Ella's Turn

When we found out we were pregnant with Ella, it was about 2 days before Eli was admitted to the inpatient feeding therapy program, Our Children's House, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. It was also about 2 months after Eli was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Once Eli was diagnosed, we began researching like crazy; what causes it, how is it diagnosed, is it genetic.... One thing that we did learn was that, while researchers have not been able to identify a gene that is passed along, EoE does tend to run in siblings. So when we went for our first visit with Dr. Osuntokun at Cook Children's, I asked him what the possibility was that Ella would end up with the same disease. While I was expecting an answer of "50/50", "There's no way of really knowing", etc., I was kind of shocked to just get the short and simple answer of, "Yes."

So once Ella was born, we knew that we would need to be very diligent with watching for symptoms, documenting what she ate, how she reacted.... dissecting everything that went into her system. At least with Ella, we knew what to look for. And we knew we would need to follow-up with Eli's GI doctor.

Ella was initially breastfed. I also supplemented with Similac Supplementation formula. Ella was spitting up thick, fluffy, soured milk. This continued when I stopped nursing and switched to Similac Sensitive formula. Her pediatrician suggested trying Similac Alimentum formula, a hypo-allergenic form. Her spit-ups lessened, but it was still soured milk. Finally, they gave us samples of Elecare for Infants, the non-dairy based, hypo-allergenic "elemental" formula Eli is on, only for Ella's age. The difference has been pretty dramatic.

When Ella was about 6 months old, we introduced rice cereal. She seemed to handle it okay, but we did notice that she began to break out with eczema, one symptom of EE that Eli also had. One day when I was feeding her, I just took her shirt off. A bite of rice cereal dropped on her chest and she quickly broke out in a rash where it had touched. We've been able to introduce apple, sweet potato and green bean all without incident. With carrots, she began spitting up quite a bit, all of it orange, like it was not digesting.

We did do skin-prick allergy testing with Ella, like we did with Eli. Amazingly, she tested negative for everything. Once we met with Dr. Osuntokun on Thursday, he explained it that she tested negative because her body has never been in contact with these foods. So naturally, her body is not yet reacting to it. He said she was basically just too young to allergy test. However, Dr. O said that, based on these reactions Ella has had to dairy, grains and carrots, she is allergic to them and they need to be avoided.

Dr. O prescribed Nexium for reflux and ordered that she stay on Elecare for Infants. We were so glad for this order! When the pediatrician was wanting her on the formula, it was basically without reason since she did not have a formal diagnosis. So, we were going to be stuck paying for it out-right ($68-93 per can), then being reimbursed for it. With the GI's diagnosis, Ella's insurance will cover it! We are so thankful for that!

So, at this point, Ella is diagnosed with food allergies and GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease). We will continue to monitor Ella's foods and reactions to them. We will also return to Cook Children's in February with Eli to follow up. Dr. O does not want to have to do an upper GI scope at this point, but it may be something we have to do in the future. We will also look at repeating the allergy testing later on, once Ella has had more contact with different foods.

So, the process begins. We just have to continue to be diligent and cautious. Again, at least we still have more information and awareness with Ella than we did with Eli. Hopefully this awareness will be in our favor as we proceed with Ella!