wondering if an ED is a good way to go....

[EloysH]

Sounds like a plan    One step at a time. 

Tomatoes are pretty high in food chemicals and also acid.  Onions are obviously windy as alot of sulphur is relased in the cooking process, and also high in natural food chemicals.  Both were to be strictly avoided on my diet.  I still can't bring myself to cook with  either tomatoes or onions (I use leeks) even though I have been off my ED for 5 weeks now!!!   I really understand how irrritating tomatoes can be to the body I will only eat fresh ones on bread or in a salad.

[Gypsymom]

Liz has some good advice about balancing it all out. I went full-on (down to just six foods for months! eek!) and the toll was heavy, much more than physically. DS2 is a super-responder (even minute quantities bother him and he struggles to put on weight if things are 'going through') so I am STILL on a very restricted diet, but it's 10x better than it was. Feel free to PM me if you'd like further help whittling things down, but these girls are all experts! 

[deckchariot]

dh and I have discussed how far we're willing to go and we've made a list of what I'm comfortable doing a trial elimination of (but probably just one at a time) if the GI specialist recommends it:  gluten, eggs, peanuts, tomatoes and onions are the top five we're looking at.  And I've got my food diary going, but so far we've not noticed a pattern between my eating and her screaming and pooping.

[~*Nicole*~]

I am following along as I have a lot of the same questions. I have to commend you for how far you are willing to go with an ED if necessary. I said if dairy and soy weren't enough then I'd likely move to formula. I feel VERY guilty after reading through here and seeing how dedicated a lot of other moms have been in order to continue BFing.

That said, I'm eliminating dairy/soy now and a lot of what you are describing is still happening here. Random green mucousy poops, screaming/crying after about 10 minutes after feeding, etc. We are supposed to pop in to the ped tomorrow to have a nurse administer a vaccine and check his stool again but I may request to see the doctor and inquire about upping reflux meds or something else b/c we are still just plain miserable here.

I do eat eggs, tomatoes, wheat, onions, and possibly hidden dairy/soy in "natural flavors" b/c I don't know what they are if they refuse to list them on the ingredients list of foods I use. Now I am thinking about this whole reflux due to food allergy/intolerance thing and wondering if I need to limit more or just move to trying the formula.

I don't really know what I want to do so I am following along to see where you end up and how things go for you and your DD.

[EloysH]

Feel free to PM me if you guys want to chat in detail 

Please dont feel guilty hun, I had the support at home with family and also surrounded by amazing health professionals, the diet I was on called th RPAH elimination diet was derived at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, they are the world leaders in food intolerance research and they are literally 5 mins down the road from me.  So very lucky on that front     I don't think the deit is really possible unless you have the right support.   It is so very hard     But I did have a symptomfree baby no mucus, no wind, no sore tummy 

And I don't think one would be on that diet unless the circumstances prevailed, Kai really is very very sensitive, even now at 14 months I have had to take him off his measly one tablespoon of sheepmilk yoghurt since he was been doing too many poos and fluffs and waking for 2 hours at night uncomfortable. It was (was his only dairy left)  but at least he seems to be sleeping better.

[~*Nicole*~]

Please dont feel guilty hun, I had the support at home with family and also surrounded by amazing health professionals, the diet I was on called th RPAH elimination diet was derived at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, they are the world leaders in food intolerance research and they are literally 5 mins down the road from me.  So very lucky on that front  Tongue   I don't think the deit is really possible unless you have the right support.   It is so very hard  Sad

Thank you for this. It is really hard when you don't have help to shop/cook, etc. And everyone keeps offering me things I can't eat. I brought my own foods to a BBQ last Sunday and I had to explain to everyone why. It is such a foreign concept to most people.

[deckchariot]

I completely understand Nicole!!!  I had someone bring me a meal and I asked her if it had any dairy in it and she said "oh no, no milk, I just used cream of chicken soup"!  *sigh* I had a sandwich instead.

I'd check with your ped about a meds change - are you just doing zantac?  It's super weight sensitive, and it didn't work for us, so it's worth trying a meds change first.

There's no way I could do a total elimination diet, I just don't have enough help there, and I'd still be cooking regular stuff for dh and dd1.  But I think I can do one additional elimination at a time for 5 days and see.  If I know it's time limited, I can do it.  Now, if I find that 5 days of no gluten does the trick, the question will be can I keep that up, and at this point, I don't know.  I'm waiting to hear what our GI specialist says first though.

The down side to switching to formula is that if it's anatomical reflux, she'll be just as uncomfortable on formula as she will be on bm, so I don't gain anything there.  I don't know if it's worth it to do a trial of formula (while pumping to keep up supply) to see if it makes a difference, and if it doesn't then switch back to bfing.  Has anyone tried that?

[~*Nicole*~]

I was wondering the same Michelle...would it be worth it to trial alimentum maybe for a day or two while pumping to keep up supply to gauge if there is any improvement??

[deckchariot]

I'm going to ask the specialist on Tuesday and see.  I'm holding off on making any changes right now until after that appt when we have some more information.  I'd really hate to stop bfing her

[EloysH]

it is a standard recommendation at the allergy clinics.  She might have both anatomical relfux and food intolerances.  Kai definantly has both.

[Kta400]

Hi ladies, I am in the same boat and it is so nice to read these posts. I have a 6 month old son who I think is dairy/soy intolerant. I was gluten, nut, dairy, and soy free for 6 weeks and finally was seeing no blood but his poos were not back to normal yet. Then I had a bad experience at a sushi place - they told me there was no soy in a sauce but my LO told me there was when I fed him and he had a massive explosive green poo with lots of blood within hours of feeding him. So now I have 4 weeks from that episode and still have a little blood here and there. Is it common for soy to take that long to get out of his system like it does dairy?  I have added a little wheat back in and so now not sure if we are reacting to the wheat or if it is still the soy getting out of his system. It is so confusing and hard!

I started a probiotic a week ago and just yesterday he started to be super gassy, up multiple times at night screaming, starting to spit up a ton, and more dots of blood. He has reflux and is on Zantac which has seemed to have worked up until now. I am so stressed out and am starting to feel so guilty to be still nursing if it is causing him this much pain. I can't figure it out!

I have been wondering too if I should try formula for a day or two but just nervous to add something new to his system. Plus... I really hate the idea of giving up nursing.

Going to the doctor tomorrow for his 6 month check up and am going to request to see a GI doc.

[deckchariot]

I was told it can take 4 weeks to get everything out of your system and his system.  {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}  I would have your dr test his poop again for blood.  Our dd no longer has blood in her poop, so the dairy/soy free is helping.  our GI specialist advised against doing a full on ED as he thinks it really is just the milk protein issue.  He suggested I quit bfing and go to formula, but I'm just not ready to do that yet.

zantac never worked for us, and I know it's super weight sensitive.  But the blood has me thinking allergy.

[Kta400]

What did the GI do to conclude it was just dairy issue? Just by talking to you or did he run some tests? What formula did he recommend?

I am so worried the doc will tell me to quit breastfeeding and move to formula as well. I am so not ready for that. I was so upset last night because I just am not ready. I feel like that is being really selfish though... I really just want him to feel better.

[deckchariot]

Here's a link to a thread I started on the whole issue: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=211579.0

fwiw, at this point, we are not quitting bfing.....she's been doing better, and the benefits of continuing outweigh the benefits of quitting - at least at this stage.  If/when we do decide to do some formula, I'm just starting with one bottle - the bedtime one.  It's a really hard decision

[~*Nicole*~]

I started a probiotic a week ago and just yesterday he started to be super gassy, up multiple times at night screaming, starting to spit up a ton, and more dots of blood.

I am sure that you did, BUT just in case...did you check to see if the probiotic was dairy and soy free. I know I was looking around for one and had a hard time finding one that was both dairy and soy free and they were costly so I ended up not buying any . Just wanted to make sure that this wasn't the culprit for you.