The Almost Never-Ending Barley Trial.

The food trial that never ends!  We usually do two week trials, seven days on, three days off, four days back on.  In the first seven days, we work up to a full serving.  On the first day after the break, we give a small amount (some kids react only after a break from a food), then for the last three days we try to get a full serving in Myra each day.  The break helps us make sure she won't react after taking time off from the food, and also helps eliminate any weird symptoms.  For example, if Myra starts waking at night (she usually doesn't these days), we can see if it continues during the break (in which case the cause might be teeth or developmental stuff rather than the new food).

I don't even know how long ago we started barley, five weeks maybe?  A few nights into the trial, Myra woke up once.  The next night, twice.  I forget the exact sequence, but it was annoying.  She went back to sleep easily, but we didn't know what to think in regards to the barley.  We got up to a full serving pretty quickly, so in those first few days when she was doing fine, she had eaten quite a bit.  I was hopeful for barley, but I also want to be sure her safes are actually safe (remember our hesitation with avocado?).  The first night of the break, Myra slept great.  Hmm.... The second or third night she woke again (I don't even remember exactly, but I know we had a combo during the break).  When we brought it back after the break, she was still waking.  So, our regular two week trial turned into three.  We weren't ready to call if safe yet, but nothing was alarming enough to call the whole thing a fail either.

Then, life happened.  We had a hectic week or two, Trevor was gone a lot, blah, blah, blah.  We still weren't comfortable making a call since we had so much other stuff going on, anything could have been to blame.  Myra has been back to normal with her sleeping lately (7-7, no waking), so yesterday we crammed a bunch of barley into her.  She slept great!  So, many weeks later, we are officially calling barley safe for Myra.

This is pretty exciting because grains can be tough and, actually, barley "only" has a 72% pass rate with FPIES kiddos.  We have been using pearled barley which will awesome as a hot dish (that's casserole to you non-Minnesotans) base or for serving things over it, much like you would with rice.  The girl loves it, too.  I usually mix in some blueberries and she just goes nuts.  It's a little sticky, so it has been really helpful as she learns to use a spoon.

Wow, that was a really long way to say: after much back and forth, barley made the cut!  

To read more about Myra's journey with FPIES (diagnosis and symptoms, food trials, food selection, etc.), click the "FPIES" tab above.