Clearly one has to be a parent to fully appreciate the stories, nonetheless they are fun to listen to from an objective standpoint.
Bill mentioned that allergies related to many, now common worries were 'unknown when I was in medical school'. I had a long discussion with a doctor who studies allergies in Germany and how they develop. She told me the DDR/BRD separation during the cold war provided the perfect setting for studying the development of allergies amongst two ethnically and genetically very similar, but almost completely isolated groups. She explained that in the former West Germany, where antibiotics were easily accessible, that the amount of people suffering from hay-fever and other allergic reactions was far higher than in East Germany, where people suffered more from illnesses related to lead in the soil, or smoke in the air. So maybe that's a reason too. One would certainly have to find out how many suffers had medicine against allergic illnesses in the first years of their lives.
I agree that young children are so often poorly fed nowadays, it's frightening. I was in a smoky pub in England recently, and a mother was feeding her, oh, 9-12 month old baby chocolate mousse! I don't need to be a paediatrician to know that's just stupid and irresponsible. The baby looked as if it hated the rich dessert the mother was forcing down its throat, but she was too busy with the fag in her other hand and her beer to notice much.

Anyhow, all the best for your baby Hyla!