[waywornwanderer]

<p>Hi All,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm still at a place of suspecting my daughter is struggling through food sensitivities/allergies via my breastmilk. Her symptoms are: extreme restlessness and gassiness at night (will fidget/toss/turn all night long trying to wiggle her gas out), occasional night reflux, fussiness, puffy eyes with dark circles under them, mucousy stools, and (most recently- after we switched her diapers to NATY diapers which are made exclusively with non GMO corn- a few weeks ago) severe eczema on her legs/torso. She was tested just for four allergies a few months ago: milk, egg, soy, and wheat. All were negative except for egg (white and yolk), which she is moderately allergic to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She is sensitive to some obvious things like: legumes (especially lentils, split peas, and chickpeas) and nightshades (especially white potatoes and tomatoes). But there seems to be something about my diet that disagrees with her, which confuses me because I tried TED when she was five months old and nothing really evened us out to baseline. Now I suspect that she's sensitive to corn. I definitely think she's sensitive to rice, oats, and even millet (which were the three grains I allowed at the last go we did at TED).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Where do I go from here? Is a TED possible without grains? Or.... what should I eat?! DD will be one year old on Friday and has a well-child visit next week, at which I think I'm going to ask for another allergy panel- this time including rice, oats, millet, corn, fish, pork, chicken, coconut, peanuts, etc. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm just at a loss for how to proceed, I've gotten nowhere with the GI specialist our ped sent us to (he just told me to "avoid dairy and chocolate", which I told him I've already done- I've done the TED for six weeks for crying out loud!!! he also wanted to scope her right away, which I find invasive....), and I really want to see my girl comfortable for once. I'm feeling like a bit of a failure for not being able to help her. <img alt="" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style=""></p>

 

[tracyamber]

Aww , hugs to you. Can you find a naturopath in your area who knows about breastfeeding too?

 

[SweetSilver]

<p>Are you wanting to keep wheat out because you suspect a gluten sensitivity that wasn't indicated by the allergy test?  Have you done an elimination with wheat as the only grain?  Believe it or not, I'm mildly to severely allergic to every cereal grain *except* wheat--tested for it, challenged it, nothing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I sympathize with not finding anything.  Especially since potatoes make up a large part of our starch intake!  My daughter was always fussy, awake or asleep.  I could have done more, but I had no idea at the time.  You are doing a great job.  I would say that, like crying, you can't always find a way to make them comfortable when they have so many sensitivities, especially at the beginning.  They can be so hard to pinpoint, and they seem to be change constantly.  Take heart that she is still young and unlikely to react so badly as the months and years progress.  Also understand that things like the causes of eczema are not well understood and are not a definitive sign of food sensitivities.  Also understand that "baseline" is a rather squooshy concept, and some mothers become bald from tearing out their metaphorical hair over this.</p>

 

[waywornwanderer]

@sweetsilver- that's an excellent point- I could totally try an elimination diet with wheat. feeling derpy for not thinking of that. I *know* wheat doesn't bother her. so I could test the other grains. thanks for your encouragement. it really is tough seeing your child so uncomfortable!

 

[Sheepdoc]

This could have been written by me! At 2.5 yrs I still can't eat egg, gluten without it setting off my son.<br><br>
First allergy testing: IgE is not mature at is age and could be a false negative.<br>
Also there are plenty of nonIgE for sensitivities.<br>
We have not had any IgE tests show anything! Not even for sweet potato which turned his whole body blotchy and filled his livings with fluid. <img alt="greensad.gif" class="bbcode_smiley" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/greensad.gif"><br>
For us patch testing was the key to finding the last few allergens I was missing with trial and error. You put the food on the skin for 24 hours (the doctor has special band aids with metal cups but you can improvise. Wash it off then check at 2 hrs then every 12 hours for 72 hours.<br>
A TED is just a best guess but it won't help everyone. For example my son's intolerances included lettuce. And if you're child is like mine they could be developing new allergies to what you are eating if you haven't quieted their gut.<br><br>
Second: You may need supplemental nutrition. Elemental formula is not prescription. You can order a case off Amazon or get sample cans from your gi, At 19 months I started drinking EleCareJr. (Only elemental w/o artificial sweeteners). It's not the best choice and the corn can be an issue for some. Kelly Dorfman recommends a rice based protein instead but we couldn't do guar gum (legume) at the time. If you can find a nutritionist who works with BF families (good luck with that) they could help.<br><br>
I would urge you to stay gluten free and oats, too because for us it took a lot of on and off before I understood gluten doesn't always cause immediate reacts and can build up over time.<br><br>
My sons diet is not complete but he eats lamb, venison, bison, duck and goose. I save the bones and make him stock with salt and pepper only. Garlic and onion set him off. I know the meats are pricy but you can get leg of lamb on sale for not too bad and roast it for several meals. Asian markets have cheaper whole duck, I find them less tasty and splurge on better ones but its still $6/# for a good amount of meat. I roast it, save the fat for cooking and make stock.<br><br>
Can you eat nuts? We avoid peanuts but other nuts work. Recipe ideas might include autoimmune paleo -which is no grains/legumes, nightshades, most nuts, eggs etc...<br><br>
Keep in mind there could be hidden allergens. Everyone uses soy sauce these days (gluten) so even "plain" rice or rotisserie chicken can be problematic. European products use glucose from wheat. If corn is the issue you need to watch out for baking powder which uses corn to prevent clumping. Also malodextrin.

 

[Sheepdoc]

And we get our venison from sympathetic friends and friends of friends so far it's been free even though I keep offering to pay processing costs.

 

[kjbrown92]

The top 4 intolerances are gluten, dairy, soy, and corn (in that order). And corn is huge, and hard to avoid. Citric acid (corn derivative) is in many things (including iodized salt, baking powder, confectioners sugar, etc.). TEDs didn't work for us because of the foods in them. Because of oat's cross contamination from wheat, I wouldn't put it in a TED. I kept lots and lots of food journals when my kids were small (of my 3 kids, 2 have intolerances even now at 9 and 14 years old.

And I'm probably in the minority but I don't think food intolerances are outgrown. I think they're either healed, or the symptoms change so you think that they're safe when they're not. That's just from my experience and people I know. I think IgE allergies are more likely to be outgrown.