8 Months

Well, I guess I will start by saying this month ended a lot better than in started. When I last left you we had taken Sophia off all solid foods, confirmed she was allergic to peas and celery, were waiting to hear back about her blood tests for allergies and her immune system, and we were doing patch tests to see if we came up with any delayed allergies.

Sophia’s blood tests for allergies came back showing no allergies to foods. She was negative for Celiac disease. Her IGA, IGG levels were slightly low which can be normal for infants between 6 and 15 months of age. These levels will be tested again once she is over 12 months for precautionary purposes. These tests confirm that at this point she does not have immediate allergic responses to these foods.

Her patch tests are a different story. We ended up doing 2 rounds of patch tests both showing she had a delayed reaction to milk (severe), soy (slight),wheat, rice, and her formula which contains corn. When I informed the GI doctor of these results she wanted Sophia to be seen ASAP for a “meeting of the minds.”

While I was waiting for the meeting with the GI doctor to take place, I received the results from the stool sample that was done back in October. We were supposed to go back and have it read but I requested a copy in hopes that I could figure out the results prior to the meeting with the GI doctors. I spent hours trying to “figure” out this report. I understood enough to scare myself to tears and constant hypothetical scenarios of the future of Sophia but not enough to truly understand what it all meant. So after Mike banning me from the Internet I decided to send the report to the GI doctor hoping he could interpret the results. We met with the doctors and they could not interpret the results of this test. So our course of action at that point was going to be based off the recommendation of the allergist and everyone attending that appointment. The decision was made for Sophia to come back and meet with the nutritionist in order to be put on a new formula. This formula would require Sophia to be monitored closely by the doctors. We would get a baseline and re-introduces foods. If any delayed reaction occurred then she would have a biopsy of her esophagus done to test for Eosinophillic Enteritis (my understanding is it is inflammation of the cells in the esophagus and sometimes in the small intestines causing an allergy like reaction). This course of action was advancement but didn’t sit well with me. I scheduled the appointment for Feb. 8th to give us time to meet with the biomedical doctor hoping she has something prevalent to add before going to such an extreme with a biopsy. We met with her on Feb 7th. This is when Mike and I finally got some answers with concrete proof.
Her results confirmed my thoughts that Sophia had an overgrowth of yeast and bacteria in her intestines, probably from birth. This was the cause for her pain and suffering the first few months of life. When she was born she had an infection. This was treated with antibiotics which caused her to develop thrush and increase the amount of yeast called Kiebsialla Oxytoca. Her immune system was compromised which allowed a bacteria called Rhodotorula to grow in her intestines. If this was not detected it would have cause major problems for Sophia later in life. The doctor feels that we may have gotten rid of both of these problems because of her ear infections. To clear up the bacteria in her ears we gave her an antibiotic that happened to be the most successful in killing the bacteria in her intestines. Since I was giving her Nystatin to prevent yeast growth with a probiotic while giving her the antibiotics in November, the antibiotic also killed the bacteria in her intestine. The hypothesis is that the 3 rounds of medication killed the ear infection, bacteria and yeast in her intestines. The doctor thinks that Sophia’s ear infections were reoccurring because the medication was trying to kill both the bacteria in her ear and in her intestines and just wasn’t a strong enough prescription until the final round. We will confirm this hypothesis with a stool sample that we are doing this week. Results will be in by my next entry hopefully saying that all is OK.

The other tests revealed that Sophia has increased intestinal permeability. This is when spaces develop between the cells of the gut wall, and bacteria, toxins and food leak through into the other systems of the body. Babies and infants have permeabilities because their digestive systems are still immature (this is why you don’t give food to a baby under 5 months). Sophia has larger spaces than what a baby should have. This could be the cause of her delayed food reactions. What happens is the gut lining becomes inflamed or damaged (her first 2 months of life her intestines were inflamed due to constipation as a result of the formula.) The spaces open up and allow large food antigens (proteins), to be absorbed into the body. Normally the body sees only tiny food antigens. When it sees these new, larger ones, they are foreign to the body's defence system. So the attack results in the production of antibodies against once harmless, innocuous foods.” That is an allergy. This can be fixed by avoiding foods that inflame the intestinal tract which will allow it to repair itself and eventually allowing only what should be outside the intestines out.

When I went Friday to the GI doctor I shared these results and the course of action changed. We did not start the new formula and we are not doing a biopsy. Instead Sophia will only eat fruits, vegetables, and poultry. She will stay on a casein free-gluten free diet until at least 2.5 years old. This means no dairy, wheat, yeast. She will not eat foods in the legumes family (peas, peanuts, green beans), eggs, strawberries, rice or high allergy foods until she is between 2.5 and 5 years old. There are two reasons for such a restrictive diet. 1. She has shown to have a delayed allergic to these foods. 2. The proteins in casein and gluten can cause major damage if they escape the intestines and find a new home in her nervous system, brain, or liver. Once her gut is healed and her GI tract is mature, we will slowly introduce these foods into her diet and she should be able to tolerate them and eat a balanced meal. As for her vaccines, we will do 1 a month. She will not get the MMR until she is closer to 18 months and it will be separated. She will be monitored closely with every shot she is given. She will be put on a catch-up schedule for vaccines with egg or beef proteins since she can’t be given then due to allergies. She will be given them closer to 4 years old.

I know that was a lot but you have followed Sophia since she was having her stomach problems and I wanted to give you all the information I could since your support has meant so much to Mike and me.

Developmentally, Sophia is a pro at crawling and pulling herself up and cruising the furniture. She can stand unassisted for a short amount of time. She believed she can walk without holding on to anything but we see different!

Last night Mike and I took her to get her 1st pair of walking shoes as her 9 month milestone present.





She likes them for crawling and still isn’t sure for walking. She has gotten another tooth...her top right. Mike and I hope the other comes in soon since she looks like a hillbilly. She has become a chatterbox. She says mama, dada, hi, and nana. She waves, bye-bye, claps hands, plays peek-a-boo, dances when holding on to furniture, she puckers up and makes kissing sounds when you throw her a kiss, puts her hands on her head when you say, “oh, you are giving me a headache.”



Now that we have food back her sign language should take off. She is a little ham. Everywhere we go she gets people involved in her little games. She LOVES her Baby Genius DVD’s. She will dance and clap along with the kids on the screen. It is very funny to watch.


Overall this month has been one to test our patience. Along with waiting for doctor’s results and appointments, we awaited the arrival of Sophia’s newest friend. He was 9 days late but finally made his grand entrance into the world. Gretchen and Bob (For those who don’t know Gretchen she was my bridesmaid in my wedding and my travel partner in life and Bob her husband is a good friend of ours) welcomed their son Jake Robert Martel on February 6, 2008 into their family. He was 7 pounds 6 ounces of beautiful baby. Sophia can’t wait to meet him!

This month is an exciting one. Sophia’s will attend her first wedding outside my belly (she attended 2 in my belly) when her Auntie Teri-Ann gets married. Daddy is going to school with her on Valentine's Day for breakfast and we will be going to the aquarium in Boston over February vacation.

Happy Valentines Day!