My adventures in food allergies. *update*

[Sandrine]

Just want to keep a log of what I'm doing for dd3, 3.5yrs old, towards helping her thru her food allergies/ intolerances.

When she was a baby, around 2mths or so, she started having cramps, sleeplessness(having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep) and eczema. Her eczema got worse by the time she was 6mths old. It was everywhere. Here's a pic of her back: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/...b81104603c.jpg Her cheeks was almost raw and were red.

I found out from the beginning, that dairy didn't agree with her. Then I notice that oats made her eczema worse. So I was off of both these foods. It was really hard for me to be off dairy as I was off dairy before for dd2 when I was nursing her. I was dairy free for 20mths for dd2 and she weaned after nursing for 21mths( I was pg with dd3 when she weaned).

Now at 3.5yrs old, she still has a slight eczema but I am pretty good at making sure that she doesn't get oats and dairy. Her skin is usually pretty good but it's dry right now and you can feel little bumps on her skin.

She also has cradle cap and has since she was a tiny little one. The cradle cap gets worse or better depending on what she eats. I saw a big dif in dec, when I really was on top of what she ate and made sure that dairy wasn't at all in her diet. The cradle cap was almost gone but came back with the holidays. ugh Her head was looking like it was only dry instead of still having cradle cap.

She also has always, as far as I cam remember, had a bloated tummy. Sometimes it's worse than others. I never thought that this could be a symptom but maybe it's a symptom?

So starting last tues, she's to be whet, dairy, soy, oats, and sugar free. We are being seen by a naturopath. dd3 is to take EFO's and probiotics. She's also is taking sulphur 2x a day. We'll see the naturopath in 3 wks.

I may be missing details that I don't think are part of allergies or how/when it started as when she was a baby, I had 3 dds that woke up in the middle of the night, so sleep deprived was living in this house. :LOL:

Since, last tues, I was thinking if this has to do with yeast. If she has an overgrown of yeast that is giving her symptoms. Could this be a possiblility?

I'm also giving if a try to follow it with her, to give her support in this as she doesn't get it really. She knows that cow's milk hurts her belly but not much mer than that.

[Sandrine]

Here's what she/we usually eat:

bkft: cereal with dried raisin, it's usually Special K or Rice Krispies Now Crispy Rice from Nature's Path
toast with jam
pancakes on the wkend with dh. I'm going to find a recipe for buckwheat pancakes as she liked them from my fil(he uses wheat flour in his recipe too)

lunch: pasta and sauce, now changed to rice pasta and sauce
sandwich with raw veggies
leftovers
salad

supper: a combination of cooked chicken, homemade hamburger, pork chop, italian saussages with homemade fried patatoes(in the oven), homemade fries, pieces of cooked patatoes, cooked cauliflower, broccoli, rice, raw veggies, salad, cooked green or yellow beans

She drinks rice milk, water and eat goats cheese.

[dannic]

Hi. I didn't see this and posted to you in chat. (about bloated tummies).
Is your ND only concerned with wheat or gluten? For us, removal of gluten, not just wheat has been key.
It is tough trying to figure all this out, isn't it?
My dd1 was 18 mos when her troubles became noticeable. (after weaning when I became preg with dd2).
She began getting sick all the time, had a very bloated tummy (tho this was since 6 mos), and began having behavioral, sleep, and speech issues. We were thinking autism. Turns out it was intolerances. It can be tough to forgo all these foods, and it took a while to heal, but the effort has been well worth it. She is a sweet child, tho more sensitive than others. She is five now.
Don't know if this helps or not...

[mamafish9]

A few thoughts:

1) cradle cap can be an imbalance of EFAs - too much omega 6, not enough omega 3s.

2) goat cheese is dairy (high in casein), so I assume you're taking that out for now?

3) Some kids do great on sulfur supps, some do terribly - so you might want to add that in at a different time than everything else. How does she do on eggs (high sulfur food).

4) How's her sleep now - waking up in the middle of the night can definitely be a food reaction.

[lil_miss_understood]

I thought I asked in the other thread, but I'll ask here instead.
Do you have any mercury fillings? Have you considered metal toxicity? Do YOU have any health issues? What about your other children?

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by dannic

Hi. I didn't see this and posted to you in chat. (about bloated tummies).
Is your ND only concerned with wheat or gluten? For us, removal of gluten, not just wheat has been key.
It is tough trying to figure all this out, isn't it?
My dd1 was 18 mos when her troubles became noticeable. (after weaning when I became preg with dd2).
She began getting sick all the time, had a very bloated tummy (tho this was since 6 mos), and began having behavioral, sleep, and speech issues. We were thinking autism. Turns out it was intolerances. It can be tough to forgo all these foods, and it took a while to heal, but the effort has been well worth it. She is a sweet child, tho more sensitive than others. She is five now.
Don't know if this helps or not...

The naturopath just said wheat and didn't say anything about gluten. I'm doing gluten, just to be on the safe side.

Your findings with your dd is helping. Give me a perspective and hopefully that I will be able to figure out what's dd3's allergens/intolerance and we will deal with them. Thanks for sharing!

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

A few thoughts:

1) cradle cap can be an imbalance of EFAs - too much omega 6, not enough omega 3s.

2) goat cheese is dairy (high in casein), so I assume you're taking that out for now?

3) Some kids do great on sulfur supps, some do terribly - so you might want to add that in at a different time than everything else. How does she do on eggs (high sulfur food).

4) How's her sleep now - waking up in the middle of the night can definitely be a food reaction.

1) I didn't know that. interesting! The naturopath is getting her to take...I had to go check as it's in the fridge...Super EFA liquid. It only contains EPA, DHA and Omega's 3.

2)Well, I won't give her any goat cheese then. Poor sweetie, she LOVES cheese.

3) She does great on eggs. She loves them. Well, i don't know if she reacts to them, really. I don't see any dif in her attitude, her skin or her sleep when she eats eggs.

4) Last night, she slept thru the night. So it was good. She's in between with her naps. Still needs them but doesn't want to take them. So she'll play in her bed.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

I thought I asked in the other thread, but I'll ask here instead.
Do you have any mercury fillings? Have you considered metal toxicity? Do YOU have any health issues? What about your other children?

mercury filling? in my teeth? I have one filling but i'm not sure what it is. I got it in the last 5yrs or so.

I never thought of metal toxicity. It's something that I will go search, for sure now that you mention it.

I do have health issues. I also have back pain on and off for the last while. I am doing this with dd3 as I will try to be wheat, dairy, oats, coy and sugar free with her.

My other dds also have issues. I'm pretty sure, never got diagnosed, are lactose intolerant. When dd2 was a newborn and I was going dairy free and saw a difference in her. I took dd1 off dairy too and she stop projectile vomitting(once a mth or so since she was 12mths, which is about the time that she got more dairy products). Since then, all three dds has always drank rice milk and never cow's milk. We had tried them on cow's cheese and didn't really see any difference to the older two that we let them have some. We also won't give them a bunch of dairy products in case they will react. At times, we would give them lactose pills for kids, if we knew that a meal had lots of dairy. We gave those to dd3 also but it didn't stop the symptoms on her skin or head.

Last summer, my dad thought of treating the girls to a soft ice cream cone. We gave them all 2 lactose pills and the older girls(dd1 and dd2) ate and barely had a tummy ache but dd3 didn't eat all and her tummy started to hurt. So we knew that dd3 couldn't take dairy.

dd3 doesn't react when having lactose free ice cream, that I know of but she could still react by her skin, yk.

dd1 has bowel probs as she gets constipated often, more when she was just pt'ed.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by Sandrine

mercury filling? in my teeth? I have one filling but i'm not sure what it is. I got it in the last 5yrs or so.

I never thought of metal toxicity. It's something that I will go search, for sure now that you mention it.

I do have health issues. I also have back pain on and off for the last while. I am doing this with dd3 as I will try to be wheat, dairy, oats, coy and sugar free with her.

My other dds also have issues. I'm pretty sure, never got diagnosed, are lactose intolerant. When dd2 was a newborn and I was going dairy free and saw a difference in her. I took dd1 off dairy too and she stop projectile vomitting(once a mth or so since she was 12mths, which is about the time that she got more dairy products). Since then, all three dds has always drank rice milk and never cow's milk. We had tried them on cow's cheese and didn't really see any difference to the older two that we let them have some. We also won't give them a bunch of dairy products in case they will react. At times, we would give them lactose pills for kids, if we knew that a meal had lots of dairy. We gave those to dd3 also but it didn't stop the symptoms on her skin or head.

Last summer, my dad thought of treating the girls to a soft ice cream cone. We gave them all 2 lactose pills and the older girls(dd1 and dd2) ate and barely had a tummy ache but dd3 didn't eat all and her tummy started to hurt. So we knew that dd3 couldn't take dairy.

dd3 doesn't react when having lactose free ice cream, that I know of but she could still react by her skin, yk.

dd1 has bowel probs as she gets constipated often, more when she was just pt'ed.

Yes, mercury fillings in your teeth. They're usually called "silver" fillings, but contain as much as 50% mercury. If the filling you got is silver or black looking, that's a mercury amalgam filling. You also are at risk for mercury if you eat deep water fish (ie tuna, trout, bass) or live on a seaboard. Not to mention the metals risks from manufacturing, mining etc- including but not limited to: cadmium and arsenic from mining, smelting and processing nickel and steel, mercury from pulp and paper processing.

[dannic]

You mentioned that your dd loves her cheese. (you probably already know this) It's not uncommon (unfortunately) for a trigger food to be that child's go-to food of choice. DD def showed withdrawal symptoms from gluten and dairy and acts high on drugs when we've trialled either.

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by Sandrine

1)
2)Well, I won't give her any goat cheese then. Poor sweetie, she LOVES cheese.

Given that you know she's sensitive to dairy, and she has been getting some (with the goat cheese), I'd maybe try a *really strict* dairy elimination for a couple of weeks - that might be all you need, instead of eliminating a bunch more foods. Has she ever been *completely* dairy free? (no cheese, no nursing mama eating dairy, no hidden dairy ingredients...)?

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Given that you know she's sensitive to dairy, and she has been getting some (with the goat cheese), I'd maybe try a *really strict* dairy elimination for a couple of weeks - that might be all you need, instead of eliminating a bunch more foods. Has she ever been *completely* dairy free? (no cheese, no nursing mama eating dairy, no hidden dairy ingredients...)?

Yeah, she has. The last time was in dec, when I made for sure that she was dairy free and not having any cheese. Her skin was ok and her cradle cap was almost gone and was only looking like it was just dry skin. we got off track when we left to see the ils for x-mas. *sigh*

[Aletheia]

cradle cap and vitamin B deficiency rings a bell. Maybe biotin?

we used coconut oil overnight, and then washed off in the morning-- it helped a lot.

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by Sandrine

Yeah, she has. The last time was in dec, when I made for sure that she was dairy free and not having any cheese. Her skin was ok and her cradle cap was almost gone and was only looking like it was just dry skin. we got off track when we left to see the ils for x-mas. *sigh*

So that makes it sound like strict dairy elimination was headed the right direction... What is making you think you need to pull more foods?

Also, if dairy is the real culprit, or one of the culprits, pulling other foods but not getting ALL the dairy out will just make things hugely confusing. So getting strictly off dairy would be a reasonable first step anyhow.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

So that makes it sound like strict dairy elimination was headed the right direction... What is making you think you need to pull more foods?

I'm doing what the naturopath told me to do for eliminating the other foods.

She said to take out wheat, dairy, soy, oats and sugar. If I can corn too. She gave me sulphur, probiotics and Omega 3's oil. She told me to watch out for die off and if dd was reacting too much, having too much die off or having a hard time, period, to call her and we would back off on the sulphur. Then we would see. Appt in 3 wks.

I'm the type of person that doesn't ask much questions until it's too late and i'm not there anymore. So I don't really know why she took out this many food from dd's diet and why sulphur.


I made Kathy's sandwich bread recipe for dd and we will try it tomorrow.

[lil_miss_understood]

it sounds, from my uneducated perspective, like she's trying to treat for yeast.

[Sandrine]

We're on day 8 today. DD3 is doing pretty well at eating foods that are good(doesn't have any of those 5 food items) for her and not complaining that her sisters are eating food that she can't have. She even didn't ask for fries at the mall today and just ate her granola bar from Enjoy Life. She really enjoys those.

On sunday evening after supper, her cheeks were super read and hot. She went to bed with those and on monday morning, she still have some. They disapeared and only came after her afternoon snack. On sunday, I had given her probiotic and oil at suppertime and I probably gave her her sulphur sometime before suppertime. On monday, I only gave her her probiotic and oil before snack and didn't give her any sulphur. Call the naturopath to see if this was a die-off. I had to leave a message but she called back pretty soon after.

She said that it probably was and to hold off the sulphur for at least a wk and to give only the probitic and the oil once a day instead of 2x a day until we see that she can tolerate it well. She said that it may have been a bit too much for her body right now but we would inscrease as we see that her body can take it.

I also ask if this was for yeast and she said that it was to help with yeast but also to give back the balance to her gut. So, by eliminating the top allergens and sugar, we are helping her body go back to balance and then we will add back the food items to see if they are allergens or not. Does that make sense? I should have written this when she told me but this is what I remember.

I have notice that she's tired maybe a bit faster than usual and she's finally sleeping her afternoon naps again. I was battling with her for her naps the past 2-3 wks. Her nights are pretty good too and if she wakes up, it's because she had a bad dream. So good over all. She's still moody and I find that she can't make up her mind. I know it's the age but she was more decisive than this before. Brain fog at her age?? LOL

I also decided to get my older dd1, tested to see if she's anemic and maybe try to convince the dr to check for gluten(celiac blood test). I may ask for a food/environment allergy test too.

[Sandrine]

Just want to update this thread with a few of my posts that I did since my last post here.

Feb 17th
Ugh, we are on day 3 of having symptoms from her exposure. So i guess a few more days or so. It really showed me that she was reacting before hand and it just came back, the symptoms, with a vengeance. I now know that she react to wheat. and me too as i was trying hard to eat the same as her.

At least we are on the right path!


Feb 19th
Last night, my mom bought Tim`s Hortons doughnuts for dessert. Dd3 asked if they had wheat and I answer that yes they did. I also told her that I had gf brownies in the freezer that she could eat if she didn`t want the doughnuts. She made the decision to eat the brownies. She`s getting that wheat is/was hurting her body. She made me so proud. So, I didn't eat any either because if a 3.5yrs old can make this hard decision of not eating doughnuts, then I can do.

Feb 21st
Here's my final review of dd3's rotation diet. i may change things as we go thru the diet and see what works better together than what is on it now.

day 1:
Chicken; Rice; Apples; raspberries; strawberries; blueberries; Carrots; celery; cauliflower; broccoli; cabbage; Rice flour

day 2:
Pork; Rice; Pears; cherry; nectarine; peach, plum; mango; Lettuce; sunflowers(& oil); chives; asparagus; garlic; leeks; onion; shallot; sweet patato, pistachios

Day 3:
Beef; Rice; Banana; watermelon; cantaloupe; honey dew; pineapple; Zukes; squash; cukes; string beans(yellow and green); Chickpeas, kidney bean, lentil, peanuts, nany beans, blackeye beans; guar gum; carob

Day 4:
Turkey; Rice; Orange; tangerine; blueberries; cranberries; Green, red and yellow peppers; patato; buckwheat

I haven't decided when to eat honey, maple syrup and maple sugar, coconut oil, flaxseed or any spices.



Tomorrow we have an appt with the naturopath. We'll see what she says of the rotation diet and what I have seen in the last few wks.

[Sandrine]

Today, we saw the naturopath. Told her what happen with the exposure aka eating a heart shape pizza for st- Valentin's day courtesy of my mom. She didn't like the fact that she got any pizza but is happy to know that she was right that dd3 is reacting to wheat and dairy. She said that we will deal with this as allergies and not intolerances because dd3 took so long to get rid of her symptoms(about 4-5days).

We are to upped her Super EFA's oils and the probiotics. The oil up to about 10ml a day, less if she can't tolerate it. The probiotics to be 2x a day. The sulphur pellets to be taken 1x a wk until she can get some lower sulphur pellets than what I have now.

She was, i think, impress that I had a rotation diet for dd3. She said it was a great idea. She also said to not worry about spices. I asked about fats and she said that with the Super EFA's that dd3 will have enough fats in her day especially if we can give her up to 10ml.

We are to see her again in a mth.

Dh and my parents aren't impress with the whole going to the naturopath. They don't beleive in naturopath but in allopath and I'm finding it hard to deal with it and not having their support. At least i'm finding the cause of her probls and not just covering it with meds. /end of vent

[Sandrine]

I think I forgot to say that her belly has shrunk!!! She had a pot belly before this and now it looks like a normal 3yrs old belly. We are starting to see definition in her stomach muscles.