Wednesday 20 March 2013

Challenging Baby - the adventure continues??

Whoever, first compared life to a roller-coaster was quite right, weren't they? Give that person a gold star, I say! After all my nervous excitement, the other day, it seems like we're back to Numero Uno, Square One!

Not daring to trust that Baby had truly passed Stage One - the biscuit-containing-milk-as-an-ingredient challenge, I decided to try Baby out with the biscuit that's always been her stumbling block before. Why? I don't know. I just had an inkling that until she conquered this one, she wouldn't be ready. Perhaps one of the tastiest biscuits EVER invented, it's the good old Malted Milk, or 'Cow Biscuit,' as it's otherwise known.

Instead of opting for the traditional shape, though, I bought a packet containing several small bags, as, this way, if the challenge failed, I hadn't wasted a whole pack of biscuits and could keep the rest of the sealed bags for next time.

You can get them in little bags, these days!

I discovered, on opening the first pack, that there six of these inside:

They look fun, huh?

Six seemed a bit excessive for a first go, so we gave Baby three - which we judged to be about the same as one normal Malted Milk biscuit. In hindsight, maybe one would have been better, for a first go! I would have loved to have eaten the other three, but, being gluten free now, I couldn't, so The Hub had the rest. She, (quite predictably) loved them and was most upset with Daddy for eating the other half of her pack!

Once she'd eaten them, all we could do was sit and wait, to see what happened next. Baby seemed fine, so we tried again the next day. That night she didn't sleep that well. But Baby's often disturbed in her sleep and had a cold, which was more likely to make her restless, so I pushed that to one side. She passed wind, quite a bit this morning (and quite loudly, too), but I put that to one side. After breakfast she complained of tummy ache, but she was overdue a poo, so I put that to one side too.

When she did her poo, though, (avert your eyes if this is too much information for you) it was quite soft, not hard (as it would be if she was constipated) and it was more yellowy than normal. It was the familiar mustardy yellow colour caused by milk. It stank to high heaven too. As I cleared it away, I could see that her skin was beginning to look irritated. That's when I knew that the game was up!!

When Baby has a nappy like this, it's important to clean off all traces of poo really thoroughly, preferably with cotton wool and water. Any poo left on the skin will continue to irritate, as it contains acid. In fact the best thing to do, is really to dunk Baby in the bath. Usually, this leaves the skin nice and clear. Once the skin is clean, it needs a barrier to protect it - in the event of any further episodes. Vaseline is undoubtedly the best. A thick layer of that really does the trick.

I'm so glad I didn't go straight to Stage Two. She obviously wasn't ready, yet. It would have probably have left her very discomforted. It leaves me wondering though - whether we need a list of biscuits, ranking them in order of those least likely to affect one to those most likely. That way we could work our way up the scale, until Baby's ready for the next stage. If you know of one, do let me know, won't you??

So, we're back to the drawing board again - at least for now, anyway. Although, not quite! She's never got this far with a Malted Milk before, so she's improving - albeit maddeningly slowly!!

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3 comments:

  1. My window for a reaction isn't always necessarily immediately, I kind of figured out within 4-6 hours of eating I can react. The other thing to watch out for is I can eat something one day & be fine but if I ate it every day for a week I will react at then of that week. Oh & baby's pooey nappy....need I say more, still get that as an adult lol sorry TMI :)

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  2. Yeah, I think we had a slow reaction, a bit longer than yours maybe, but it caught up with her eventually! Her body is still not quite back to normal today. Sorry you've still got it, as an adult, though. I get similar with my intolerances. Not much fun, huh??

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  3. Hi, our toddlers consultant has started us on the 'malted milk biscuit challenge' and it's a 14 day process. day 1 begins with a pea sized amount of the biscuit, progressing to 2 bite sized pieces and so on. There are also rest days in the process too. You can then work out the tolerance level if there is one and baby doesnt risk having a too bad reaction when it's done so gradually. Just something to bear ion mind next time you try it:-) We unfortunately stared the challenge but had to stop it on day 2 as her hayfever was really bad so will wait for that to calm and then recommence.

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