What do I do now? Ds still has bloody stool.....

[AppletonMama]

I'm not sure what to do now. For over a month now I have tried various forms of a TED. And reciently drank elecare (elemental formula they are trying to get me to give ds) for 3days, yuck and got alot of improvement in poop but I don't think ds liked it either as I'm having a hard time getting him to bf.

the only pattern is that he improves with every diet change and them it gets bad again in a few days. Although this has been going on for months now, good news is that he is growing fine and is generally a happy smily guy.

Yesterday on my thrid day of drinking elecare I woke up feeling really bad. I have to eat. SO.... My current idea is that I will eat a different food each day; turnips for a day, then lamb for a day and so on in a four day rotation. if that works I will pair a second food with the first and so on.

I think part of the problem is my leaky gut. So as not to create more intolerances by eating only a few foods I need a variety. I need to get back to a variety so I can feel better (don't have much more weight to loose either). And my understanding is that i need a variety of food to heal my leaky gut (I'm still trying to understand all of that).

But I don't want to cloud the water by adding to much so I can't tell what ds react to. But right now I my stomach aches so bad i can hardly eat (been try to eat lamb all day, not my favorite either) and I've been so stressed that I forget to smile at my two beautiful babes.

What would you do? You all have been an incredable resource and support for me.

Thank you

[changingseasons]

Ok, first things first. You HAVE to keep yourself healthy- that is the most important thing. You cannot survive on only one food per day. We can help you troubleshoot and make a plan.

Few things that come to mind that could be causing problems-

1. If you are not getting enough calories/fats/proteins/etc. to sustain yourself (and you're losing weight), you're essentially putting your body into detox. If there are more toxins than your body can process efficiently, they will end up in your BM. That's also probably why you're feeling like crap on day 3 of drinking formula- your body is flooded with toxins, and can't get them out fast enough.
2. Supplements are often a place for hidden allergens- specifically soy and corn, and dairy if you're doing any probiotics.
3. You could be eating foods that you are intolerant of.

So....

1. Even on a TED, you need a balanced diet that will give you enough calories and nutrition. Pick one food from each food group and start there, like:
   1. grain - buckwheat, rice, millet, quinoa, ...?
   2. veggie - zucchini, asparagus, beets, ...?
   3. meat - turkey, lamb (never mind you said you don't like it), bison, duck, ....?
   4. oil - EVOO, canola, safflower, palm oil, ...?
   5. fruit - you could try something like pears or canned peaches (somehow they are less allergenic than fresh), but a lot of people on this board seem to have problems with fruit... so I would just skip them for a while.
2. Stop taking all supplements until you have a chance to call each company and see if there are any allergens or allergen-derivatives. Some of the usual suspects- vitamin E is usually soy-derived, and vitamin C (and others) are usually corn-derived.
3. Have you considered any testing for yourself? Such as ELISA, ALCAT, muscle testing, etc.? Even if you aren't showing any signs of food allergies yourself, they could be there, and your baby is reacting to your body's histamine response to foods. If you don't want to do testing, think about any foods that you really crave or would hate to live without. Those are your first foods to get rid of, because those are the most likely culprits.

I don't remember your story or what you've already done, but if you want to review it with us we can help you troubleshoot. Let us know what you've been eating, any supplements you've been taking, etc.

Oh- and since you already know you have a leaky gut, what gut-healing measures are you taking for yourself?

Once you have some safe foods, I do think a rotation diet is a good idea. But you absolutely cannot rotate only 4 foods. That just isn't healthy, and will end up putting your body further into detox.

[springmum]

CS has some very thorough suggestions.

I just wanted to add that your baby won't get better with an unhealthy mama.
I know it's hard and overwhelming, but you can do it.
Please take care of yourself too mama, you're doing the best you can for your little one.!

[kortner]

Just wanted to add some stuff...

How long have you been off dairy? For us we still had mucousy poop for weeks, so doing the elimination diet was not helpful. If I knew then what I know now I would have been solidly off dairy for 4 weeks before doing a TED or ED.

I also agree with the PPs, CS has some great advice, and the ELISA test for me was a very helpful elimination guidance.

I know the feeling of wanting to do whatever it takes as quickly as possible to heal your babe, but this healing takes time. Be gentle to yourself!

[AppletonMama]

Our story

My 4mo. ds has had blood in his stool since 2 wks. old. I eliminated dairy, eggs, gluten, soy with no change. The gastroenterologist says he has a milk protien intolerance and suggested formula. I said No!

So she got me intouch with an other mother who'd been through this breastfeeding. She suggested eating rice and leafy greens untill he heals then introducing foods one at a time.

Buy the time I started the TED I had not had gluten, soy, dairy(for a long time), peanuts, nuts, eggs.

I ate rice and greens for 3 weeks. THen rice and squash, pears for aweek. The squash came out pretty quick as ds reacted to that. Then I tryied pears, chicken and amaranth. Then elecare formula until I felt bad (3 days but ds showed huge inprovement) and yeasterday (after a day of elecare) I tried lamb and was doubled over in stomach ache (dh pointed out that night that it's an pretty big digestive transition.

And today I feel better eating tapioca, hempmilk and sweet potatoes (the potatoes I feel good about as I've tested them before).

got to get to the store tomarrow for more food. But trying to find those foods that weren't in my diet before, are ok with me ( I did have the allergy testing done Comprehensive Food panel IgG ELISA) and those on the least allergenic side of the Jonja food scale.

I feel like I need more variety than the TED. as ds was way better before I started the TEDs.

It was suggested that I have a leaky gut and my ND agrees. The only thing i have for that right now is digestive enzymes. Again looking at the coop tomarrow.

So I guess I'm back to experimenting, but I need to eat food.
Thanks so much for you support:

[lil_miss_understood]

One of the best things you can do for healing leaky gut is to add in bone broth. Just take the bones from whatever safe meat you have, bake/roast them for about 45 minutes (until they're browned) and then simmer them (skimming off the scum from the top) for 24-48 hours (opinions vary on length of time). If you have a safe vinegar, add about a tablespoon of that to the water before simmering to help draw out the minerals. Use the bone broth as a basis for soup, instead of water in making grains (rice, quinoa, millet) and, if possible, wherever you'd normally use a bouillon cube.

ETA: Also, remember that many of the mamas on this board have found that they or their children react to one (and sometimes more) food on a TED.
And I can't believe someone suggested you go on just rice and greens. : Neither of those has nearly enough protein to sustain a bfing mama for any length of time.
In addition to the 5 "food groups" CS mentioned, I'd also try an oil of some kind (although you may find eventually that you have no safe oil, beyond whatever safe meat you have). EagainTA: Oh, CS does have oil. Sorry.

[changingseasons]

If your babe got worse when you started eating just rice and greens, then it could be 1) the detox effect I mentioned before, because that is DEFINITELY a diet that will detox you, and/or 2) he is allergic to rice and/or greens.

I'm curious about something though- you took out dairy, soy, eggs, and gluten and saw NO change??? Are you sure you didn't miss any hidden sources (were you eating any packaged/processed foods, deli meats, etc.)?

If you are sure that you got those completely out of your diet (for at least a couple weeks) and saw absolutely no change, then I would seriously consider things other than food allergies (OR, as mentioned above, the detox effect is overriding any improvements that removing the allergens has made.) Even if there were more foods that he was reacting to, those are the biggies usually and you should have seen at least some improvement. Did the GI know that you had already taken dairy out of your diet? I'm confused why they would diagnose it as milk protein intolerance if you weren't even consuming any dairy.

Did you stop taking supplements while you were on the TED?

[auburnmamma]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

And I can't believe someone suggested you go on just rice and greens. : Neither of those has nearly enough protein to sustain a bfing mama for any length of time.

Rice and greens are a great starting point though and are what got my now 16 mo ds blood free after months of trial and error on TED and others. It took us about 2 weeks on this and thus why I suggested it . ALso, rice has so many forms and colors to choose from as well a prolific product line :ranging from rice cakes, crackers and noodles so it is great for variety. This is not meant as a long term solution but a starting point to get ds blood free.

As CS said it may appear that one of these 2 things are of the offenders for AM.

I too wonder if there is not something else going on if there is not marked improvement or if things keep getting worse after they improve.

AM, you sure seem to have a challenging ds. I hope your body felt better after eating today. Sorry the meat hurt you and that ds has not yet drastically improved.

keep up all the love and good work AM ~ remembering that a healthy mamma is needed to raise healthy kids.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by auburnmamma

Rice and greens are a great starting point though and are what got my now 16 mo ds blood free after months of trial and error on TED and others. It took us about 2 weeks on this and thus why I suggested it . ALso, rice has so many forms and colors to choose from as well a prolific product line :ranging from rice cakes, crackers and noodles so it is great for variety. This is not meant as a long term solution but a starting point to get ds blood free.

As CS said it may appear that one of these 2 things are of the offenders for AM.

I too wonder if there is not something else going on if there is not marked improvement or if things keep getting worse after they improve.

AM, you sure seem to have a challenging ds. I hope your body felt better after eating today. Sorry the meat hurt you and that ds has not yet drastically improved.

keep up all the love and good work AM ~ remembering that a healthy mamma is needed to raise healthy kids.

I do agree that rice and greens *may* be a good starting point, but it's very important to remember that rice and greens both have very little/no complete protein and a bfing mother on this diet will end up in ketosis- burning her own fat and muscle for energy. I think a better starting point would be something including a protein and an oil since these would both prevent ketosis to some degree. I have seen rice bran oil, but only once in an Asian market (in other words, VERY hard to find in mainstream markets).
I didn't mean to bash you. I'm glad that rice and greens helped you get to baseline but it's far from an *ideal* TED, imo (not that any TED is ever ideal, but I think you know what I mean).
My experience with TEDs is absolutely none, so I bow to your superior knowledge and apologize for the harsh words. I will step out of the conversation now again and lurk to learn more.

[txtarheel]

To the OP - if you're dealing with IgE as opposed to other reactions/intolerances, seeds are pretty high on the offender list. In fact, many countries consider sesame to be as common an allergen as the top 8 here in the US. Both hemp and buckwheat are in that category. I know they are nutritious and good sources of protein, but they are something to consider. I took out gluten, added buckwheat and saw no change. Once I took out buckwheat and other seeds, I saw great improvement in my son.

Also, my DS is allergic to rice - it gives him hives. Just because it's low on the allergen scale, doesn't mean it's safe. It doesn't look like you've ever quite taken rice out of your diet. Once I used non-soy legumes, potatoes and fruit as my main carb sources we've had great improvements. I've been able to even add a few other "grains" as well in the last couple of weeks - millet and quinoa. It's a struggle and I know we're all not the same, just thought I'd post my experience to see if it might help.

[AppletonMama]

Thank you again everyone!

So now I'm going to try the 4 day food rotation that was reccommended for me with my allergy testing, excluding the top half (most allergenic) of the Jonja table. And work with my ND to heal my leaky gut. See how this goes alleast I will stop loosing weight and maybe passing on toxins to my ds and I feel soo much better.

In looking back I didn't have all the big allergens (nuts for less than a week, and corn) out of my diet before TED.

Poop has been OK since starting this. Am I crazy for adding soo much food?

[changingseasons]

Nope- I think that's a great idea. Especially if you're already feeling better.

But the most important thing now is to keep a food journal. Reactions might be easier to figure out if you're on a rotation, because the symptoms will flare in the same pattern as the rotation.

[kjbrown92]

Personally I like going the other way. I used the elimination diet in Doris Rapp's "Is This Your Child?" and then took foods out one by one until I got to baseline. Instead of starting with 2 foods and adding them back in one at a time. And of turkey, rice, pears, and squash (typical TED), DS can only have squash. I favor taking out the top culprits (top 8 + corn + tomatoes) then if that doesn't work, take out nightshades then legumes. I smelled the Neocate that DS ended up on at 8 months, when he abruptly stopped bfing and wouldn't go back come he** or highwater. It would have made me sick too.

[Lindy]

Look into fructose malabsorption. That was my problem. As soon as I took out all fructans out of my diet everything was all better. Fructans are in fruit, some veggies, wheat and a few other things, also people who have fructose malabsorption usually have lactose allergy too. So I eat meat, veggies that don't have fructans, small amouts of rice and lots of pumpkin seeds.

Good luck

[AppletonMama]

Thank you