Yesterday, we finally had Fiala’s appointment with the “pediatric dermatologist.”  I put that in quotes, because, as I perpetually have difficulty obtaining usable information from Cigna’s website, I had called their helpline to get the name and number of a pediatric dermatologist, via a real person.  What that person gave me was the name and number of a pediatric allergist.  That’s OK, mostly, though I was taken aback that it was not until the exam room with the doctor, talking with him, that I discovered that he was not a dermatologist, but an allergist.  I also feel weird that, even though I talked fairly extensively with a nurse from the doctor’s office over the phone, the discrepancy between specialties was never brought up, even thought I know I said “pediatric dermatologist” to her, and expressed my surprise that a pediatric dermatologist would also, as a matter of course, offer to do skin testing during the first visit.  No matter, as it is likely that an allergist was of more help to us than a dermatologist.

I think the doctor must have read notes of my conversation with the nurse, because one of the first things he said to me was, “I know you want to treat this as naturally as possible.”  However, long story short, I left with a sheaf of FIVE prescriptions, advice for two additional OTC medications, and the full awareness that the doctor did not have much faith for the full healing of Fiala just from me altering her diet and mine.

My plan, after discussing it with my hubby, is to use one of the prescriptions (Keflex, as the doc did say that her face was infected with staph, just from looking at her, not from a culture), and for the next two weeks, avoid the foods we discovered, though the allergist, that she is also allergic to.  After the two weeks are up, if there is not significant improvement, we’ll go ahead and use the other prescriptions until the next appointment with the allergist, and ask for additional testing.

They gave me several sheets of lists of possible allergens, and asked me to circle the items to which I suspected she was allergic.  I had no idea how many or few to circle, so I did about 15 or 20, all food.  They added a number of environmental allergens, too.  The nurse did a prick on my arm to let me know how badly it hurt;  it didn’t.  In fact, when they were pricking Fiala’s back, she was curious, but not even in apparent discomfort, let alone pain.

I am taking the allergy results seriously;  we still need to follow up with RAST blood tests to each of the items for which she tested positive (we were to go to the lab following the appointment, but Fiala fell asleep, and I couldn’t bear to wake her).  However, the doctor nearly blew off my discussion about food intolerances vs. food allergies.  He just said that, yes, there are food allergies that take longer to show up, and if we want to, we can — at a later time — do patches on her back, to hold potential allergens against her skin for a longer period of time, to see if there’s a delayed reaction.  I must have misunderstood the information given to me over the phone, because I could have sworn that the nurse told me that the doctor would gather info on Fiala’s immediate reactions, PLUS I would view the allergic reactions at home so that we could know her quick reactions and her slower-to-surface reactions, all in one fell swoop.  I was incorrect about that;  the doctor’s appointment on Friday was just for her immediate reactions, and all the marks and serum were wiped off her back before we left for home.

I really didn’t know — outside of a few suspects — what to circle to have her poked for.  They said that the next time we come in, we can do some additional ones, especially if it seemed like we hadn’t pinpointed all of them.  That’s good, I guess.

So, the results are that she tested positive for banana, egg, milk, almond, and yeast.  Very surprisingly, she tested negative for soy and pecan.  I have most definitely seen an improvement in Fiala’s skin and digestion since taking soy out, so I will continue to omit that from our diets.  She also tested negative for all environmental allergens, which was a great relief to me, since those are much harder to control.  She also tested negative for corn, potato, and rice.  I can’t remember what else I had them test for, outside of avocado…

What we are going to do, based on the doctor’s recommendations:

1. eliminate allergens
2. take Keflex
3. give Fiala a daily bath (previously, I bathed her 3x/week)

What we are not going to do:

1. Use Pulmicort in our SVN (breathing machine) 1-2x a day, as a preventative.  (Since taking her off of soy about 3 weeks ago, she has not needed any breathing treatments, nor had any asthma attacks.)
2. Use Albuterol every 4-6 hours “as needed.”  Well, we’ll use it truly as needed, as we have for the last several months, but as mentioned above, though she is raspy/rattle-y with a bit of congestion, she hasn’t had coughing fits/asthma since taking her off of soy.
3. Use Protopic on her face twice daily.  Actually, as a treatment for eczema, I’m more of a fan of Protopic — which is a topical immunosuppressant — than I am of topical steroids.  However, before we use any of it, I want to see how great her improvement is with just dietary changes.
4. Use triamcinolone (topical prescription steroid) on her body 2-4x/daily.
5. Use Zyrtec (OTC) syrup 1-2x/daily

What we were doing that we will continue to do:

1. Still eliminate soy (and gluten, of course), in addition to the allergens for which she tested positive.  I have previously been off of egg, but had gone back on.  Same with nuts, though it was like on, then off, then on, and now off again, even before yesterday’s appointment.
2. Use Benedryl liquid, as needed, for extra-itchy nights, especially.
3. Use the homemade olive oil and beeswax salve on her.  The doctor did agree that it can be very hard to find an effective, non-irritating lotion or salve.  He recommended Vanicream (which, last I checked at Target was more than $15!), but he said if my homemade salve is working, to go ahead and use it.

Out of all the allergens, the one that concerns me the greatest is yeast, as that can be very difficult to eliminate.  I was very surprised that her skin tested positive for that.  However, though I’m eliminating yeast from bread, I’m going to wait until I get super-concerned until I get the results from the RAST test.  Her skin reaction to yeast was only redness (erethyma?), and not a raised bump, so I’m hoping that ends up being a false positive.

If taking banana and yeast out of my diet — which are the only things I haven’t ever tried before — (in addition to the other items) doesn’t have any kind of impact after two weeks, I will go ahead and use Protopic for the two weeks leading up to our follow-up visit, and ask that we test her for both additional immediate allergies, and get patches for more long-term ones.

With the doctor himself, the thing that I’m of most concern, long-term, is the thing about him not really giving much credence to food intolerances;  he just equated them with allergies that take longer to surface.  Anyone have thoughts on that?  And, if an allergist is not the right kind of doctor for food intolerances, what is the right kind of doc??  Secondarily, I’m concerned about him talking out of both sides of his mouth — i.e., him saying, “I know you want to treat it naturally and I support that,” then following that up with, literally, “Use these SEVEN drugs on your baby.” 

No, this is not an in-depth look into my emotions or spiritual state. 

When I had an appointment the other week with my new doctor, I mentioned that I get palpitations.  I said this with a wince, because the last time I mentioned my heart to a doctor, it was to my OB was when I was pregnant with Audrey.  He sent me to a cardiologist who ROLLED HIS EYES at me, because apparently, it’s common for pregnant women to get palpitations when they are pregnant, and he literally said, “So, you have palpitations.  You’re pregnant.  What are you doing here??”  He cardiologist went out of his way with exaggerated words and body language to let me know I was being an ginormous waste of his time, especially when he didn’t see anything on the electrocardiogram that was of interest to him.  However, I still have palpitations off and on, and thought I should mention it to my new doc.  She thought maybe it was due to a malabsorption issue, due to celiac disease, but without batting an eyelash, she ran an electrocardiogram, which did show some abnormalities.  She attempted to explain these to me, in a way that went WAY over my head, yet I found myself thankful that she was using it as a teaching moment, and discussing it fully with me, and sending me to a cardiologist.

I met yesterday with the cardiologist.  It was a profoundly interesting appointment.  I liked him a ton.  He was very interesting, didn’t belittle my presence at all, explained things fully in a way I understood, encouraged me to Google what he was telling me so that I might understand them further, and he had a clear plan of action.  He also — like my old OB — explained how he was writing up his diagnoses and recommendations very carefully for insurance purposes, so that it would be less likely that I get backed into a corner by any insurance company, later on down the road.  He also agreed with both my former OB and my former primary care doctor, who had suggested to me that I be satisfied with a diagnosis of “presumed celiac disease” and NOT submit to a gluten challenge nor a biopsy, because as of now, CD is not on any “official” record, yet I’m loads healthier on a g.f. diet.

Probably the most interesting thing to me to learn from that appointment is that my palpitations are actually called PVCs, which are essentially extra heartbeats.  He said that it is very common in patients with celiac disease, and in those who are not faithful to a g.f. diet (or undiagnosed), it can get out of control, with patients placed in ICU with a heart that’s racing out of control.  He also said that he has diagnosed several patients with celiac disease after treating them for PVCs.  He mentioned that PVCs in celiacs are a good indication that they’ve gotten ahold of some gluten.  That would fully explain why I tend to have multiple episodes of PVCs each day for 2-3 days in a row, then they disappear for several weeks.  I must be getting gluten somewhere, and I can use any PVC occurrence to help me detect the source!

Also of interest is — he did agree that my blood pressure was quite low — at his office (and people typically test higher in a doctor’s office than they do at home/rest, due to the stress of just being there), it was 110/60.  He suggested that, especially with my history of fatigue and not feeling refreshed in the morning after a good night’s sleep, to drink an electrolyte-containing drink in the morning.  It will raise my blood pressure 5 points or so, which will make me feel more energetic.   Plus, the electrolytes will enable me to better-absorb water throughout the day!  I drink a ton of water, but there are often times when I will nearly black out upon rising from sitting or lying, and that is usually from low blood pressure + dehydration.

Things that need further investigation are that it appears that I also have mitral valve prolapse and quite possibly Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome, since there are “weird electrical things going on in the bottom of [my] heart.”  Both of those things are things to keep an eye on, which the cardiologist plans on doing, but are not of immediate concern.  And, importantly to me, nothing that I have or even potentially have requires medication.

I’m going to have an echocardiogram in a couple of weeks (a heart ultrasound), and he wants me to wear a 30-day event monitor (to be hooked up, also in a couple of weeks).  The event monitor is cool;  when I feel something weird, I press a button and it remotely faxes an ECG to the doctor’s office.  Alternately, if anything weird happens with my heart, it will beep at me, and I press a button to fax…

It’s not like I’m happy that there’s something “weird” going on with my heart.  But, I’m thrilled that the cardiologist took me seriously; it is so demoralizing to be treated like a twit and/or a hypochondriac by a doctor.  And, I’m happy that it appears that, whatever’s going on, it’s benign (or very nearly so).  And, I’m very happy that whatever the case is, no medication is necessary. 

All in all, good news.

The appointment for Fiala??  Not so stellar, but more on that later.

I have been really hoping that Fiala’s severe eczema sores could be eradicated by eliminating one substance (likely food) from her diet. Then, after I figured out that both soy and milk were causing her problems, I thought, “That’s OK! Two things! Very manageable.”

I had not been eating eggs, as I took them out of my diet (along with dairy and tree nuts, plus, I’m already gluten-free, due to celiac disease, and peanut-free — due to my 7yo son’s anaphylaxis we can’t have ‘em in the house) when we were completely in the dark as to what would help her. I started eating eggs again, and there was no change to her skin. Great!

Then, nuts. Darn. Nuts seem to be a problem. Her skin flared up badly for a few days after me eating both almonds and pecans. I stopped, and after a few days, her skin settled back down. So, I’m gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and nut-free, along with her.

Then, yesterday morning, her skin broke out TERRIBLY. I had given her banana chunks and Rice Chex for breakfast. I don’t think rice causes any problems for her… but now, I’m thinking, “Is it banana? Or, is it the pork I had with dinner last night???” I don’t know. When she seems to be having reactions with both what I’m eating, and what she’s eating… and with the knowledge that some foods cause a quick reaction, and some bad reactions may not show up for hours, or even days… it all just seems overwhelming, like will we ever find out what’s wrong with her???

All I can say is that, when we first ID’ed soy and milk as major problems, we thought we might be able to cancel tomorrow’s appointment with the pediatric dermatologist (who is going to do micro injections to test for allergens). Now, I’m glad we’re going, because I feel at a near-total loss again… I hate that powerless feeling, looking at her oozing and bleeding cheeks, and being unsure as to what caused it.

The only good news — if there is any here — is that I think my husband might be more supportive of me doing a total elimination diet in order to pinpoint the problems. Previously, he thought that was just too extreme. I certainly don’t relish the idea of living on lamb and pears for weeks on end — I normally don’t even eat lamb; out of conscientious objection I don’t eat any baby animals, though I guess store-bought lamb isn’t actually lamb, but mutton (to which I regularly reply, “Then why don’t they call it mutton?”). But, I’m ready to try just about anything, even if it’s to my total inconvenience, and my family’s inconvenience, as well.

~sigh~

In addition, I find myself feeling a bit guilty. I don’t know quite how to explain it. A man at church on Sunday, after asking what was wrong with Fiala’s skin, said something like, “Man! There’s something wrong with ALL of your kids!” To which I laughingly replied, “Not Ethan! Ethan’s normal.” But I really didn’t feel laugh-y. I feel like with my husband’s severe childhood asthma, and my childhood eczema and environmental allergies, plus my celiac disease… And my husband’s alopecia areata… Not that alopecia is genetic, but we both have fairly serious autoimmune problems, both in ourselves, and in our family history. It’s like we created the perfect storm of bad genes to pass down to our kids.

I’ll let y’all know how tomorrow’s appointment goes.

WordPress just upgraded their emoticons!

I’ve yet to find a good :blush: sort of emoticon;  that one would come in handy for me; I seem to live with a perpetual cringe. 

Still, these are nice to have (if I can remember them):

  (colon + lol + colon)

  (colon + roll + colon — which is funny, because I’m looking for a :rolleyes: sort of emoticon, not a tongue-sticking-out one)

(colon + eek + colon)

  (colon + question mark)

  (colon + slash — either forward slash or backward slash)

  (colon + the line above the backslash)

I haven’t been able to find an official emoticon legend.  Has anyone else?  Or have you found others?

My husband recently told me that I obsess about health stuff, to which I huffily replied, “I do not!”  From my perspective, I don’t obsess;  but if there’s a problem, I want to know about it thoroughly, especially any natural treatments of said problem, because chances are extremely slim that a regular doctor is going to communicate (or even know!) what that would be.  I also like to know the cause of various health problems.  I like to know what I can do about it, and then set myself to doing it.  And, it’s often helpful to find people with the same problem, for exchange of information, and the support of someone who has walked for a while on the road that’s new to me.  One can’t know all that stuff without some thought and digging and time.  And, since I not only spend that thought, digging, and time on myself, but also my five children, as things pop up, which they inevitably do, I guess that does end up being a lot of effort spent on health issues.

I recently had an appointment with a new doctor;  it went well;  I was really pleased with her.  It was a “new patient” appointment, where we discussed my health history and such.  It’s been a long time (about six years!) since I’ve seen a general/family practitioner, and about twelve years since I’ve had a physical, though as I’ve had five children in that interim, I’ve often seen my OB/GYN, so it’s not like I’ve been bereft of medical care for a decade.

Most of the “physical” stuff, my doctor planned on covering during my follow-up appointment, which is in another couple of weeks.  But, as there were a few lab tests she ordered up right away.  Included among them, as I requested, were my various cholesterol numbers.  There were five or six other things she was trying to discover, through my bodily fluids, but I was particularly interested in the cholesterol test because, if I don’t fill out a health assessment for our insurance by the 17th of this month, including those numbers and my blood pressure, our rates will increase by 15%.

So, I called the doctor’s office today, to see if they would fax or e-mail the lab results to me, both for personal interest, for our insurance, and so that I could have the results in hand when I go see a different doctor, later this week.

I fully expected them to comply.  However, I received a return phone call from my doctor’s medical assistant, who said, “Dr. McDonald wants to wait and go over the results with you when you next come in, and she’ll give you a copy then.  And, we’ll fax a copy to [other doctor].”

I paused.  My suspicion antennae perked up.  “Well, I at least need the cholesterol numbers,” and I explained why.

She put me on hold.  Upon coming back, she said, “OK.  The doctor says I can give those to you.”

And, she did.

I’ve never had my cholesterol checked, and for whatever reason, I thought I’d have really good numbers, which I did.

Total:  151
LDL:  69
HDL:  75
Triglycerides:  44

Also, thanks to my mom, who actually has too-low blood pressure, mine is great:  112/64, which puts me in the “athlete” range, which I am not;  I just have the blood pressure of an athlete.

That was all good to know.  But, still.

I find myself wondering why they wouldn’t send the lab results over to me.  I have asked numerous doctors, over the years, for numerous lab results to be faxed to me — not just the results, but a copy of the lab report — and I’ve never been denied or deferred.

I’m trying not to obsess.

It’s probably better that you don’t live in my neighborhood, because I would likely judge your kid by some really weird criteria.

Like, stuffed bunnies and bodywash.

It’s been my experience with neighborhood friends that are only children tend to a) lack boundaries, and b) not be mindful of smaller children.  Now, if you have only one child, please don’t get mad.  This probably isn’t true of your child .  It’s just been my experience in… two neighborhoods now, for a total of four only-children.

Point “a” manifests itself by kids just walking into our house without even knocking.  Or, blithely inviting themselves into my bedroom while in our home, or opening our fridge or pantry.  Or, pushing past me and our front door’s threshhold when I’ve just told him/her that the children can’t play, because, “I just want to tell you something.”  And so on.  With a little training and clear guidelines, these issues are usually quickly circumvented.

Point “b” is a little more problematic.  Maybe it’s because our school systems are so age-segregated, and if there is no one else younger at home, perhaps an only child may have very few opportunities to develop the everyday skill of patient, careful play that is required when there are littles in the underfoot.  I have found it a lot harder to instill in neighbor kids a value for smaller folks.

We have a neighborhood friend, who is a couple of months older than my oldest son, and is a friend to both Ethan (who is 12), and Grant, who is nearly 10.  He’s an only child.  He is very polite (other than the pushing past me thing), and I have developed trust in him that he’s not going to play or speak… culturally inappropriately, which is a great relief.  His interests are very similar to my boys’ and they all enjoy playing together.  He seems to have a few tics (literally), but frankly, with all the various weird issues my own kids have, this makes me more comfortable with him.  The only problem is that he is absolutely reckless with smaller children, and has no patience with them whatsoever.  He regularly plows over 3yo Audrey (who continues to adore him), has open contempt for 7yo Wesley’s comparative immaturities, and I haven’t even attempted having baby Fiala roam around when he’s over.  Recently, we took about a 3 week break from playing with him, as he ripped into Wesley (only verbally!) at the park, and Wesley came running home with snot and tears streaming down his face… then, when I confronted the friend, he denied the whole thing, even though there were other witnesses…  I wasn’t sure if the friendship would ever recover.  But, kids prove to be more resilient than moms, because they’re all back playing well together again.  Maybe it’s because he has a pool and we don’t.  Still, though, I have been a bit on edge with him, given how he treated Wesley.

Yesterday, he came knocking on the door.  Ethan was at a different friend’s house, and Grant was running a fever, so I had to send him home.  As he turned to go, he said, “Wait!  I forgot!  I have something for Audrey!”  Me, shocked, “You have a gift for Audrey?”  He confirmed this, and was ready to run home and get it, when I told him I’d call him when Audrey woke from her nap, which I did.  He came back, bearing a large stuffed ivory-colored bunny with pink ears and paws, and a pink bow around its neck.  Apparently, he’d attended a 4th of July parade in a small town, and the riders on one of the floats were tossing stuffed animals out for the kids.  He snagged the bunny, and said he immediately thought of Audrey.

I was stunned.  He went up about six notches in my estimation of him, and I felt my heart softening as Audrey buried her head in the bunny’s fuzz.  Lord knows we do not need yet another stuffed animal, but I was bowled over by the friend’s kind thoughtfulness.

Last night, we were watching the Diamondbacks beat the Padres (woo hoo!  They’ve won a whole three games in a row!), and an Axe bodywash commercial came on.  I hate Axe.  It is clearly marketed to young men to cause them to foolishly believe that, if they wear the body spray, young women will literally be attracted to them with some sort of violent magnetic force.  I don’t agree with the shameless marketing.  I don’t agree with the premise.  I cringe at the innuendo and outright sexuality of the commercials.  In fact, we usually have our boys turn our eyes away from them.  I didn’t this time, though, and Ethan, after thoughtfully and bemusedly observing the commercial, turned to me and said, “Mom.  Matt* has Axe bodywash in his shower.  And he has that body buffer thing, too.”  What??!!??  The kid in question is nine.  Almost ten.  But, still.  NINE!! Why in the world does a 9yo think he needs to attract the ladies????  And why in the world would Matt’s mom buy such an item for him, to let him try to attract ladies?????  Here we are, as parents, saying, “Turn your head, boys!” and Matt’s mom is thinking, “I will buy that for my son!”

I suddenly — even though I know Matt’s mom fairly well, as Matt was on the boys’ Fall Ball Little League team last autumn — had doubts about my sons spending time in Matt’s home.  Ugh.  I still haven’t decided what to do there.

———

*not his real name

I was mostly-happy with my new OB, who delivered Fiala, who is now 8 months old (after switching OBs at 30 weeks from one I didn’t like, to whom I had switched after my former — beloved — OB retired).  However, one thing I wasn’t happy about was that he kept mentioning a possible induction, given the size of all my babies, and the fact that I was at an increased risk for hemmorhaging.  I finally made it clear to him that I would rather vaginally birth a 10 lb. breech baby, past term, with no medications, than be induced, and that he was to mention it no further, until I was at a minimum of 42 weeks.  Happily, he complied.  Happily, too, that wasn’t necessary, as Fiala was born the old-fashioned (non-breech) way at 40 weeks, 2 days.

Still, at some point in my pregnancy (I’ll have to look back on my blog to see exactly when!), Fiala was still breech, so I had started looking into birthing breech.  I was fairly alarmed that it appeared to be standard protocol to do a c-section.  I knew it was possible to vaginally birth breech, as the sister of a friend birthed her breech baby — I don’t remember the exact term for the birth, but her son was breech, but came out with one foot first, so he came out in the “splits”, one foot first, bottom down, also posterior — face up — all with no medications.    From her birth story, it was a traumatic, painful experience.

By the time I was going to ask my OB about his stance on vaginal breech birth, Fiala flipped. 

One of my very favorite blogs, Stand and Deliver, is written by Dr. Rixa Freeze, a natural childbirth advocate.  (She has had two children at home, one unassisted, one with a midwife.)  She is starting a study regarding breech birthing in North America.

If you gave birth to a breech baby, or if your baby was breech at some point during pregnancy, we would like to invite you to participate in a research study. Please share this announcement with others who might be interested in participating.

Research goals:
Breech research is often aimed towards health care providers and tends to focus on maternal and fetal health outcomes. Our research explores women’s experiences and feelings about carrying a breech baby; their decision-making process when discovering that their baby was breech; their care providers’ recommendations and protocols for breech birth; and the birth options available to them, from vaginal breech birth to elective cesarean section. We will present the results at the Second International Breech Conference in Ottawa. We also hope to submit an article to a peer-reviewed journal. Participation is confidential.

Who can participate:
All North American women who have had breech pregnancies or births are invited participate in an essay-response survey, which takes approximately 15-30 minutes to complete. We are interested in participants who had breech pregnancies (breech babies who turned head-down before birth). We would also like to hear from women who have given birth to breech babies, whether vaginally or by cesarean section; with midwives, physicians, or unassisted; at home, in a birth center or in a hospital. We welcome input from both singleton and multiple (twin, triplet, etc) breech pregnancies and births.

How to Participate:
To take the survey, please visit the Breech Pregnancy and Birth Survey.

About the researchers:
Dr. Rixa Freeze has a PhD in American Studies and focuses on childbirth and maternity care. She blogs at Stand and Deliver. Julie Searcy is a PhD candidate at Indiana University with interest in the cultural discourse around birth.

Questions?
Please contact us at breechbirth.study@gmail.com.

Pic taken with my phone.... not the best quality!

I have a recipe that I worked a long time on, developing.  It produces great bread, but it has 20 billion ingredients.  (See GFCF Wholegrain Sandwich Bread.)  It also doesn’t work well in a breadmaker, for reasons unknown to me.

I fairly recently got a breadmaker off of Freecycle, and after extensive scrubbing, decided to give it a go.  I had to find the manual online, which confirmed to me that it was a no-frills, inflexible breadmaker.  I tried the recipe above, and as mentioned, it didn’t work.  I tried another recipe specifically for gluten-free breadmaker bread, which, while it produced good bread, was a gluten-free equivalent of Wonder Bread, which I didn’t want.  So, I tinkered with the recipe quite a bit, to make it a bit more healthy, and to produce a loaf that would work in my breadmaker.

I was holding off on posting this recipe until I had a camera that worked, so I could post pics, too… but I’ve decided to go ahead and post it here, and add pictures later.

My “no frills” breadmaker, doesn’t let me adjust the settings.  From what I understand, breadmakers with a “gluten free” setting omit the second rising time.  I just put mine on 1.5 lb loaf, dark (which adds 5 min baking time).   It takes 2 hrs 35 minutes for the whole cycle.

The top will cave in slightly, but it leaves 95% of the loaf intact.  (My kids fight over the scraps I cut off of the top!)  I tinkered with the amount of yeast, and if you use less yeast (about 1 ¾ tsp), it won’t over-rise, but the resulting bread is much more dense.

If you bake your bread with the below ingredients, caved top and all, the resulting loaf tastes fabulous, has a great crust, and great texture.

We eat it so fast, I don’t know how well it freezes.  I just leave it lightly covered on a wood cutting board on the countertop, and we eat it within a day or two.

Your breadmaker may be more powerful than mine, so this may not be an issue… but, I tried this (and many other recipes) the “traditional” way, with the dry ingredients on the bottom and wet on top.  Then, I tried it the gluten-free way, which is wet ingredients on bottom, dry on top.  Neither way mixed the batter thoroughly, leaving me with a dusty mess when the cycle was completed.  Now, I combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and put the mixed batter in the breadpan, and run it through the cycle.  Mixing the batter takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish — taking out ingredients to wiping the countertop clean.

I have read that if you pre-mix a gluten-free batter to take out the mixing paddle and just use the bread maker as a bread baker.  I tried that, and for some reason, the bread didn’t rise enough.   I don’t know why.  So, don’t take out your mixing paddle.

If you have any more questions, leave a comment below!  Also, PLEASE comment if you try this recipe, and have either good or negative feedback.  And, please comment if you alter the recipe, and let me know your results.

Click here for a printer-friendly version:  (Half) Wholegrain Breadmaker Bread GFCF.

Or, visit here for a similar GFCF bread on my friend Kim’s blog!

(Half) Wholegrain Breadmaker Bread, GFCF

In a medium bowl, combine with a wisk:

• 2 ¼ tsp (regular) yeast
• 2 c. white rice flour
• ¾ c. brown rice flour
• ½ c. millet flour (I use dark “bajri” flour from the Asian market)
• 1 ½ tsp xanthan gum (NO MORE than 1 ½ tsp)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp brown rice protein powder
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal

When the dry ingredients are combined, scoop the mixture into the breadpan of your breadmaker (just for holding it, so you don’t dirty another bowl).

In the same bowl, mix with a wisk:

• 3 eggs, at room temperature (the bread won’t rise fully if the eggs are cold)
• ¼ cup canola (or other) oil
• 1 3/8 cup water (that is 1 ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp)
• 1 tsp cider vinegar

When the wet ingredients are well-combined, add the dry ingredients back in, and wisk until combined. It will make a thick batter (and likely get stuck in your wisk!). With a rubber spatula, scrape out contents into the breadpan.

Set your breadmaker at 1.5 lb, dark.  You breadmaker will vary, but on mine, this is a 2:35 cycle.

That’s it!!

Enjoy!

Before

After

Look closely at the two pics above.  Don’t you think the “after” pic is… well, just… prettier?

For only $29.95, you too could buy your — slightly faulty — darling daughter her own lifelike toupée, because, you know, your bald baby NEEDS hair.

Now, Lord knows that I have grown tired of telling people that my baby girls are not boys…  In the farmer’s market, one gentleman even said, of Audrey, “Why do you have that little boy in pink?”  I was not pleased.  However…  I’ve learned to use, you know, normal headbands.  Like, the kind with no hair attached.

And I will admit, with some chagrin, that I never thought I’d drool over $12.95 hair bows (never bought one, though)…

But, I have a hard time not taking issue with whatever mom would actually buy a toupée  for her baby girl.

HT:  Erin, who wonders why she didn’t think to add this to her own baby registry.

Guess what I’m drinking?

Black coffee with raw sugar.  I can’t remember the last time I willingly drank black coffee.

But, there’s a reason:  She’s eight months old, and she looks like this:

(taken in April, before her skin was really bad)

Last night, I was perusing the recent comments that people had left here, and one kind soul mentioned something called Milk & Soy Protein Intolerance.  Info on the web is somewhat scanty about it — more anecdotal than “official” — but what was there fit Fiala to a “T.”  She doesn’t have ALL of the symptoms, which can vary from kid to kid.

But…

• Blood, water or mucous containing stools – YES.  Watery stools all the time, mucous sometimes, never blood.  I chalked it up to the fact that she’s still almost exclusively breastfed because I’m afraid to feed her anything, since I hadn’t figured out what was irritating her.  However, my husband mentioned, some days ago, that he thought Fiala’s stools were way too watery.  And this morning, she had her first formed stool.
• weight loss – no, but I had been noticing that she’s not quite as chunky as she has been.
• chronic congestion – YES.  Fiala is definitely chronically congested, both in her lungs and sinuses, but I chalked that up to lingering RSV symptoms, which the docs told me may happen.  Same with…
• asthma - YES.  Fiala doesn’t have bad asthma, but we have had to give her 1-2 breathing treatments per week, ever since she had RSV in February.
• repeated vomiting - No, thank God.
• gastroesophageal reflux (GER) - No, thank God.
• eczema and/or skin rashes - Um, YES, definitely.
• refusing to eat or comfort eating (eating all the time
  to soothe the stomach) - Maybe comfort eating.  At eight months, when she should be able to have at least 4 hours between feedings, she still nurses at least every three hours, and she’s back to waking up in 1-2 times in the middle of the night, when she had been sleeping through the night a good 8-10 hours.
• irritability or colic-like behavior - She’s just such a good-natured, happy baby, but she is definitely crabby in the late afternoon and early evening, which many babies are.  So, I don’t know if that would qualify as a “yes” or not.

When I discover something regarding my kids’ health and I squeal, “This is it!” my husband is usualy much more cautionary, not wanting me to jump to conclusions, or get my hopes up.  But, after he read the list of MSPI symptoms, he really is thinking, “This is it!”

For the last 9 days, I’ve been soy free, but when back on dairy after a few days because it seemed that, if soy was the problem, I could have dairy!  But her eczema flared up again, so I went off of dairy… except for half & half in my coffee.

Upon waking this morning, Fiala’s skin looked the best it has in months.

I did have half & half in my first cup of coffee, but, late this morning, after she’d nursed, her cheeks were back to looking red and very irritated again (though not as bad as two weeks ago or so).  So, feeling like a bad mom because of how difficult this is for me, I had to admit that, likely, she needs me to be totally dairy- and soy-free. ~sigh~

Y’all — if you’re still reading — are likely tired of reading about Fiala’s skin.  But, I must say that I am nearly giddy with hopefulness today, after reading up about MSPI.  The best news is that most babies outgrow it by 18-24 months!

That said, I’m now wondering if Wesley’s eczema, which we’ve never been able to totally eradicate, is tied to soy allergy.  He hardly gets any soy, but maybe it’s just enough to give him eczema.  His eczema is primarily on his calves, oddly enough.

Weirdly enough, though a small intestine biopsy isn’t often done for MSPI (maybe because kids outgrow it so quickly??), when it is done, there are changes to the villi, similar to those with celiac disease (”The degree of villous atrophy may be similar to that found in celiac disease.“)

I think I will cleanse my cupboards of all soy products.  Lots of our favorites have soy oil or soy lecithin in them.  According to what I’ve read, many children with MSPI can tolerate the oil or lecithin, but since Fiala’s first unmistakable reaction was to soybean oil, I’m eliminating those, too.  Tater Tots, Ranch Style Beans, Lay’s Stax, my nearly-new bottle of soy lecithin, Smart Balance…    We’ll miss you, old friends.  But, it’s worth it.  I can’t wait to post pictures of my newly-healthy baby in another week or two.