About Us
Hi I am Patricia!
I am so glad you have found Belly and Me! I have been where you are, questioning everything you are doing, worrying about your babies symptoms, feeling lost, losing sleep, struggling to communicate symptoms with your babies providers or feeling unheard. I feel for you and I completely understand what you are going through. Hopefully you are able to gain some useful information from Belly and Me.
A Little Background
My son Bellamy was a very refluxy baby. He was breastfed from day one. Early on, he struggled with spitting up, hiccups, reflux, colic, and mucus (both congestion and in his stool). This soon escalated into projectile vomiting after nursing. We had his stool tested, and it showed signs of occult (microscopic) blood, which led us to cut our dairy from my diet, and soy was cut out shortly after. We saw a drastic difference, but were still noticing symptoms. When all was said and done, we had cut out dairy, soy, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, coconut, and oats out of my diet.
All was going well for a bit, until his eczema consumed every inch of his poor little body. He was miserable, and we were miserable right along with him. We saw allergists, dermatologists, and chiropractors. Nothing seemed to help; I removed and reintroduced so many foods, trying to find the culprit. We finally found the right dermatologist for us. We refused to use any more steroid creams on our baby because they only made things worse. It was a quick fix answer that has the potential to do a lot of long-term damage. Our dermatologist was willing to work with us, and we discovered a topical treatment that worked for Bellamy! The cause of his rash turned out to be an overgrowth of yeast and bacteria, and not entirely food-related.
He is currently thriving, with, of course, the occasional skin reactions and symptoms from his diagnosed food allergies. We continue to support his nutrition and gut health. Our goal is to reach a point where we are able to reintroduce the allergens that he is allergic to if he outgrows these allergens. However, ensuring he is able to consume nutrient-rich foods that support his growth and well-being is our top priority.