What is the most common sign of an allergy or intolerance?

[luckymamaoftwo]

I'm on day 9 of a dairy-free diet. DS, 4 mo, has had awful, painful gas and mucousy, stringy, dark diapers for as long as I remember (maybe started around 8 weeks??). So far, I've not noticed a reduction in his gassiness or pains and wakefulness associated with it, but today was the FIRST bright yellow and more "normal" looking poop he's had for months.

So I'm wondering....is this a good sign that eliminating dairy is truly helping? Or could the normal poop be just a coincidence since he's still waking at night with gas and writhing around with discomfort?

What is the MOST common sign of an allergy or intolerance to something in mother's diet?

THANKS!

[karika]

rash, mucosy, and or green and or blood in stools. The fact that you had a mustardy one today is a good sign. I am concerned about what you mean by 'dark diapers'. If the stool was very dark, that would indicate blood I would think. Have you eliminated soy and gluten too? those are the next things to look at. Dairy can take up to 21 days to resolve. There are many things to consider however besides just dairy. Soy is a huge one and it is in many processed foods (vitamin E is soy, alpha tocopherol is soy...and soy lecithin is in so many packaged foods).

Besides the obvious gluten, soy and dairy, I believe HFCS is a danger. I believe it has changed since GMO crops are providing all the HFCS now. Please avoid all chemicals. msg, food colorings... my stomach feels so much better after going GFCFSF.

Also, be sure you have eliminated all forms? Here is a list of all the names dairy hides under
http://www.kellymom.com/store/freeha...en-dairy01.pdf
and here is kellymom page on food sensitivities
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...y.html#lactose

[JaneS]

Ditto what previous poster said, a red ring around the anus is a clear indicator too. I would be concerned blood in the stool as well. It might be something you want to speak to your Ped about. How is his weight gain? Hang in there mama and keep us posted.

Soy is almost all GMO too (even organic can be contaminated) and implicated to be one of the major causes of the allergy epidemic we are now facing b/c evidence is that it mutates our gut flora. Karika, you might be interested in reading Robyn O'Brien's book "The Unhealthy Truth," quite an eye opener!

[luckymamaoftwo]

Well, to update....back to green diapers but they aren't dark (like I mentioned before), they are a brightish green but not mucousy. The dark diapers were more of a dark green/dark mustard mix but he hasn't had one of those in several days.

My DS does have redness around his anus. I noticed it around 2 months of age. Interestingly enough, my DD has had the same redness (still does..it's just bigger now) since she was an infant. I asked our pedi about it when she was 15 mo and he acted as if I was crazy, "What redness?" he asked as he was staring at her butt! He made me feel like I was neurotic, but since I don't see other babies' butts, I have/had no reference point as to what was "normal."

Oh, and DS's weight gain is awesome. He was 7 lbs at birth and at 4 months he's 15 lbs.

So is that normal?

[Lanhan]

Bumping for any more advice. I'm dealing with similar sx in my 2 month old ds. Reflux, choking, painful gas, mucous in bm's, red around anus, Lots of general fussiness and discomfort. I have eliminated the top allergens, but I am going to go to a stricter elim diet in case it's something a little less common.

[JaneS]

Well I've seen other baby's butts... and my DS's butt when we found all his triggers (esp. salicylates) and red ring is not normal. He gained fine when breastmilk was his main food and starting stalling when weaned a little over 2 years.

[bean-e]

Dd was 8 lb 2oz at birth and basically doubled her weight by the second month, but she has food allergy and intolerance issues, so I don' think good weight gain is a trustworthy indicator of the absence of issue.