Questions on dairy and soy intolerance

[JKL]

Hi!  I have a 5 month old son.  Call me crazy, but I swear that when I eat dairy, my son gets really wound up a few hours later--majorly hyper!! (I exclusively breastfeed).  Is this possible?  Also, I think that my son spits up much more when I eat soy products.  But, he does not have bloody diarrhea, etc.  So, are these true food intolerances, or just my imagination?  I am driving myself crazy trying to avoid these foods, but since I am not seeing the "normal" type of food reactions, I'm afraid I might be doing this for nothing???  Anyone have any thoughts on this?  Thank you!

Jen

[Mom to M&M]

It doesn't sound crazy at all - but sounds more like an intolerance or digestive issue rather than an allergy. If you are concerned I'd do a COMPLETE elimination of dairy and soy for at least 2 weeks and see what happens - but you need to then avoid all forms of dairy, hidden and otherwise.

[JKL]

Thanks!  I'm going to bite the bullet and do that for the next 2 weeks.  I wonder if some type of food intolerance could be why he is such a terrible sleeper--since birth, although I can't find a connection between the worst nights and any certain foods, or the better nights and any certain foods...

[squeaky's mum]

It might be worth keeping a food diary in the 2 weeks you eliminate dairy and soy. I would make a note of the foods you eat (all of them as there may be other foods that are the culprit) and also note info on the quality of sleep, his mood in general and what the bowl movements are like.

It can be a little onerous but it will help show any patterns. After the 2 weeks are up I would introduce dairy and soy back into your diet slowly and watch ds very closely to see what effect these foods may be having on him. Then if there is clearly a negative effect you can stop eating these foods straight away.

HTH

[Mom to M&M]

I agree with Claire - good idea! When you reintroduce dairy and soy I'd do only one at a time and only in one form - for exactly, maybe start with just some cheese, not cheese, milk, and soy all at once.

[Xavier's mom]

Definitely not crazy.  My DS never had bloody stools, etc. but he would get very wound up, upset, gassy but without the pulling the knees up, etc.  You could just feel it moving around in his tummy.  For us it was dairy and wheat.  I'm not suggesting you do this, but we got so fed up with it that I actually ate nothing but rice and chicken for 5 days, then began adding foods.  This was how we found it.  And every once in a while we'd check in a very controlled way to see if he'd outgrown it.  I could start eating wheat again when ds was about 9 months, and dairy again when he was 11 months. 

Good luck!  It can be frustrating to figure it out, but once you do the change makes it all worth it!  I didn't find it hard at all to avoid dairy or wheat only because I knew the price to pay if I ate it.  It can be a pain eating out, though.  I ended up cooking mostly from "whole" ingredients, as so much processed food has whey and so on in it.