Wondering (again) about intolerances...

[michaeljacknnugg]

We get some nights (like last night) where DS2 has such a hard time settling. He's asleep, then starts crying and needs to be picked up and held, or if already in arms, to be moved to a different position.

He's eating loads and we are doing BLW, so I'd have to keep a food diary to work things out. Would that be for the last meal of the day or all of them?

He has recently started drinking lots of water. I don't know if this is the cause or not, but for the last couple of weeks we've been getting very frequent dirty nappies. A big one in the morning, then several much more watery ones throughout the day. When ebf he was going roughly once a day.
Sometimes I wonder if they contain mucous. Would it be obvious?

I'd like to rule it out, somehow. A lot of nights are not like this, but I'm wondering if this is why it's so difficult to get him to settle most evenings, or if I just need to feed him more.

[jessmum46]

Just offering my experience with DS in case it helps   He has lactose intolerance but it took me a long time to really work it out. 

He would often be very unsettled at night on seemingly ok naps, or have a really unsettled nap for no apparent reason, but then other times totally fine.  When he was unsettled it would take a while to settle him down despite him being an independent sleeper and he would seem quite gassy and in pain.  He was growing well so I put it down to him just not being a great sleeper, or some teething discomfort (he got all his teeth including 2y molars very quickly by 22m and was bad with all of them!).  However looking back from the time of weaning he almost never had normal formed poops and they would often be quite a yellow 'frothy' texture as if they had a lot of air in them.  No mucous, at least not often - I've always noticed this is quite obvious if it is there.  When he was breastfed they were often greenish or watery but I didn't really think much of it at the time.  It was only really when I noticed a few times after eating yoghurt at lunch his nap would be quite unsettled or he would wake unhappy with painful gas.  I tried a food diary for a while and then just went with my hunch and cut out lactose from his diet, thinking that was an easy first step before totally eliminating dairy or anything else.  Within a day or two he started having formed poos and has been so much more settled since.  And very clearly has symptoms within hours again if he (accidentally) has lactose.

So in short - yes I'd try the food diary and see if you can spot a pattern.  If you have a hunch or see something regularly seeming to cause upset, cut it out for a couple of weeks and see what happens, then try reintroducing.  Basically you diagnose an intolerance by symptoms getting better when the substance is removed, and symptoms returning when it comes back. 

[jessmum46]

Oh also he always used to have dry eczema-type patches on his torso or dry bobbly skin on his upper arms - these have totally gone since cutting the lactose

[michaeljacknnugg]

Kath you've described his sleep! As you know I've been working on IS for a while now, sometimes it happens and other times he really needs to be held.

He seemed ok ish just on my milk so I will start with his food. He slept beautifully after eating most of the cream from inside my profiteroles the other day, and has yogurt most mornings. Soya is my suspect for now.

[michaeljacknnugg]

That's the fifth dirty nappy today and looks like the contents of lunch. The three in between that and this morning's big one have had very little substance to them.

Surely he shouldn't be going this often?

When we started weaning he got constipated, then ok as he took more water. Now he is drinking loads, but wouldn't that impact wet rather than dirty nappies?

[jessmum46]

DS actually drank a lot when he was still having lactose in his diet - it's settled down a lot now though.  Perhaps the drinking is because he is going so often and losing water that way?  Don't know though..

[michaeljacknnugg]

I don't know. He's just got the hang of drinking and handling cups by himself, so he may well just be practicing.

I've started a food diary. No soya in the last 24hrs, wish me luck tonight! Of course, it could be something completely different....

[jessmum46]

Never straightforward is it?!

[Buntybear]

Good Luck! xx

[michaeljacknnugg]

Hmmm. We had two good nights, and a tooth starting to show, and so I thought maybe it was teeth rather than anything else.

But today he's not really been showing much sign of teething (bit dribbly, but that's it) but is jittery and finding it hard to sleep without me again.

No soya in anything he's had, as far as I can tell. No change in amount of dairy/egg/gluten. The only thing I'm wondering about is the fact that he had a new food at teatime - garlic bread.

His nappies have been better the last couple of days.

My forays into the online ingredients lists for his diary have turned up the fact that a yogurt and cocktail sausages contain honey. Who knew?!? And does it matter? He's only had the plain bit of the yogurt (presumably the honey is in the flavoured bit - the yog is just Greek stuff. Collective brand) and a bite of the sausage.

[michaeljacknnugg]

There must be something going on. Otherwise I don't understand how some nights he can sleep soundly, go through sleep transitions by himself etc and others (like last night) he is awake and upset at the slightest sound.

Can teeth really do this? I'm keeping everything else the same. He's definitely teething; one has broken the gum, another is nearly through and the incisors are getting close.

[jessmum46]

Teeth definitely can, B was horrendous with all of his and would be awake crying every 1-2h all night

[michaeljacknnugg]

Poor thing

Right, working assumption is teeth then. But no new foods at dinner time, just in case.

[Buntybear]

Hi - are you still breastfeeding? Have you taken soy out of your diet?

[michaeljacknnugg]

Yes, and no! But he sleeps well on some nights without me changing what I'm eating, so I was thinking of leaving things as they are for a while.