Allergies and baby's sleep

[capsgirl08]

My DS sleeps for 1 hour at a time if we are lucky. It's no one's fault, but I get irritated when I hear moms IRL complain that their baby woke up "twice!" last night.

Did your allergic babe's sleep ever improve? When? DS is still only 9mo. Sleeps with us in our bed. We leave him there alone for about 5 hours before we join him.

[changingseasons]

DD's sleep improves every time I find another trigger food and take it out of our diet. When she's reacting, she will be up sometimes every 30 minutes all night. But when we're closer to baseline, she will sleep 3-5 hours at a time, sometimes more.

[springmum]

DS is 8.5 months (we're dealing with intolerances) and when we're at baseline he sleeps 2-4 hrs in a row.
Bad nights are hourly nursing, but constantly restless, crying (intensely) while sleeping, very gassy etc.

[dazedtoday]

Hi there...
My 3YO son has multiple FA and was diagnosed at 12 weeks. He slept 30-45 minutes at a time until we saw a specialist at Boston's Children's Hospital who directed me to eliminate the foods he was allergic to from my diet as I was nursing. Things improved dramatically also with the addition of Attarax (sp). What we saw was a constantly itching infant but found out later that he probably suffered from severe abdominal cramps as well. We coslept because he would itch himself until he was bloody no matter how short his nails were, and with him close at least we knew when we had to give him more medication. Now our problem with him is he is a non-eater and super small. On the bright side, the wheat and soy allergies resolved which helps a lot.

[capsgirl08]

Already been upstairs 4x...I must be missing something regarding DS's food allergies...Changing Seasons, I think I was telling you before how the list keeps growing. I suppose I need more patience. Sorry for all your little ones and their sleeping, too! Who ever came up with "sleeping like a baby" never had a food allergic child!

[Mommy2Haley]

I went through 17+ months of constant nursing, crying, waking before I discovered food allergies. DD never had eczema, rashes, etc that the pedi told me to watch for. Even when I went to him with concerns he dismissed me until I took it upon myself to eliminate dairy -- and my DD started to STTN!! (Well, she did it twice .. but that was good enough for me!!)

A friend of mine has a 9 month old and around 4 months or so she was complaining about how her son had had a "bad night" the night before. "Bad night" for her was waking up at 3am wanting to nurse. OMG! He woke up ONCE and you're complaining? She started cereal and fruit the next day to 'get him back to sleeping' 10 hours straight. UGH. I haven't slept for 6 hours straight in over 2 years let alone 10 hours!

[dazedtoday]

I found that affected other things too like being in the carseat, taking walks etc. Our allergist did an extensive RAST (blood test) screening for the foods. We tried putting our son to bed later (-11 pm) and that helped him with his sleep duration in addition to the elimination diet and Attarax.

[Therese's Mommy]

I have a food allergic child who is an awful sleeper. If she sleeps for 2 hours at a time we are excited. She is 19 mos old. There was a time when I eliminated known allergies from my diet (she is bfing) and it didn't change a thing. If my diet were affecting her sleep would she be showing discomfort? She just does not seem like a sound sleeper but she doesn't act uncomfortable at all. And let me tell you, she is a *very* sensitive child; we would know if she were uncomfortable. When she gets a cold she will be up all night wailing inconsolably. On normal nights she just wakes enough to need resettling from either nursing or being picked up (depending on who answers her). I asked our allergist about it and she said that kids who suffered from eczema (dd used to, it is all cleared up now) often develop bad sleeping habits from the constant waking from the eczema in the past.

Thanks,

Beth

[Therese's Mommy]

I have been thinking a lot about this thread since I posted here the other day. Last night I put steroid cream on dd's neck and this little patch next to her mouth before bed. These are the 2 places where her eczema is the worst when it flares (which is rare these days). Right now those places look good, although I did think I saw a little eczema popping up on her neck and she does periodically itch the side of her mouth. She slept for 4 hours straight at one point last night : So, I am thinking that even though she is not itching her eczema is bothering her just enough to keep her restless. Before this little experiment last night I had decided that I am going to eliminate dairy from my diet in the next week or so. If this gets her to sleep stretches of more than 1-2 hours at a time I am going to be :::::::: Did I mention I would be : She is 19mos and this has gone on long enough for both of us.

A year ago when I eliminated her KA from my diet nothing changed with her sleep. But at the time, her eczema was bad (not weepy at all but very very itchy) and I didn't even know it was eczema, so I had no idea how to treat it. Once we went to the derm and found out we were dealing with eczema (the allergist should have been able to tell us that it was eczema, but she was horrible and we no longer go to her) it took a while to clear it up and by that time I had added everything back into my diet. I didn't really think there was a connection.

She has known allergies to dairy, wheat, egg, peanut, banana, and avocado. Peanuts were eliminated from all of our diets once we found out about the peanut allergy because of the danger. Through testing, her wheat allergy seems mild (of course there is no way to know for sure) and would most likely be the first one we do a challenge with. I don't eat many eggs, mostly just baked in things as I have a bit of an egg sensitivity. I rarely eat bananas, so I will just avoid them as well. Her avocado allergy seems mild and I will keep eating them for now. BUT, her dairy allergy seems pretty pronounced. She has broken out in hives from contact many times. It is to the point that I will not take her to the local dairy because she somehow must come into contact with dairy while there (it is an ice cream shop as well) and has broken out in hives at least twice while there and last time we were there her eye got all itchy and red. So, I am going to start with dairy not only because it is her worst but also because from reading here it seems to be the one to make the most difference.

As an aside, when I made this decision the other night I went through the stages of grief. It was pretty funny, but I like dairy. But now that I have dealt with her dairy allergy for a while I have found better alternatives instead of just soy, which always made me uncomfortable. I am looking forward to the challenge of making hemp milk yogurt : And pudding with hemp milk. And, I will be getting creative with cheese-less pizza since I am really attached to our family's pizza and pudding Friday nights. I guess this thing will also help to quash my unhealthy attachment to food

If you have read this far, thanks. Ok, well I am hoping that I will be starting a thread in a couple weeks with a title like...she is sleeping 4 hrs at a time!

Beth

[kjbrown92]

When I got the triggers out, my kids slept (different things would wake them at different stages - from waking up every hour crying to bedwetting to night terrors to "growing pains", etc., but when the trigger foods were removed, they slept through the night (DD2, almost 4, wakes up once a night to pee still). For those of you with skin-testable "real" allergies, with kids who are still waking up at night, I'd challenge you to find out if your child has food intolerances as well, that don't show up on a RAST/SPT test. I don't believe that any kid "gets used to" waking up 15 times a night.

[Hopefulmama]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

When I got the triggers out, my kids slept (different things would wake them at different stages - from waking up every hour crying to bedwetting to night terrors to "growing pains", etc., but when the trigger foods were removed, they slept through the night

When I read that it brought tears to my eyes. My DD(3 YO) has NEVER slept well. I've tried everything. She has had night terrors, bed-wetting, leg pain, growing pains, etc. She is being tested on Thursday. I am so hoping that this will give her/us some relief. Thank you for giving me some hope. People always think I'm exagerrating that she sleeps so poorly. Sometimes I think I must have done something wrong to raise such a poor sleeper. Now that I am learning more and more about allergies, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama

When I read that it brought tears to my eyes. My DD(3 YO) has NEVER slept well. I've tried everything. She has had night terrors, bed-wetting, leg pain, growing pains, etc. She is being tested on Thursday. I am so hoping that this will give her/us some relief. Thank you for giving me some hope. People always think I'm exagerrating that she sleeps so poorly. Sometimes I think I must have done something wrong to raise such a poor sleeper. Now that I am learning more and more about allergies, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together.

Tested how?
People think I exaggerate too. It's normal for a kid to wake up my dad's girlfriend (retired nurse) said. She ate ONE m&m at their house. The next morning I called them. She was up TWELVE times because of that one m&m, and you think THAT is normal? I said next time she was over there (my dad was supposed to be watching her but he was upstairs on his computer instead) I was going to let them keep her overnight and see how "normal" it was (they have candy alllllll over their house -- horrible place for my kids).
The doctor said it was growing pains. I said hmmm... Motrin doesn't help it. I tried gripe water one night, and viola, they went away. That was before I took milk/soy out of his diet yet again. He was wetting the bed a ton. Took the milk/soy out, and it allllll went away. It's a difference of night and day when all their triggers are out. Unfortunately DS has a new one I can't figure out so he's got some of his symptoms back (though he is still sleeping). They are different children when off the bad foods. The real kid is in there. You just have to find them.

[momofmine]

My first child never slept through the night until we took foods out of our diet. I started with gluten and dairy, which helped some, but when we did the SCD, it changed overnight. Literally, overnight, he started sleeping for 5-6 hour stretches. We both had gut issues and that diet is what finally helped. He was about 1.5 yrs old.

My second child slept so much better and fell into natural rhythms so easily, I was so amazed. It made me realize how much more my first had been in pain.

I say do NOT give up until you have figured it out. If you think your baby is waking up in pain, crying out, arching his back, drawing up his legs, whatever, don't listen to people who tell you this is normal.

It's hard when you are running on low sleep, try to get some help, sleep when they nap, etc, even if you have to sleep holding them in your lap after they nurse.

[Therese's Mommy]

Originally Posted by momofmine

I say do NOT give up until you have figured it out. If you think your baby is waking up in pain, crying out, arching his back, drawing up his legs, whatever, don't listen to people who tell you this is normal.

The things with my dd is that she isn't waking in pain, she isn't crying out, she isn't arching her back, she isn't drawing up her legs, nothing like that at all. She just wakes up about every hour at 19 mos. But last night was the 2nd night in a row with a 4 hours stretch which is a record. Once I get my diet figured out I will be cutting dairy out and see if that is the answer as I don't want to put steroid cream on her every night if it can be helped.

Beth

[quelindo]

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama

When I read that it brought tears to my eyes. My DD(3 YO) has NEVER slept well. I've tried everything. She has had night terrors, bed-wetting, leg pain, growing pains, etc. She is being tested on Thursday. I am so hoping that this will give her/us some relief. Thank you for giving me some hope. People always think I'm exagerrating that she sleeps so poorly. Sometimes I think I must have done something wrong to raise such a poor sleeper. Now that I am learning more and more about allergies, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together.

My son is 3.5 and has never STTN. I had him tested for IgG reactions and will be getting the results on Thursday. I really hope I figure this out. He also has sandpapery, dry skin -- but won't let me put lotion on him. I do think that if I figure out the triggers, though, lotion won't be necessary.

So those of you whose kids sleep poorly -- are they just restless, or completely waking up for extended periods? My son is just restless. He yells, "No no no no!" and claws at himself. Or he climbs on top of me to sleep or just crowds me (we co-sleep, obviously). This all does not seem "normal" to me.

[Hopefulmama]

[QUOTE=New Mama,,;13080193

So those of you whose kids sleep poorly -- are they just restless, or completely waking up for extended periods? My son is just restless. He yells, "No no no no!" and claws at himself. Or he climbs on top of me to sleep or just crowds me (we co-sleep, obviously). This all does not seem "normal" to me.[/QUOTE]


My Dd who is also 3.5, would wake so many times/night that I quit counting. Then she started with night terrors (thrashing around, screaming no, wouldn't let us comfort her) about a year ago. We were off of gluten for 6 months which seemed to help, but stopped working. The night terrors returned, as well as nightmares. Or she would wake up crying and scratching, or she would complain of leg pain (dismissed by everyone else as growing pains-so normal...). Interestingly enough, since she had a bad reaction to cashews 2 weeks ago and we took her off of all nuts, incluing peanut butter, she has STTN for about 5 nights now. It's the first time in AGES and she's rarely slept so many night in a row through the night. So I'm thinking it's more than coincidence. I just wish we could have found out these things earlier. So all of you will really little ones-hang in there and good for you for investigating now. I am also anxious to see how my 10 month old would react to dietary changes. He is not a great sleeper either, although better than DD ever was.

[Hopefulmama]

Originally Posted by momofmine

My first child never slept through the night until we took foods out of our diet. I started with gluten and dairy, which helped some, but when we did the SCD, it changed overnight. Literally, overnight, he started sleeping for 5-6 hour stretches. We both had gut issues and that diet is what finally helped. .

If you don't mind me asking, what is the "SCD"? Thanks!

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by New Mama

So those of you whose kids sleep poorly -- are they just restless, or completely waking up for extended periods? My son is just restless. He yells, "No no no no!" and claws at himself. Or he climbs on top of me to sleep or just crowds me (we co-sleep, obviously). This all does not seem "normal" to me.

DD will wake up, come down, and I have to bring her back upstairs to her bed to sleep OR she'll sort of cry out but not wake up (as long as I'm there) OR she'll scream OR she'll want something to drink ALL NIGHT LONG. DS went through the gamut leg pains, screaming for a few hours at a time, screaming that his leg hurt, night terrors, etc. None of them EVER arched their back, drew their legs up, or belched or farted or anything like that.

And no, I don't think that taking nuts out and her sleeping through the night all of a sudden is a coincidence at all. It's amazing what doctors will say is normal (just because it's "common" doesn't mean it's "normal"). My doctor thought projectile vomiting bile at every meal for a 2 week old was normal and nothing to worry about...

[SoBeIt]

My DS woke to nurse every 45 min-2hours every night for the last year. I am pretty sure he has undiagnosed silent reflux. My urgent desire for sleep led us to the GAPS diet, dairy and egg free. Since starting just few weeks ago, DS slept 3, then 4 then 5 then 7 then 8! hours w/o waking! From what I have been learning here from the very sage mamas who post regularly, it's not just what you eliminate, but what you add with food as well. We are doing grassfed bone broths, liver, coconut oil (for me), enzymes, ferments and probiotic supplements (until the reverse osmosis wter maker arrives and I can start using my water kefir grains!). DS also gets magnesium from Baby Calm in his cup every day. Re-mineralizing is important, and tricky. Good luck, I wish you all hours at a stretch of deep sleep...

[momofmine]

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama

If you don't mind me asking, what is the "SCD"? Thanks!

Sorry, I didn't see this before, but it's the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. My son (one yo at the time) was having very runny diarrhea, intestinal symptoms, waking up frequently, slept very poorly. I believed he had symptoms similar to celiac at the time, though he had never eaten gluten, I had and he nursed. But the doctors told me, oh no, gluten doesn't pass through breastmilk (this was 9 years ago). So, we tried a gluten free diet and it helped some for a time, but when we tried the SCD, it was a huge change. That just happened to address our particular issues though.