Ellimination diet... how long???

[Beata3]

Hi ~ My son (4 1.2 months old) has had green, slimy, stinky poops with bad gas from about 3 weeks of age.  The ped. had me off & on dairy sooo many times but never saw any improvement (but he had me try it for a week, which now I realize isn't long enough of a time).  So, now he has me on a NO DAIRY, SOY, WHEAT, BERRIES. CITRUS, TOMATO diet.  (He said to try it for 10 days), this is actually the start of week 2 (as of Monday it was one week).  And although my son's poops are getting better (they aren't as mucousy, and stinky), they have still remained green ~ although sometimes they are a yellow/green, and sometimes still mucousy. 

Any idea how long before I see results???  This diet is SO hard & I am having more & more of a difficult time finding stuff to eat & am getting more & more miserable.... just wondering how long before I can expect to see if any of the above are the offending foods.

Thank you!

Beth

[NKmommy]

Hi Beth,
Ughhh, my sympathies.     The elimination diet can be soooo hard, but SO worth it if your little one is feeling better.  It can take two weeks for milk and soy proteins to leave your system, so I would do the diet for at least that long.  When I did the diet, I eliminated all soy (including all soy derivates), dairy (including milk-based ingredients like whey and casein), corn, wheat, nuts, and eggs.  So tough, but shopping at a health food store really helped me.  I was able to eat turkey, rice milk (actually pretty good), rice bread, wheat-free waffles, fruit, plain rice, etc. 

Lots of hugs, and I hope that you see some improvement in your LO soon! 

[Mom to M&M]

I completely agree with Sheila - at least two weeks - maybe even three. Also check out this link from Dr. Sears. Good luck!

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T041200.asp

[First Time Mom]

My dd has a milk protein alergy and when I accidentally consume something with milk it takes up to 3 weeks for her system to get back to normal. Read the ingredients on every box, you'll be surprised at all the items that have milk so you could end up digesting it without knowing. Good luck, it's difficult but worth it to be able to continue to bf.

[Beata3]

Thank you guys... I appreciate the "pearls of wisdom" & the support.  I am also looking at all labels for the ingredients & elliminating ANYTHING that has any soy/milk/whey/ etc. in it ~ I NEVER realized how many things have SOY in them ~ it is ridiculous.  The thing I miss the most is coffee.  (I like flavored coffee so I use to use CoffeeMate ~ the flavored kind) & it said it was "Non-Dairy" ~ until almost 2 weeks ago I looked at the ingred. & realized it had soy!  (Which it may explain why everytime the ped. had me go off of milk nothing really changed (if it is the milk, of course).  But, slowly but surely things are looking better ~ My husband almost wanted to wake me up this morning b/c Matthew had yellow poop (can you tell how long we've been waiting for this    ~ so, we are hoping that this continues & his system is clearing out.

As for my diet ~ I have been eating Millott bread (it is SO dense ~ I love bread & cannot wait to eat bread again ~ NORMAL whole wheat bread).... but, millott bread with grape jelly for breakfast (once every few days I have been having an egg, but I think that causes our lil' one to have gas), for lunch I have been having salads with beans & oil&ving. (but of course, his poops were DARK greeen ~ and we weren't sure if it was the intolenrance thing, or the spinach ~ so, I have been trying to lay off for a few days), so, now for lunch I have bunless hot dogs (hummels ~ they have all beef ones that have no whey or soy in them), and for dinner ~ potatoes, plain chicken and some kind of veggies.  I am not sure what else I can have at this point ~ as everything has either some kind of wheat or soy in it.  Oh, I also tried ALMOND MILK ~ as someone said Rice milk is awful ~ I don't like it... it is sooo grainy & it is even worse in coffee    Other than that ~ I picked up some coconut bars at the Health food store that are great, and also a brand called "nana"s" makes no gluten no dairy cookies ~ so I have been eating those as a treat!  But it is getting more & more difficult to eat ~ as everything seems like I've had it a dozen times.

Also, one more question~ once I start to introduce foods ~ I am going to start with the least likely (as I think it is milk, or MAYBE wheat) ~ so, I figure I'll start with the berries, then citrus, then tomatoes, then wheat, etc.  ~ I was going to try the new food for like 4 days before starting a new one (since that is what they suggest for feeding solids to babies)... or should I do it for longer?  Shorter?  Also, once I find the "offender" ~ should I go meet with a nutritionist?  Or what kind of specialist?  Just so I can make sure we are both getting all the vitmains/minerals/calcium that we need?  And his ped. said that once his poops go back to "normal" I can introduce solids (as he seems ready ~ he stares at our food, and does the tongue thing, etc.) ~ but should I hold off even longer if it is a dairy thing?  And does this mean that I would not be able to have dairy for the duration that I bf?

Sorry for all the questions ~ but I have been overwhelmed with all of this questions for so long now & could not find anywhere to ask ~ find out... I am so excited that I stumbled across this forum.  Thank you all in advance,

Beth

[First Time Mom]

I find rice milk isn't too bad in coffee, but then again, maybe I'm just finally used to it . I never did the elimination diet- I just kicked out all milk products and now just eat a very bland diet so I'm afraid I can't answer your questions about bringing food back into the diet.

As for starting solids, you don't need to wait (once you find out the offenders). I started my dd on avocado and then bannana as the bfing clinic told me they were the highest in nutrients and cals. My dd now has barley cereal and has tried 5 or so different veggies. I've read on here (and other places) that you can try to introduce milk products every few months to see if your lo is over the alergy. I tried that back at 4 months and my lo still had a problem. For now I plan on eliminating the duration of bfing, I take a vitamin and 2 calcium chews each day.