Author Topic: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!  (Read 17921 times)

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Offline MomOfKaylee

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Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« on: December 31, 2012, 18:40:49 pm »
Hi there!

I want to share our experience with other parents in case it can help anyone else! Our 5 month old baby girl has been diagnosed with a CORN allergy of all things! Corn products are in EVERYTHING! It is in ALL commercial and prescription baby formulas EXCEPT Alimentum Ready to Feed (liquid). It's also in all baby medicines! (Corn syrup is a sweetener!) Ever since we figured it out (and it was confirmed at Duke Allergy and Immunology), it's like we have a different baby! She no longer is an itchy, eczematous mess, who vomits constantly!

Gabby had been on 7 different formulas since she was 4 days old... we (the pediatrician, ped GI, and us) all thought she had a milk and soy protein allergy because she couldn't tolerate the different formulas. (It turns out she DOESN'T!) She would have varying degrees of rashes and vomiting depending on the formula. We ended up trying Neocate and Elecare and they were the WORST because 55% of their ingredients are "Corn Syrup Solids".

Her Prevacid Solutabs and her Axid (like Zantac) both had corn products in them to sweeten them. They were making her worse!

We switched to adult Prevacid capsules that we open up and administer with water and completely removed corn out of her diet by giving her only Alimentum RTF. She is amazing! She has beautiful skin! Feels great! Smiles all the time! Doesn't vomit!

Don't give up... I knew something else was going on. I figured it out... and Duke confirmed it.

PLEASE ask me any questions that you may have. I've been through it all! And I have a spreadsheet that I created with the ingredients of most infant formulas so you can cross reference and figure out what is causing your baby's reaction.

According to Duke (and the literature), corn allergies are on the rise for two reasons: 1) Corn is now in everything - it's a sweetener, a stabilizer, a filler. It's even in all commercial baby food as "citric acid" or "acetic acid" to preserve color. We eat so much more of it (mostly unknowingly). 2) 86% of the US's corn crops are genetically modified. This is not the corn that our grandparents ate. Our immune systems don't know what to do with it.

I hope this helps someone else out there! I sure wish we would have figured this out when Gabby was a newborn! It sure would have made her precious little life so much happier, less painful, and easier had we known!



Offline Buntybear

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2013, 22:15:40 pm »
Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience with others  :) O am so glad that you have managed to work it out as it is just so difficult whilst you are trying to do so and your LO is in discomfort.

xx

Offline ENMS

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2013, 23:50:38 pm »
Thanks for sharing, it is interesting and definitely something to keep in mind.

So happy that she is doing great now! :)
Elise



Offline ZacsMumme

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2013, 00:54:36 am »
Wow amazing, and so good for you on working so hard to figure out what was going on for your little girl :D
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Offline MomOfKaylee

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2013, 12:59:48 pm »
Thanks, everybody! I just want to get the word out just in case it could help somebody else! These boards have helped me so much with both my girls!



Offline Buntybear

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2013, 18:26:22 pm »
 :-*

Offline Jennkk

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2013, 04:22:54 am »
Oh my goodness! This is our life story right now! I have 2 boys, one is almost 2 and one is 4 months. I went thru this with my first one and never figured out how to fix his problems. He eventually quit having problems after one year old. Now our new baby is having the same exact problems. It's a nightmare all over again and I'm trying everything possible to figure out how to help him. He has bad eczema, rashes on his chest and back that will not go away no matter what I do, nasal congestion, horrible reflux, choking, bad spit up(a very unhappy spitter) and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. We've tried similac advance, gerber gentle, gerber soothe, nutramigen, and now neocate along with Zantac to start then switched to Axid. Nothing works!!! I had just told my husband earlier....what if its corn syrup and then started researching it and came across this. We see a GI specialist and I think they think I'm crazy! They tell me he may just have to outgrow it. I'm not happy with that answer! There is something hurting my baby constantly! He acts like he's in pain all the time! And it's not colic! If I hear the word colic one more time I'm probably gonna go off on whoever tells me it's colic! I'm sorry, I know I'm ranting but I'm so upset and want to help my sweet boy so bad! We see his ped tomorrow for 4 mo check-up and I'm gonna run this by her. I'm sure they will think I'm crazy but this gives me hope! Thank you!!!

Offline MomOfKaylee

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2013, 15:35:33 pm »
YOU ARE NOT CRAZY!!! You are your baby's biggest (and only advocate!)  He may outgrow it - which would be wonderful - but you're not going to be "okay" with your baby suffering until he does. What good parent would? That drives me nuts!

You've already tried 5 different formulas... trying him on one more - ALIMENTUM READY TO FEED - is not going to hurt him! We saw a huge difference in Gabby in 24 hours! After 4 months of suffering! She was better in 24 hours!!!

Please keep me posted. I sure hope that this is an "easy" fix for you, too. Gabby has now been corn-free for 10 weeks now and she is DOING AWESOME! Fingers crossed for you and your family!




Offline MomOfKaylee

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2013, 15:21:52 pm »
Hi! "Kellyshe" has been PM'ing me about this but for some reason, I can't access the private messages. I've tried in 3 browsers and it keeps serving up a blank page. Is anyone else having this problem? I can access her message if I click on the link that BW emails me, but when I reply and click "send", it gives me a blank page again and no confirmation that I sent the message.

Kellyshe, if you read this, please know I'm trying to respond!



Offline Buntybear

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2013, 17:22:14 pm »
That is odd. Maybe post here... Glitches & Forum Help

I have pm'd Kellyshe for you!

Offline Diana1981

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2013, 17:55:14 pm »
I'm going to tell about this since her dd has has similar problems with formulas. Thanks for sharing.




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Offline Nb1984

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2013, 15:57:13 pm »
Wow am I grateful to see this post! My son is almost 9 months and I just can't see, to get him 'right!' He has been on 3 different brand formulas and they said he had reflux so told me to use gaviscon, that did nothing so they added ranitidine and domperidone for his sickness, still nothing so then Nutramigen AA. Things improved for a while but still after each bottle he would cough this awful dry, hacking cough that sounds so painful and then be sick some clear bile that I assume is like stomach acid?

So finally I am referred to an allergy specialist who says he suspects its a corn and wheat allergy.  So he has now tried rice milk which he was ok on for a few weeks, and his nasal congestion and eczema cleared but the cough and small sickness remains, eventually he refused to drink the rice milk making the connection that it was making him sick and the sickness stepped up a level to full on throwing up the whole bottle after a feed.

So then we tried oat milk which he refused, coccnut milk which instantly made him throw up the whole bottle and currently we are on almond milk which is currently ok, but still doing the slight sickness after a bottle, about 20-30 mins after.

I'm weaning him and avoiding anything with wheat or corn but tonight I did chicken, parsnip, carrot and sweet potato and boiled it in water, blended it for him and all the time he was eating he was still doing his awful hacking cough?

I just feel like I'm missing something but I don't know what!!

Offline Buntybear

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Re: Corn Allergy - It may not be a Milk or Soy Protein Allergy!!!!
« Reply #12 on: April 12, 2013, 16:22:03 pm »
So finally I am referred to an allergy specialist who says he suspects its a corn and wheat allergy

Hi,

What makes him suspect that? At 9 months old it is very hard to diagnose allergies - he has had blood tests I guess?