The Biggest Winner: The Journey of a Nursing Mother of Infants with Food Allergies

I am pretty sure that most everyone saw the photos of NBC’s Biggest Loser winner Rachael Frederickson.  She dropped 155 pounds and weighed in at 105 pounds.  When I first saw her picture, I remembered when I once looked much like her.   I was not in a contest to lose weight, and I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. I was trying to learn how to feed myself and my infant son on a diet free from dairy, wheat, eggs, peanuts, and soy.

 

I had experience with an elimination diet with my older daughter, because she was diagnosed with a dairy and egg allergy at a year old.  I was still nursing her when she was diagnosed and spent 6 months on an elimination diet.  I bypassed cakes, cookies, and the donuts that were in a constant flow into my work office. I gave up cheese and yogurt and began to enjoy soy chai lattes.  It was a major change in my eating habits, but we learned to live without eggs and everything was great.

Rice Krispie 'cake' for his 1st Birthday

Then, my son came along.  He was allergic to everything my daughter wasn’t: wheat, soy, and peanuts.  I cried.  Since he was only 4 months old, I was still committed to nursing him.  I started on the elimination diet and immediately found myself on a hunt for replacements for common foods.  The gluten free trend was not in full force as it is today, so finding replacement foods for wheat did not come easy; picture in your head rice cake sandwiches.  I found out that soy is in everything, and that peanuts popped up in the oddest of places.   

I researched, experimented, read labels, tried new foods all while trying to meet the growing needs of my son.  He was getting old enough to start solid food.  All of those easy baby foods seemed to have some wheat or soy in the ingredients. Meanwhile, he added dairy and eggs to his list of foods to which he was highly allergic.  I lost more of my calorie intake as a nursing mother and he was losing more and more options for his diet.

I was dropping weight quickly and it was clear that my son needed more calories and nourishment.  He was able to tolerate a specialized formula and used it well past his first birthday.  The year I spent on this diet was a struggle, but it was also very vital for learning how to feed my son.  I was hungry, so I knew he was, too.  We worked each day to find new ways to feed him.   My family worried about me and my husband instituted food interventions like bacon for breakfast.  After a year, enough was enough.  I weaned him in a day and then focused my energies on feeding him. 

Would I do it again?  Yes.  Would I recommend someone else do it?  Yes*.  Why?  I walked in his shoes for a year and I was forced to learn a very specialized diet in order for each of us to eat, thrive, live, and be healthy.  *But I do recommend that you do it with help, lots of it!  Ask advice from your child's allergist, seek assistance from a dietitian or nutritionist, and do not do this diet to lose weight.  

First enjoyment of chocolate cake (gluten-free vegan cake)!
This was a JOYFUL day for all.
Recipe below

I write this blog so that others might gain something from the knowledge that I have attained on this journey.  The knowledge is meant to be shared.  Each parent of a child with food allergies or restricted diet is on their own personal journey.  It is a journey that they must take in order to learn and cope.  I hope that my blog will be a place, on that journey, that is a respite for laughter, joy, hope, and optimism along the way.  

A win-win in my book.

Mom is Great, She Makes us Chocolate Cake

In a bowl mix:

1 1/4 cups of flour mixture (see "Breads and Baking" page on this blog)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP cocoa

In another bowl mix:
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP vinegar
3/4 cups of cold water
1/4 cup of any type of milk (cow, soy, rice, etc)

• Sift dry ingredients together and blend wet ingredients.  Mix the wet and dry together until well blended.
• Pour into lightly greased baking pan (8-9 inches round or square) or into 12 muffin tins
• Bake at 400 deg F until toothpick comes out clean. Bake for 20 minutes for cake and 18 minutes for muffins.
• Recipe can be doubled and used with layered cake pans for a double or triple layered chocolate cake.