[AquariusHome]

Since begining daycare DD (22 months) has decided she will only drink breastmilk at school. She pretty much goes all day without eating or drinking anything else. But she loves her Mama milk. The problem is, I only pump about 4 oz so that's what I send. Not really enough to sustain her all day.

So, I'm trying to brainstorm other options. Someone here recommended this Toddler Rice formula . Has anyone tried it? I'm wondering if the taste is decent. I wish it were higher in protein and fat but at least it has some. But I'm not sure about the ingredient list - it has "lecithen" but doesn't specify the source, although it also claims to be soy free. It also has Xanthan gum which I have suspected but don't know for sure to be a problem. Anyone have more info on this product?

We can't do any other milk - she reacts to them all.

She will drink small quantities of bone broth but only a few onces.

She will drink a few onces of a coconut milk smoothie also, but sometimes refuses this as well.

Milk is the only thing she consistently wants.

We have this problem to a lesser extent at home too. She just doesn't eat much at all. And she's only 20 lbs at nearly 2 years.

And she's been about 20 lbs all summer.

 

[mamafish9]

Have you seen Turtle Mountain's new coconut milk? It's totally yumm, and full of awesome medium chain fats. Not much protein, but you could always work on that at other times of the day.

Always wanting milk/to nurse sounds like there's still maybe some foods she reacts to in her diet? That's definitely a food reaction for my DS. What do you know that she reacts to?

 

[AquariusHome]

Yup! I was so excited when DH brought home the Coconut milk drink last week. But DD reacted to it.

So that's out. She also reacts to hemp milk, almond milk, rice milk (all of these rxs are only obvious with direct consumption - not so much through BM or in baked goods). In addition she reacts to all derivatives of dairy (including miniscule amts of lactose in medications), all derivatives of soy, and I think magnesium stearate because she has never been able to tolerate me taking supplements. But I just ordered a bunch of new mag stearate free supplements and then found out her thyroid med (the new one we switched to after figuring out the old one had lactose and was making her constantly react) has mag stearate in it. So maybe she is have a low level reaction all the time.

But actually she doesn't nurse all the time one the days I'm home with her. She nurses about 6-8 times in a 24 hr period. But at school she doesn't want to eat and she gets hungry so she wants milk, and only milk.

 

[elanorh]

I just read Child of Mine, by Ellyn Satter, this summer. She's an RD who specializes in childhood nutrition and in disordered eating issues.

I wish I'd read it when Ina was an underweight toddler with severe allergies. She's got some very good and practical advice in terms of weight gain, weight curves, etc. I might have worried less about Ina's weight, if I'd read the book sooner. And - if I'd read it sooner, I think SJ would be more adventurous about eating varied foods (also has had multiple allergies).

I do wish she said more about how to vary dietary offerings with a kiddo who's got multiple allergies (she only touches on it briefly). But I think there's information which would be helpful with a child with food allergies, anyway. Just adjust per family situation! Do put it on your reading list ... I sure wish I'd read it sooner. She doesn't really write from an AP perspective necessarily but the information she gives doesn't rely on parenting philosophy really anyway.

Ina (and SJ) both reacted to dairy and soy as well - although they could tolerate rice milk.

I do wonder whether you've found all the allergens -- Ina plateaued in her weight gain when I added eggs back into my diet -- didn't have an overt reaction that we recognized ourselves during that time, but when we did her official egg introduction, we learned quickly that she was allergic to them still!

 

[kjbrown92]

Call the company to find out the lecithin source. Some companies may say it's soy free because there's no soy PROTEIN in it, and lecithin, I think, doesn't have the protein in it (which is why it's safe for some soy allergies) but it still may have parts of soy in it (my kids react to lecithin too).

Another question is why will she eat at home but not eat at daycare? If you can get her to eat more, maybe the drink will matter less while she's at school. What kind of pump do you have? If you don't have a super good one, could you rent one or borrow one from someone and maybe pump more?

 

[AquariusHome]

elanorh - thanks for the book suggestion. I definitely will put it on my list.

Kathy - I suspect it is stress at school causing her not to eat, combined with the fact that she has recently learned how to climb on to the table in record time and has several times gotten ahold of food she shouldn't have from the boys plates. So she's been reacting a lot more in the last month than she had been and probably doesn't have much of an appetite. I use a Medela Pump-In-Style so the only thing better would be a hospital grade which wouldn't work for me as I pump in the car. A hospital grade pump is too bulky. But I guess I could add in a pump session at bedtime to try to get more milk.

The company confirmed that it is soy lecithin so that's out.

Can anyone give me a theory as to why DD reacts to every alternative milk in the world, regardless of what the ingredients are? I can't be sure, but I think she's reacting to the coconut milk beverage in the pancakes I made yesterday which is new - with other milks she has been okay with baked goods.

 

[kjbrown92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaurieG Can anyone give me a theory as to why DD reacts to every alternative milk in the world, regardless of what the ingredients are? I can't be sure, but I think she's reacting to the coconut milk beverage in the pancakes I made yesterday which is new - with other milks she has been okay with baked goods.

Do they all have carageenan in them? My DD2 reacts to it, and it's in many of the alternatives....

 

[mamafish9]

I'm guessing maybe all the alternative milks share a common ingredient - likely corn? (There may be several different ingredients in the milk that could be corn derived, including the vitamins they enrich them with). Someone with trace corn intolerance could give you a more complete list, but I remember back when I was trying to eliminate trace corn, it was really tough to find an alternative milk without corn derived ingredients.

The other idea would be to try some digestive enzymes, kefir, and zinc supplementation, all to support her digestion - for my DS, those have been extremely helpful at reducing his reactions to a wide range of foods - in our case, he reacted to most complex starches and sugars for a while. Kefir and zinc have addressed digestion in a long term way, digestive enzymes were helpful while we were working on those.

 

[AquariusHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamafish9 I'm guessing maybe all the alternative milks share a common ingredient - likely corn? (There may be several different ingredients in the milk that could be corn derived, including the vitamins they enrich them with). Someone with trace corn intolerance could give you a more complete list, but I remember back when I was trying to eliminate trace corn, it was really tough to find an alternative milk without corn derived ingredients. The other idea would be to try some digestive enzymes, kefir, and zinc supplementation, all to support her digestion - for my DS, those have been extremely helpful at reducing his reactions to a wide range of foods - in our case, he reacted to most complex starches and sugars for a while. Kefir and zinc have addressed digestion in a long term way, digestive enzymes were helpful while we were working on those.

The alternative milks that we've tried don't share a common LISTED ingredient - some have carageenan, some have guar gum, some have xanthan gum, some have 2 of the 3, I think one had none of the above if I remember correctly. I've considered the corn issue, but she doesn't seem to react to other things that would likely have corn in them including corn itself, corn chips, etc. Anyhow, I'll play around with that idea some more and see if it leads to anything.

We do digestive enzymes and probiotics daily (although we had run out for a few weeks and just restarted). I started her on a zinc supplement 2 days ago (her level was normal but not ideal according to the ND). Interestingly, she was ravenous all day yesterday. She had 3 servings of everything at dinner which is completely unheard of. I don't know if it's the zinc or just weeks of not eating catching up with her. Can zinc work that quickly?

 

[mamafish9]

I don't think zinc would work that quickly, but digestive enzymes could. If she's had a lot of food reactions and expects her belly to hurt when she eats anything but milk, then it might have been a nice treat to eat and not have that happen

. When you eat with low stomach acid, it often makes for immediately uncomfortable feelings, and I think kids notice that.

For the milks, they all have sugar, I'm guessing (or some form of sweetener). When DS' stomach acid was at it's lowest, he had problems digesting sugar, it all made his belly hurt, and then again about 2 hours after he ate it he was very unhappy.

 

[AquariusHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamafish9 I don't think zinc would work that quickly, but digestive enzymes could. If she's had a lot of food reactions and expects her belly to hurt when she eats anything but milk, then it might have been a nice treat to eat and not have that happen . When you eat with low stomach acid, it often makes for immediately uncomfortable feelings, and I think kids notice that. For the milks, they all have sugar, I'm guessing (or some form of sweetener). When DS' stomach acid was at it's lowest, he had problems digesting sugar, it all made his belly hurt, and then again about 2 hours after he ate it he was very unhappy.

hmm.. She was really refluxy yesterday ans=d wanted to nurse constantly, has been walking around with her hand in her mouth so it wasn't like yesterday was a good day in terms of rxs overall but maybe the dig enzymes are making a difference. Before we ran out she was definitely more stable/ less reactive.

Your post also gives me some insight into my other post about my 6 yr olds tummy aches. http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1132841 Maybe its not a particular food or ingredient but just low stomach acid.

Thanks!

 

[mamafish9]

Yup, I'd try supping everyone on zinc - cheap, easy, and can have really good effects. In the meantime, try including fermented foods (kefir, bubbies pickles) with meals, or vitamin C, or lemon juice - all of these can help stimulate stomach acid and help digest that particular meal.

 

[AquariusHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamafish9 Yup, I'd try supping everyone on zinc - cheap, easy, and can have really good effects. In the meantime, try including fermented foods (kefir, bubbies pickles) with meals, or vitamin C, or lemon juice - all of these can help stimulate stomach acid and help digest that particular meal.

Is zinc beneficial in gut healing? I didn't realize that. I thought its role was mostly in stimulating a healthy appetite.

I've been looking in to water kefir and I think that is my next step to tackle. Is there a water kefir tutorial around here that will walk me through it? (I want to avoid a repeat of my kombucha disaster when I drank a whole huge bottle at once on my first day and had major die off symptoms for days).

 

[mamafish9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaurieG Is zinc beneficial in gut healing? I didn't realize that. I thought its role was mostly in stimulating a healthy appetite. I've been looking in to water kefir and I think that is my next step to tackle. Is there a water kefir tutorial around here that will walk me through it? (I want to avoid a repeat of my kombucha disaster when I drank a whole huge bottle at once on my first day and had major die off symptoms for days).

Pat is a walking kefir tutorial, you might pop in on chat and ask her, she's sure to have good links.

Zinc stimulates stomach acid, which helps digest food better in the stomach (proteins), and better stomach acid stimulates more bile, which digests everything else. Which means your intestines are getting better digested food moving through them - huge for gut healing, and huge for absorbing nutrients better, which indirectly helps with gut healing.