talk to me about TED

[ears73]

So, did it work for you?
I am deliberating trying it just because nursing just doesn't seem to be working very well and I don't know what else to do. DS is so fussy and starts and stops nursing every time - he latches on but then swallows air down and is so uncomfortable! I am trying EC as well with mixed results. Last night the poor little guy was screaming and the only thing I could think of that might have been bothering him was his tummy since he was furiously kicking his legs. At this point I am just about willing to try anything.

[Tattooed Hand]

I cut out all dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, gluten, corn, eggs and soy. It's hard but it made such a huge difference, especially once we passed the 2 week mark that it is worth it. We've been rotating things back in slowly to isolate what it could be that was making her sleep so badly (mainly because of massive and painful gassiness and pooping, tummy pain in general), bad digestive issues, green mucusy poop and bad latching/nursing.

She's fine with corn and gluten. But we had a bad reaction with peanuts and tree nuts and now eggs, which reminded again of how different things were Pre-TED.

I'm waiting to try the other stuff until after my March 1 work deadline because the bad reactions leave both of us exhausted and drained.

When did you start? How is it going? Give it a good 2-3 weeks to work, though you should see some improvement by a few days in... is it just nursing or is his digestion bad too? We also had thrush and treating that definitely helped our latch issues...

Hope it gets better, I know it's so demoralizing when BFing isn't going well...

[Casha'sMommy]

I only have a few minutes but wanted to chime in.
I would research thoroughly what the top 8 allergens are as well as Dr. Sears TED. It can lead to some serious nutritional deficiencies so just get educated before beginning, especially because you're a nursing mom.
Also, are you stressed? Have you not been feeling well? Sounds like you've been overwhelmed. Maybe you don't have perfect digestion and are giving your lo too large of proteins to digest? I'm working on my own GI issues as well to assist ds in his digestion. You might research gut healing for the both of you and I would definitely ask questions in the Allergy forum.

GL and I'll come back when I have a little more time.

[Tattooed Hand]

I eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies (sauted in olive oil and some garlic or else sesame oil), meat, rice, beans, root veggies and I feel pretty well nourished. I've been losing weight, but not too rapidly and my milk supply is fine. Trying to gets fats from avacado, meat and things like tahini.

the allergies forum is helpful, especially for reciepies.

[Casha'sMommy]

TED is only the following foods:
turkey, lamb, millet, rice, baked or boiled potatoes and sweet potatoes, cooked green and yellow squash, pears, dilluted pear juice, and rice beverages.
This is why I say to be sure to research this diet before beginning. It's very limited and, if on it too long, could be an issue.
We were fortunate in that we didn't have to go so far as TED but we did eliminate the majority of what I normally ate so it's quite the change. We're still learning what ds is sensitive to. Had I done TED I think we would have figured some things out much sooner.

Pop over to the Allergies forum and poke around. You'll find lots of great information.

[Casha'sMommy]

I had to run quickly as ds was up again.

I wanted to add that I've also been drinking what I call "tummy teas". I have several that all contain things like chamomile, fennel, etc.
We were giving ds gripe water but he's doing better now with my ED and it also doesn't seem to make a difference with his reflux.

I started seeing a difference in ds within the first few days of ED however there were still plenty of remaining symptoms. This ultimately led to my removing all legumes from my diet. This seems to have almost completely removed all symptoms except the reflux. However, the reflux seems to be more along the lines of typical baby stuff. Only time will tell.

I started my ED by removing all dairy, wheat, soy, egg, nuts, meat, and fish and seafood. I also removed any meat that isn't grassfed or pasture fed because most of the feed contains quite a bit of soy. I will also only eat fruit and veg that hasn't been sprayed with the "make it look pretty" spray as that also contains soy.
I have kept my corn intake as low as possible but it's almost impossible to comletely remove it. It's worse than soy.

[ears73]

Thanks for the input - I am also a vegetarian... which complicates the "balanced diet" idea if I stick to the basic TED. I have been eating spicy foods and perhaps this is the issue... I will cut out obvious foods first then see about curbing more common ones.
On my way to the allergies board too.

[Casha'sMommy]

Originally Posted by ears73

Thanks for the input - I am also a vegetarian... which complicates the "balanced diet" idea if I stick to the basic TED. I have been eating spicy foods and perhaps this is the issue... I will cut out obvious foods first then see about curbing more common ones.
On my way to the allergies board too.

If memory serves, sweet potato has quite a bit of protein. I think sweet potato flour was used during WWII to make breads and such for soldiers. (trying to sort through the files of useless information I carry with me lol)

You might look into removing just the top 8 or 10 allergens. That would give you a start and would still allow you to narrow what might cause reactions for your lo.

GL!

[justmandy]

I did the TED for 2 weeks when I saw no results, I went even more strict. Still no results.

I'm thinkning at this point it might all be due to thrush. The latching on and off is "thrushy" as well as gassiness and general discomfort. Definately look into that. I think we've been deeling with this for 6 weeks but have not had the typical signs so I didn't investigate it. Do your nipples itch? Do you have shooting pain in your breasts ever? Even occasionally...I only did evey so often.

Back to the topic.

The first two weeks, I felt pretty bad on this diet. Deffinately not getting enough nutrients. Added quinoa and bananas as well as just eating more and have felt much better. I agree, it's hard to get all you need.

I think i'm about to give it up and worry about the thrush alone but that feels like a lot of waisted work so I'm thinking of introducing one food at a time even though I have no reason to think it would help.

[ears73]

What's strange is that my little one seems to be in screaming pain when on his back and maybe needs to poop soon... I had to sit in car in the parking lot at my DS2's school for over an hour today trying to calm the baby down - it was awful!!!!!!!!! He was screaming, finally pooped, I changed his diaper (he is usually very happy when his pants come off) but then began screaming again. What gives? I wish I knew. He wouldn't take the breast until he was almost hoarse. I nursed him back into the car seat and was finally able to drive home. All three of us were crying!! What a terrible afternoon!!

[evinmom]

Do you think it could be silent reflux (the kind that doesn't always make it out of the mouth so can be hard to detect)? My DD had silent reflux.

[ears73]

At this point I am not ruling anything out... I started the elimination diet tonight. He does not have all the signs of this being a food issue, but who knows unless you try?
He still has green poops but the red bumps on his face cleared up last week. No real rash on his bottom but I do tend to keep him clean and dry & maybe that helps? He does not have anywhere close to 10-15 meals a day as others have posted... More like 5. I am starting to track episodes, wet diapers and meals to try and figure out a pattern, if there is one.
*sigh* Not even a full day and I am already worn out.

[Tattooed Hand]

Originally Posted by justmandy

I did the TED for 2 weeks when I saw no results, I went even more strict. Still no results.

I'm thinkning at this point it might all be due to thrush. The latching on and off is "thrushy" as well as gassiness and general discomfort. Definately look into that. I think we've been deeling with this for 6 weeks but have not had the typical signs so I didn't investigate it. Do your nipples itch? Do you have shooting pain in your breasts ever? Even occasionally...I only did evey so often.

We didn't have signs of thrush either. I had the beginnings of a yeast infection 2 weeks PP and around week 4 she started to have trouble with latching and massive gas, alot of which were air bubbles. I think I killed my yeast, b¨t gave it to her and then she was just starting to give it to me again when I treated it at week 6. We didn't have the signs either. I just couldn't get a good look into her cheeks (though the roof of her mouth had white patches) and my nipples were only starting to burn. I began giving both of us probiotics, GSE (which I also used to wash all my bras and shirts), and Gentian Violet. After the thrush went away I also had to be vigilant because she had picked up some bad nursing habits that I had to break. But after a couple of weeks, things got ALOT better.

She does have food intolerances as well, but the thrush was it's own component as well. Doctors generally don't diagnose thrush unless they can see it, which is why I didn't go to my doctor and just treated it at home. It's worth treating if you think that's it, it made a big difference for us - I was despairing at breastfeeding.

careful with the GV though.

[Casha'sMommy]

I think probiotics are always a good idea no matter what's going on. DS was on a supp but it has dairy and soy in it I'm on the hunt for a probiotic for him but I've increased my intake which helps ds out.
Wouldn't this be a common treatment for thrush? We're not dealing with thrush, never have needed to, but I thought probiotics would be the first step in treating yeast. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm working next on water kefir. You'll see a bit about that over in Allergies.

I think it's also especially important to get yourself as healthy as possible and stay that way. I know some of the changes I've made in myself are helping ds. A major component for me is stress. I took measures to reduce stress in a couple of specific places in my life in an attempt to get my gut back on track. I personally think taking this step makes a world of difference no matter what's going on.