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ALLERGIC REACTION!

ticktock
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 Joined: 2006-11-06
 Dad Points: 1355

So, I noticed my baby daughter breaking out in large bug-bite-sized hives yesterday after I fed her a bottle of soy milk.

The doctor was all like, "why are you using soy milk at 10 1/2 months" and I was telling her that we are transitioning away from breast milk, and that this was the first time, really. Then she went on and on about the benefits of using formula and questioning our choice to use soy by pointing out Julilet's percentile weight loss at the last visit. After all this, she told me that I should give her some children's benadryl, but my wife who is sensitive and militant about formula disagreed with the doctor's professional opinion on the benadryl- Juliet didn't seem to be uncomfortable, itchy, or otherwise ill.

Now it's the morning and my daughter's stupid rash is even bigger, so I gave her the appropriate amount of benadryl and will be taking her to the doctor.

Listen to your freaking doctors people. I'm feeling so stupid it burns.


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Submitted by ticktock on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 7:15am.

paddyrat
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 Joined: 2007-08-13
 Dad Points: 265
that reminds me...

I know a woman who was (maybe still is) super militant about what she feeds her daughter. When her daughter was about 18 months, she read somewhere about the benefits of soy products and fed her nothing but soy for about 2 weeks. When she broke out in similar rashes, hives, etc., she took her daughter to the doctor and when the doc asked what she had been eating she waxed eloquently about the benefits of a soy diet and couldn't imagine what was wrong with her child. To which the doctor said, "A total soy diet is NOT what an 18 mo old needs or can process, and now you have given your daughter a forced allergy to soy products" This, I guess, is an example of too much information can be harmful when we are trying to make good decisions for our children. I know that medicine isn't exactly an exact science, but I trust what our pediatrician recommends over anything I might read in some parenting book. Sometimes you have to temper your decisions with a little common sense and trust the professionals. Don't feel too stupid, I'm sure it happens to alot of parents. (at least you didn't just pray for her to recover, then you'd really feel stupid...)

Aye, there's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased scotsman...


Thu, 05/15/2008 - 7:31am

New No.2
New No.2's picture
Posts: 612
 Joined: 2007-11-12
 Dad Points: 852
Soy-Ahoy

I feed myself, my wife, and daughter, a soy rich diet. My daughter doesn't care for soymilk and the soy fomula we tried gave us a "This is a cule joke right?" face from our daughter.

When she was older she started to eat tofu with olives and fruit and still does.

TickTock you have one of the nimblest most adept minds on the board I wouldn't feel stupid. We all know the parenting learning curve is a sharp one. If you are uncomfortable with oral dosages of "sweet lady B" as my wife calls benadryl, they make a spray which we used on some bug bites my daughter had. She stoped fussing enough to sleep but overall it didn't work as well as the oral dosage.

I will say that sweet soymilk in an ice coffee is da bomb.

Be Seeing You.


Thu, 05/15/2008 - 8:57am

sfoster
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Posts: 180
 Joined: 2007-08-31
 Dad Points: 301
Don't beat yourself up

We all do things like that. I know I have. It's like Paddy says: tempered with common sense. I had to read several baby books (after our first child was born) before I realized that the authors really don't know everything. The doctor doesn't know everything. I don't know everything. My wife doesn't know everything... (WHOMP!) OWWW! Okay!.... she does know everything.

Fatherhood -- easy and tough, fun and frustrating all at once.


Thu, 05/15/2008 - 9:32am

BackpackingDad
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Posts: 253
 Joined: 2007-10-21
 Dad Points: 285
Gah.

One night when my daughter was 9 months old or so I decided that she was going to have some spices introduced to her food. First, some herbs, like oregano. And then I put a little garlic powder on my finger and let her taste it, while ignoring my wife's protestations.

I went to fencing a little while later and when I came home I was greeted with a "She was broken out with hives all over her back and legs" lecture. Ho-ly-shit. I felt like a total ass. And really defensive, and full of self-doubt about my decisions vs. her opinions (it's not like she had a reason to be afraid of garlic powder, she's just a worrier, generally), and pissed off that circumstances had conspired to give her some ammunition in our constant "don't worry-I worry all the time for good reason" dialectic.

Tried something with garlic powder a few weeks later (after tempers were cooled off) and there was no reaction. And then I remembered the orange I had given my daughter for lunch on the hive-day.

When your pediatrician says to stay away from citrus until 1 year, just go ahead and listen.

Gah.

http://backpackingdad.blogspot.com


Thu, 05/15/2008 - 7:47pm

jpod00
Posts: 80
 Joined: 2007-11-05
 Dad Points: 88
Strawberries!

Who knew? But strawberries can be bad for the little ones too. We all, of course, know about peanuts and honey. But I'll post it anyway for anyone who might not.

Jim
Boulder, CO
Dad to Cole, Luke & Trev


Thu, 05/15/2008 - 9:21pm

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