Food allergies/gut health problems, or not?

[eksmom]

I've posted here a couple of other times and have been lurking/reading like crazy. Y'all are so knowledgeable and I have learned so much!

I've been trying to eliminate foods to help my almost 5 month EBF DS but I'm losing my conviction that it's the right thing to do, and I'd like to seek some other opinions. To keep this brief as possible, here's a list:

I have been off of all dairy for nearly 2 months, soy since about the 2nd week of August, eggs since 9/4, and top 8 + obvious corn for the last 8 days. I have been on a probiotic this entire time (Kirkman's Pro-Bio Gold thanks to recommendations here) and DS has been on Solaray Babylife for about the last 10 days.

Here are the things that made me think food allergy:

- Red blistery ring on the bum after a day where I'd eaten a lot of soy
- Diaper rash in the front (above genitals, on thighs) that responds to absolutely nothing except hydrocortisone - he's had this for 2 mos. now
- Mucousy, smelly stools (not burn-your-nose-hairs stinky but not normal either)
- Teeny tiny flecks of red blood in the mucus in 2-3 dipes

But now, after 8 days of top 8 ED and zero change in his condition (except for more frequent poops, which I attribute to his probiotic), I'm hungry and getting skeptical.

"Big" food allergy signs DS lacks:

- Happiest, calmest kid ever - never cries when it wouldn't be expected (i.e. only if he is tired, hungry, etc. and stops as soon as we meet his need)
- Poop color has always been good - not green, never foamy or frothy
- The diaper rash does not seem to bother him at all - does not seem to itch or hurt
- Not much family history of allergies, although I used to react to clams but haven't eaten them in years, and DH reacted to green bell peppers as a kid but is fine with them now - but we know of no one in the family w/ a top 8 allergy, for example
- Has stayed right on his growth curve since birth (95th%)
- DS is not vaxed, did not get Vit. K

Also: DS is a drool bucket and has been since about the time this rash developed. DH was also a huge drooler and early teether. DS has no teeth yet but the drool is pretty much a constant. I have done a lot of reading on teething drool causing rash and mucousy stools.

My thinking is something like this... allergies, though they are on the rise, still affect a relatively small percentage of EBF babies. After weeks off dairy and soy, 2 weeks off eggs, and 8 days off the rest of the top 8, why no change? I've eliminated the foods that cause the vast majority of allergies for those who do have them... am I barking up the wrong tree? I'm a statistician, so that colors my thinking - I mean, at this point what are the chances that there is still some food giving him trouble and I just haven't found it yet?

That said, I'm prepping to start the TED tomorrow to hopefully find out for sure. As a vegetarian, I'm not looking forward to it (not that anyone does!).

So, I'm curious what y'all would think about DS given the lists above. What would you do in my shoes? I agree something is irritating his intestines, hence the mucus in his poop. Could it be the drool, though, and not my diet?

[changingseasons]

Well, I would think you're right (that maybe it's something else) except for the mucus and blood in his stools. That screams allergy to me.

Have the symptoms changed at all since you've changed your diet? Worse, better, anything? Have you been keeping a food journal to match symptom changes to foods you've eaten?

Sometimes it can get confusing when you take one thing out of your diet and replace it with something else that also happens to be allergenic. I don't know how many times I've done that. So for example if you've taken out the top 8, but have tripled your daily rice consumption... and your LO turns out to be allergic to rice, then you might not notice any changes in symptoms (or maybe slightly better at first, but then worsening after a couple days.)

[eksmom]

He has gone from pooping every 2-3 days to at least once a day. He pooped 4 times on Wed. and 3 times on Thurs. The 2nd one on Thurs. had only a small amount of mucus. He only pooped once yesterday and it was pretty mucousy, with a couple of nickel to quarter sized patches of mucus.

Now, by the morning of the 4th day of the top 8 ED, the rash was suddenly looking much better although still there. By the end of the day it was starting to worsen. I looked at my food diary to try to figure out what I had not eaten in the past day or two that I would normally eat every day and came up with tomatoes. I cut tomatoes out starting Wed. The rash improved some, but not as much as before and then came back. I also cut out corn derivatives just in case. I did eat other nightshade veggies during that time. I'm just getting tired of messing around with this food and that food and at this point would rather do the TED to cut down on the wild goose chase feeling, I think.

None of his symptoms have gotten worse since the ED started.

The mucus and blood are proof that something is irritating him. I just wonder if its equally as likely to be the drool as anything I'm eating.

[eksmom]

Crap. If DH was allergic to peppers, and so was/is his mom, and possibly an uncle... and peppers are a nightshade...

DH was formula fed, so even though he ate potatoes and chips and things as a kid, he was hopefully not eating them as an infant. DS is getting exposed to nightshades much earlier than DH ever did. Maybe there's some connection here?

And I don't know if potato chips count as much as other forms of nightshades, but I have been eating a bunch of chips since the ED started for the fat. And I have been eating potatoes in other forms, as well as pepper and eggplant both raw and cooked.

Hmmm.

The thing is we are going to the beach 2 weeks from today, and I was kind of hoping to be back on things like eggs, wheat, and nuts by then (I really don't think those have anything to do with DS's issues, though I could be wrong). That's one of the reasons I was hoping to do the TED and get it over with before the beach - if I saw no improvement in him in the next 2 weeks, I could go on vacation with just dairy and soy out of my diet. :

[Nanethiel]

Originally Posted by eksmom

The mucus and blood are proof that something is irritating him. I just wonder if its equally as likely to be the drool as anything I'm eating.

I obviously can't tell you for sure, but with my son it's like this: he only has the tiny specs of blood and the mucous when I eat something he reacts to. I've been on the TED for 9 something months and he has gotten 6 teeth during that time. Yes, there's a sore bum, yes, there's some more frequent/liquid poop during those times from all the drool, but I have never seen blood and/or mucous because of it.

[kjbrown92]

You say there are no food allergies and then list all the family members with food allergies. Also ANY kind of allergy, whether environmental or food allergy in the parents predispose the child to it (maybe not predispose, but make the chance greater anyway). I have environmental allergies, as does my husband, we have 3 children: 1 with environmental, and 2 with environmental allergies AND food intolerances.
Corn is what gave DD her rash in the diaper area, and it was corn in ALL it's derivatives (iodized salt, vanilla extract, baking powder, etc.).
Would kids really get a diaper rash from large amounts of drool? That's almost like saying they're allergic to their own drool, isn't it?
I think all the nightshades are pretty allergenic. My DD can finally have white potatoes again after 18 months without them. She couldn't do any of the nightshades. I haven't tried tomatoes yet with her.

[eksmom]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

You say there are no food allergies and then list all the family members with food allergies.

I know. I've learned a lot, but I'm still feeling my way. I didn't know about the uncle w/ the peppers until tonight, and had forgotten about MIL. I was partly using this thread to think out loud, I guess. I don't have any IRL support for this other than DH.

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Would kids really get a diaper rash from large amounts of drool? That's almost like saying they're allergic to their own drool, isn't it?

The mechanism is apparently that the pH of saliva changes during teething, which can upset the digestive tract. Drool rash on the chin/face seems pretty common (DS has a touch of that too). DS's diaper rash is definitely tied to his urine, so my thought was that maybe the drool was acidifying his urine.

Well, at any rate, hopefully I'll know more in a few days. I bought my turkey, zucchini, pears, and rice products tonight and will start in the morning.

[kjbrown92]

My DD got eczema from corn at a "chafing" point on her thighs, but she was potty trained so it was confusing me. However, she got a rash all over her diaper area when she was still in diapers whenever she ate pears or apples (since then she tested severe for apples and mild for pears on ALCAT). It was a red little bump rash, not a regular diaper rash. And I thought it was from the acidic nature as well. But none of my kids had any diaper issues with drool when they were teething and all were drool factories.

When DH was diagnosed with allergy-induced asthma a few years ago, he told his mother, and she said "I'm not surprised. I had horrible asthma as a child." Did she ever tell him this? He just found out around then what his two grandmothers died of (both in their 40s - one of ovarian or cervical cancer, the other of breast cancer). Wouldn't it be handy to know all these hereditary diseases the family has? But his family doesn't talk about "things like that".