Help, ideas, wild conjecture for my 7 mo old spitter?

403 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by staceyshoe, Dec 18, 2008

txtarheel

Discussion Starter · Dec 3, 2008

I'm frustrated beyond belief with my 7 mo old. He spits up copiously after every feeding. Early in life it was projectile in nature several times a week. This is not a tablespoon here and there, often it's enough to soak through a toddler prefold. He doesn't seem bothered by it, it's the definition of a happy spitter, but I don't think it's normal.

He's had several abdominal u/s - all clear for pyloric stenosis, but it was noted he had severely delayed gastric emptying. He was on Reglan for that as well as Prevacid (he was in discomfort until we started the Prevacid). Until we started the Reglan, he was on the edge of dehydration regularly and not gaining well. Our family practice Dr. has been helpful, but doesn't know what else to do. His older brother has several IgE food allergies that are positive by SPT, but always negative by RAST, so I've been concerned about food issues from day 1.

I eat no dairy (and never have since #2 has been in existence) - I gave it up when we discovered DS#1's allergy and realized it affects me badly. Of the top 8 allergens, I do eat wheat, but I've given it up for 6 weeks twice and seen no effect. I also do not eat seeds (sesame, flax, hemp, or sunflower). We've seen what appear to be reactions to egg, sunflower and shellfish. We're defining "reactions" as more severe spitting. He's been tested by SPT, RAST and immunocap for allergies and they are all negative. I'd like to do ELISA, but I'm having trouble finding someone to do the blood draw.

I've been taking him to our chiro who has been awesome for both my and DS#1. He does many different types of therapy. He's told us that Casey's stomach is drawn up and trapped under his diaphragm and is doing work to correct it. Through this therapy, we've managed to wean him off the Reglan (Hallelujah!), but he's no longer improving and we haven't been able to budge on the Prevacid. He's got a ped GI appointment, but it's not until late February.

He's completely unvaxed and never had formula (but he was a c/s baby from a unsuccessful HBAC attempt). He's had rice twice (I made it from unfortified brown rice), mixed with water and he spit just the same as if it were my milk. I haven't seen a naturopath around here with him because the only one I ever see recommended in my tribe was terribly unuseful the two times I visited her for myself. I'm sure there's more that's relevant, but he's waking up now...

See less See more

Save

1 - 13 of 13 Posts

kjbrown92

· #2 · Dec 3, 2008

Have you tried going off soy, which is in a ton of foods? I've just been looking up studies and it ranges from 0-63% of kids with milk intolerance also have soy intolerance (both my kids have it along with other foods). It can be any food really. Have you tried going on an elimination diet or a TED? Have you kept a food journal? If it's with every meal then it's probably something you eat frequently. My DS was a projectiler as well (it was amusing a few times -- very few times -- when he went over my shoulder and DH, 5 feet away, had to jump to avoid being hit was one of them that stands out) during and after every meal. He was diagnosed as having reflux though all the reflux symptoms went away when I eliminated milk. But when he started directly ingesting soy, he was intolerant to that too. Just because things don't show up on an IgE test, doesn't mean he doesn't have intolerances. If you already have allergies in the family, it's likely that he has one or the other. You just have to determine the triggers. Many of us have been where you are...

See less See more

Save

txtarheel

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 3, 2008

I'm not eating any soy at all. It helped a bit. I can't do a TED. I'm a Type 1 diabetic and can't envision maintaining my blood sugar at all that way. I have tried/am doing a food journal and didn't get any good insights from it. I'm also guessing it's something I eat most days, so I've tried oat, wheat and coconut, none of which gave us any relief. I know the IgE test isn't the only one, it's just all we've managed to have done. Plus I was hopeful since my other son has IgE allergies. Sadly, no one, not even DH is on board with believing it's food related any more. Thanks for your thoughts!

Save

changingseasons

· #4 · Dec 3, 2008

A rotation diet (along with a food journal) might be more doable for you. Doing a rotation for a couple months really helped me pinpoint a few of DD's more subtle triggers. Because you're only eating a food every 4 days, it's easier to spot symptom changes.

I also wanted to mention that we found a local children's hospital that was great for our ELISA blooddraw, so you might want to check those if you have one in your area.

Save

kjbrown92

· #5 · Dec 3, 2008

My two food intolerant kids had ALCAT tests done, but it was out of pocket, as our insurance wouldn't pay for it.

Did you eliminate everything at once, or one food at a time? Because if it was one food at a time, and it's more than one food, then you might not see improvement. I'm not advising it, but with a modified elimination diet, you could manage the diabetes too (for instance if you took out the 5-10 most likely foods, which still leaves a lot of foods) and eat a lot. It would handily be a low glycemic diet as well. But if you were to do it, I'd do it under a doctor's supervision.

Do you take any supplements on a daily basis?

Save

txtarheel

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 4, 2008

I've been off of everything at once before. We just seem stuck at this baseline level. CS is probably right and I should do a rotation diet. I should be able to do that. The hard part is rotating sugars to treat lows. I can use a number of different things, so I'll have to work that out as well. My fear is that it is a grain problem and that's what I'm most concerned about eliminating as far as blood sugar goes. Really low glycemic doesn't work well for me. I need a fair amount of starch to keep functioning.

I do take supplements. I have taken all of them out as well and seen no improvement and added them back one at a time and noticed no change. I know it's hard if not impossible to quantify "change" when he's not at baseline, but with soy, egg and shrimp, the reaction was quite obvious.

Currently I'm taking,
Twin labs allergy D3
Natural Calm (unflavored, magnesium only) - really important for my diabetes
EPO - helps with hormones, since taking fish, shellfish and nuts out this has been a lifesaver
Probiotic - I've alternated through several dairy and soy-free ones
Kombucha - I started it as an alternative probiotic source and had been on it a month before I read all the negatives while BFing. However, I never noticed any change in either of us when I started on it except that I felt better. I decided to keep going with it since the biggest negative I could find was that it mobilized mercury and my mercury fillings have been gone for years.
I also try to eat Bubbie's saurkraut daily - 1/2 cup to a cup. I do well for a while, then I get tired of it. I want to make my own fermented veggies, but the last two times I've bought cabbage it just rots, there aren't enough hours for me to make one more food at this point.

See less See more

Save

WuWei

· #7 · Dec 4, 2008

Tomatoes, corn, soy, wheat, berries, cinnamon, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, lemons, limes, citrus... gosh, we had to eliminate a bunch of stuff. The spitting up continued until we eliminated all of them. It was amazing! When I didn't eat those foods, ds never had to be burped, never was gassy or crying after nursing, never spit up. No more mucousy green poop, no more red anus. After we eliminated wheat, the night wakening diminished significantly.

Pat

Save

WuWei

· #8 · Dec 4, 2008

Protein was primary for us. I ate a lot of eggs, a lot of salmon. Morning, noon and night.

Recently, I've found that green juicing first thing in the morning feels so nourishing that the protein hasn't been as necessary to start the day. Plus, I sip on the green juice all morning. A smoothie with coconut oil and (soaked) almonds in it, help too! (Although, I'd avoid nuts until closer to age 2.)

Pat

Save

kjbrown92

· #9 · Dec 4, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by txtarheel

Taking out all the gluten grains still leaves you with buckwheat, sorghum, millet, rice (unless his direct reaction to rice is telling you something), tapioca for starches. Corn is a big one. Have you tried eliminating that one? Though that seems to be a big one for eczema, not sure about the vomiting component. You can also do gluten-free oats and quinoa (we can't do those so I forget about them).

Quote:

I also try to eat Bubbie's saurkraut daily - 1/2 cup to a cup. I do well for a while, then I get tired of it. I want to make my own fermented veggies, but the last two times I've bought cabbage it just rots, there aren't enough hours for me to make one more food at this point.

It doesn't really take much time. DH cuts it up (5 minutes), sticks it in a bowl with salt, puts a bunch of plates on it to weigh it down, covers it with a towel. Then I mix it up once a day when I have 3 minutes, and put the plates and towel back on. And the amount of saurkraut it makes lasts a couple weeks. Believe me, I can't get out of the kitchen sometimes with all the food I'm making.

After we went on the rotation, the few remaining foods jumped out too, but my kids weren't BFing at the time. For DS, his vomiting was for 4 days after I ingested the food (24 hours after, then the following 3 days) so a rotation would be hard because by the time you stopped reacting from day 1, day 1 would be there again.

See less See more

Save

txtarheel

Discussion Starter · #10 · Dec 16, 2008

So we took a bit of time off of figuring it all out as we were all sick with a nasty cold going around. My gut healing work must be paying off a bit and boosting my immune system though because I was hit the least hard and had the shortest duration in the family. And I've always been the most sick around here.

But, we've managed to get Casey completely off the meds! It's been about 10 days since he's had anything. He's still spitting after nursing every time, but the volume is usually very small. He had a couple of minor projectile events yesterday, but seemed to correlate to me having a bun with sesame seeds the day before. He's had no nasty green, mucousy poops in a couple of weeks. He's eaten rice again and plain acorn squash with no more spitting than after nursing.

I'm taking him weekly to the chiro who says his stomach is way better and getting closer to staying as it should. My current theory is that his problem has been generally structural in nature and is just exacerbated by foods. I haven't changed my diet since my original post, but I have been journaling. I'm not sure how far to keep pursuing the food angle, but I'm not going to be adding stuff back yet. It is exciting to be able to offer him more solids though!

See less See more

Save

kjbrown92

· #11 · Dec 16, 2008

Glad to hear you're both doing better!

Save

tanyalynn

· #12 · Dec 17, 2008

Congratulations!!

Save

staceyshoe

· #13 · Dec 18, 2008

My experience has a few similarities so thought I would share. My ds1 had delayed stomach emptying which caused severe GERD (this is a very common cause for GERD actually). We tried probiotics (food and supplements), herbs, chiropractic, dietary changes, and I don't even remember what else. Finally I did a TON of research on digestive enzymes and emailed several mamas here who started their little ones on enzymes. (I searched and read every related thread I could find and then emailed the posters.) Enzymes improve digestion and speed stomach emptying. With enzymes and the continued elimination of dairy, we have been able to wean ds off Rx meds. He is eating and sleeping better than ever in his life. It's truly been like a miracle for him.

Save

1 - 13 of 13 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month