Monday, January 4, 2010

B.A.N.A.N.A.S.

Is it possible to become allergic to bananas? Something strange is happening with Riley and bananas. As a baby he loved baby food bananas. As a toddler, eating table food, he never ate them. I swore it was a texture issue. He's always had them, and has been a terribly, picky eater his entire life. A couple of years ago I tricked him into eating some new foods. I created a plate with 5 small groups of healthy food, sliced and ready to eat. I made him try all 5, and then he got the choice of which 3 he wanted to eat all of. Surprisingly, he told me that bananas are so good, and that he didn't know how good they were! Well, we got Riley to love bananas! Yay!!
About 6 months ago, Riley started complaining about a tummy ache, right after eating bananas. They gradually got worse, so I decided a half banana might be best. Nope. Still the same. The agreement was he wouldn't eat them anymore. There goes the only healthy item my kid likes.
Today, he just forgot he couldn't eat bananas, while at his friends. He wanted to come home immediately after eating one. You know it's bad if he wants to come home. I brought him home and he doubled over in pain. It kept getting worse. I tried a home remedy from my friend (wink, wink Leesa) and gave him some warm Dr. Pepper to sip on. He immediately said it was better. Then it got bad quick. He acted like the pain was stabbing him. Gas pain, I assumed. Of course, our family doesn't have gas medicine in the house, we never need it. My sweet neighbor brought some Rolaids over, and before Riley got them down, he got sick. Ugh! But, the tummy ache was gone. So, do you think this could be an allergy? Is the banana too acidic? Hopefully, Riley remembers this, so he doesn't go through this pain again...

3 comments:

Leesa said...

Aww I'm so sorry! Poor Riley! From what I've seen on the web, there is a protein in bananas that people can be allergic to called chitinase. From what you posted, it looks like that could be Riley's problem because he reacted so quickly after eating the banana. Here's the link I found: http://www.helium.com/items/347082-what-you-need-to-know-about-allergies-to-bananas
(Sorry it's so long!) Sorry my little DP trick didn't work out so well.. :) But I'm glad Riley is feeling better.

Jacque said...

WOW! Thanks Leesa!! That really helped! It sounds like he needs to stay completely away, since these symptoms are getting worse fast. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Leesa said...

Welcome!! I'm sad to hear he's still in pain today. (Although I'm sure he's not too upset about missing school ;)