Need Help with Food Allergies and Finding a Pediatrician

My daughter, now one, has severe milk allergy as well as several others (thankfully not soy or wheat). You should take this seriously now, and if your dr doesn;t, you should change drs. Repeated exposure to allergens can actually increase her susceptibility over time and leave her vulnerable to severe reactions such as anaphylaxis when she begins eating table foods.

Unfortunately in my case, I had to stop breastfeeding at about 3 months(she was allergic to so many things I just could not get enough nutrition to keep going). I don't regret the decision. We switched to hypo-allergenic Alimentum formula and monitored her carefully as she adjusted to solids. Why put your child in pain for no reason? Breastfeeding is not the be-all, end-all it is made out to be. Obviously if something makes your daughter sick you shouldn;t do it.

My dr, Rachel Goodman at ENH in Evanston, is great with the allergies and we see Jasmin Bilimoria, also in Evanston, for those. I suggest you consult a pediatric allergist at least once now just to see what they recommend (make sure it is someone who works with kids! Their allergies are different from adults), or at least go see another dr for a second opinion. Children's Memorial has an excellent allergy program.

Another thing I recommend is having her sleep on a Tucker sling (available on -line--just google it). It is a safe way to put a baby to sleep on her tummy, which goes a LONG way towards her comfort if they have "colic"

Good luck and write again if you need more help

My daughter cried the first 2 months of her life, until the doctor recommended the Infant Gas Drops in her bottles, made a HUGE difference! Give it a shot! Good luck and remember that she will stop soon, and try not to lose patience with her!!

I can't give you advice but I'm member of the site www.babyfit.com (is free) and there is a community board where moms ask questions about anything. It has more members than mamasource and may get you more support and advice than from this site only.
good luck with your little one.
M.

My son also had blood in his stools and vomiting after almost every feed. We first tried to cut out milk proteins from my diet, since I was breast feeding. Then I cut out soy, still no change. It's VERY difficult to cut out all soy and milk proteins. So I stopped breast feeding and we tried Alimentum and Nutramigen, neither of which resolved the symptoms. When we went onto Neocate, my son's symptoms resolved almost immediately. The change was absolutely amazing.

Our pediatrician and gastroenterologist took the allergy very seriously. The GI doctor said that exposure to trace amounts of an allergen over time can cause the allergy to become permanent. So it's very important to remove exposure to the allergen. She said that about 85% of kids recover from milk/soy allergies by the age of 1 - if the allergen is removed from their diet up until to that age.

We see Dr Ken Lyons at Children's Healthcare Associates at Sheffield/Diversey. We absolutely love him. Our GI doctor is Dr Suzanne Nelson (http://www.kidstummydoc.com/) and she's affiliated with Children's Memorial too.

Hope this helps.

My first daughter had dairy and EGG allergies, neither of which was diagnosed till one year old. I breastfeed her for 13 months. It was a hellish trip till we found out. I really like my doctor at Town and Country, Dr. Anne Wyman. I also have an excellent allergist who has been wonderfully supportive. She is located in Evanston, Dr. Bilimoria. If you are interested in chatting I will give you my number and I'd be happy to talk to you. Mornings are best.
E. ###-###-#### I live in LIncoln Square, CHicago

M.:

call me and we can talk...

P., RLC, IBCLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
800 LACTATE

Hi M.,

I feel for you! My son (now four months) didn't end up having a milk allergy, but he did have reflux, and that was the reason he, like your baby, was "colicky" all the time for the first two months. Good for you for not taking colic for an answer and perservering to find out what is wrong with your baby. I hate to think the needless suffering my baby wqoudl have gone through for the last two months if I had jsut accepted colic as the answer and not done antyhign to help him. He is on Zantac now and doing great, one of the happiest babies ever. It's a huge difference. I'm not saying that that's wha tyour baby's problem is, obviously mucuous/blood in the stool is a sign of an allergy (my son had one instance of that and that food was easily eliminated--watermelon!). I love the doctors at our pediatrician's office--they took my son's ailment seriously and were the ones to prescribe Zantac. Dr. Barbara Slivnick and Dr. Mark Rosenburg are the two I have the most experience with and they are both great. THe practice is associated with Children's Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Memorial, and the office (which has free parking, by the way) is on Sheffield in Chicago, jsut south of Wrigley Field. It's called Children's Healthcare Associates. I can;t say enough good things about this practice. I woudl agree with teh other mom who said, if your doctor isn't taking your baby's allergies seriously, it's time to get a new doctor. Good luck!

M.,
I sure do know who can help you! We have a doctor who is certified in pediatrics and also in allergy. Gary Oberg, MD is in Crystal Lake. He is far from us, but he does the work of four doctors. He is very good with digestive problems, too. In addition to allergy, he knows and treats things like Irritable Bowel Syndrome and also Celiac Disease. He is very big on probiotics. His number is ###-###-####. His mentor wrote the "Bible" for kids' allergies. Have you read "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp, MD?
By all means, keep breastfeeding. Do not introduce solid foods any time soon until her little body can calm down. Everything will work out fine.
Amy

My daughter has an egg and peanut allergy and our pediatrician basically blew me off while my daughter was having a severe allergic reaction. We switched pediatricians and they sent us to an allergist whom we adore. My daughter sees her yearly for testing to see if she has outgrown the allergies.
The allergist is with Childrens Memorial. She is the head of the allergy division. Her name is Jaqueline Pongracic. ###-###-####. Her office is on Clark..(i think) She is really great and explains things in detail and is really patient.
Our pediatrician is Lakeview Pediatrics we speciically usually see Janice Salem just for another referral. They are on Belmont. ###-###-####

HI M.,
I had the same problem with my son and it is pretty common we found the it isn't just dairy but also dairy protiens so food that contains casein and a lot of food has it, which ment I was really limited in what I could eat. I would be happy to talk to you about it my son is now 5 and hasn't had any food issues since about 1 1/2 but he does have lots of other allergies. I know how scarier it can be, but hang in there.
R.

Mirium - I feel for you! My dd is dairy and egg allergic. We also avoid peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. We also see the allergists at Children's Memorial.

I highly recommend www.kidswithfoodallergies.org - it's a fantastic site and they have an unbelievable message board with over 6,000 parents of food allergic kids. You can do a free membership, or the family one for $25 with access to more areas of the message boards.

Also, with nursing, I also promote it. But realize that everything you eat will be passed on to your child...even in trace amounts. You may not have eliminated all trace amounts...it's really hard but do-able. There's lots of names on the labels that mean dairy that people may never realize it dairy (or egg, nuts, corn etc). Our allergist had me stop everything I could from the allergen list (including trace amounts) while I was nursing.