BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: Mom2katiebug on April 16, 2007, 00:59:36 am
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So we're on rice milk at home (have been for a week but still milk at daycare cuz we haven't gotten our acts together ::)) but no liquid milk or yogurt on Friday night, Saturday or Sunday. She slept from 7pm to 4am both nights. It's still too early to know for sure, but this is the best she's slept in...well, forever. It could be a coincidence or the moon phases (I blame it when things go bad so I thought I'd better share the glory). But, we're going to keep the "liquid milk" out for now and try to determine if we're going to scour the labels to cut out the milk/soy ingredients.
Just thought I'd share this with all you lovely ladies who've been offering hugs and advice for our sleep issues for so long. I feel bad for Katie that we've not been clued into this before (sometimes you have to be ready to face it before you can fully face something), and bad for all the advice I've been seeking when maybe this is an easy solution.
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Riley is on Rice Milk, he handles trace dairy and yoghurt okay. I hope she continues to sleep better!
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I'm SO glad to hear you're trying the dairy free diet and I hope it really helps Katie! Definitely give it at least a strict 2 weeks before deciding anything... IMO it's best to cut out as much as you can - so maybe be really strict at home and if she has a little bit of hidden/trace dairy at daycare at least that's all? Keep in mind that even if this is the main factor, you will likely have to do more sleep training once she feels better to get on track. But fingers crossed this is the answer!
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I'm so glad its having an impact already. I know when I have even trace dairy Lily is a complete bear the next day. Its made a world of difference in her for me to eliminate dairy. Hopefully you'll get the same effect.
Good luck with sleeping! Hope it gets better and better.
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yay casey! hugs to the bug :-*
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Last night was 10.5 hours from 7pm to 5:30am before we had a shout-out and then she went back to sleep until 6am. She was still sleepy at 6am and I probably could have AP'd her into 30-60 minutes more sleep (we're trying to move her bedtime back; plus despite our blackout efforts it still gets light in there). I, however, was awake after a terrible dream where she took a "super fall" and cracked her skull. It was so weird to be awake and not hearing her. I was so happy for her and then so full of guilt too.
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:o :o :o casey, 10.5 hours!!!! when was the last time that happened?! gosh, dare we begin to hope d'you think? i don't want to jinx it, but i'm waiting so with bated breath to hear how each night is going.
have you noticed any other changes? diaper contents? eating of other solids?
{{big hugs}} and squash that guilt mama. the important thing is you're onto what seems like, no, what *is* a winning thing here, and it's all guns blazing, full steam ahead. i know what you mean though -- d'you remember saying how envious your were once of theron lying still all wrapped up in his towel on the mat while i took shower after shower each day? i feel bad that i didn't think to question *why* a baby was lying so still. keep thinking that perhaps if i'd questioned that earlier... but see, i think you'd probably be smackin' me upside tha head for even thinking that now, no? so, NO GUILT!!! it's not as if they can tell us what's up, and it's so like looking for a needle in a haystack, especially with the sleep thing. but maybe, just maybe, we've found it!
{{more hugs}}
xx
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{{big hugs}} from me too!
Aisling x
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Awesome news Casey - keep us posted!
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Yay! ;D
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Yesterday was not a good night. It's amazing how quickly you adjust to sleeping well - and how utterly devastating it can be to your system when your sleep is off.
Not sure if it was too much dairy at daycare (we cut out cheese, yogurt and milk but didn't worry about ingredients in crackers, etc.) or a cold (DH has a doozie) or teeth (she's got so many ready to pop through).
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Sorry to hear that but it could definitely be the cold/teeth. Also, the milk proteins are still leaving her system so that can cause problems too. Big hugs to you both and hope she has a better night tonight.
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Yeah. It's gotta have a cold/teething component to it. She's chomping on everything even rocks! Ick and we really have to be on our toes again! But it could also be schedule related too. We're trying to adjust bedtimes, etc. but it's been hard.
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What's her current routine?
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Sooo glad to hear things are improving. We found EXACTLY the same things with DS, he can handle yoghurt and cheese in his food but absolutely NOT milk from a bottle. PEd reckons its coz he's taking in such a huge quantity all at the same time from a bottle. She also says very 3 mos or so to introduce a tiny bit more diary to see how much he can handle and to increase tollerance to milk proteins gradually. I would recommend u keep a note of the diary she's having and really try to cut back allowing only a tiny to start with then increase gradually. It's easier to see if its diary thats the cause when u have an upset. Hope things contniue to get better for ya! :-*
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Things have been pretty bad the last couple of days and I'm a terrible Mommy Detective. I never seem to know what's wrong. I know the daycare workers will do their best to limit her dairy intake, but I'm wondering if she's stealing the other kids milk and drinking it without them realizing it. She's been a total bear the last couple of days and we had another truly awful night last night. I suppose it could be DH's cold or teething, but I really don't know. We'll cut dairy out completely again this weekend and see. If she's "bounces back", we'll know that she's nicking her friends milk and will have to ramp up the daycare's vigilance.
Her schedule is roughly this:
6am Wakeup and out of bed
11:30-Noon Naps for about 2 hours at daycare; only 60-90 minutes at home
6:30pm Bedtime
We've been trying to get a 7 or 7:30pm bedtime in hopes of pushing her wakeup back til around 7am and making the morning A time a touch shorter as it just seems too long. I don't have any control over naptime - that's when they go down at daycare, so I can just try to adjust the bedtime, really. She has been really tired lately - just can't get caught up on her sleep and on the weekends she'll sometimes take two shorter naps during the day.
There are nights when we even put her to bed at 6pm because she's just so dang tired. We try to watch her cues and make it as late as possible, but it's generally around 6:30pm.
Any suggestions?
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hmmm hard to say whether its the diary of not, with T we always seem to realise in retrospect iykwim? I would cut it out altogether tho and see if any improvement. T goes through really tired pahses like this too , like he's constantly over tired. Have u tried a short catnap say 3.30ish then a slightly later bedtime? might help with the tiredness. As for teething, I can only suggest giving some pain med and /or gel and see if she gets any better. Teething is a pain for both of u so HUGS, feel like we've been at it for ever LOL.
Let us know how u get on!
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Well, I had been putting goat yogurt in her bedtime "shake" and I thought with the similarities between goat and cows milk that maybe that was the culprit so I cut it out last night but we still had a bad night. I did feel a new tooth tip this morning so that could be it, but I really would be suprised if there's not a food component too. The pain meds just aren't helping and I would expect them too with teething.
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Which teeth is she getting? Sometimes meds aren't really enough for the really painful ones like eye teeth and molars. Some people have problems with goat's milk/yogurt but many don't. I'm actually a big fan of goat's milk (although it doesn't work for all allergic kids). Have you considered allergy testing?
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It's the ones right next to her two front teeth on the top. I wouldn't expect them to be terribly painful, but you just never know.
We're going to the doctor's again today (it seems to be our Friday afternoon ritual) to make sure that it's not DH's cold, sore throat or ear infection. I'm going to bring up allergy testing with him, but he hasn't been really clued into it and DD doesn't have overt symptoms like hives, projectile vomitting, rash, etc.
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K took another bad tumble at daycare - straight over the handlebars and into the plastic toy set. So on top of the bruised, scratched nose, she has a terribly swollen cheek, a huge scratch/cut and a black eye. My she's a sight! So it was good that we had the doctor visit today. He checked her out - black eye, band-aid and all and gave her a clean bill of health. I asked him to check her gums when he looked at her throat and he said the back/molar gums are swollen but it could be a while before they come through. ***Language warning*** Boy do I hate those damn teeth. If I could just get her baby dentures and avoid this whole bit, I would!
I also spent the day trying to figure out what changed over the weekend to make it so good and then what could have caused it to go so terribly wrong this week. I think we inadvertantly restricted her wheat over the weekend as well. She got rice cakes instead of her normal crackers and coincidentally we ate more rice and less bread. And, they eat a lot of crackers/bread at daycare. So, I think our human trials are going to continue with restricted dairy (including goat), soy and wheat. I feel like I'm grasping at straws, but I gotta' try it. On a very positive note, the doc did give us a referral to an allergist that we can see and have testing done, but he thought that if it was just an intolerance versus a full blown allergy, it wouldn't show up. Maybe I'll do some research over the weekend. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Is the scratch/skin test the best way to determine food allergies?
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Poor little girl! Give her a big hug from DD and I. Believe me, I HATE teeth too. We've been battling eye teeth for months here.
Wheat is a big allergen so that is worth a try. But maybe you should see the allergist and a dietician so that you can best plan out foods for her to keep her strong and healthy (and you sane from the limitations)? He's right about the intolerance vs allergy. Allergy tests generally only show true allergies and not GI allergies at that. But it's still worth a try IMO. Many people like the combination of the RAST (blood test) and SPT (skin prick test). One is prone to false positives, the other to false negatives (I can't remember which right now) so you're pretty covered between the two.
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Hi Casey - just wanted to check in and see how the diet/sleep was coming along...
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Thanks for asking. I was completely overwhelmed the other day, but doing better now.
We're not sure what the specific combination to eliminate is and so we have really bad days and some better days. We have an appointment with an allergist in 2 weeks and I've talked to K's daycare and we're trying to formulate a plan. I'm really overwhelmed, tbh, and all the information I find (online mostly) is conflicting so I feel like I really can't formulate a plan. I think I'm going to find a naturalpath to talk with as well as I think they can provide a different perspective and possibly a better alternative.
Yesterday I was overcome with tears. I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner; I can't believe that I had all this time on my hands and didn't do anything and now that I'm back working, it all has come to a head. I just don't know how to manage all of this and am feeling pulled in a thousand different directions. You know...typical mommy stuff! I'm better today and one of the moms/babies on my birth club is going through a similar process. Her DD had extreme eczema and they went to Florida for a desensitizing treatment. I think we have a similar treatment here in Seattle, so I think if we can figure out what's causing the problems we can desensitize K to it. I hope at least.
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Big hugs to you Casey, I know how hard it can be. But please don't beat yourself up for not figuring it out sooner. The important thing is that you're working on it now and doing all you can to make your DD feel better. Finding a naturapath can be a good thing but be careful who you find - try to get recommendations and someone you are really comfortable with. I'm quite a believer in alternative medicines but usually in combination with more traditional methods so it's good you're keeping the appointment with the allergist as well.
You're doing a GREAT job. Keep us posted.
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Well put Karen. ((((HUGS)))) from me too Casey.
Ax
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awww sweetie, hugs! i totally knowow ur feeling, in your situation it took us a long time to figure out what was up with_T so I know the 'lloking back ' feeling. I would def recommend a naturopath as she may be lactose intollerant but apprently there are many food stuffs which we are 'slightly' intollerant too without knowing it and cutting them out improves our quality of life. Are you keeping a food diary?
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Oh honey, don't beat yourself up over this. I've been there, done that and it doesn't help a bit. My 5 yr old dd has a milk and mold allergy. A few months after she turned 2, she started having constant sinus infections and ear infections. When we first went to an ENT in Jan of 04, we attempted to cut out the milk but I didn't see much difference and Peyton LOVED her chocolate milk so much so I didn't push the issue. In April of that year, she got her tonsils and adenoids out. Over the summer, we ended up testing for Cystic Fibrosis, as well as a few other things, including her immune system because the sinus infections were non-stop. She also ended up with a strep/staph infection that we almost had to do IV antibiotics for. October of that year she had an asthma attack after being at the pumpkin patch . . . the list goes on and on. In Feb./March 05, I finally decided something had to give. The ENT we were using was doing some allergy testing but was very "anal" about what she would do and when. I don't really remember what the final straw was with her BUT out of pure coincidence, Peyton had a 5 day spell with no milk due to being sick and being out of town. During that 5 days I noticed her nose was finally not running! I gave her just a tiny bit of milk and 30 mins later, the snot came pouring. So, FINALLY in May of 2005, we see a new allergist and he listens to me and tests her for milk allergy and there you go, 18 MISERABLE months and 14 antibiotics later, we have the diagnosis that I could have gotten if I'd stuck with the milk theory in the beginning! So, sweetie, there's a true reason for some guilt! Ya know what, though? We aren't rocket scientists. We aren't trained in medicine. We just love our kiddos and do the best we can and if we wake up one day and the fog has lifted, well, yay, we can finally do what needs to be done for our little ones. Hang in there! Trust those mommy instincts!!!
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Saw the allergist yesterday and she did the skin prick test. No allergies to wheat and a couple of other grains, soy, milk and something else that I'm forgetting. I think we're still going to avoid dairy as a drink (allow it as an ingredient) for now cuz it does seem to have helped with the colds/ear infections.
I have to admit this is a relief for me - although I am still stumped why she slept so good and why we can't replicate it. My little mystery continues...
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Glad to hear that with the SPT - however, that test will only show certain types of allergies and not GI allergies or intolerances. That's why it's so hard to pinpoint these things. Do you know exactly what she ate those days she slept well?
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It's impossible to say. I don't have a record. We ate pasta and bread last night and she ate like a fiend. She slept well - only one wakeup.
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:)
Ax
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Maybe just keep cutting soy and dairy and see if you can get her to eat a lot so her tummy is full?
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I agree woth marisa's mum, T's specialist says even if he's testing neg to milk allergy he can still be very intollerant, it doesnt necessarily show up on skin prick test before the age of 3
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I think we're going to relax a bit cuz it was driving me crazy trying to be SO rigid with her diet. But we've agreed to try to keep everything in moderation - so we'll keep the potato and corn snacks versus wheat crakers, WF/GF waffles instead of wheated waffles, and a lot of natural dried fruit too. And I think we'll allow milk as an ingredient, but keep the rice milk for drinking.
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Sounds like a good plan to me. I forget - is she on probiotics?
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Oh! I don't think I shared here (I've been discussing this on multiple threads!)
She's been on antibiotics A LOT this winter for ear infections - like at least once a months, sometimes twice. I started giving her probies (probiotics) a couple of weeks ago and the first couple of days, she pooped and pooped and pooped and pooped. It was amazing how much she went and we actually lost count. It's stable and steady now and I just wonder if that might have been the problem. I know when I take antibiotics it can wreak havoc on my system - and I can get gut aches no matter what I eat - and I take the probies to help.
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Wouldn't completely surprise me - probiotics are GREAT! I give DD 1/2 tsp of Nature's Way Primadophilus for Children every day in her morning milk.
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How long can you use them for? I've always just done a couple of weeks and then stopped for me.
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Long term use for maintenance is A-OK. Short term is also fine if just to recover from a bout of antibiotics, etc. But some LOs (and some adults) have a gut imbalance to begin with which can be helped by long term probiotic use.