The joys of modern parenting

This week we've been fighting the good fight with my younger son's gastroenterologist and allergist, both of whom feel ongoing diarrhea and recurring gut pain is not sufficient reason to modify his diet/pursue elemental formula as treatment. I am finding that I have more resources than I thought possible to push very hard for my kid when it's necessary.

My older son has some sensory issues and fine and gross motor issues, and so we're struggling to get him whatever help he needs, which first means pursuing a diagnosis.

None of this is what I envisioned.

This, to me, is one of the dilemmas of modern parenting: (collectively) we have so much more knowledge of what can make children's lives harder (and easier) and how to help, but individually, we end up having to work so hard to find where to look and figure out which pieces of that knowledge apply to our particular child. ADD, sensory issues, being on the autism spectrum, anxiety disorders, food allergies, food intolerances, immune system issues, and so on and so on. You end up working hard to find the right experts for your child and/or researching long to find out what is missing for your child. Then you have to convince the pediatrician or the teacher or the therapist to see what you're talking about and figure out if your child needs help.