he allergic to soy, dairy and corn. I went off these foods, since I was nursing him. He seemed to get better for a while, but then the fussiness continued as well as the rashes and hives. Our pediatrician refered us to an allergist, and at 8 months old Marix was tested allergic to nuts, shrimp, fish, soy, dairy, corn, eggs, chicken and beef. We were only allowed to test him for 15 things because he was so young. I knew Tish from church, and knew her daughter had allergies so when Marix was 5 months old I called her and began to ask her allergy questions. It was friendship from first phone call. I had felt so scared and all alone in my situation, but our childrens allergies were so similar she knew exactly how I felt. We put Marix on Elecare formula ( after a lot of convincing from Tish- I was scared to death to do formula since I had exclusively breastfed my other children and did not know how to even make a bottle.)We also had to make some huge lifestyle changes such as no nuts in the house, using cloth diapers because we also found out that he was allergic to regular diapers, changing a lot of the food that I fed my other children so that the crumbs on the floor would not be as unsafe to a baby that still puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, and cleaning the floor like crazy after each meal. I am still learning about caring for my allergy child, but with ALOT of coaching and advice from my personal allergist Tish, and a lot of help from my little family Marix is as happy and as active as ever!!!