food intolerance questions

ali0608

I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone on this board can help me out.  I usually post on the special needs board.

A little background:  My DS has struggled with textures ever since we started solids.  He ate pureed foods fine, but never did well with different textures.  He will eat crunchy, meltable foods but that's about it.  Because of this, he's been in Early Intervention since 18 months for these issues.  He was evaluated by a nutritionist for his 6 month re-eval since obviously he isn't eating what he should. 

The nutritionist thinks all of this may be due to a food intolerance.  Has anyone else been through someone similar?  It seems a little strange to me, but she seems to think if food hurts him, he's not willing to try new foods and textures.

Also, she suggested an elimination diet.  His main nutrition comes from dairy, I don't understand how we can eliminate it if that's his main nutrition (milk and yogurt) especially when he's not willing to try new foods.  Is there any way to find a food intolerance without eliminating it from his diet?

Sorry this is so long.  I have a lot of questions I'm trying to sort out!  Obviously, I know you are not professionals, but I would like to learn from your personal experiences.  Also, I will definitely bring this up with his pedi at his 2 year appt!

Thanks!

magdusia

if it was a food intolerance, it would also affect him with purees.  (IMO).

if you want to eliminate dairy/soy for a bit.. Try "so delicious" yogurt (it's made from coconut milk so no dairy/soy) and he's still eating yogurt.  You can give him Enriched rice milk as a milk substitute.. or there are many other non- dairy/soy milks out there.  you can also google "MSPI recipes" to find some milk/soy free recipes (MSPI - milk soy protein intolerance)

I sometimes feel like dairy/soy is the culprit for everything lately.. 

Have you tried smoothies? and then slowly increase the thickness until there are chunks of food in it? 

I'm sorry i couldn't help more, it wouldn't hurt to take out milk/soy out of his diet and see what happens for a month.  

 

GHBEA

Does he spit out the thicker textured foods or does he have a reaction to them? (I know you are looking to possible intolerance).

I ask this because we had a little boy in our program who would only eat pureed foods and the ticker textures he would spit out.  It ended up being he had issues with his throat so swallowing the thicker texture made him choke.  

ali0608

magdusia:

if it was a food intolerance, it would also affect him with purees.  (IMO).

if you want to eliminate dairy/soy for a bit.. Try "so delicious" yogurt (it's made from coconut milk so no dairy/soy) and he's still eating yogurt.  You can give him Enriched rice milk as a milk substitute.. or there are many other non- dairy/soy milks out there.  you can also google "MSPI recipes" to find some milk/soy free recipes (MSPI - milk soy protein intolerance)

I sometimes feel like dairy/soy is the culprit for everything lately.. 

Have you tried smoothies? and then slowly increase the thickness until there are chunks of food in it? 

I'm sorry i couldn't help more, it wouldn't hurt to take out milk/soy out of his diet and see what happens for a month.  

 

Thanks for the suggestions.  The problem with changing yogurt is he is very aware of packaging.  I once tried to give him the same food, but it was in a box instead of individual packets and he wouldn't eat it.  He's getting much better with trying food so the different yogurt may be a possibility now.

He does drink smoothies but I water them down so he can drink think out of his sippy.  He doesn't want to drink out of any other cup yet.  However, we are thickening up his yogurt little by little with pureed banana.

ali0608

GHBEA:

Does he spit out the thicker textured foods or does he have a reaction to them? (I know you are looking to possible intolerance).

I ask this because we had a little boy in our program who would only eat pureed foods and the ticker textures he would spit out.  It ended up being he had issues with his throat so swallowing the thicker texture made him choke.  

He honestly won't TRY very many textures.  When he did, he will usually gag.  He tried oatmeal recently and he gagged and vomited on the smallest piece of oat.  He doesn't have a skin reaction or anything like that with any foods.

Wouldn't a dairy intolerance have affected him when he was on formula?

I've also asked our speech therapist and an ENT (he had 5 ear infections in 5 months) and they both didn't think a swallow study was necessary to check out his throat.

magdusia

I remember my son went through about 4 months of gagging from food. As soon as i put meat in his mouth he would gag. Same thing with many other foods that had some texture to it.  We though he was allergic to EVERYTHING and pretty much went back to basic.   Someone told me to look into oral allergies.  But it just suddenly stopped.  i think he was 16 months when it completely went away.  Your LO is older so not sure if it's the same thing but i really think he just wasn't ready for it.

I would continue with calling your doc and asking for referrals..  Not sure if a GI would be ideal for that.. but maybe try?