Anyone's DC Allergic to Dairy AND Soy?

[Aziah]

I am in the process of diagnosing DD's allergies. I know for a fact she is allergic to dairy - milk, cheese, yogurt (I am not sure to what extent though...as in, products that contain dairy powder I don't know if I can give them to her or not).

But I also think she may be allergic to soy as she started exhibiting strange symptoms such as night wakings, crankiness, gassiness, reddish-brown stools. I just started a very difficult soy-free diet today.

Here is the thing...after starting the diet, it seemed her demenor improved...but bedtime tonight is the worst it has ever been. How soon will I start to see results if it IS a soy allergy? Also, any suggestions on food/diet you can offer?

[Chanley]

The entire elimination diet in Is this Your Child by Doris Rapp.

My kids are allergic to gluten, dairy, soy and corn (and we forgo the artificial colors as well).

It is totally possible to do this.


Ohh and powdered milk and casien, casienate, whey protien..all of them are toxic for us.

Good behavior is a hallmark of our diet being properly adhered to.

[Meli65]

Being allergic to both dairy and soy is very common, I think. Ds can tolerate soy better than he can dairy, but if he has soy milk every day it catches up with him.

We use rice milk for him. No cheese or yogurt of any kind. It's really not that hard to do without these things (this is after almost four years of practice though). Although it is a drag.

We've found that baked goods don't present a huge problem -- he has a wheat sensitivity too so we don't have them often, but he can have birthday cake or a cookie every now and then and he's not bouncing off the walls any more than the rest of the kids.

[ShannonCC]

My dd is not truely allergic, but has major behavoiral problems with soy and has rashes with dairy. We are lax on the dairy because it only shows up if she eats it regularly, and as for soy, I *think* she's outgrowing the behavoral problems : but yeah, they were/are both an issue for her.

For soy, if she ate any we'd see a reaction within the hour. She'd get hyper and VERY touchy, going off at the drop of a hat. If everything went exactly her way she'd just bounce off the walls (I've seen her literally shake from it). She also would often wet the bed the night she would eat soy. We noticed significant changes in her behavior within a few days of taking soy out of her diet. But it's EVERYWHERE. That stuff must be as cheap as dirt because almost any packaged food has it. Thankfully, my dd doesn't have a reaction to soy lecithin but if you are testing, you should avoid that too.

Of course, I'm grown and found that when I cut dairy my excema cleared up (I'm lactose intolerant anyway) and I get awful digestive problems if I eat soy so . . . . I'm assuming my dd is like me and that while the behavioral issues might be clearing up, soy still isn't something she should eat.

Good luck! It is a pain, isn't it?

[EyesOfTheWorld]

Yep! Well, not sure about allergic (never had her tested, don't plan to) but once we eliminated dairy from her diet her ear infections were gone and soy gave her awful stools and a bloody diaper rash, so we cut it out.

It's possible, but hard at first if they're used to getting them. My daughter was very upset about the loss of her cheese, then her soy cheese was gone too. Same with yogurt. She does have a cup of rice milk in the morning, other than that we mostly just do without any substitutes. For what it's worth, she also doesn't do meat so we're really limited!

What exactly do you need help with as far as food suggestions go? I'm racking my brain trying to think of things but I'm not sure what you need

[Aziah]

Does anyone know WHY a soy allergy/intolerace causes bad behavior (poor sleeping, temper tantrums, etc)? Is it just because their bellies hurt them so much?

[Chanley]

No, not because thier bellies hurt but because those protiens get into the blood stream and get into the brain. I am not sure if they pass the blood brain barrier but they do effect brain chemistry. The kids are misbehaving because they cannot behave. It is crazy.

Another possible cause is mineral deficiency affecting brain chem. When you react, you dump certain minerals. THis can create a deficiency and the inflammation can keep the body from absorbing some of the harder to absorb minerals. This will cause some whacky behavior too.

Ask any mom of an autistic child who is on a gluten free/casien free diet. She might be able to explain it better.

We have some weird stuff crop up behavior wise when we get contaminated. My husband occasionally has reactions and he explains it that he just cant be happy and feels totally overwhelmed by everything. My 5 year old has been throwing fits and will yell out, "I can't make my brain stop."

[Aziah]

Well, I am in the process of trying to get my doctor to test her and I think the guy thinks I am nuts. He actually said he never heard of an allergy/intolerace causing behaviorial problems. Geez - besides the proteins and whathaveyou even just having a stomach ache would make me crabby and cranky...

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by Aziah

Does anyone know WHY a soy allergy/intolerace causes bad behavior (poor sleeping, temper tantrums, etc)? Is it just because their bellies hurt them so much?

This article explains it very well, Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) in children.

[cathe]

moved to allergy forum

[Aziah]

Hey Cathe! I have your book and *love* it! Actually, the only thing I can find for DD to eat right now is your almond butter noodle recipe...a lifesaver! :0) (too bad DD refuses to eat whole foods anymore though because you have a lot of great recipes in there!)

[cathe]

Thanks Aziah

[UrbanPlanter]

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