Help! Baby with allergy and tooth decay. Need dairy and soy-free Remineralization product

[dot1]

My 8 month old has reflux and milk/soy allergy.  Her top tooth came in with a cavity on the tip.  With my older dd, I had good success with MI Paste and fluoride varnish to help heal her cavities in the same place....but there is dairy in the MI Paste.

Any one else dealing with this (allergy and tooth decay and/or reflux)?  Any idea where I can find hypoallergenic products to help to remineralize her teeth?  So far she's only nursing (I'm now on a dairy and soy free elimination diet and it has helped a lot)as everything I've tried to feed her (solids) comes back up!  

Thanks!!!!

[choochootwo]

Hi dot1 : 

I have no advice about the allergy free products but wanted to add my child dealt with similar issues until he was older like yours. He had a big problem with solid introduction and we thought he had reflux, but looking back we see where it was actually an immature gut which lead to a leaky gut because we kept doing solids when he wasn't ready. We stopped with solids and started again when he was 10 months old. He was fine on breastmilk. The big foods causing issue in him were grains, next vegetables, then some specific fruit. Always good on eggs, and meat. He also ended up with Early Childhood Decay. We started solids on the recommendation of our pediatrician because it was supposed to help with reflux and it only made it worse. 

[soymilk]

Is she OK with Xylitol?

[dot1]

Thank you, choochootwo.  Nice to know I'm not alone.  We're back to exclusive breastfeeding (and trying to clear out the last of the baby cereal constipation. She was projectile vomiting from it....and it was the "Healthy Times" and is supposed to be soy and dairy free. Ped wanted dd on it to get the iron).  I'm thinking when the time comes to try again, a paleo-like diet may be the way to go?

Soymilk, I haven't tried xylitol.  Are you aware of any pure products without much in the way of other additives?

Thanks, ladies :)

[choochootwo]

dot1 : 

Birch Xylitol is best. It's made in America. You can dilute with water and make a spray to spray her mouth after she nurses. Colloidal Silver is also good. No need for the high PPM either. 7 PPM should be just fine, the higher ones are like using  a sledgehammer for a nail.

Have you also considered Pacalite Clay? Do you have dental issues too? The bacteria spreads from person to person. If it came in with a cavity, that is a concern. Makes me wonder about celiac disease or a vitamin deficiency. With things like reflux ( which can oftentimes me leaky gut ) there is a vitamin deficiency going on because the stomach problems mean improper digestion. Lastly, does your daughter have a lip or tongue tie? There's a holistic lactation specialist around here who's practically written the book about this issue, but she's linked lip/tongue tie, reflux, allergies, leaky gut all together. Pull up her lip and see if she has a membrane of skin that goes between or just above her two front teeth. Make sure her tongue has full movement. My son's almost 2 and we just found out about his ties 3 months ago. 

Have grains ( wheat, corn, etc ) been absolutely ruled out yet? These are very difficult to digest for little ones and so are some veggies and fruits. Are you familiar with the Weston A Price Foundation? They've got good insight on this.

 My son's first contact with food was rice cereal, it was organic brown rice cereal. We had vomit, screaming, arching back for days. Then we tried banana, sweet potato, and carrot later on. Same deal.

Have you considered a probiotic? Our son was on Zantac and it helped some, but a probiotic worked much better for him. When you introduce solids again, you may want to try some homemade stock and/or cooked egg yolk. Yolks aren't an allergen, but the whites can be as they have so many different proteins in them. Keep an eye out for frequent illness, like viral infections. This is also a sign of an intolerance or growing allergy. It's kind of like an auto-immune response to something the body can't digest. Sorry, I know your post is about dental issues, but I remember feeling at a loss when he was that young. Wish I knew then what I knew now. We learned the hard way to introduce solids very slowly in small amounts, at least a week apart. Also watch for things like runny nose, stuffiness, skin rash. The hardest part for me personally was eliminating things from my diet. 

[dot1]

Originally Posted by choochootwo 

Have you also considered Pacalite Clay? Do you have dental issues too? The bacteria spreads from person to person. If it came in with a cavity, that is a concern. Makes me wonder about celiac disease or a vitamin deficiency. With things like reflux ( which can oftentimes me leaky gut ) there is a vitamin deficiency going on because the stomach problems mean improper digestion. Lastly, does your daughter have a lip or tongue tie? 

Have grains ( wheat, corn, etc ) been absolutely ruled out yet? These are very difficult to digest for little ones and so are some veggies and fruits. Are you familiar with the Weston A Price Foundation? They've got good insight on this.

Choochootwo - I have been meaning to reply and thank you for all this information.  Such a great post.  Apologies, we've had a super busy month.

I haven't heard of pacalite clay but will look into it.  If you have any links handy, that would be great.  

My teeth are great, but dh and dd1 have had dental issues.  So hard not to spread that bacteria!

I don't think there's a tongue tie, but she does have a frenulum ( i think that's the word) that is obvious.  She's always been a great nurser - often too efficient and probably some overfeeding contributing to her reflux a bit also.  I'm guessing that a tongue tie could cause a lot of air intake, which in turn could aggravate reflux?

I'm kind of wondering about grains.  I haven't eliminated them as I'm going to get the celiac blood test done (since my grandmother probably had it and I have a cousin just missing the threshold for a positive test).  However, I am trying to eat more paleo.  I seem to recall hearing about the WP Foundation years ago and will look into that too.

As an update, I've added some soy back into my diet (2 days in) and so far so good.  For dd2, the only solid food so far that seems well tolerated (not coming up again) is our homegrown cooked pureed pears. If that goes well I'll try adding the dairy back into my diet...but I think I'll try to limit it anyway, given how not having it has helped with the baby weight and the benefit are questionable anyway!  But it sure would make things easier if I can eventualy give dd1 dairy products such as hard cheese or butter....and have more options as far as remineralization products. I tried xylitol with dd1, but it wasn't helping enough so we moved onto the MI paste and also got some topical fluoride treatments....which stopped the tooth decay in its tracks and the cavities started to remineralize within a week.

 It's such a trial and error process....with so many confounding variables!  Thanks again for your help.

[choochootwo]

There's something called a  posterior tongue tie. The tongue is tied near the back and it's very difficult to see. It looks nothing like the classic heart shaped tongue you'll find online. It's most often missed. The child needs to be laying down and you'll need to push on either side under the tongue to expose the frenum. My son just had his revised 12 days ago. There's a tongue tie support group on facebook with over 850 members and there's tons of information and photos and you can post photos there too. Lip Tie and Tongue Tie almost always come together. Yes, it can cause a poor latch and lots of additional air.

Since his revision his speech has improved, he's trying different foods, and he's been able to eat corn, oatmeal, rice, and cantaloupe without any issues. All these foods caused big problems before. I now firmly believe there's a big connection between tongue tie and gut health. 

If you're concerned about a tongue or lip tie, you can find more information at www.kiddsteeth.com, under articles. Babies that have tongue and lip tie often have one, some, or all of the following issues : slow weight gain, breastfeeding issues, space between the two front teeth, high/narrow palate, digestion issues, colic/reflux as a baby and beyond, food issues ( intolerance,aversion, etc ), tooth decay.

I'm glad I helped ! You're on the right path. 

[dot1]

Thanks!  I checked out that link.  It sure looks like both of my kids have class 3 or 4 upper lip ties!  The older one actually tore hers a bit when she felt and knocked a tooth loose....and I just thought it was normal for everyone to have a big flap of skin there!  However, both have done well with growth, the older one speaks well...and the baby seems to have good tongue mobility and nurses well and has a good selection of sounds for her age.  The dental decay/issues and reflux is what concerns me most   I'm wondering if the upper lip tie is something we would need to treat....since we would be required to travel a fair distance to have it done.  In fact I don't know of any pediatric dentists in Canada (BC Southern Interior) who treat it (but am trying to find one).