Maybe it's wheat/gluten and not dairy?

[Chego]

Hi, it's been forever since I've posted but I always find such great stuff from everyone here and now it's time to see if anyone can give me some feedback on what's going on with my daughter. She'll be 2 next month.

When she was born, she had trouble nursing. She lost 2 lbs before she was 3 months old so I started pumping and supplementing with formula. That's when I really started investigating and found that she was allergic to milk (or so I thought). She had horrible gas and always a runny nose (since the day she was born). When I stopped drinking milk she did so much better. Then when she was one, we tested with some cow's milk and she got hives, a runny nose that turned into an ear infection that all cleared up as soon as I took her off of dairy completely. She has been that way ever since although now I let her have muffins and biscuits because milk cooked in things don't seem to bother her.

She has never been a very happy baby, though. She cries more often than she doesn't. She still nurses (I pumped until she was 1 and then we switched to rice milk) whenever I am around (I work during the day). Here are her other symptoms:

- teeth: her front 4 teeth are light brown on the bottom half, like there is no enamel there.

- canker sores: she has had 2 or 3 which isn't too many but apparently it's rare for a toddler to get them

- sleep: she slips really fitfully and wants to nurse throughout the night. it's not hunger, i don't think, it feels more like she's in pain and comforted by the nursing

- weight: she weighs just 22lbs and has for quite a few months

- urination: sometimes it seems like it hurts when she pees. she'll grab her diaper and say it hurts

She doesn't seem to have any tummy problems, that I can tell. Her diapers seem ok, poop wise.

In doing the research on her teeth, I found that that can be a symptom of celiac's disease. Also that sometimes a gluten intolerance can seem like a dairy intolerance.

So. Here's what I'm thinking - take her off gluten for a month and see how she does. I'll take her for a weigh-in at her checkup next month so we can see if she's gained weight and see how the other symptoms are. Also I started her on Rainbow Light vitamins and will start Cod Liver oil tomorrow.

What I need from you (if you've made it all the way through this novel) is to let me know if it seems like her symptoms could be caused by gluten and/or wheat. Or maybe I need to get tighter on her dairy intake? In other words, does it seem like I'm on the right track or if I should be looking at other stuff too?

Thanks in advance and let me know if I can tell you anything else that might help.

[Mylie]

I would tighten the reigns on the dairy in food products and go with that for a month and then if you are still seeing the probs go gluten free..It can take many months for the gluten to finally get out of the system..My girl has been gluten free for a year and half now...but I am very happy to report she is finally starting to gain weight..Like yours she stayed at 24 pounds for months and months..Last time we checked she was 25 percentile for weight and falling...height was even lower...I tightened the reings on letting her cheat every now and then and now finally she is starting to gain some weight..Even my mom commented on her getting a bit chunkier last night

It is hard but worth it..I would chuck all the dairy in everything..Then do the gluten if she is still having probs...

[kjbrown92]

did she have all those problems when you were "tight" with the dairy? If so, then I'd do both: eliminate ALL dairy and gluten. It sounds like it was clear that dairy was affecting her, but if taking out all dairy didn't eliminate everything, then there is possibly another irritant in there (or maybe more). Since dairy and gluten are the top two intolerances, it's not out of the realm of possibility.

[puffingirl]

We had trouble sorting out the same thing (dairy and/or gluten) with DD.  For us it was helpful to take them both out--she got better! Then we added them one at a time to find the culprit--it was gluten and very easy to see with that kind of process. We added dairy first and then gluten a couple weeks later. She was almost 2 at the time.  Good luck.