Food allergy only at night?

[bug_blues70]

Hello! My LO will fuss cry and occasionally scream inconsolably starting around 8 every night. I have tried reflux meds and colic calm and neither seems to be helping. My doc suggested it might be something in my diet, but that makes me wonder if it wouldn't be all day every day? Is it likely to be my diet if it's only ever between 8 and 11 (usually) at night? And sometimes not even that long? He's almost 6 weeks old. Last night he was fine until 750, then woke from a peaceful sleep just screaming his head off. He screamed until almost 9 (with a few peacefully sleeping breaks) and then went back to sleeping peacefully pretty much all night (but waking every 2 hrs to eat)

TIA!!

[~*~Louisa~*~]

If we have a reaction to a food, a bad reaction gives us an all day screaming session but a minor reaction 4am is a nightmare! and then come 7am when its getting up time BAM back to normal it could be

[~Sarah~]

Megan-how are his reflux meds coming along?
Honestly El cried so much about everything all day long, I am truly not sure which made her cry when!!  Although I knew by the circumstance which was bothering her the most at the moment.

I think it is worth a shot to do a ED just to make sure.   My Dr kind of blew me off when I thought MSPI but after 2 more months of crying, I had to do something!  It became pretty clear pretty quick even before I stopped completely.  BUT, El has a fairly severe case.  We still have a hard time with yogurt and she still can't have milk.  Only last wk I started milk and she is ok with it.

But others like Lisa (BakerShaker) have it much less severe.  I believe it took her over 5mo to fully diagnose Myla as her symptoms just weren't as clear cut as mine.  Also, she now is ok with cows milk straight and all day really and she and El have the same birthday.

So long story short...maybe it is dairy, maybe it's not...great news huh!?!

I think if it were me I would do full reflux meds and full ED (maybe just dairy and soy) for 2 full wks, no cutting corners and then do a challenge and see what happens.  But that is just me I feel like I need to have a definitive baseline.

Sorry...not much help!

Sarah

 

[bug_blues70]

Thanks for the input I'm doing a total elimination diet b/c I don't want to mess around trying to guess what it might be. And he's still on the reflux meds but I'm not sure they're helping him much tho, which is why I'm doing the diet. Rice. Mmmmm.

[EloysH]

Lots of refluxers scream only at night   

What's your diet - does it have a name?

Lots of refluxers have food intolerances too, so if you are up for it which it sounds like you are ED's can be very helpful as long as it has a scietific basis.

[bug_blues70]

Hey Eloise!! I was going to send you a message b/c I don't know what diet to do... I keep looking up "elimination diet" on google, but get conflicting information. I've been eating rice for the last day and a half and no dairy/soy the day before that. Oh, and I ate a couple bananas b/c I couldn't resist and I figured they were probably really unlikely to be the culprit especially since I haven't even had them around for several weeks. He's still on reflux meds (two weeks now) and I give him Colic Calm too.

Last night we had no crying, which is an improvement, but he just never, ever seems comfortable in his own skin. He's always squirming and whimpering or seeming agitated. If he's awake, he's uncomfortable. Period. I just don't know what to make of it???

Also, Elo, would you mind telling me a few other foods I can eat in the beginning of this diet that are very unlikely to be the problem? I'm about sick of rice!! Thanks!!

[EloysH]

 I am going to move this to food allergies board for more eyes.  The diet I am going to recommend allows alot of foods but is farily tough.  It is really important to be sure that you have the reflux meds doses tweaked and under control as much as possible.

I would stay away from the Dr Sears diet, its way too restrictive.

This diet allows one to diagnose food chemical intolerance which is really very common....when you are on it, it is recommended to stay allergin free so no dairy/soy/nut/wheat/eggs/fish.  You wait till you reach a baseline of symptom free (takes about 4 weeks) and then challenge each group one by one.  Now these diets are all a very long term commitment, around 6 months really.  You can do all the food challenges through your milk.   I still haven't completed all the challenges 12 months onwards.


Alot of people will only undertake this diet  if forced as it excludes alot of healthy foods. A common route is to start dairy/soy free, then add wheat and egg free if the baby is still unsettled 4 weeks later.  If still unsettled with egg and wheat free added in, and poos still mucus after another 4 weeks then people try for food chemical intolerance diets such as this one.  I did this... I really didn;t want to do the diet, but I had no other option to explore in the end.


http://failsafediet.wordpress.com/

http://failsafediet.wordpress.com/the-rpah-elimination-diet-failsafe/babies-and-small-children/
http://failsafediet.wordpress.com/about-food-chemical-intolerance/what-is-the-failsafe-diet/
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/

[EloysH]

white peeled potatoes, plain chicken, medium grain rice, rice bran oil, brussel sprouts (cooked for less than 5 mins so they aren't farty/gassy), shallots, swede, choko, lamb, brown sugar, just ripe bannanas, peeled soft pears, green beans, lentils, kidney beans, quinoa, millet, amaranth, rice milk, are a few safe foods on the diet.

[Buntybear]

Hi Megan, so sorry to see you on this board xxx

It is very hard IMHO to know what is wrong at 6 weeks old. Some babies do just cry. For us, Olly didn't cry very much when he was a baby but still had all these allergies! Of course, if you are happy to go for a total ED diet then do it. But be very careful about your energy and nutrition levels. With 2 small babies you need all the help you can get energy wise. I would really only do it with support from a dietician or specialist. At that age with Olly, I was only off milk and that was hard enough.

Olly's allergies only really showed themselves at night (you know about our hideous NWs!). Does your DS show any other symptoms? eczema, nappy rash, mucous, vomiting??

[bug_blues70]

Thanks Eloise and Hi Claire!

Elo - that's the one I've been doing - the Dr. Sears. I do think it's made an improvement tho. Last night there was no screaming again (apart from one short jag where I didn't realize he was just hungry) and I've had two four hour stretches of sleep at night in the past three nights. I'm going to add in more foods today tho b/c I think my milk supply is down a bit from eating just rice and I want to make sure to get enough nutrients into my milk too. Thanks for the link to the diet that you are doing. I'll probably try it instead of the Dr. Sears.

Claire - I don't really see any other symptoms of allergy... he's got some baby acne but I don't think it's eczema. He doesn't vomit anymore - he did a few times when he was between 2-4wks old, and his poos are normal I think. It's a little hard to tell b/c I give him Colic Calm and that changes the color of the poo, but before I started giving it to him it was normal and there still doesn't seem to be any change in consistency - only color.

Thanks for all the good info and support! I think I might add in a few more foods today.

[bug_blues70]

Well, so far so good... I think I can attribute all his crying now to burps b/c when he has one, he'll stop immediately. And I've also realized he needs his reflux meds at 12 hrs on the dot. The only time he screamed yesterday was when i was 3 hrs late with his meds. Does it really work and run out that fast??

Yesterday I added spinach, today I'm going to add green and kidney beans per your post, Eloise. Where can I find a full food list for that diet? I looked at all the links you sent and didn't seem to find it... do I have to buy a book or something?

Thanks so much for all the help!!

[EloysH]

Well done for getting this far!
Spinach is high salicylate, if you have access to bok choy that would be better as its moderate.

This website has info on the diet:
http://failsafediet.wordpress.com/the-rpah-elimination-diet-failsafe/

It is best of you buy the book it has full food charts and shopping lists... as the meats need to be cooked certain ways and fresh...
http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/

There is some info going on Jens post too:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=188571.0

[bug_blues70]

Thanks so much for all your help!