Elimination Diet Due to Allergies

All my boys had food sensitivities as infants. One was so bad that he ended up with bloody poop! I did the elimination diet(ugh) with my first but with the rest I just went and had them tested for food sensitivities. It was a non-invasive test. If you want more info about where I went let me know. The person I went to is great! She also has a website that explains it better. It really helped me! It was great to know what was bothering their tummies without the waiting/elimination game!

You already know that your child reacts to cow's milk... have you cut out all dairy from your diet? That would mean no ice cream, yogurt, butter, margarine, or anything that contains whey or casein. Whey and casein are found in TONS of stuff - baked goods, salad dressings, barbeque sauce, etc.

I would try that for three weeks before you remove anything else from your diet. Dairy is the number one cause of intolerance/allergy in babies - it accounts for 85% of all of the problems. Until you're completely clear from all dairy, it's not worth eliminating everything else.

Also, if you want to do a true elimination diet, it's actually the opposite from what you've listed above. You should take your diet down to the foods that are known to cause the least allergies. When I had to do it, I was allowed only brown rice, lentils, organic turkey, zucchini, apples, pears, peaches, organic olive oil, and avocados. Once my daughter's symptoms had cleared up, I introduced foods back one by one. It's not a fun process... try getting rid of all dairy first!

My friend also had to cut out tomatoes from her diet. She found that whenever she ate anything with tomatoes, raw or cooked her daughter had problems. She also had problems with strawberries. Another thing to keep in mind, peanuts. They are not a tree nut, nor will they be labeled a nut. They are actually a legume.

Good luck!

I had to stop all dairy for my 6 month old princess because she had some blood in her stools.
It sucks, I know.

But you can do it.

I am sending you both a hug and strenght.

I don't have an answer to your question regarding what else to eliminate from your diet, but I had a similar experience when I was nursing my son. I was in and out of the Dr's office on numerous occasions because of the diarrhea. It was out of control. And his poor little butt took a serious beating. I also took dairy, and a few other things out of my diet, but to no avail. I also had my son on the BRAT diet. Dr. thought it was Rota-Virus, but it was ruled out after testing, as were other illnesses. The diarrhea lasted for 3 months, at least. It was horrible. Finally, at our last trip back to the Dr., he decided it was "Toddler's Diarrhea" which unfortunately has no cure. It did eventually go away, but it took quite some time. I just thought I'd share our experience with you, just so you know you're not alone! Good luck and best wishes to your little guy. I hope he starts to feel better soon!
God bless.

Citrus is another that can be a trigger. And, as I found from my own experience b/f my daughter, spinach is the #1 vegetable allergy! Corn is another really huge one that is in virtually everything :( And, unfortunately, most children who are sensitive to dairy are sensitive to soy (which is really horrible for us anyway unless it is fermented- so no tofu.) Also, some people who are allergic/sensitive to wheat/gluten are also sensitive to even certified gluten-free oats. (There is gluten in every grain- there is just one specific kind of gluten that typically bothers people w/sensitivity.)

I agree w/being very careful about consuming dairy- it's in a lot of things. I could not figure out why my daughter was reacting to rotisserie chicken I was buying at Jewel... but they inject them full of milk to plump them up and don't have to put that on the label! :( There are lots of laws about labels.... for example, if they use a product already made, they don't have to list the ingredients of that product. (So let's say for example you are consuming something with barbecue sauce... the label can say barbecue sauce but not list those specific ingredients.)

The absolute BEST thing to do it make everything from scratch, yourself, and definitely keep a journal of what you eat and what reactions he has. You might even find that YOU are feeling better (that was the case with me!)

Here are some ideas for food within the guidelines you mentioned:

Breakfast-

Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Buckwheat Porridge made w/water, sea salt, sprinkled w/chopped apples, a little organic maple syrup, and flax seeds if you want sweet; for savory, add some nutritional yeast (sold in the supplement section at Whole Foods), herbs and spices.

Homemade sausage- http://chickiepea.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/make-your-own-...

Coconut milk yogurt (best to make your own since store-bought has a bunch of junk)

Lunch/Snacks:
Lettuce wraps or homemade spring rolls made w/rice paper wrappers (watch these for wheat/gluten!) filled w/shredded veggies, sliced chicken or beef and homemade or goddess dressing

Hummus w/fresh veggies

Freeze bananas and then peel and chop w/sharp knife. Put in food processor w/tiny bit of coconut milk or water and puree until you get "ice cream"

Homemade soups and salads. Dressings can be made w/coconut milk, rice-milk, avocado to add a creaminess. Watch out for stocks/broths, as they usually have additives and wheat if you buy them store-bought.

Dinner-
Roasted veggies, fresh veggies
Any meat as long as it's not breaded OR get creative and used ground up plain rice-cakes or potato chips (look for those cooked in safflower or sunflower oil- the alternatives can be allergenic) w/some herbs and spices.

Spices are best bought gluten-free, as some companies use wheat so the products don't clump. A lot don't specifically say it, but you can find the info online or by calling.

I'm happy to help you modify recipes, if you have anything you are specifically going to miss (for free, of course!) We have done lots of diet mod for our family over the past few years. The best resources I have found are to look at vegan sites for recipes (those are dairy-free, obviously) and most raw vegan recipes are gluten-free.

Another tip to help avoid dairy in processed foods is to learn the kosher symbols for dairy-free "Pareve" means it's contains neither meat nor dairy, and "Parve" means it contains no dairy.
http://www.godairyfree.org/Food-to-Eat/Food-Label-Info/Un...

Hope this isn't completely overwhelming- I was trying to be thorough! Feel free to message me or contact me through my food blog too:
www.chickiepea.wordpress.com (Everything there is gluten-free and most have a dairy-free option, though most snack and baked goods are heavy on nuts. It shouldn't be necessary to cut out coconut (which can be useful on a dairy-free and gluten-free diet) unless you do discover a true nut allergy and it is recommended by your dr.)

A good children's chiropractor might also be of help, as it was with us- when things are in line, the digestion becomes much better.

M.

Make sure to double check for hidden milk products. I thought I was milk-free for a while, until I began to dig deeper. My "dairy-free" coffee creamer did have casein. @@

http://refluxrebels.com/MSPI/HiddenDairy&Soy.html

Hello, I don't know about the elimination diet or the allergies. I did want to mention about the green bowel movements. I exclusively breastfed both my boys and they both had green poop. With my first, he had it for several weeks. I was going to a nursing support group at Palos Community Hospital. The lactation consultants said the green poop is a result of the baby not getting enough Hind milk. Which is the fattier milk. There are some ways to try ensure your baby gets hind milk, like nursing longer on one breast. I would google green poop and nursing or nursing and hind milk or something lime that. Better yet, I would call a lactation consultant because they will ask questions of how your baby nurses and give you plan of how to resolve the green poop.

You know your baby and yourself better than anyone. I'm not saying that your baby may not have allergies, which you need to resolve as well. I just thought the possibility of the green poop could be nursing related and not a virus. Good luck!

Updated

I realize you don't think it's a hind milk issue but again, I'd call a lactation consultant to make sure. With my oldest boy he would empty a breast and I would nurse him more on the other breast. But what was happening he wasn't staying on the first breast long enough to stimulate it to have more (hind milk) come in. I thought, I'm empty so I moved him on to the next breast. I kept him on the one breast, even after it was empty to stimulate. And I believe I started the next feeding on the same breast. I don't recall exactly what or how I did it because both my boys had the same issue but resolved it a bit differently because they nursed differently.

I hope your baby feels better soon and resolve your allergy issues.

You might just want to cut out one thing at a time so you can figure out if your baby does in fact have a food allergy, and find out what it is. Maybe remove all dairy for a couple of weeks, then move on to another food group. If you do it all at once, you'll never know which food he's allergic to.

Just eliminate one thing at a time or you'll never know the cause.
For me, it was Milk products... ALL... Soy was a life saver (NON GMO)
He was not able to do any milk products even when he got off the breast milk. I was glad to know it was the ONE thing and not many.l

I also learned that those sorts of allergies can be a sign of a weak immune system. Myself on a really good nutrition program of fruits, veggies and proteins.Supplemented with an all natural line of products with an amazing protocal for quality, It was better for all of us.

My daughter (almost 4 months) was getting diaper rash, terrible eczema, and diarrhea with slight tinge of green when she was 3 weeks old. Since those symptoms most commonly associate with milk allergies, I started with that one. My pedi suggested that if it wasn't milk, then I could add that back to my diet and then move to wheat/gluten free diet. Because I still had to eat, you know? It took awhile, nearly a month of a rigid dairy free diet to clear that milk protein out of my system and then hers. But within about a couple of weeks, the verdict was in because her symptoms cleared up. She had a milk allergy!

My pedi suggested that if it wasn't milk, then I could add that back to my diet and then move to wheat/gluten free diet. I would suggest just starting with milk and waiting 2 to 3 weeks and see how it goes. Then challenge him with some breast milk that is contaminated. For my daughter, I use breast milk that I pumped and froze before my dairy free diet started. She still has a reaction to it, almost instantly.

Good luck to you and your little one!

When you say you've cut out diary, does that mean you've cut out all foods made with cows milk dairy? You're gonna have to read ingredient labels. Foods with "milk, butter, casien, whey" contain milk.

I would just focus on getting cows milk completely out if your diet before removing other foods. It can take a 2-3 weeks to get cows milk proteins completely out of your system.

There is a high rate of correlation with children who are allergic to cows milk protein and who also have a soy protein allergy. So I wouldn't replace milk by using soy milk in your diet; however eating foods made with vegetable oil and soy are probably ok unless you decide to cut soy out also.

You can eat sheep/goat cheese, goat milk, goat butter and goat yogurt instead of cow diary.

The above assume he has a common cows milk allergy. However he could be lactose intolerant, which is not the same kind of allergy. Do some research between cows milk protein allergy and lactose intolerance. People with lactose intolerance can't eat the same foods as those with cows milk protein allergies. Children with cows milk protein allergies typically out grow the allergy by age 3 (although our daughter outgrew hers at age 5). Lactose intolerance is a lifelong allergy.

Cut out milk, soy shellfish and nuts. Cut out Pork believe it or not it is a high allergin as is chicken. Wait on the wheat he may not be allergic to gluten. Eggs are not the worst so leave them in your diet.
If the medical profession and Big Pharma were not so focused on greed we could have real Bioresonance practiced here.
I work in Europe and so about 15 years ago I began to see someone who took out my allergies to everything except pork and cigaratte smoke those were the only two that did not work.
I don't smoke but the smoke of others makes me ill.
If you or your husband smoke please stop. Your child won't have allergies if he isn't irritated by smoke at a young age.

www.BestBreakfastEver.com
It will feed your body to help rid it of the impurities.

B.
Family Success Coach

Though I didn't know I needed to do this when my DD was nursing, we found she's allergic/highly sensitive to artificial color, flavors, TBHQ, BHA, BHT (preservatives), and fruits/veggies that are high in salicylates. For your baby's health I would avoid all of that first stuff at least.