Getting to baseline

[mamakori]

We're dealing with what appears to me multiple protein intolerances with my 6 week old DD. Starting at about 1 week PP, she developed frequent (15+ times a day) foamy, green, mucousy poops. At first I thought it was a reaction to the fenugreek I was taking, so I stopped all herbs. Then I started block feeding in case it was a foremilk/hindmilk issue. No improvement still.

Finally at 4 weeks I took her into the pediatrician, who suggested eliminating common allergens. I eliminated dairy, soy, wheat/gluten, eggs, nuts, corn, and seafood. After about a week of that, I realized DD was having reactions to the coconut milk ice cream I was eating, so I cut that, and finally poops went to yellow, but they were still totally liquid and very frequent (20+ times a day).

At this point, I'm almost down to a TED (eating lamb, turkey, rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, zucchini, GF oats, grapes, safflower oil, and Enjoy Life chocolate in small amounts). DD is pooping much less often now, and the poops are yellow and less watery, so there has been significant improvement. But we're still seeing a lot of mucous, and specs of blood with very little curding or solid content. It will be two weeks tomorrow since starting the elimination. Do you think I just need to give it more time, or should I start looking to cut something else? We have a ped GI appt. next week.

Thanks, mamas!

[mamafish9]

I'd say it sounds like you've made big progress - and that you're still eating something that irritates your DD. Can you try rotating food out of your ED one at a time? Most suspicious on my list would be oats, grapes, chocolate - but it could be anything. Maybe swap grapes for pears, for a few days, for example, and see what happens.

Also, are you taking any supplements? Those can be hidden sources of allergens - if you post the one you're taking, we can let you know, and recommend subs.

[hildare]

it takes a while, longer than 2 weeks, for the dairy to go away.
just so you know, it looks like our dd had the same issues now thinking it was with soy & corn, and i think i remember that she reacted to the coconut milk ice cream, as well. i originally put that it could have been hidden soy but i just looked up the ingredients, so it could be something else- could it be the guar gum? not sure about that.. i know.. i was thrilled to have found ice cream i thought i could eat, too...
soy takes longer to go away, too.. and from having gone through the TED thing, it turns out my dd doesn't have problems with wheat, but if yours does and you're eating oatmeal, it could be cross-contaminated with the wheat.
good luck with it- my dd is 5 months old and i've added in lots of things so far, i no longer feel like i'm starving. it was a tough few months, though.

[kjbrown92]

Many people who avoid gluten, can't tolerate oats, whether gluten free or not, so that could be an issue. It was the guar gum in the coconut milk ice cream that my DS couldn't tolerate (and DD2 couldn't tolerate the carageean in the rice milk ice cream). Try to use single ingredients and not prepared foods during this time. Enjoy Life chocolate chips - it could be the chocolate or the cane sugar. I agree about swapping things out one at a time too. Gluten takes 4-6 weeks to get out of your system. Are you keeping a food journal? My DS was intolerant to turkey and rice and pears, so nothing is hypoallergenic by any means, just less "likely" to cause reactions. So if you're not at baseline after a month (and I'd do it now actually, with your reactions), I'd start swapping out foods.

[mamakori]

Thanks so much for the thoughts. I am keeping a food journal and it's been really helpful so far. I've eliminated most prepared foods at this point - just the chocolate chips left. Oh, and coffee - I haven't cut coffee yet, but I think that's going to be my next move after eliminating the chocolate. I haven't had the oats for 4 or 5 days, so I'll just keep them out for now.

Our pediatrician called today and said there was also blood and white blood cells in our stool test (obviously, since we're visusually seeing it now). She spoke with the pedi GI office today and they're getting ansy for us to do a short-term trial of Neocate while pumping (I have a call in with my IBCLC to discuss). I'm by no means about to give up nursing, but it's certainly maddening to be making so many radical changes and still see my baby hurting!

Anyway, I am taking your feedback to heart. I spent the weekend reading through the archives here and was able to glean so much helpful information.

[mamakori]

With regards to supplements, I have temporarily stopped all supplements, except a probiotic. I searched extensively for an allergen-free one and am using Bluebonnet (local to Texas?). I also have Bluebonnet prenatal vitamins that are free of most major allergens, but I've temporarily stopped as they don't list corn as one that they're free of (unlike my probiotic).

I tried adding potatoes yesterday so that I could try dropping something else, and we're back to green poo. This is just maddening!

[hildare]

i never did drop coffee all the way but i really could tell if i had more than a tiny cup, as it did seem to irritate her system while not making dd react in the other ways. it could be prolonging the irritation.
i am so sorry you're going through this.
can you try using mostly rice for a few days while getting there? rice milk/ brown rice and maybe turkey?

[mamafish9]

Bluebonnet probiotics contain FOS, which lots of people react to. You might try stopping those for a few days and seeing if that was the problem. (There are FOS free probiotics if you discover that is the issue).

[Nosy]

Originally Posted by mamakori

With regards to supplements, I have temporarily stopped all supplements, except a probiotic. I searched extensively for an allergen-free one and am using Bluebonnet (local to Texas?). I also have Bluebonnet prenatal vitamins that are free of most major allergens, but I've temporarily stopped as they don't list corn as one that they're free of (unlike my probiotic).

I tried adding potatoes yesterday so that I could try dropping something else, and we're back to green poo. This is just maddening!

I use Thorne multivitamins for myself with my extremely allergic baby (inc intolerance to corn). I know it's maddening, I've been on a 4 food diet for months (my baby is 7 mo old).