Allergy question (long)

[EmilyVorpe]

Hi...
I'm expecting #4 in November, so I have a while to go but I wanted to ask this to see if anyone has been there.
First baby was allergic to dairy. Wouldn't latch so I pumped for 3 months until he wouldn't stop projectile vomiting. Dr. put him on soy formula.
2nd Baby, they told me she'd have allergies as well so STRONGLY (you'll really really really want to just give her the soy formula from the start...she'll lose so much weight if you breastfeed) suggested the formula route. She was very sick with the soy formula so they put her on regular and she was worse. She ended up with Nutramigen formula because of dairy and soy allergies.
3rd baby, they said there was absolutly no sense in trying to breastfeed or anything because of the allergies and they put her on Nutramigen first feeding. Now she is on Neocate formula and still has the dairy/soy allergies.
SO now I'm expecting #4. And I'm TIRED of formula. I'm TIRED of not breastfeeding. I want that. I want to breastfeed and I want to bond THISCLOSE. So I asked the pediatrician we see. She said she has only had 2 mothers in 5 years breastfeed a baby with as many allergies as our babies have had. She said the mothers can only eat veggies, fruit, and meat. She said most moms that enjoy food at all cannot stick to this sort of diet. Has anyone else been through allergies like this and successfully breastfeed?

[mbbinsc]

My 3.5 yoDD just weaned. She is allergic to dairy, egg, peanut, shellfish and tree nuts. Check out the allergy forum in health and healing section, as there are many moms nursing allergic DC. My DD has IgE allergies, there are moms nursing IgG allergic DC. I think you'll find alot of support.

[thepeach80]

That's so sad, maybe it's time for a new DR? Our DR has always been supportive of my bfing. AJ was mildly milk/soy/egg, didn't know it till he weaned at 13 mos.

Evan was just about everything, milk/soy/egg/wheat were his big ones. I did the total elimination diet w/ him and was down to 4 foods. I wish we had done the diet sooner, just didn't know to, b/c we could've bf longer. I did the diet at 11 mos and weaned him at 12. He was on Neocate/EleCare till 24 mos.

I had to eliminate dairy/soy/egg for Ilana, but she couldn't eat wheat herself and I should've been eliminating it too looking back. She was on Neocate till 24 mos.

I just started eliminating dairy/soy for Olivia and already we see some improvement in her skin and reflux. We supplemented w/ Neocate the first 2 wks while working on supply issues. We'll just keep bfing and see if we have to keep eliminating and do what we need to do.

[Alice27]

My first born has some food allergies - dairy, egg and sesame seeds. She had quite severe exzema for 3 years. It was a very stressful time because we didn't know what she was exectly allergic to (I don't think tests are that reliable in the early years, that I know of) and so the stress of her itching and the elimination diet, were considerable. Not to mention the criticism from almost all of the doctor's we consulted, plus family, friends etc. I can imagine that not many mothers do this, exactly for that reason.

You need support to do it, lots of support. Or you need to be single minded and stubborn (I fall into that category, although I did get more support the longer I nursed and the more that family and friends got used to it and just automatically cooked special food etc. for the both of us).

I tried all sorts of elimination diets, getting right down to carrots, zucchini, rice and meat, but with the eczema showing no improvement I just eliminated some things. I tried to eat natural foods with no additives, but I continued eating wheat for instance, and that has caused no trouble. I didn't know that sesame seeds were a problem, and ate tons of those as a spread, for calcium - and my daughter is allergic to those.

I eliminated some things that I suspected my daughter was allergic to, like soy, cumin and tomatoes but she has never tested positive to them. Who knows, perhaps she grew out of the allergies?

Once you start introducing solids, it will probably be more obvious what your child reacts to. For me it was very difficult to tell if my daughter was reacting to something that I ate (in fact they don't know if exczema is entirely related to food allergies) but I figured that, in any case, my milk was doing more good than harm. It also made her own diet restrictions easier to bear - who cares about icecream when you can have mummy's milk. I did eventually introduce dairy and a small amount of eggs into my diet, because I became B12 deficient (I probably didn't eat enough meat). It didn't seem to have any effect on my daughter, even though she still tested positive to those foods. Who knows, perhaps it could be a way to desensitize?

Good luck - neither way is an easy choice,

Alice

[EmilyVorpe]

The doctor we have we do love, and she says she's very pro bf... ?
She told me I'd need to go on the soy/dairy free diet at about 34 weeks pregnant (I tend to deliver early) so that there is nothing in my milk other than veggies and chicken... I just wonder, I KNOW you can SURVIVE on veggies, but can you really get ALL the nutrients you need? Oh, and I can't have citrus either so that eliminates quite a bit of fruit.
So anyway, I'll keep researching the elimination diet. I had never heard of it before and now I will read up on it as much as I can.
Thanks everyone!

[JaneS]

I so admire you given what you have been through. I really really hope this one is different for you!!

What about probiotics? We've talked a lot about this on the Allergies forum. There is a old and interesting thread "How Not to Have an Allergic Child".

Do you vaccinate? Antibiotics are a big correlation as well. Post #20 of the Healing the Gut Tribe sticky in main H&H forum talks about how oral tolerance is thought to be gained and lost in infants... and it's very highly connected to gut flora, specifically a bifidobacterium dominance. Both antibiotics and vaccines disrupt the gut flora greatly.

Veggies most definately do not have enough nutrients, you need fats and fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and D which are only in animal foods, amino acids and calcium (veg sources of calcium are not well absorbed).

[thepeach80]

The TED is meant to be a short term diet! It's meant to eliminate the most amount of allergens at the fastest rate so you see results sooner. As soon as you see results, no more than 2 wks, you need to be trying to add foods back in. Oil is your friend, that's what is going to help you not lose as much weight (I only lost 5# in the month I did this and I was only eating 4-6 foods) and give you the fat you need etc. I've seen moms get unhealthy on this diet from not eating enough oil, there's no point bfing your baby if you're not well as a mom, kwim?

The newest reccomendations are to not eliminate unless needed. At the worst, I'd only eliminate the top 8 from your diet prior to delivery. Keep in mind too much of one thing can be a bad thing, so overloading on chicken and specific veggies for weeks and weeks may just end up causing more problems than lessening them. My DR wanted me dairy, soy, egg, and wheat free before baby came, I didn't do it, it was too hard for me when pg and my focus was milk supply this time, not allergies. I just this week went dairy/soy free and things are getting better w/ her skin already. If I need to do more, I'll do egg (though I rarely eat anything w/ egg even baked into it) and wheat next since those are the big ones for my kids. We also supplemented w/ Neocate while working on supply and will only use that if formula is needed. I even took some to the hospital just in case it was needed b/c I was afraid they wouldn't have it. I have a friend who is nursing her son and she gives him 1 bottle of Neocate a day to keep him used to the taste b/c he'll probably need to switch. I should have her post here, I'll pm her and she can offer support as well. Hugs!

[flightgoddess]

She told me I'd need to go on the soy/dairy free diet at about 34 weeks pregnant (I tend to deliver early) so that there is nothing in my milk other than veggies and chicken... [/QUOTE]

Start now, it will be easier in the long run, then you don't have the stress of new (no) food and new baby at the same time.

Look into coconut oil and coconut milk, there is a lot of good healthy fat. I enjoy almond milk on my cereal. Hemp milk is not half bad either, don't heat it though, it separates.

Start reaserch on allergy diets and allergy cookbooks at your library and maybe you'll find something that works for you, then you can purchase what you'll like using on a daily basis.

[peskyflylady]

You may not need to go on a TED. I have a child who was very severely milk and soy protein intolerant, but nothing else. It was so bad he couldn't handle soy lecithin. We were sure that he would be years outgrowing it, but around 7 months a switch seemed to flip and he can now handle me eating dairy and soy as long as it's cooked in things and I don't overdo it.

mspimama.blogspot.com has oodles of great recipes and info for soy/dairy free moms.