something's not right...

[TX Mama]

Hopefully this is in the right forum. I EBF my sweet boy and as of a couple of months ago his poop started getting wacky. He is just shy of 4 months old. His "output" started off fine but then the consistency changed. It's the right color but is very mucusy. (sorry, I'm trying not to be graphic) I suspected dairy in my diet as that seems to be the culprit most often. Also I am vegetarian so there was a lot of dairy in my diet. I have cut dairy (mostly, some small amounts have snuck in)from my diet and that was 3 weeks ago and I have not really seen a change. He doesn't seem to be in pain or uncomfortable. Not even overly gassy. Where to go from here?

[rhesp1212]

It can take several weeks for dairy to get leave your system completely after you have completely eliminated it, but if you haven't seen any improvement at all then i would suspect it's something else. Is the mucus there all the time? I would recommend you start keeping a food journal so you can see what you eat the most of and maybe try eliminating that for a while to see if it changes. Could be soy, eggs, corn, anything really....but if you can try to identify a pattern that would help you figure it out. If the mucus is there all the time, then I would definitely pull something that you are eating on a daily basis.

[TX Mama]

Yes the mucus is there all the time. I eat a lot of soy as it replaced the milk products (milk, yogurt). I guess that would be next to eliminate. I will start the food journal too. That sounds helpful. With each thing I eliminate will it take weeks to leave my system? I have a very fast metabolism. Also I have heard that kids with dairy sensitivities are usually ok with goats milk. Would it be ok to have that in my diet?

[mamafish9]

I'd say most kids with dairy sensitivities don't tolerate goat's milk. You could trial it, but I wouldn't do that until you find baseline (where he's not reacting). Also, soy and dairy are often cross reactive (meaning kids who react to one often react to the other).

[rhesp1212]

My son is intolerant to both cow's and goat's milk, so I definitely agree with PP.....it's not always true that they can tolerate the goat's milk. But, if you get to a baseline it's definitely worth a try.

Not all foods stay in your system for a couple weeks. It depends on the food and your body. So, some foods you might see an improvement in a couple of days, others may take a while.

[TX Mama]

Forgive my ignorance but I have never had to deal with food allergies/intolerance so this is all very new. So I'm in the process of weeding out soy which seems to be in EVERYTHING! I am assuming this also means products that contain soybean oil? What can I use to bake with? I had been using dairy free "butter" but those contain soybean oil. Soy sauce? This seems very daunting. Hopefully taking soy out will do the trick.

I know everyone is different but do most kids grow out of these intolerances?

[changingseasons]

The easiest way to do it is to just not eat any packaged foods, at least while you're still trying to figure out the triggers. You can use olive oil, safflower oil, canola oil, etc. And Spectrum palm shortening instead of the dairy free "butter". There are replacements for everything!

[TX Mama]

Back to reading labels! I'm in a not so progressive area so access to certain things are tricky. Is the Specrum in the baking area? It's not refrigerated right? I think I have used it before. Thanks! Like I said, this is a whole new world!

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by TX Mama

Back to reading labels!

If you don't use packaged/processed foods, you don't have to read labels!

No, the Spectrum isn't refrigerated. They have it in the "natural foods" section at my grocery store near the oils.

[TX Mama]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

If you don't use packaged/processed foods, you don't have to read labels!

True! I'm mainly thinking of things like breads, and crackers. It's true I had been using processed foods as a crutch when I was too tired to cook but I am finding a way around that pretty easily. Just the breads, etc are tripping me up. I've always wanted to be good at baking bread. Maybe this is my opportunity!

[rhesp1212]

Some of the organic breads like spelt bread is free of soy usually, but you still have to check the ingredients! Some babies can tolerate the oils, but in the initial elimination phase I would eliminate any trace of it....including checking all of your vitamins and supplements for hidden trace dairy and soy. IT's a pain, but it's so worth it if it works!!

[TX Mama]

I found the Ezekiel breads in the freezer are soy free. I have been able to "replace" most items that I normally eat with those free from dairy and soy. I guess there are so many people that have allergies/intolerance to certain foods that it's creating a niche in the food market.

[TX Mama]

So here's another question... I am currently eliminating milk and soy from my diet. Milk has been about a month, soy a week (still finding little bits of it in my products so it's not out completely) and I'm not seeing a change. I know it's early on and I haven't completely eliminated but it has me thinking about if it doesn't fix the issue. What would be next to cut? I eat eggs (including products containing eggs) and wheat everyday, as well as corn products. Nuts are also a staple. Those seem to be common triggers as well. Should I start eliminating those to be proactive or wait a bit to see if the milk/soy does the trick? I'm vegetarian so I'm concerned about my protein and calorie intake. He doesn't seem to be in pain I am just anxious to get him to a baseline and on the right track in the poop department.

[mamafish9]

The next two top intolerances are gluten & corn, so I'd try taking those out. I'd do it now - a week is enough time to see at least some improvement. If he's still got mucous every day, it's likely something you're still eating every day.

Could be supps too - what are you taking for supps (if you link to them, we can tell you any potentially problematic ingredients). Anything you maybe added when he was 3-4 months old?

[TX Mama]

Oh my...so corn syrup (which I try to avoid anyway), actual corn? Does white flour contain gluten? Are there any tricky words I should be looking for? For example I know casein is a milk product. Any others?

As far as supplements I take Rainbow Light Prenatals which I just learned have soy lecithin. I also take fenugreek which are in a gelatin capsule.

[rhesp1212]

I know every child is different, but my son reacted horribly to fenugreek when I was taking it! Made his reflux flare up terribly, which is one of his intolerance symptoms.

I agree, if you're not seeing any improvement at all, then I would try other ingredients that you're eating on a daily basis. If you eat alot of eggs or eat them on a daily basis in some form or another, you might want to consider pulling them to see if you notice a difference. Corn is one of the hardest to eliminate, I think as it's derivitives are in just about EVERYTHING now. Once you get to baseline, you can try adding back in your dairy and soy since you haven't seen any improvment taking it out as of right now. If you're really not seeing any improvement at all, you could probably add atleast the dairy back in and take something else out.

Gluten is most definitely in white flour...gluten is in wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, barley and is usually cross contaminated in oats. If you're going to go gluten free, you're going to be using things like rice flour, quinoa flour, sorghum, buckwheat, teff, etc. instead.

[TX Mama]

The fenugreek is new to my diet and the issues arose before the addition of it so I feel pretty safe to keep it in.

Wow...this is a process! Thanks for all the help thus far.

[ShwarmaQueen]

If he's not gassy, seemingly in pain, or even bothered, I probably wouldn't change my diet. Poop can change with age. According to Kellymom, true food insensitivities in breastfed babes are rare.

Just my 2 cents. I mean, It's hard enough to take care of baby, yourself, and everything else- then to have to pick apart your diet too?

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by TX Mama

Oh my...so corn syrup (which I try to avoid anyway), actual corn? Does white flour contain gluten? Are there any tricky words I should be looking for? For example I know casein is a milk product. Any others?

As far as supplements I take Rainbow Light Prenatals which I just learned have soy lecithin. I also take fenugreek which are in a gelatin capsule.

Yeah, if it says corn in it, definitely corn . All wheat (including white flour) has gluten. If you take out dairy, soy, corn, and gluten, you won't be able to eat anything prepared anyhow, so don't worry about it - just eat simple ingredients from home.

Rainbow Light prenatals have modified starch = corn.

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen

If he's not gassy, seemingly in pain, or even bothered, I probably wouldn't change my diet. Poop can change with age. According to Kellymom, true food insensitivities in breastfed babes are rare.

Sorry - you know you're in the allergies forum, right? With a bunch of mamas who all have babes with true food intolerances . I think kellymom is a great resource, but very mucusy poop isn't normal. And figuring out the food triggers now could prevent more serious reactions later.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen

According to Kellymom, true food insensitivities in breastfed babes are rare.

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Sorry - you know you're in the allergies forum, right?

If you don't want to remove any more foods from your diet, you could try a rotation diet. First- are you keeping a food journal? Because that really is the most important thing. But if you're eating the exact same foods every day, then it will be hard to figure out. So with a rotation diet (and you don't have to do a formal, strict rotation) just make sure you're varying your diet. So maybe skip eggs for a couple days in the week. Try eating rice one day instead of gluten products (which yes, means any type of regular flour.) Write down everything- all foods, all symptoms- in the food journal. Do that for a couple weeks, then go back and look for patterns. Every baby has a different timeline for reacting, so sometimes it takes a while to spot those patterns. Like you might be expecting a good day when you don't eat eggs (if eggs happen to be a trigger), but it might be delayed for a day. Same with reactions- some babies react within hours, some take 24 or more hours to react through breastmilk to something you've eaten. That's why the journal is SOOOOOO important. It really is impossible to figure things out without it. So if you look back at a couple weeks of eating, and you see that both times you went gluten free for a day, the symptoms were better the next day, then you would consider doing a full gluten elimination.