Breastfeeding mama's on elimination diets thread

I'm with you guys in spririt!! might do a TED again if ds can ever tolerate breastmilk again.....

i'm avoiding dairy, tomatoes (and related plant products - peppers, eggplant), and added sugar (trying to beat the yeasties) - not a complete sugar elimination. I only rarely eat bread. I'm eating oatmeal, but only after soaking it for 24 hours in water+lemon juice.

I recently took the lactulose/mannitol test for leaky gut/malabsorption and learned that I have leaky gut. So.... I'm now supplementing with IntestiNew and MSM, in addition to probiotics.

Ds only gets probiotics as a supplement and is also dairy-free.

I am a very intuition-based eater. I get certain cravings (the last one was for coconut anything) that indicate to me something about my body physiology. I guess the coconut craving was a sign of infection.

I'm losing weight even though I had no intention of losing weight when I started this new way of eating. I've become fanatical about what goes into my mouth.

The biggest problem is daycare - I don't have 100% control over ds' menu there, so he may be getting stuff that I wouldn't normally give him (the note on the menu about "steamed veggies" just is not informative).

babygrant: did you post a note on curezone about LGS and breastfeeding?

super treat i discovered over the weekend....

1 avocado
1 banana
3-4 Tbsps coconut milk
2-3 Tbsps mango (or mango juice)
optional 1 tsp honey (or some other non-sugar sweetener like agave nectar)

blend

chill in freezer (but not too long or it turns into a brick)

enjoy, and revel in the fatty dessert!

in my first attempt, i didn't have avocado, just some frozen mango (that initially came from a can). it worked nicely as well but i think the avocado adds extra good stuff.

----

and my variation of mac and cheese (not good for those on wheat-free or gluten free, sorry)

cooked pasta (i had a box of aunt annie's but we can't use the cheese packet)
1-2 Tbsps of coconut milk
1 mashed avocado

mix together.

enjoy.

Hi - I'll join. I've been on an elimination diet since January.

All the things I'm avoiding:

1) dairy
2) eggs
3) tree nuts
4) peanuts
5) shellfish
6) citrus
7) chocolate
8) wheat
9) soy
10) tomatoes
11) peppers

Are there any other major allergens I'm missing? I still have the occasional piece of fish - haven't noticed any reaction in dd (who is 7 months, exclusively breastfed and has been battling eczema since 3 months).

It's hard - dd's face gets better, then gets worse again - and I can't seem to link it to anything I'm eating (my diet is pretty restricted at the moment).

I've read the 'healing the gut' stuff, but it doesn't ring any bells for me. My health is great (my own allergies and eczema haven't bothered me in years) and neither dd or I have had any kind of OTC medication or antibiotics and dd is completely unvaxed - so I'm not sure where all the bad beasties would be coming from (or why they wouldn't be causing any symptoms in me).

Still - I'm getting desperate, and I'm considering trying some of the recommendations over there, although I just get scared at the idea of adding milk/yoghurt, eggs and nuts into my diet if I have an atopic child, you know?

Anyway - I hope you all will keep posting - I just saw this, but I could defintiely use the support.

I'm losing weight as well, and I really don't need to (I'm 5'2" and 110 lbs at the moment)...(sigh)

We finally made it to an ND today to get some help! It looks like dd and I both have digestion problems and we're looking at the root of the allergies and working through it finally. We're now adding eggs to our elimination, he thinks that eggs might be the main food we need to avoid before we can start adding our other foods back in. We're trying that along with a few homeopathic remedies and some herbs and enzymes for me. I'm feeling hopeful but I wish I could just fast foward get us all fixed up and eat some ice cream! Okay I'd be satisfied with a yogurt at this point or even a sprinkle of parmesan!

Bluets- We did an extensive 1st appointment with lots of questions. He asked about her physical manifiestions of allergies (hives, etc.), and very specific questions about her behavior, sleep, attitude, temperature, etc. I had an extensive food diary/reaction sheet that describes every reaction since November. Most of her reactions are behavior (aggressive, dangerous, out of control, yelling, pulling 3 year old off chairs by their hair, etc.) but some are hives and rashes. We did an extensive family history. She is burdened with genes from food allergic, intollerant, and celaic parents/grandparents so this has a lot to do with what we're seeing. The ND thought that eggs were the root of her problems partly because I had an egg allergy growing up, my mom is severely allergic, and dd's problems did increase when we added eggs to my diet first and then hers (only after a negative skin prick test). Hopefully that will work! He looked into our eyes to look for something (can't remember the word) that would indicate a leaky gut. He looked at hers and they were okay and then at mine which were terrible. :
It took us an hour and a half. It was supposed to be an hour but dd decided to fake me out about the potty about 11 times, needed a drink of water from the fountain, needed better toys, ran out the door, etc. enough times to cost me the extra half hour ($225 for 90 minutes, yikes). We're going to take the remedies he suggested and go back in 3 weeks. It looks like I should see him for myself but I can only do one thing at a time, YK? We may do food intollerance testing/bloodwork in a few weeks if eggs aren't the answer.
He's hopeful that removing the root problem will allow us both to eat a lot more and maybe only need to worry about a few ingredients instead of our crazy long list.

I hope this helps. I'd be happy to report back in a few weeks! I really needed outside help because I didn't know if what we were doing was right, where the problem really is, if we were ever going to go out to eat again....We didn't talk much about breastfeeding an almost 2 year old and the effects it had on my life, it seemed like it was a given that she is still nursing and that I'd be willing to make these compromises.....

I'm in the UK, so I'm not sure what is available over here. If there was a test for leaky gut, I'd be willing to take it - I'll have to look into that.

I do supplement myself with probiotics, as well as cod liver oil and evening primrose oil (I also take a mineral supplement - mostly for the calcium, since I'm off dairy, although I do eat lots of green leafy veggies, so I'm probably OK).

I've ordered some baby probiotics for dd, and I'm hoping those will arrive soon (I got an e-mail 2 days ago saying they'd been shipped, so maybe today or tomorrow).

We shall see. My mom says I was just like this as a baby (only my eczema was worse) - and all of my problems cleared up when she stopped breastfeeding me and switched me to soy formula (although I remained extremely allergic to dairy products until I was 2 years old, when it seems I outgrew the allergy). Amazing the pressure you get to switch to formula when this happens (although that makes no sense to me - take an ATOPIC baby and give her formula? Not going to happen!).

Ymoja your doing better than I did. I only lasted about 6 hours on the Dr Sears Elimination diet. It's tough hey? My son has eczema as well.....one thing I feel very guilty about is that I thought he was just squirmy....but when he wriggles like a little worm when he's on his back, I think he's trying to scratch his eczema You can do it mama!

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My mom is also pressuring me to give my Dd soy formula. I do have to admit, at times it is tempting. Give her the formula, and her skin will clear up and she'll be out of this misery. It's so unfair to her that she's the guinea pig while I'm trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with her. Not only does she clear up, but I get to eat again! As tempting as it sounds, my heart tells me this is the wrong thing to do.

bluets, no, I don't believe I have a leaky gut. I haven't really looked into it, but I suspect the root of our problem is that Dd was hospitalized and on antibiotics at just 10 days old and therefore her intestinal flora are imbalanced. I'm waiting on the book, The Vicious Cycle to arrive, and I will most likely switch from the elim diet to the SCD.

I do know that she has a systemic yeast infection. I just keep reading so much conflicting advice. "Use probiotics" "Don't use probiotics" "Use only THIS type of probiotic" "Use grapefruit seed extract" "Don't use grapefruit seed extract" My head is spinning with all of the advice I've read and I just feel helpless.

babygrant: i'd stay away from both dairy and soy for a little longer. i would suggest using 24-hour cultured kefir or yogurt if you decide to reintroduce dairy. use a good milk source - raw is better but we can't get raw here so i personally will likely use a good organic source. soy in general is hard to digest unless it has been fermented (miso, tempeh, soy sauce). soy is also another huge allergen. i don't understand why it is recommended as a substitute.

and you can make ice cream at home just by doing fruit smoothies, using coconut milk (or rice milk) and then freezing things. yummier and no additives. avocados should become your friends.

ymoja: you might try reading the Healing your gut threads and should probably consider the SCD diet. the SCD diet uses nuts and nut flours, and i think unless you (and your dp) have a family history of serious anaphylactic nut allergies, you should probably be ok with that as a substitute. while they don't have bread recipes, they do have muffin recipes using nut flours. i would definitely add coconut oil to your diet - i use it exclusively for cooking. i also use it occasionally on ds' skin.

birthjunkie: run away from internal use of grapefruit seed extract. i've seen several scientific studies now claiming contamination with synthetic microbiocides that are endocrine disruptors. grapefruit seeds themselves DO have microbiocide activity, but you would need to take 5-6 seeds (crunch them up in your mouth, swallow) every 8 hours for 2 weeks. one study used that regimen to successfully eliminate a urinary tract infection. besides, GSE will also kill the probiotics that you're also supplementing.

from what i've read about the SCD, it sounds promising but i don't think it would work practically for us because of daycare issues and a stubborn picky eater of a dh i have! we are for now stable with (a) dairy elimination, (b) seriously reduced tomato/pepper/eggplant exposure, (c) reduction in wheat (ds gets 95% of it at daycare now), (d) heavy use of coconut oil, coconut milk, (e) supplementation in me with glutamine and other gut healing supplements. ds has a few sandpapery patches that are hard to see but not so hard to feel and i think it is clearing up as my gut is improving.