Aiya’s main challenges result from her delayed development, small stature, hearing loss, visual impairment and hip dysplasia but the biggest issues for her and us to deal with on a daily basis (and which currently cause her the most distress) stem from her severe allergies and eczema.
At 5 months old Aiya was taken to A&E as her eczema was so severe she would scream if I touched her. We had already been to the GP several times and had been given an array of creams, steroids and antibiotics for the eczema and skin infections. I could not wait any longer for a Dermatology referral to come through and I took her to the A&E department on the advice of a doctor. This was the best thing I could have done as they ran blood tests immediately and determined that she had a milk allergy. As soon as we moved her on to a dairy- free formula (Neocate) the eczema cleared up hugely, although she still has very dry skin as it is a known condition in MOPD Type I cases. We subsequently noticed how sensitive her skin was as she would flare up if she was near any cleaning products, perfume or just a different environment sometimes.
As I began to wean her onto solid food, Aiya reacted to almost everything – wheat, dairy, gluten, grains, pulses, nuts, legumes, most fruits… the list was endless. This has all since been ratified by an Allergy specialist we saw at St. Thomas’ recently. Aiya’s safe foods we have discovered by trial and error are red meat, chicken, carrots, parsnips, sweet potato (bizarrely not normal potato), butternut squash, pumpkin, fennel, banana, mango, pineapple, coriander and most recently we’ve added honey and coconut oil /milk to the list. Thank God for the addition of coconut as I was rendering fat to make beef dripping which made food tastier for her and provided the fat she needs in her diet… urgghh, the process was painful for me as I don’t like red meat or the smell from cooking fat in the slightest. You can read more on the process to render fat here How To Render Beef Fat (Suet)
I’m really hoping as she gets older she will grow out of some of the allergies as we’ve already noticed an improvement in her sensitively to the environment and her tolerance to new foods she gets introduced to. Although she may still react, it’s not as severe as it used to be. She gets itchy and her skin a little bumpy but not a red raw rash. Next foods on the list to try are onion, garlic, peas (all of which she has tried before but we’re hoping for a better outcome now she’s older) and fish which will be tried during a supervised feed at St. Thomas’. Wish us luck and if anybody has any recipes ideas for the list of foods above apart from roast chicken and veg and lamb stew, we would love to hear from you!
Project Aiya 