XP: Elimination diet while BF

hillek5

I was told to XP this here because some of you ladies have experience with this, and because I was told you'd be a great resource!

Just as a little background...

We have had respiratory issues (cough, wheeze, and other asthma-like symptoms), reflux, and eczema since DS was only 1-2 months old.  We've been doing meds for both his reflux (first Zantac and now Prilosec) and for his respiratory problems (Pulmicort, albuterol, and now atrovent) for a couple of months without a drastic improvement in those symptoms.  The only time we have seen him completely symptom free was a couple of weeks ago when he was given formula for a couple of days.  I was snowed in at work and DH had DS at home without enough milk for the couple of days I was gone (I can only pump enough to keep up with him for the next day).

Fast forward to last week....

DS got hit with (another) cold that turned into a pretty bad respiratory infection, landing us in the hospital on oxygen (we came home yesterday).  While we were there, it dawned on me that the only time we've seen him without coughing/wheezing/spitting up was the couple of days he was getting formula instead of EBM or nursing.  We discussed it with his docs and are thinking that DS may be allergic/intolerant of something in my diet (why no one thought of this 6 months ago is beyond me, though). 

My question for anyone who has had similar issues is how you went about eliminating potential triggers from your diet.  Did you cut everything out at once to see if there was improvement or did you just cut out one food at at time (as our pedi suggests) to see if it helps.  My fear is that if we cut out only one food at a time, it could take weeks to get through the most common intolerance culprits, which means weeks of DS fighting all of this and not getting better. 

If anyone has any resources or advice, I would really appreciate it.  Thanks for reading....and for helping out!

erinkate23

I'm starting an elimnation diet for myself on Monday.  Webmistress replied to my post below with a lot of awesome info.

 http://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/49069321.aspx

Here's the Sears post about elimination diets:

https://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t041200.asp

 

There's also a food sensitivity check-in on this board for the mamas who are dealing with these issues.  I'm sure some of them will reply to this thread!

hillek5

Thank you!!!  This gives me a good starting point.

Bride2b2004

In your case, with the severe reactions LO is having, I would go with the strict cut everything approach on Dr. Sears' website and then, once LO is better, slowly add items back in.  I would go to a pedi allergist ASAP.  Try to see if they are experts in food allergies as well as the common allergy tests- page webmistress for more info about this, I am very jealous of her pedi allergist.  Mine is only knowledgeable about traditional allergies, not digestive ones, I had to go to a pedi GI specialist to get help for eliminations.  In your case though, based on LO's reactions, my guess is the traditional allergy tests might reveal allergies (maybe eggs or nuts...).  Is anyone in your family or DH's allergic to anything?  Typically it runs in families.  DS1 and DS2 both had the same issues as infants (DS1 outgrew by 10mo and we are currently challenging DS2).  

What formula did you use?  It is either soy or dairy based (all otc formulas are) and - even though soy/dairy are each relatively common allergens- since LO showed no reaction, I would be pretty comfortable adding whichever one that was back in your diet relatively early.  

GL!!