Anna's Protein Allergy (Before and After Pics)

I don't think you truly know the extent of sleep deprivation until you have children. Little miss Anna is giving me a run for my money lately. She was diagnosed with reflux awhile back but currently the doctors think that is just a symptom of what she really has. They believe she has a protein allergy (allergic to dairy, soy, goat's milk, some veggies, some meats, and gluten.) It takes 3 weeks for it to be completely out of her system. We are on week 2 and the past several months have been quite the trial. She now has to be on this disgusting formula that was a pain to get her to drink. I had to slowly mix the soy formula and the new formula and then slowly put less soy in so she would take it. Once I finally got her to take it, she screamed day and night. I took her to the doctor and to my surprise, she had a ear infection. I thought for sure it was the new formula but it was her ear. By the time I had taken her to the doctor, I had put her back on soy because I thought the new stuff was making her sick. So now that she had an ear infection, I had to slowly mix the soy with the new stuff again for a few days and fight to get her to take it. It was a nightmare! Finally, she takes it and slowly is getting better. She plays with toys now on the floor, she laughs out loud (never did that before), she has color in her face, and most importantly she is eating more than 12oz a day (Yeah, I know, it made me sick too.) She now eats about 30oz a day. It's still a slow process, but now that it doesn't hurt Anna to eat, she wants to eat day and night! So I been up 3-4 times a night with the little stinker, but she needs to gain weight so I feed her. However, the past few nights she has been doing much better sleeping. Thank the Lord!

A picture of Anna when she was really sick (Very pale, screaming all day, and not eating)

Recent picture, about 1 1/2 weeks on new formula. (More color in her face and plumping up. See the difference???)