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Is this a food allergy? WDYT?

949 views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  bobcat 
#1 ·
My baby is 7 weeks old and having a few issues I'm not sure about... Though my gut is telling me it's an issue with wheat and dairy.

I'm diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditus so backstory is I'm probably Celiac (Kaisers test said negative) and most definitely gluten intolerant though it's my own self diagnosis. I have all the symptoms and they come on immediately after I eat gluten. Especially if it's a LOT of gluten.

During this pregnancy with my second daughter, I ate a lot of cheese, yogurt, milk and butter. I had lots of acid reflux and was nauseated by food the entire pregnancy. I even got a few patches of eczema and was diagnosed with a yeast infection and BV which I think ultimately caused me to deliver early at 35 weeks.

I'm eating the same now though the yogurt is homemade instead of Fage.
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I also drink half-caff coffee, though only two cups or less with lots of half and half. It's probably my favorite thing in the world right now. Not even joking!

DD2 is FUSSY at least once a day, pretty normal right? She has congestion and wheezes, gulps loudly, and spits up after every feeding. She's got breath that smells like barf and her spit up is like liquidy cottage cheese. She strains and grunts before she poops. She has cradle cap starting in her eyebrows and lots of baby acne that might even be a rash? Not sure.

She has some days where the fuss isn't bad at all (like last night) then tonight-- holy crap she's miserable!

Last night I ate very little gluten, dairy, corn, soy. Tonight? I had ALOT. I had crappy Chinese food and homemade whole wheat bread. Overall, I'm eating the same amount of dairy so I can't tell but did notice one of her fussiest evenings to date was when I had a lot more yogurt then I normally do.

I was really trying to avoid an elimination diet. I know my first daughter was VERY fussy and it was hell until she was 4-5 months. I am worrying this one will be the same and wonder of course, if it's my diet.

What do you think?
 
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#2 ·
I'm not really sure---what I do know is that I drove myself crazy with my firstborn, trying different elimination diets and such, and the bottom line is that he was just a fussy baby, with similar symptoms to yours.Sometimes things seemed to make a difference, other times, not, and it all got very blurry, and then suddenly he was older, and all of these things were not issues any longer!!

One thing I think in retrospect, is that the fussy one in my house, probably had what they now call GERD. I'm not sure if I would have medicated him or not, but it would have been helpful to know what it was at the time.
 
#4 ·
Two things - possible allergic reaction and/or she is reacting to your breastmilk because you are eating stuff not good for you. I can't remember exactly how it was explained to me, but basically if you are eating gluten and you are gluten intolerant you will have a leaky gut and things are not getting digested properly so larger particles are getting through into the breastmilk. One of the older members here would say your baby is your canary and is warning you about what is going on in your own body. Have you tried the allergy forum's here?
 
#5 ·
The gulps loudly and spit up are indicative of reflux, and yeah, reflux makes for grumpy babies. While reflux can occur in a food allergic child, more often it's not. My two youngest had silent reflux, where their only symptoms were the congestion and the gulping, and it was triggered by things I ate, specifically chocolate.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauren View Post

I'm not really sure---what I do know is that I drove myself crazy with my firstborn, trying different elimination diets and such, and the bottom line is that he was just a fussy baby, with similar symptoms to yours.Sometimes things seemed to make a difference, other times, not, and it all got very blurry, and then suddenly he was older, and all of these things were not issues any longer!!

One thing I think in retrospect, is that the fussy one in my house, probably had what they now call GERD. I'm not sure if I would have medicated him or not, but it would have been helpful to know what it was at the time.
100% agree and yeah-- do I really want to suffer needlessly? Tonight I still ate gluten but a homemade bread and I cut way down on dairy. Tomorrow I hope to eat neither as I really shouldn't be anyway and figure if it cuts fussy time to less-- great. If not I'll feel better. We will see if I can keep it up. I may have leaky gut because I feel like crap RIGHT after eating gluten and my DH doesn't understand how that's even possible. Well if my gut is leaking then it sure makes sense.

She was really fussy again tonight. I ate bread for dinner. It's homemade no-knead breat which supposedly has less gluten but still.
Quote:
Thank you! Being an avid fan of kellymom I've read every page. No joke! I dearly miss the forums there as well. The page on reflux doesn't make me feel like I should eliminate anything but dairy so I'm going to heed that advice.
 
#7 ·
If it is of any help, the fussy child in my home (who is now 18 but my memory is very clear for his early days!!! that is how difficult they were) went on to be a very fussy eater his whole life, became sensitive to hunger in a way I've never seen with my other children---for example, as a toddler/young child if he had low blood sugar because he hadn't eaten in awhile, he would get seriously irritable and grumpy, often having tantrums for no good reason.I would hand him a glass of soymilk, or something else he would eat that had protein in it, and his mood and composure would change immediately. Even yesterday, at age 18, this happened, until he ate and mood changed completely.

I'm not sure how or whether this applies to other babies that started out fussy and later became fussy in other ways with regard to food. I guess what I am saying is that there is something to it, even though it is not a very well understood something, with certain children.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauren View Post

If it is of any help, the fussy child in my home (who is now 18 but my memory is very clear for his early days!!! that is how difficult they were) went on to be a very fussy eater his whole life, became sensitive to hunger in a way I've never seen with my other children---for example, as a toddler/young child if he had low blood sugar because he hadn't eaten in awhile, he would get seriously irritable and grumpy, often having tantrums for no good reason.I would hand him a glass of soymilk, or something else he would eat that had protein in it, and his mood and composure would change immediately. Even yesterday, at age 18, this happened, until he ate and mood changed completely.

I'm not sure how or whether this applies to other babies that started out fussy and later became fussy in other ways with regard to food. I guess what I am saying is that there is something to it, even though it is not a very well understood something, with certain children.
Wow. You just described my first born. I'm afraid that I am the same in some ways ave so is my DH. He thinks it's just genetics and I need to stop worrying. Maybe he's right.
 
#9 ·
I am in a very similar boat.

I also feel like crap RIGHT after dairy or gluten. Logically, I don't understand how that is even possible. No way it's been digested yet!!!! I think my body is just rejecting them, causing an immune reaction immediately, as if I breathed in dust. I have family members who get mucus after consuming dairy, so that makes sense.....right? The dust analogy? It's my own logic.

It is overwhelming to eliminate both of those, because I am starving from nursing. So I think I am going to start with cow's milk, and eat goat cheese. I don't eat yogurt anyways, not a fan, and I already use Almond Milk in my coffee. The only hard things will be cheese (pizza! cheese and crackers!) and milk chocolate. But you can get Enjoy Life brand chocolate from iherb.com, and goat cheese anywhere. So I gotta start.

I have heard that BABIES (vs you and I) are more likely to react to the cow's milk vs wheat. So I am using that info, to choose which to do "hardcore" first. I know "I" don't do well with wheat, but I have no proof it affects my baby. So hopefully it's just dairy. This thing about leaky gut.....yeah, maybe.....but I know the cow protein can affect him more directly, so I should do that first.

If I really wanted to eliminate everything that bothered me.......wow, that might include giving up coffee. Because lately I notice it makes me feel zoned out. :(

Also, I tested negative for celiac, but I do react to wheat. It is possible to not have the specific autoimmune response of a celiac individual, where your GI destroys itself, but still react negatively to wheat.
 
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