Going crazy and feeling confused about allergies! Advice?!

[carmen358]

A bit of background, my DD is 15 months old. She has always been very gassy, was EBF until about 7 months, had mild eczema that is getting worse and spreading (still not weeping sores but getting itchy for her). When we started solids (around 7/8 months) her sleep went DOWN hill big time. She used to sleep 5 or 6 hour stretches and then started waking every 15-45 minutes all night every night). I had no idea what to do. We bed share so it didn't seem that bad for a long time because she would nurse and go right back to sleep in a couple of minutes. However, it lasted for about 5 or 6 months. I finally realized it probably wasn't normal.

After reading some good advice on the forums here I did an elimination diet at around 13 months. No gluten, dairy or soy for both of us. I'm gluten intolerant btw. I saw immediate and drastic changes in her sleep. She didn't sttn but slept in larger stretches and didn't wake up screaming anymore. We had a couple of rough nights but nothing but improvements for a month. I introduced in some cheese and yogurt for both of us and her sleep seemed to get worse. So I backed off. However, her sleep hasn't really improved to what it was during that month of elimination. Her eczema is getting worse, she hasn't slept more than a 2 hour stretch and I'm just so confused as to what is going on. She's working on her last 4 molars (I think I can see one just under the gums but not sure). She also just had her first stomach flu last week so she was sick for about 2 1/2 days. She has tooth decay issues (with a no sugar diet!) which I've heard can be common with a gluten allergy. And she has suffered with constipation since starting solids too.

We have a referral to a ped. for next week who specializes in nutrition because my family doc wants to make sure DD is getting the nutrients she needs on such a strict diet. My doc also said they don't usually do testing for allergies so young.

We also do probiotics, natural gripe water and cod liver oil (just started this).

My DP thinks I'm crazy for being so strict about what we feed her so that's causing some tension.

I'm just not sure what the heck to do. I wish I knew for sure what/if she is allergic to! I can't tell if it's allergies, teething, whatever! I feel like the elimination diet did so much but now I'm not so sure :(

Any guidance on what to do next?

[elanorh]

So, you are gluten/dairy/soy free, had a relatively good baseline but it's deteriorated.  Are you back to a strict avoidance of all three again? 

Have you checked your supplements (vitamins etc.), your body washes and lotions to make sure there aren't allergens in them?  My second reacted to body wash that I used which had dairy in it, with all-over eczema.  I used the wash on myself, not her, but it came through in my milk. 

I think it's quite possible to eat a healthy diet for mom and babe while eliminating all gluten, dairy, and soy - but I'm biased, I eliminated more than that with both my girls.  It takes some work, but truly - you're still getting all the fruit and vegetables you want (merely preparing them differently), you still have protein sources, you simply need to vary what you're eating for whole grains to be gluten-safe, and if you have known gluten issues, I suspect you already know how to use teff, quinoa, etc. as a substitute for wheat etc. 

The one other possibility is that there is another allergen that you've missed (egg would be the next most likely culprit). 

They tend not to make allergist referrals until kiddos are 2 or usually 3 because there are so many false negatives and false positives. 

[carmen358]

Thanks very much for your reply!

Yes, I've just started back on complete elimination so I'll keep my journal up to date for the next few weeks to see how we go. I have been gluten free for a few years myself so yes, it's an easy thing for me. Soy and dairy have been challenging...especially because we are also raising DD vegetarian. So, protein sources are challenging not because I can't find them but because she doesn't always eat them. But we offer lots of choices and she does like some. Cutting out eggs will cut out a big protein source so I'm going to wait until we start to see results from this round of elimination before doing that as well.

We haven't looked at other sources of irritation yet. But I'm thinking a laundry detergent change is a good start. I don't use any creams, etc. on myself and the shampoo/cond. I use is completely natural so I should be ok there. That's good to keep in mind though as I never thought of that.

So, I guess I'll keep going and if no results get rid of egg and if no results I'm assuming that none of the things I've eliminated are a problem?! That's what I'm afraid of...that I won't see results but it will be because of teething or something so I'll mix it up with allergies. Ugh. I feel so bad for her :(

[eatyourveggies]

First of all I think that a blood test for allergies is really important. We were in this same place when my daughter was about 14 months old. She actually had a serious reaction to a pine nut and we had to go to the ER.

We were so frustrated because it seemed every type of food we would try on her would make her break out (except for my breast milk, thank goodness for that!) 

I know that blood tests aren't always accurate, but it really helped us figure out our daughter's allergies more than an elimination diet did. For example, it confirmed a lot of our suspicions and found out that most of her allergies were actually what we thought she was allergic to in the first place (because she ate them, and then reacted - etc). It was no longer a guessing game!

My daughter was about 15 months when we had the blood test, so I don't know why your doctor is advising you against it. If your daughter has been introduced to a variety of foods (which it sounds like she has), then the blood test should most definitely show you some information.

For us it was a light at the end of the tunnel because it was so accurate and we saw dramatic improvement. We also found out she has celiac, so that really helped too.

[kjbrown92]

They say that allergy tests aren't very accurate before age 2, so a lot of pediatricians don't recommend them until then. Corn is another big offender if you haven't tried eliminating that one. Are you sure that your probiotic is dairy, etc. free? They're hard to find.

[carmen358]

Yes, my doc said that they results aren't that accurate before around 2. And because DD doesn't seem to have any obvious life threatening allergies (at least outwardly) so doc said that elimination is the best way to figure things out right now. We were supposed to see the pediatrician today but he had a personal emergency so we were rescheduled for a week Monday.

I emailed the company of the probiotic we used and they said there is "trace" amounts of dairy and soy in the probiotic. We knew that and were still using them - even when we saw improvements. However, we've stopped giving it to her this time. There hasn't been a huge difference this time yet in terms of sleep but her eczema does look a bit better.