If a food intolerance is the problem, How do you know?

[kdescalzi]

Hi mamas,

My almost 2yo dd is a sleeping disaster. She wakes every 2 hours on a good night to nurse. I tried nw by following Dr Jay Gordon but on day 3 she lost it. She is really not ready to nw. I have to follow her lead. I don't know if she wakes often to nurse or comfort suck or what. It doesn't matter if she falls asleep nursing or if daddy puts her to bed....she wakes all night long briefly. I have started to wonder if she has a food intolerance that could be causing her multiple night wakings. I once went to a naturopath who told me that she or I could have sensativities to pretty much EVERYTHING. It was a very disheartening visit. No help. How do I go about figuring out if she has a sensativity to something? Any tips or btdt would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise I may be destined to be sleep deprived FOREVER!!

[bodhitree]

Sadly, the only way to know for sure is to start eliminating foods and see what happens. Does your kiddo have any other signs of food intolerances, such as rashes, chronic congestion, or ear infections? If so, I'd definitely try eliminating some of the more common problem foods and see what happens. And there are kids who have food intolerances where the only symptoms are sleep-related and behavioral, so even if there aren't any other obvious issues, it still might be worthwhile to try eliminating some stuff. The foods that most commonly trigger intolerances are dairy, gluten, soy, and corn. For my DD, dairy and gluten both seem to affect her sleep, as do chocolate and oranges (which I only figured out after eliminating the more likely suspects and then starting a food journal so I could spot any additional problems). It can be kind of an undertaking to figure this stuff out, and I've been working on it for months for my DD. It also hasn't completely fixed our sleep problems, but it has produced enough of an improvement that it's worth it to me. You can always ask questions in the Allergies forum, too, if you need help figuring stuff out.