Seriously Picky Eater

Well, I am coming out of the fog from Chemo last week. Treatment number 3 - I am halfway through my 6 treatment and managing fairly well. Anyway my big problem recently is my 3 year old who barely eats anything. Now this is the child who is allergic to wheat, egg, nuts, sesame, pea, banana, and coconut. That is a big list, and at first I thought I would never find anything for him to eat, but I have. There are plenty of options, I have searched for 2 years to find new things for him to eat. I can (and have) make any kid friendly food safe for him. Everything from pizza to mac n cheese and chicken nuggets. I have baked bread, muffins and cookies by the dozen. The problem is 9 times out of 10 he will not even try it! He is even starting to refuse some of the old staples he used to eat, like grilled cheese and organic chicken sausage. Thank goodness for enjoy Life Foods, he does eat their bagels, granola bars, and cookies; along with Van's wheat free waffles and Chex cereal. Forget about vegetables, he will only eat grape tomatoes and a few fruits on a good day. I have gotten him to eat some yogurt and cheese on occasion.
A couple of months ago I started giving him some Pediasure each day just to make sure he was getting is nutrients and some calories. Milk is thankfully not one of our allergies, and he loves it. However, he wants to drink milk all day. You all know how persistent a 3 year old can be when they want something. We are starting to have some serious battles. I would prefer that he eat some food rather than fill up on milk before meals. Tonight he shouted at me "I don't want food! I want milk." Well, he did not get it. My willpower was strong today. I gave him water. He drank it, but refused to eat and fell asleep on the couch without any dinner. (He was exhausted from a play date this afternoon)
I do not want to be fighting with him constantly about eating - the last thing I need is a toddler with an eating disorder. I know they say don't force it, they will eat when they are hungry. But, can you raise a child on breakfast food, fruit and 1 vegetable? The worst part is that I am loosing the incentive to make him any new foods. What is the point when it just ends up in the trash? I have considered seeing a nutritionist, but unless they can get him to actually put the food in his mouth, what is the point? Today I was cutting up fresh pineapple and he would not even lick it. There is just no reasoning.
My other 3 kids were fairly picky, but they did eat at least a small variety of foods and would taste some new things. Nothing like what I am dealing with now. Does anyone else have anything to offer here?

First Allergy Blog Post

Welcome to my site - I am glad you found me! I thought I would start with a little background on our allergies. About 2 1/2 years ago my middle son, Ryan was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. He was almost 2 and got a hold of my peanut better toast. I did not panic as we never suspected we would have kids with food allergies. If fact he had been fed a peanut butter sandwich by my brother while I was in the hospital having my 3rd child, and there had been no reaction. I was a bit surprised as his nose began to run and a few hives developed. It was not serious - when we got to the pediatrician Benadryl and steroids did the trick. Ok - a peanut allergy is kind of a bummer, but not the end of the world - we can deal with this.

About a month later my infant began to develop exema - the pediatrician was pretty sure it could be food allergies. Now - hind sight is always 20/20, for the life of me I do not know why I did not experiment with an elimination diet while nursing. I must have been in a fog from the sleep deprivation. But I could kick myself now! All the signs were there. Like the fact that he would only sleep in his car seat, in our bathroom, and with the fan on. He must have had such a tummy ache! I never could have imaging what was in store for us.

At 6 months we took him for allergy tests. Collin is allergic to wheat, nuts, eggs, sesame, pea and banana. Although we did not discover the pea and banana until he began to eat table food. At about that time I weaned him from nursing he did fine on regular formula and his skin cleared up. I will say one thing, that with all his allergies I am grateful that milk is not on the list. Then by 8 months he finally slept through the night! I was in denial about how this would really affect us. Especially since he was eating baby food and it was pretty easy to avoid his allergens. It was not until he got older that the fact that he could not eat a Cheerio or Goldfish really hit me. I did not know anyone else with similar allergies and was really unsure where to turn. Eventually I found a safe chicken nugget, bread to make grilled cheese and a few safe snacks. It was enough to get by.

Now he is 2 ½ and I feel like I need to step it up a bit, so here I am. I hope to share new information and ideas as I find them. Perhaps I can get some information and ideas from some of you. Thanks for taking them time to read about me and please check back as this blog grows!