bloody stool

923 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by crystalsun, Apr 6, 2006

crystalsun

Discussion Starter · Apr 1, 2006

my 8 mo almost exclusivly bf dd pooped blood! the first time was about a month ago, she had a bloody stool one day then normal poo for the next two days then another bloody poo on the 4th day. we had the sample sent to the lab, which led nowhere. the ped said maybe food allergy (i am vegan) to soy in my breastmilk. i cut out soy (mostly, i wasn't totally strict about it, i still occasionally ate soy butter or lecithin... does that make a differenceif its not 100% out?) for the past 3 weeks adn had no more blood in the poo! yay! but then last week i added soy back in a little for a few days and she seemed to poop more frequently (3ish times a day instead of 1-2) but still no blood. i havent eaten soy for at least 4 days and today she had a little mucousy blood in the poop. the ped says probably reacting to soy again, it just took a while to show up... any thoughts? its kinda scarry. but dd seems to feel just fine, no fever, no fussyness, just happy and palyful regular self.

also, im wondering why after eating soy throughout pregnancy and 7 months during breastfeeding dd would develop a reaction now, and not in the beginning?

also, we have just barely started introducing food - applesauce, bannanas, avo, but she seens fine with all of that...

if anyone knows of any helpful, informative links online, i would love to read about it. thanks

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Lucy VanPelt

· #2 · Apr 1, 2006

My kids and friend and her baby are all allergic to soy. Soy lecithin does not cause reactions. It's so processed, I don't even know why it's considered food. So, I doubt it's the lecithin you need to worry about it. They all can handle soybean oil pretty easily, too. Of course, every person is different.

I'm thinking your child may be allergic to soy (what other forms have you eaten?) and may be allergic to something else, too. Reactions do sometimes take a while to show up.

I have no links, sorry. It's possible she has been reacting all along, you just didn't know the signs. After all, blood in the stool is a pretty far-along reaction.

I would look up allergy info and see if you eat a lot of any other common allergens, if I were you.

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Electra375

· #3 · Apr 3, 2006

At least your doc was willing to say likely an allergy, b/c that is the first thing that should come to mind with bloody stool in an infant. It could also be an intolerance, either way it is causing your baby's intestines to be damaged.

As for the soy, intolerances do take some time to show in the digestive track from time of consumption. So a day or two lag time would not be uncommon.

It is possible that she was sensitized to the soy from exposure inutero and now through bfing -- that was a theory I heard once from a mother of a peanut allergy kid. Don't know how much science is behind that or just some weird thinking.

I would be vigalent about being Soy Free for at least 1 mo, it likely will take about 2 wks to work all the soy proteins out of your system. I know that limits your diet quite a bit, but 1 mo is worth it to find out if it is the soy or something else.

It could also be the type of soy, meaning fermented soy is okay, but soy milk is not. I'm working from the theory that fermented foods begin to break down the proteins and in individuals with "intolerances" they seem to be able to tolerate them better.

My theory would be elimiate soy for 1mo. If no blood in stool, you likely have your culprit. Then add back 1 type of soy for 2 days and then wait 3 days to see if a reaction occurs (I'm guessing here on the days, there is an elimination diet formula to follow).

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crystalsun

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 3, 2006

thank you!
yeah, im def not eating soy for a while to try to figure it out...
one thing my ped said was that i could try eating soy with a digestive enzime and see if that helped... but what im wondering is: if soy is a problem for dd, then is taking an enzime pill actually helping the problem, or just relieving symptoms? i think it best just to cut it out. although i do love miso, tofu, and especially soy sauce!

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Electra375

· #5 · Apr 3, 2006

Look at your bottle of soy sauce, does it have soy in it? Many are made from Wheat!
Yeah, I didn't know it until we had to go Gluten free, all but 2 soy sauce brands are made from wheat and only 1 taste good.
After the wheat ingredient I stop reading, so I'm not sure; but it may actually be okay for you.

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Lucy VanPelt

· #6 · Apr 4, 2006

The enzyme pill may work to help you digest the soy better, but that's no guarantee that it won't still get into your milk. When it comes to allergies, even a small bit can be damaging.

I think you're right to doubt the purpose of the enzyme. I've found going soy-free to be much easier than I thought it would be.

Can your ped refer you to an allergist to get your baby tested? I got my 2yo allergy tested some months ago b/c she had a dairy allergy (I knew she did, but it's just "speculation" until you get it formalized, you know?), and it turned out she's allergic to so many things in addition to the dairy! I think in your case a test is called-for.

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crystalsun

Discussion Starter · #7 · Apr 6, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucy VanPelt
It's possible she has been reacting all along, you just didn't know the signs. After all, blood in the stool is a pretty far-along reaction.

im wondering what some earlier reactions are that i could have been missing? dd has had raised bumpy dry skin patches, i wonder if that is related? they kinda seem to come and go, and i didnt totally correlate it wht the soy, but now that im thinking about it, it seems very likely that the bumps would take at least a few days to show up after i eat soy, so it probably is the soy too, right?

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