What are allergy symptoms versus normal newborn stuff?

[HeatherB]

My 6wo has had mucousy stools for several weeks. They are mostly yellow and curdy, too, but have sometimes been green. I do have an overactive letdown and possibly oversupply, but also try to more-or-less block feed so I don't really think she's got foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. Her stools smell like normal BF stools, though it's often not a very strong smell even for that.

She's also got "baby acne" that comes and goes, though a patch on the back of her neck and upper back seems more consistent. I am wondering if these red, bumpy patches are likely allergy-related, or are really normal baby acne? Her skin seems quite sensitive to contact, but I generally wear cotton clothing and wash mine in the same detergent as hers (she doesn't have all-over rashiness) so I'm not sure just *what* she's reacting to. But if she sleeps on my chest she will often get irregular redness that lasts a long time. That's a separate issue from the acne-like red bumps, though.

She's not all that fussy (I had one DS with significant silent reflux and she's not anything like that!) but occasionally has fussy periods where it's clear her tummy hurts. She doesn't burp a ton and I'm not sure if that's good or bad. She started burping more after a recent chiro visit so I'm kinda wondering if the not burping is associated with tummy troubles. Could it be that when things are "off" she's not able to get the air back out and is therefore having more issues?

Any thoughts? I need to start eliminating but haven't decided what to start with. I've done EDs enough that I know just how un-fun it is and am having trouble jumping on the bandwagon.

[tanyalynn]

Hi Heather.  I don't think mucous is ever normal.  I don't remember what my two were like wrt baby acne, I think it followed the norms but I don't know how much that varies from kid to kid and is still okay/healthy.  In retrospect (cause hey, DD was 3.5yo and DS was 14 mos before I got any sort of clue), fussiness in both kids was most likely food intolerances.  Did a lot holding and walking with DD, less with DS and I assume temperament was involved.

An easy thing to start with is an infant probiotic, see if her gut balance is out of whack.  I'd probably order the one on JaneS's WAHM page, the Pharmax one. 

In terms of elimination... not what you want to hear, but I'd start with gluten, dairy and soy.  Hopefully corn is not an issue for you cause it's everywhere, but there just aren't that many people on the board who have food intolerances who are ok with gluten.  Ooh... someone mentioned a test, was it ALCAT? that was on sale, it was a lot of foods for under $200, they mentioned it in Chat.  I hope someone who remembers pops over to this thread, but if it's possible you've got a long list, testing can be a better starting point.  DS's list is short and he didn't even react to all those while I was nursing, some he had to eat directly, so eliminating and then journalling was quite effective in identifying stuff.  If you tested... I assume you'd test you instead of her?  Someone should weigh in on that, but she's clearly not going to be eating solids for a long time so you seem like the more important variable, but I could be wrong. 

[Ashley_R]

I thought DS problems were fore/hindmilk imbalance at first, along with detergent sensitivities.  Turns out after I eliminated dairy, soy, and tomatoes from my diet, the baby acne disappeared as did the mucousy poop.  The poop sounds identical to DSs.  I would start by eliminating dairy and soy first.  Even if you just cut back on them to see if it helps, thats how I discovered DS issue and then cut them out completely. Good luck