6 Month Old with Severe Food Allergies and Bad Refluxing

Hi H.,

My daughter is now four, she suffered severly with food allergies and congestion with reflux. I was able to breastfeed but I had to drastically change my diet, we supplemented with goats milk at 9 months old. She tested and it was determined her food allergies were so bad she could only take rondec or tannic for the cough, congestion, draining eyes, nose and many upper respiatory infections. Until about three years old. We also used nasal crom nose spray OTC, and zantac doubled up. We also used and love to this day Gripe water by Baby Bliss for the reflux. She now takes clarinex in the day time with nasal crom and singular at night time with nasal crom, in pre-school I give her a homepathic allergy relief and nose spray every two hours. call me if you need to talk ###-###-####

My son is now 9 months and has the same problems. Reading your post it sounds like it is identical cases except my pediatrician has allowed us to experiment more. First of all my son is on zyrtec which is taken every night. That has helped tremendously for his allergies. Desonide 0.5% cream for the skin break outs, which clears him up right away. The congestion is still there but is not as bad because they have also put him on singular which is a asthma maintenance medication. And also a multivitamin. He is on enfamil nutramigen 6 oz a bottle. We were told no rice cereal instead we gave him oatmeal cereal which there was no allergic reaction. All his soaps were changed to aveeno which really did make a difference. No baby powders. He is eating baby food. I had to start out with vegetables first giving him one vegetable at a time for a week straight and being very diligent to watch out for signs of allergic reaction. If he did have a reaction stopped immediately. But it was trial and error. You will be surprised at what your baby is not allergic too. My son also had the blood test and same things came up. I hope I helped you.

Hi H.,
Reading your post was a flashback for me! Our daughter had severe multiple protein allergies. We did the Neocate thing too. Since our insurance did not cover it and it was costing a minimum of $500 for a months supply, we turned to Ebay. I was very leary about it at first, so we only bought the sealed cases that would not expire in the next, say, 3-6 months. We also tried the rice cereal thing, but, of course, Emma was allergic to it. So much so that she stopped eating all together and ended up in the hospital. The only thing she could eat for the first 10 months was butternut squash and Neocate. I know the fear of your child not gaining enough weight. I used to obsess about it. Weight checkups used to make me ill with anxiety. However, the neocate can be adjusted to give more calories. Ask your doc about that. I think the "regular" dose has something like 22 K/cal per ounce. Feed her as often as she will eat and as much as she will eat, assuming this is okay with your doc. Because of Emma not being satisfied (due to the lack of cereal in her diet), we continued middle of the night feedings for much longer than your average child. (If my memory serves me right, I think we were still giving her a bottle in the middle of the night though the 9 month mark.) The up side of all of this is that our doc told us that many children will outgrow the protein allergies. Emma was able to tolerate most other foods by 18 months. And we were off Neocate (and on Carnation Good Start) by 12 months. She is now a healthy 2 1/2 year old and able to eat most things. After we did the Good start for a while, we switched to Silk Very Vanilla Soy and she still drinks it. She does still have some allergies though, like shellfish, and we are VERY slow to introduce new foods. Just try to be patient and get to know your doc and his staff very well. Voice your concerns as often as you have them. It's scary enough being a first time mom, much less having a baby with this type of allergy. You will become the biggest advocate for your child. Read as much as you can on protein allergies, reflux, etc. We did and it made all the difference. Feel free to email me anytime @ ____@____.com luck!!

I work with Dr. Julie Hung, Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, and she is so wonderful - i am real good friends with her nurse and there have been many times dr. hung caught things/problems/symptoms before the tests confirmed anything.
###-###-####- if you need her - i work for a large family practice in sugar land - i dont have young ones anymore but she sees all ages.

Wow, this is like looking in the mirror. My daughter had the exact same symptoms beginning at about three months and is on the neocate one plus formula for children up to seven years old. Just as your baby, this is her primary source of nutrition. However, my daughter is now two. What worked for her was brown rice farina. It's a brown rice hot cereal. And it should be near the isle where cereal is kept. It's sold at Whole Foods or maybe you can find it at your nearest health food store. It's made from brown rice and water. We use is as a substitute for grits for breakfast and she loves it and it doesn't cause stomach upset or rash on her skin. We also tried all those formulas and they didn't work. She also has multiple food protein allergies and projectile vomiting. The neocate worked well. However there is another formula like neocate that is broken down the same way. It's supposed to be better than neocate. Consult your doctor. We stopped at neocate because it worked well.

Keep in touch.
T.

I would question any doctor that suggests that you stop breast feeding.

There was another mom on here that has similar issues. I will try to find her name on here and you guys need to hook up. There are many things that can be done naturally to meet her needs. Find a healthfood store, nutritionist to help you. I don't know where you live but I might be able to check with a nutritionist I know and she might have some ideas. I will see waht I can find out but it may take me a few days to get hold of the nutritionist.
C

I have a son almost the same thing....we started seeing Dr David Thomas and he really helped us,he is in BatonRouge in the phy.tower at the olol

sounds like you are getting alot of great advice... both of my children ad reflux.. we finally figured out that it was the DHA/ARA combo put into foods... my children just couldnt digest it properly. once i found something without the combo it was like night and day... hopefully you can find someone's advice that will work.. its hard when its such a small child and you feel helpless... good luck!

H.
I am so sorry to here about your baby. If she doesn't have allergies with rice, you feed her with plain rice. I meant cook rice in a rice cooker, mix with some vegetables(boiled) add some salt and grind it together . Try this first, if she likes it you can go with some other ways too.

I think that maybe you should try and see an herbal/organic doctor. There has to be something that this poor baby can eat! The only way you are gonna know if she's allergic to it, is to try it, I would think... Aww, good luck!!

Sounds like you got stuck with a real serious allergy problem! I can sympathize, not from direct experience, but my brother was born allergic to wheat, and then developed other allergies as he got older, to the point where he was hardly growing and had problems with low blood sugar if he didn't eat on time. Fortunately, over time he outgrew most of his allergies, and even though I think he is still allergic to wheat, he eats it anyway, and it doesn't bother him too much.

Even though I was young when this all happened, I learned to read labels to watch for red-light foods, and also learned a little of how to deal with allergies. Here's what you need to do. You should get down to something your baby can eat--which looks like rice cereal. So you've gotten step 1 down. You also know several things she is definitely allergic to, so you know to avoid those. Now what you want to do is add one food at a time. Probably she isn't allergic to grains, as such, but to the gluten in some grains (she can eat rice, which is gluten free).

A little advice on this. You can go buy the little cans of Gerber baby food (or the generic brand), but who knows what might be in them in trace quantities, or from the machine processing something else. So what you should do is make your own food. You can find lists of generally safe foods for allergic people (rice is one of the best)--maybe your doctor has one. For variety in grains, try quinoa (I think that's the spelling; Sunharvest on 10th St in McAllen sells it in bulk and some HEBs carry it, mine in the same aisle as the pasta). Barley is also gluten free, I think. Then look at adding some fruits and vegetables. Pears tend to be hypo-allergenic. Stay away from citrus (including pineapple) and nightshade (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers), as those tend to cause problems for some (like my brother). To make your own baby food, cook the veggies (and maybe the fruit) and then whiz it in the blender or food processor. You can make it up in bulk this way (once you discover she can eat it) and store it in the freezer. My mother used to pour it into ice cube trays and once it was frozen, empty the contents into a ziplock bag. Then she would take out 1 or 2 cubes of whatever she wanted to feed us and thaw it out. It's also much cheaper than buying baby food in the little jars.

I don't know if it is too late for you to breastfeed, but if you go on a very plain diet (ie, not eating anything you know she is allergic to), your breast milk might help her. I know she's already 6 months, and I don't know how long it's been since you breastfed her, but if you try it, your milk might come back in, at least a little. But you would have to avoid eating everything she is allergic to. I say this because when my mom ate wheat and breastfed my brother, he would break out in a rash--that's how she knows he was born with the allergy to wheat.

There is one more thing you might want to consider. I don't know if this will help with the allergies or not, but there's a possibility it could help with the reflux. It's called Ambrotose, and you can get it from the link below:

http://www.mannapages.com/sharethegift/MPComingFromSAA.as...

I would suggest trying it. You can add it to the rice cereal you feed her (if you get the powder). Don't get the advanced formula--it isn't any better than the original, is more expensive, and doesn't taste good. The original Ambrotose formula tastes best. I don't think there's anything in it she's allergic to, and it could help her body fix whatever is wrong with it. You can read more about the research on my site here: http://www.getbetterhealth.org.

Best of luck, H.! I hope things get better for you!

H.,
hello. your situation sounds all too familiar! my daughter is now 3 and pretty much over all of this but she still takes prevacid for her GERD. i too tried all of the formulas and was referred by my pediatrician to a gastroenterologist who put her on neocate. we noticed a huge difference with the switch. not only did the specialist switch her formula, he also tripled the dose of Zantac to 1/2 tsp 2 x day. this was such a huge relief for us. her food allergies were making the reflux much worse. up until this point she was constantly congested with a cough and a most of the other symptoms you mentioned. like i said before she still has to take medication for the reflux but most of her allergies are resolved. she is even able to drink whole milk. i had to stop breastfeeding just like you, which was very hard for me to accept. i didnt understand how my baby could be allergic to my milk... but she was and i was so relieved to find a doctor who understood what i was going through and was willing to do what it took to treat her. anyways, her history is a really long story. id be happy to share it with you if youd like. i could also give you the name of her specialist; i see we live in the same vicinity. just let me know.
my best,
C.

Dear H.,

If you're open to alternative medicine, I highly suggest N.A.E.T. These treatments PERMANENTLY remove allergies. I've had my cat allergy eliminated and know of others who have had allergies eliminated - severe food or environment allergies - any substance you can think of.

The treatments cost approximately $40 a piece. For severe allergies it may take 2 or 3 treatments. The only thing is, it is necessary to go through some initial basic treatments like Vitamin C, calcium, sugar, etc. I was a little leery about that, thinking to myself, "I don't want to waste any money - I want to get straight to my allergy." But it turned out that my immunity system has been SO built up by these basic treatments. I'm more thankful for those now, than the cat treatment!! I used to be so sickly, and I'm like a new person now.

Anyway, I see a wonderful doctor near 290 & Mangum - Dr. Brian Barnett (NAET is usually practiced by a chiropractor or an acupuncturist - Dr. Barnett is a chiropractor). His number is ###-###-####. Or you can go to www.naet.com/ and click "Find a Practitioner."

If you want to reply to me, I'd be glad to give you more details or even talk to you about it to tell you how it's done. It is totally noninvasive - great for adults, children or babies.

Blessings,
R.

Supporting you as you nurture your family.
www.NurturedFamily.com

Okay my dear I have THE ANSWER! My son was born very pre-mature (27 weeks) and we had all types of issues in the beginning and reflux was a major one - he was on medication and even with that he always spit up. Then a nurse I knew told me about something called Baby Bliss Gripe Water - this stuff is amazing. You give one dose in one bottle a day and no more reflux. It is all natural and I checked it out with my Pedi and she said it was fine. I have told so many Moms about it and everyone has had the same wonerful results. Good luck to you and believe me it gets easier (well sort of).

Here is the link http://www.babys-bliss.com/