Trying to find a doctor who gets it

Day 35

First the good news: fish is totally OK! Yippee! We had trout again for breakfast this morning and it was delicious.

On to other things...

I've been putting a lot of time and effort over the past couple weeks to find a doctor (Western or naturopathic) who can help guide us through this process. To say it's been a frustrating experience would be a major understatement.

First, I contacted Ellie's pediatrician and told her I was interested in seeing a developmental pediatrician at the same practice. I explained that since developmental peds work with autism - and GAPS is used to treat autism - I thought that would be my best chance of finding a doc who understood GAPS and was covered by our insurance. What a waste of time. Our pediatrician questioned me about Ellie's development. I told her it was fine. She checked with the developmental ped - who had never heard of GAPS and said seeing that specialist didn't make sense.

Fish is in! (I think)

Day 34

Despite the fact that Ellie didn’t have a great night last night, this morning I felt ready to forge ahead. When I opened the fridge this morning to contemplate breakfast options, our neighbor’s trout peered out at me from inside the clear meat drawer. Alright, I thought. Let’s give you guys a try. I rinsed of the six small fish and lined them up on a foil-lined cookie sheet. I let Ellie take a look (she was very intrigued!) and put them under the broiler for 5 minutes on each side.

I served the fish alongside pureed cauliflower soup with raw egg yolk and man we were both excited! Fish! I never knew I could feel so grateful for fish! I carefully pulled the meat away from the tiny bones and plopped bites on Ellie’s highchair tray. I could not keep up with her! And every time I feel behind she pleaded, “more fish!” I know that when you’re trialing a new food you’re supposed to start with a small amount, but for some reason Ellie and I struggle with that rule. So between the two of us we ate two entire (small) fish. Ooops. 

Pondering fish

Day 33

Even though Stage 2 includes fermented fish, we skipped that step. Ellie has gotten sick after eating fish the times she's tried it, though it was never a very controlled experiment because we didn't have her food allergies/sensitivities nailed down at all. So fish is scary. Add to that fermented fish, and I've been beyond intimidated. The idea of letting fish sit out on my counter for a few days really grosses me out.

Still, fish keeps popping up in my head. Every time Ian and I talk about what to trial next, I suggest fish. I suppose my body is craving a non-meat source of protein. We are definitely in a food rut. But we keep coming back to weighing the risks vs. advantages and decide fish is too risky right now.