Possible food allergies for my 6 mo old (But I'm a vegetarian!)

[lkmiscnet]

I just discovered a bit of mucousy blood in my son's diaper. I googled it and read that it could be a sign of dairy allergies from my diet.

He is exclusively breastfeeding. He has been a very fussy baby and still wakes up every 2 hours or so at night (we co-sleep too).

From what I read, I should cut out dairy, soy, wheat, egg whites, and chocolate.

The issue is that I am a vegetarian and that is my entire diet! I don't drink milk, but drink soy milk, eat lots and lots of yogurt, cheese sticks, egg white omlettes with cheese, whole wheat toast and dark chocolate. I also use whey protein powder to get my protein intake up. Beans would probably cause him lots of gas. I also eat pasta, but it's whole wheat...

I'm not sure what I could eat if all of those are possible allergens, but I know I need to do something as a potential food allergy could be the cause of his fussiness.

Any suggestions?

Linda

[RoseDuperre]

I would recommend going to a naturopath to get tested. I feel really strongly that doing elimination diets is unnecessary deprivation that is ultimately fumbling in the dark anyway. I would much rather find out immediately what the specific allergens are than mess around for weeks and weeks subtracting things and then wondering what to add and how long to wait.

Different allergens take longer periods of time to leave your system. Dairy can take quite a while, just for one example. You could eliminate it and see no change, and decide it must not be dairy and move on to eliminating other things, guessing aimlessly - and it was dairy all along, still in your system. So mom went through all that for nothing. I can see where eliminating the major protein culprits you mentioned is a fair place to start if you're desperate, but what if it's peanuts? What if it's tomatoes? What if it's corn? Why not actually find out?

Sorry, elimination diets are a bit of a peeve of mine. If you're ok with doing muscle testing, I think that's the best way to go, but if not, blood testing may be available too.

[lkmiscnet]

I wish I could afford a naturopath appt, but unfortunately, with my job loss while I was on bedrest with my pregnancy and my full COBRA insurance payment kicking in next month, that would not be an option for me now on my budget.

I do appreciate the suggestion though.

[laughingfox]

I had to go vegan when nursing my daughter. She continued to have food allergies to animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs) until she was about 5 when they suddenly went away.

If I remember right, beans don't cause gas in breastfed babies the way they do in mothers; the chemical reactions that occur in your stomach that cause the gas don't pass into your bloodstream or affect your breastmilk.

I ate a lot of beans. I practically lived off of beans (with pasta, with rice, with veggies). I ate tree nuts too (almonds and cashews), but didn't eat much soy because soy foods are so much more expensive than beans.

If you want milky drinks and protein powders but want to avoid soy + dairy, there are definitely options. Rice milk, oat milk, almond milk (if you have a good blender, you can make your own almond milk), hempseed protein powder, and I know I've seen at least one other soy-free veggie-based protein powder at the health food store.
They also make rice milk yogurts and coconut milk ice creams and stuff, but you might have to order those special.

[odoole]

Are these symptoms just now showing up? 6 months seems pretty late for a dairy/soy allergy considering they're such a ubiquitous part of your diet.

In any case, I'm also a vegetarian who ended up cutting dairy and soy. It made a huge difference. I believe that is much more commonly a problem food that wheat or eggs. If DS had been allergic to anything beyond dairy and soy, I would have probably decided to go back t meat for the first time since I wad 10 years old.

[lkmiscnet]

He's been fussy for months and I just chalked it up to just his temperment. Also, he has always been a gassy baby, so that is something in my diet.

Soy is supposedly a big allergen culprit as well. I also eat pasta, but it's whole wheat, another potential allergen.

I had been drinking almond milk, but my husband is very allergic to peanuts and just tested positive for a mild allergy to almonds as well, so I thought it best to cut out almond milk (and the almond butter I had been eating every day) and I switched back to soy.

I'm not sure if I should just start with cutting out all dairy and wait the two weeks to see if it's a problem and keep eating wheat, soy, etc. or cut it all out (which would be a challenge, but I'm sure there is enough food out there that I won't starve to death).

I will eat lots of oatmeal, quinoa and other grains like brown rice, etc. I also read that some veggies can cause a baby gas like broccoli, onions, etc. again all of which are staples in my diet. Sigh....

Linda

[Ruthla]

2 weeks is NOT long enough for dairy to clear your system. You'd need at least 4 weeks before it's completely out of both of your systems (as dairy proteins take 3-4 weeks to clear your body, then your baby may need another week to clear the proteins that were in your milk the week before.)

Yes, it's possible for kids to get gassy from Mom eating broccolli or onions, but it's much rarer than you think, especially in older babies- this is more likely to be a problem in newborns. Plus, this kind of gas is unlikely to wake baby up and cause the kinds of problems you're describing- that sounds like an allergic reaction, if it's due to diet at all.

Since you JUST noticed mucus in the baby's diaper, I wonder if the baby directly ingested anything. Even though you're not "feeding solids" yet, is it possible the baby crawled on the floor and ate something that fell on the floor under the kitchen table, or that an older sibling or cousin (a preschooler who doens't know better) handed to the baby? Any chance that an ADULT fed something innapropriate to the baby at Thanksgiving?

[Magical_Mama]

A good book

There's a good book that talks about elimination diets and the stuff you can eat. It's old but still good and is called "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp I think. When it was written, soy wasn't the staple it is now so I don't think she eliminates that. I did, though, and do suggest it.

You can eat a lot more than you think if you want to try two weeks. Some ideas: veggie soups, potato/veggie hashes, smoothies, brown rice with veggies, leftover brown rice with almond/rice milk and maple syrup and berries for breakfast, etc. Also just eat whole foods-- bananas, berries, pistacchios, whatever. Look at vegan cookbooks for ideas, too.

I gave up dairy when I was nursing my second child and I didn't think I could do it. I was a dairy fiend and mostly vegetarian too, but she had months of ear infections and general fussiness and enough people suggested going dairy-free that I had to try it. I don't think she ever had another ear infection and the difference was pretty amazing. I went vegan as a result (I'd already given up the stuff I was attached to!) and it also helped my health and got me my best figure ever.

My biggest advice is to use all different foods instead of trying to substitute ingredients in foods you love. For instance, a baked potato with vegan toppings is likely to depress you until you're used to vegan foods, but if you have french fries they're tasty and aren't designed to need any dairy. Or instead of traditional potato salad, toss boiled potato chunks with chopped tomato, chives, lots of good quality olive oil and kosher salt. It tastes wonderful and doesn't seem like it's a bad substitute for a taste you're used to.

Good luck!

~Alicia

[steedalyn]

I went on an elimination diet with my DD when she was almost 3 months old due to her awful colic. Turns out she had multiple food sensitivities. Corn, eggs, chicken, pork. The diet was really hard but worth it for the difference it made in her. Strangely enough dairy didn't, and still doesnt, seem to be a problem for her. That is just my two cents on this subject. If you can figure out what is bothering her (if she didn't simply eat something on her own that caused the irritation, I found a little scrap of paper in my DD's diaper once ) without going on an elimination diet, though, so much the better!

[lkmiscnet]

There is no chance he had anything by mistake or that someone fed him something. That I can be 100% sure of. He's been colicky since he was born. He seems to have improved the past 2 months. His diapers have all been consistent, but for slight color changes of yellowish to green (I woud presume based on my veggie intake). He had just the one diaper that had a very, very tiny smudge of blood and it hasn't happened since.

So, in attempting to eliminate dairy, does that mean I need to eliminate it even if it's a minor ingredient in say, crackers and whole wheat bread?

I know that I would need to eliminate yogurt, cheese, sour cream, whey powder, ice cream, cottage cheese, etc. which have dairy as their main component, but what about those items in which it is a lesser ingredient?

Linda

[SallyN]

I'd suggest starting with a dairy elimination. Give yourself at least 4 weeks (though with my DD1, it was 6 weeks before seeing a minor change, but that's the worst I've ever heard. She's three and eats dairy products just fine now.) Odds are though, you'll notice improvement (if it is a dairy sensitivity) within a week or so.
I wouldn't worry about doing other eliminations until later.
You could approach dairy elim two ways. Go all out (including the "hidden" dairy in packaged foods like crackers and breads and snack bars... fortunately, the ingredient labeling has become much easier to understand... top allergens are usually bolded or otherwise clearly listed.) OR cut out obvious dairy and see if that helps, then if not, cut out 'hidden'.
Personally, I think it makes more sense to just go all out, otherwise it extends the length of the experiment. But if cutting all out causes you serious stress, maybe start with obvious and give yourself a week to adjust and plan for replacement foods.

(As for budget for muscle testing... I never did it, but I've heard it's pretty cheap... at least the one that a bunch of my friends went to... I don't think it was the same as a 'standard' naturopath consultation.)