Elimination Diet - Blood in poop

[lmk1]

Ds2 is 6 weeks old. He's gained over 4 pounds since birth (6lb 5oz at birth, now 10lb, 7oz). He has reflux, currently on Zantac. At 3 weeks he got a few specks of blood in his poop. I got rid of dairy and soy. After that, a week went by before he got a few more threads of blood in his poop. I got rid of peanuts, citrus, sesame (after every appearance of blood, a new thing). The last 2 days, he's got more specks of blood ... one or 2 poops a day only (he has about 5 - 10 poops /day, so most don't have blood). We went to a GI specialist yesterday, who thought it must be something in my diet, mentioned hypo-allergenic formula, and told me to eliminate eggs and nuts also. I'm a bit tired of removing one item per bloody poop. I think I'd rather go on a simple diet for 2 weeks and hopefully get rid of the blood and let the munchkin's gut heal.

So, I've seen the elimination diet on Dr Sears website...are there others that maybe include more food that would be helpful? Also, it says to only have "rice milk". I looked at the carton of Rice Dream, and it has safflower or sunflower oil. Is there something else that wouldn't include these unknowns? Also what oil can I use? Canola, olive ok? Both my ped and the GI specialist don't think I need to go crazy yet eliminating foods, BUT, since they've both mentioned formula, I'd rather figure out sooner rather than later what is causing the blood. Also, what if I'm on the diet, and the blood is still there? At what point do I try the formula? It just seems like so unnecessary at this point because we have great weight gain. But could increasing blood mean more problems apart from the weight gain? And should I be asking them to do other procedures before trying formula? Should I look for a different GI specialist, too? And get more opinions/ideas?

p.s. Forgot to mention that I've been on a gluten free diet for the past year due to my own GI issues (not confirmed celiac though)...and the last month have been eating granola with non certified gf oats; GI dr said to eliminate that too...so back to certified gf oats.

[hildare]

Originally Posted by lmk1

Ds2 is 6 weeks old. He's gained over 4 pounds since birth (6lb 5oz at birth, now 10lb, 7oz). He has reflux, currently on Zantac. At 3 weeks he got a few specks of blood in his poop. I got rid of dairy and soy. After that, a week went by before he got a few more threads of blood in his poop. I got rid of peanuts, citrus, sesame (after every appearance of blood, a new thing). The last 2 days, he's got more specks of blood ... one or 2 poops a day only (he has about 5 - 10 poops /day, so most don't have blood). We went to a GI specialist yesterday, who thought it must be something in my diet, mentioned hypo-allergenic formula, and told me to eliminate eggs and nuts also. I'm a bit tired of removing one item per bloody poop. I think I'd rather go on a simple diet for 2 weeks and hopefully get rid of the blood and let the munchkin's gut heal.

So, I've seen the elimination diet on Dr Sears website...are there others that maybe include more food that would be helpful? Also, it says to only have "rice milk". I looked at the carton of Rice Dream, and it has safflower or sunflower oil. Is there something else that wouldn't include these unknowns? Also what oil can I use? Canola, olive ok? Both my ped and the GI specialist don't think I need to go crazy yet eliminating foods, BUT, since they've both mentioned formula, I'd rather figure out sooner rather than later what is causing the blood. Also, what if I'm on the diet, and the blood is still there? At what point do I try the formula? It just seems like so unnecessary at this point because we have great weight gain. But could increasing blood mean more problems apart from the weight gain? And should I be asking them to do other procedures before trying formula? Should I look for a different GI specialist, too? And get more opinions/ideas?

p.s. Forgot to mention that I've been on a gluten free diet for the past year due to my own GI issues (not confirmed celiac though)...and the last month have been eating granola with non certified gf oats; GI dr said to eliminate that too...so back to certified gf oats.

Hi-- I've BTDT with the elimination diet.
You might want to poke around in the allergies forum, the people there have a ton of information.
The oat problem might be causing the disturbance with your babe-- it takes a while for things to get out of their system, you know.
When I did the TED, I ate: turkey, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and a few other veggies and avocado. However, some people have intolerances for some of those things. Those are the basics. I used a TON of olive oil, spices, etc. Olive oil is generally pretty safe. I also used rice milk, unsweetened, which worked fine for us regardless of the kind of oil in there. I think sunflower seeds are one of the first things you can add back safely, so that's probably ok. I lost a bunch of weight, so be careful.
There are links an a ton more info in the allergies forum, but that's basically what I ate when I reduced to the basics. There are charts and things that can show you food families so you can possibly add more 'safe' things back at a time than just one. good luck figuring out the problem.

It might take a while for symptoms to disappear. We never did figure out the problem, but it became more manageable. dd outgrew it at 6 mos.

[lmk1]

Originally Posted by hildare

Hi-- I've BTDT with the elimination diet.
You might want to poke around in the allergies forum, the people there have a ton of information.
The oat problem might be causing the disturbance with your babe-- it takes a while for things to get out of their system, you know.
When I did the TED, I ate: turkey, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and a few other veggies and avocado. However, some people have intolerances for some of those things. Those are the basics. I used a TON of olive oil, spices, etc. Olive oil is generally pretty safe. I also used rice milk, unsweetened, which worked fine for us regardless of the kind of oil in there. I think sunflower seeds are one of the first things you can add back safely, so that's probably ok. I lost a bunch of weight, so be careful.
There are links an a ton more info in the allergies forum, but that's basically what I ate when I reduced to the basics. There are charts and things that can show you food families so you can possibly add more 'safe' things back at a time than just one. good luck figuring out the problem.

It might take a while for symptoms to disappear. We never did figure out the problem, but it became more manageable. dd outgrew it at 6 mos.

What symptoms did your dd have? And did they improve at all? When she outgrew it, did you go back to your normal diet? I am actually very worried about losing weight, as I lost a lot of weight with ds1, and I only went off milk and soy...that's how my GI problems started originally.