Can't belive I am here again, need advice from MSPI experts

[1sttimemamma]

Hi Skatty. I agree with the naturopath angle. They did blood work on DS and he has milk and wheat intolerance. We drink Hemp milk here.

[MLK]

if you are desperate Kat you can make home made rice milk- this doesn't seem to constipate my son so I can't help wondering if it the processing/UHT of commercial stuff that is causing problems?

[Mashi]

katt sounds to me like the others are on to something with the rice milk. i also would never have expected rice milk to constipate the same way rice does!!

[skatty]

Hello everyone, we are feeling much more positive  Leorah now has probiotics, a calcium supplement and oat milk, I just hope she'll drink it  On the 29th Oct we are seeing a "biopath" which I presume is a naturopath in our local health store, it is half price so about £20, she will look at L's nails eyes etc but I am pretty sure she will say no dairy at all! They do have some interesting dairy free spreads and L used to eat these when she was a baby but I am sure she will be more fussy now but I will try a few out when I get paid. It feels good to know we may be on the way to sorting this out!

MLK If she was younger I'd maybe make rice milk but now I am hoping I can find an easy alternative as she can have a supplement now, milk is just something she likes to drink because it's "cosy"! Having to avoid cheese ets will be the big nightmare, she loves cheese, especially sprinkled on her pasta!

[MLK]

I know a lot of naturopaths do suggest quitting dairy, so I guess it's something you'd have to weigh up. You could always try removing it for a couple of weeks then adding in a bit of yoghurt or cheese and see how she does.

The homemade rice milk i make uses a powdered calcium supplement, so I could just add that straight into his food if  i wanted - that's if I could be sure he would eat it all. I had a look at the kids' calcium supplements available here and all of them had artificial sweeteners and flavours and I wasn't comfortable giving that to a 1 year old on a daily basis. So i went the home made route - time consuming though!

Lan

[skatty]

Yeah I know that is the problem with supplements  The supplement we bought today contains sugar and essential oils form fruit, not great but better than the sweetners most have, it is also why we paid so much to order fortified rice milk, we will now save 50p on every carton of oat milk which over the month works out quite a bit 

[MLK]

I wish we could get those type of supplements here Kat!

[skatty]

Yes that is one plus being in DK 

[skatty]

Help again, please!! So Leorah hasn't had rice milk since Sunday, by Monday afternoon she was oat milk and a probiotic, Monday evening she said she had a tummy ache and I told her it was becuse she needed a poo but nothing happened. Yesterday she also complained of tummy ache and I was sure it was because she needs to poo, last time she went was Friday or Saturday night Can't remember  ) She has also been having laxative powder everyday ...anyway last night she woke up after about 3 hours sleep and was in a lot of pain, she was really gassy and I am talking big huge man farts (sorry TMI!) and they smelt bad! She writhed around for about 2 hours and wanted me to rub her tummy and the poo just wouldn't come and didn't come all night  What is going on? Is the oat milk making her like this or could it be an after effect of withdrawing the rice milk? I can't bare seeing her like this  These stomach issues are really effecting her sleep now and she is getting OT and grumpy. Is it possible things are just starting to move along and it gets worst before it gets better?

Please give opinions 

[Mashi]

Could it just be that things are taking time, Katt?  Can you try a couple of days with a fruit and veggie based diet, cutting out most of her bulk and carbs until she gets her bowels moving again?

[MLK]

Kat, if has happened at the same time as the oat milk i would be inclined to suspect it. The only way to find out would be to stop using it for a week and see if she gets better. Then if you could stand it, you could try re-introducing it again and see what happens. I think I mentioned before oats are full of phytates which can be hard on the digestion and also bind to minerals like clacium and iron making them hard to absorb.

Do you think she needs to go back to the doc about the constipation?

If you want to give her something like milk, what about blending tinned pears in natural juice with equal parts of coconut milk. You can add your calcium supplement to it too if you want. You can drink it straight or add it to cereal - I think it tastes quite nice actually! The pears are a laxative too so that's a bonus.

Really sorry you are going through this both of you!

Lan

[skatty]

Thank you both for your thoughts, I am thinking of stopping the oat milk and seeing what happens because I just don't know what else to do! Mashi, I am hoping it is just things getting moving again but like Lan says it is wierd because it seems to have coincided with the oat milk  DH's nan is here and has bought her a carton of prune juice, lets hope it gets things moving  We are sitting here and discussing it and DH is sure that it is because things are improving and her bowels are starting to work again, I hope he is right. I am going to a different town today with another health food shop, I will pick up some almond milk and see if it makes a difference, she loves almonds. I think she would love the pears and coconut milk, she loves both  Another thought I have had, could it be the calcium supplements? We haven't used these ones before but they are pretty much as natural as a supplement can get. DH is sitting here telling me that none of what has happened is any different to before she drank oat milk so he really doesn't think that is the problem. I have had another scary thought though, she loves eggs, I have never noticed a link before, please don't let it be eggs, I try to ration them as I know they can worsten constipation but she asked for eggs this morning and then DH told me he made her scrambled eggs yesterday morning 

[skatty]

I just found an old thread of mine and totally forgot Leorah used to drink oat milk before we were able to order the fortified rice milk and had no probs  Maybe I should wait it out a few days and see what happens 

[MLK]

It's always hard when things like this happen to try and work out what's going on. Maybe you could drop all the forms of milk and supplements for a week to let things calm down. Another source of calcium is homemade chicken soup made from bones, would she eat chicken and veggie soup? PM me if you'd like the recipe.  Maybe you could try a week of an "invalid type diet" with the chicken soup, veggies and fruit and see how that goes. You could try root veggies like potatoes and sweet potatoes to fill her up if she's not having bread or rice. Then when you think she got her constipation under control, add things in one by one, starting with the calcium supplement first.

Good luck!

Lan

[Mashi]

That's what I am thinking too, Katt - sort of an elimination diet. Cut out everything you can think of but with still allowing her to get enough to eat, iykwim, and then add things back one by one. When you're constipated you're not really that hungry anyway (at least I'm not!) Calcium can be constipating in itself so perhaps it is the supplements that is doing it or adding to it, whatever is causing it.  Wouldn't have to be for a long time, just until she gets moving again.