What else can I do for him?

[Dom&O]

My son is 22 months and has GERD, pediatric feeding disorder (or severe food refusal), eczema, difficulty sleeping, mucusy poops, runny nose, allergic shiners, frequent ear infections, and occasional behavioral issues (where he can be violent..hitting/biting which is not his normal way of acting, then again he is almost two!).

He has had prick testing for the top 8 and rast for dairy and soy which were all negative. I'm waiting on another allergist to set up patch testing. He's had a scope and tested negative for EE and Celiacs.

We know he has issues with dairy and soy. I am still pumping for him but we are trying to transition him to formula (elecare).

As far as testing goes, is there anything else I should set up for him? Has anyone done those intolerance home kits, and have you found them reliable? I wish we could identify more foods he is intolerant to as he is still obviously having issues with something, and the more willing he is to eat the more his symptoms are. Its very hard to do food trials on a child that will not willingly eat.

We are also appealing our insurance denial for KKI's pediatric feeding program so we can get him eating, but I'd like to go in knowing what foods to stay away from.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[kjbrown92]

We did ALCAT testing on two of my kids (blood draw). It shows an inflammatory response to food, which is not the same as IgG testing. When I took all DS's triggers out, the moodiness, night waking, snoring, mouth breathing, bedwetting, screaming out at night, sleeplessness, tantrums, neediness all went away. For DD2, it was waking up all night long, excessive drinking, eczema, diarrhea, etc.

Stool testing (Genova) was also helpful for DS to get him on the right enzymes and probiotics.

Personally, I'd take out gluten and corn, which are in everything, and start a food diary and see what you've got. If it's all the time, it's probably something he's getting every day, and all signs point to those (since they're in pretty much all processed foods).

[danipoppins]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Personally, I'd take out gluten and corn, which are in everything, and start a food diary and see what you've got. If it's all the time, it's probably something he's getting every day, and all signs point to those (since they're in pretty much all processed foods).

I totally agree, if you've already got soy and dairy out, take gluten and corn out too. Don't reintroduce anything until you hit baseline (lack of symptoms). The diary should be REALLY helpful. I found that when we took out gluten and dairy from my son's diet, he started eating and trying foods he wouldn't even look at before. There's a great yahoogroup called "foodlab" which is REALLY helpful and supportive when dealing with food intolerance. Most folks there believe that the 'tests' don't really help much and aren't reliable in terms of accuracy and elimination/trial is much more effective in giving concrete information.