Hungry Mama needs your opinion! X-Post

[mrflowers]

I've spent some time reading that monster elimination thread, which was a big help, but I still don't know what to do.

History: I started to suspect that my daughter had silent reflux, possibly due to my dairy consumption, around Dec. 12. She was about 7 wks old then. So, I cut out dairy. She stopped 'ulp-ing' and 'urp-ing', stopped the sour spit-up, and her baby acne disappeared. All good. But it seems like ever since I cut out the dairy, she's had slimy snot-poo. Which just seems so weird to me.

I recently started to wonder if she can't handle the trace amounts of soy that I had a couple of times, so I started being really careful about additives in the few pre-packaged things I eat. I gave her some probiotics, which the saleslady said were okay for a non-dairy baby, but she's having some allergy ring on her bottom, so I'm going to stop giving her that, and just take it myself in the hopes that she'll get something good from me. I think she may have had allergy-ring from the soy in my Thai food, too.

I just feel like her diapers aren't right, and that I need to tweak something to figure out why her poo is mucous-y. And why did the mucous only start after I cut out dairy? Is it because I started to use coconut milk? I decided last night to do total elimination, to see if I can get her poo back to how it was before (yellow, seedy). I started today, eating only turkey, chicken, rice, potatoes.

I don't know if I'm being too picky, since apart from her diapers, she's a delight. She has the most beautiful skin I've ever seen, rarely fusses, doesn't spit up, sleeps well, is developing really well. She's twelve weeks old, and rolls both ways, laughs, loves to look at us and talk to us, etc. She is not as chubby as my first two were at this age; she's just under thirteen pounds, birth weight 7.7-ish. Her brother and sister had already doubled their BW by this point.

My spidey sense is telling me that her diapers are a sign that all is not well. My neuroses are making me wonder if she's smaller because the mucous is keeping her from absorbing optimal nutrition from my milk. But, maybe she's just smaller because she's so active.

I don't know what to do! I'm just going to keep going with my version of the TED (I put maple syrup in my rice) for one week, see where we're at, and then slowly start to add in. I don't think I'll add dairy back, though. But don't you all think it's weird that her poo was gorgeous on dairy, but all slimy now?

Can I keep taking my fish oil? Is it silly for me to put myself through the spartan misery of TED just because I want her to poo better? I'm all turned around...

Ayuda me, por favor?

[thepeach80]

Have you read the TED link form Dr. Sears? Why are you doing 2 meats? I would think you'd be happier if you had a fruit in your mix instead of 2 meats. I did turkey, carrots, rice, and pears. That gave me a lot variety as far as tastes and what I could do, though not as much as if Evan could've tolerated potatos. Don't forget you can eat anything made of just rice, there's noodles, crackers, cakes, etc. You also need an oil, not one that is cold pressed. I used canola b/c we thought Evan reacted to olive, but I think most use olive. The oil is your fat and you absolutely need that w/ your food as much as you can stand so you don't lose too much weight. IF things get better, than you know you're on the right track, if not, you know it's just her more than likely. Mucous in some quantities is normal and if recently started eating more of something when you cut out dairy, it could just be that.

[kjbrown92]

white potatoes are pretty allergenic, so I'd choose a different vegetable if I were you -- carrots? sweet potatoes?

I say go with your gut. My ds only pooed once every 7 days after I went off dairy, but at least they were normal looking. But it did change the patterns of BM so I wouldn't be surprised if a food was causing yours. Go with your gut, I say.

[mrflowers]

I'm sort of doing this by the seat of my pants. We had just done our shopping for the week on Sat., when we got home and I saw babe's diaper, I just couldn't handle it, so I decided to do TED. However, I was stuck with what we had just bought, since the stores are all closed here on Sundays. Hence, the chicken (until I can go get some turkey). I wasn't very clear, either; I am doing pear, and will stop white potatoes and switch to carrots/ sweet potatoes.

My husband just found me some rice milk and rice flour today, which should help; where we live, it's really hard to find alternative products.

The continuity of the slime makes me think the allergen is something that I started to eat more of when I stopped dairy, my top three suspects are: eggs, peanuts, gluten. We'll see. I started block nursing when I cut out dairy, maybe I need to stretch the blocks for a longer amount of time. Trying to figure this out is like trying to put together a puzzle when you don't know what the finished product is supposed to look like. In the dark. With gloves on.

Thanks for your help!

[kjbrown92]

Actually we know what the puzzle looks like - a happy healthy baby, and then everything you've gone through up to that point is validated. When I took out the allergens, my dd went through a growth spurt, started sleeping through the night, and was not a whiny clingy mess. It was wonderful. And I love having my sweet adorable pleasant ds instead of my tantrum, crying, bed-wetting son who appears when we try to challenge any of his intolerances. I know then that it's all worth it. Good luck.

[mrflowers]

Oh, I know what the goal is, here, I'm just overwhelmed by the possible combinations of puzzle pieces. When I was doing a lot of reading on TED on Sunday, I had a panic attack. I just find it so overwhelming; it could be food allergies, or it could be that I need to block nurse for longer stretches. Some TED guidelines say to eat white potato, others say don't. TED guidelines say to eat rice, but it sounds like some kids can't handle rice. It sounds like the American rice supply is almost all tainted with corn; will the same problem exist here (N. Europe)? I'm assuming that the food supply here is a lot 'cleaner,' but I could be wrong.

Add that to the fact that it looks to me like my daughter was digesting better and growing a bit better when I was still eating dairy...: