allergic baby, Mom goes on 'total elimination'

SRL

Active Member
It was interesting.

I was a very allergic infant, right from the get go. In the hot California summer heat to fuel the fire. My mom nursed exclusively but knew I was reacting to breast milk and when eliminating the common foods didn't work her pediatrician had her quit nursing. That was even worse since I reacted to the formulas and there weren't the options there are now. Cow's milk didn't work. Goats milk didn't work. She was getting very desperate when she ran into someone who suggested Carnation nonfat dry milk and lo and behold I could handle it. It wasn't the ideal but it was sustainence. To this day I still have my strongest food allergy reactions to high butterfat products such as homemade ice cream.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
I had to put Mighty Mouse on Nutramigen (super expensive stuff). He had bloody stool until we put him on it. When I think back to the issues I had with Missy, she probably should have been on that too. After about 8 months on it, we were able to put him on Goodstart.

The amazing thing is....carnation was actually the very first formula.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">For centuries, attempts to create a breast milk substitute resulted in high infant mortality. The first formula to significantly lower the artificial feeding death rate was developed by Henri Nestlé in the 1860s in response to the high mortality rate among infants in Switzerland in foundling homes (orphanages). It was a combination of cow's milk and cereals and was called Farine Lactee. Although the mortality and morbidity (illness) rates remained much higher in infants who did not receive breast milk, infant formula became increasingly popular during the 20th century as advertising entered its golden age. The medical community supported the use of infant formula because it was promoted as being more "scientific"--more easily measured and the nutrient content of the milk supposedly ensured. The medical community, as part of the larger culture, was subject to the same influences and trends then popular.
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tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I often wonder if I'd been better able to convey the severity of Duckie's pain to our pediatrician if she would have been treated for her allergies earlier. It's one of my few real regrets.
 

Mildred

New Member
This story makes me wonder if there is a food allergy causing some of my son's problems? Has anyone tried food elimination diets for a child with any type of disorder that isn't obviously an allergy? Any ideas where to get information on something like that?
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
I had to use Nutramigen with my little easy child as well. He reacted to breast milk, regular formula, goodstart and just about everything else out there. Eventually he graduated to Lactose free formula, and now he can tolerate dairy products fairly well. His Paed. and a few others suggested that his trouble with milk was related to asthma. (Milk allergies and asthma are quite common, apparently)

Mildred, I have used food elimination diets with difficult child. He has a lot of food sensitivities that result in very erratic, manic, out-of-control behaviour. Since there's no consistent pattern to his food allergies (e.g. anything with dairy, or all artificial colours), we have been doing a modified elimination diet for the past several years. We have a core list of "safe" foods which he can eat any time. I keep a spreadsheet of the "banned" foods that cause him to react. Whenver difficult child is about to try a new food (or even a different brand of a safe food) we make sure that he is only trying one new thing at a time, and we observe him carefully for the next few hours. If there is no adverse reaction, we add that to the safe list. Otherwise, it goes on the banned list.

AllStressedOut and other members have mentioned elimination diets in some of their posts. It might be a good idea for you to look through their posts to see if you can find them.
(I'm still fairly new to the site too, and don't fully understand how the archives and searching work)

All the best,
Trinity
 

Josie

Active Member
We didn't do the elimination diet exactly but we did eliminate gluten from my difficult child's diet as a result of a family history of celiac disease and gluten intolerance. We saw an immediate improvement in her behaviour. When we started seeing problems again, we realized we also needed to eliminate casein. We had testing done on her for gluten and casein so we knew to start with those. Now that she is gluten and casein free, she is truly a easy child. However, the old difficult child does make an appearance when she has even traces of either gluten or casein.

Before we started this diet, she was a true difficult child with a diagnosis of ODD and depression. She was taking 20 mg of Lexapro and looking at adding Seroquel or something else. One of our worst momements, pre-medications, was when I was trying to get her to go to her room for some infraction and she bit me. She was probably 9 at the time. Now she is off from all medications and doing better than ever.

I am about to do a food allergy test on easy child to see if there is anything else she is allergic to. This is not generally accepted by most doctors but they don't generally accept that food will cause behaviour problems either. I will use it as a starting point for eliminating other foods. There are several blood tests that use different methods that you can use. I am ordering it online but there are doctors and naturopaths that will do it also. You can look online for food allergy testing to decide which one to use and then ask them for a doctor in your area.

If you want to do it on your own, you could start with the top 8 allergens. You could eliminate them one at a time or all at once for a couple of weeks, observe behaviour, then add one thing back in at a time, and observe behaviour. I would check gluten and not just wheat. The top 8 allergens are wheat, milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. Other good ones to check are artifical colors and high fructose corn syrup.

 

iNEEDserenity

New Member
my difficult child was also put on Neutramigen (at 3mo) due to bloody stool. she is 8yrs old and this is the first i've heard of someone else's child having the same issue. everyone else i've talked to that have used hypoallergentic formula's was due to colic. which she never had. just blood in her diaper, luckily we already had a check up that day so i brought the diaper and was then sent to a gateronteroligist (sp? think i forgot how to spell it??)
she has no allergies now, that i know of anyway. when she was in preschool i had her tested for milk/dairy allergy which came back negative. i had heard somewhere that dairy allergy can have ADD/ADHD like symptoms so i did a little research, and considering the formula allergy, but no connection.

a close friend of mine has been dealing with the elimiation diet with her little one, it takes such dedication and i give kudo's to all who do it.

if i could get my mom, school, her dad, and everyone else to stay consisitant, i would really like to try this with difficult child. i know how much dedication it takes and really wish it was an option. she's also a very picky eater and has a very limit diet as it is. (mostly power struggle than anything) i am all for natural ways, and avoiding medications if possible. my easy child and myself have both had allergic reaction to medications and im very cautious now.

i admire all of you who have the dedication to follow these stricts diets with your children. :eek:)
 
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