I'm about at the end of my rope here. I've been dairy, soy, wheat, egg and nut free for nearly six weeks. We saw a HUGE improvement in LO within the first week -- the rash on his face, neck and scalp completely went away, his eczema got better and his poops were more yellowish and less mucusy.
Unfortunately, a few weeks ago his poops turned bad again. It started out with just a little mucus, but earlier this week his poops were nearly all mucus plus a little blood (which we never had before). I'm still waiting on results of the stool culture, which would rule out a bacterial/viral cause.
IF the culture comes back negative, the pedi said it is either 1) food allergy 2) cause unknown and he will likely grow out of it. Since I've already cut out so much, the only next step is a total elimination diet. The pedi said the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh whatever harm this "thing" is causing (especially since he is happy and gaining weight well). And I really do want to keep breastfeeding. But the thought of a total elimination diet is completely overwhelming, especially during the holidays.
Sorry this is so long. Has anyone ever done one? I've been posting on the Food Allergy board too, but it's pretty dead over there.
Re: Anyone done a total elimination diet?
I have been on dairy, soy and eggs free diet and I have been careful with wheat. We were still seeing blood in DS's stool. DS is also gaining weight properly and is a happy little guy, but I can't just wait for him to outgrow the problem and to pretend that I am not seeing blood. So we went to see a GI. He said that the next step in my diet would be cutting out fish, or trying a hypoallergenic formula. As hard as it is, DS has been on formula for the last two days. I really wanted to EBF until he is at least 6 months old, but the whole thing started getting on my nerves. And you know what? I would have done more restrict diet if I knew it would help. But there is no guarantee that it will help. And as you said, I am not sure how beneficial my BM would be if I am allowed to eat only few items.
Now I am still an emotional wreck, but this is all too fresh. I believe it will get better soon. The doc said that we should stop seeing blood in a week if this formula works. For the last two days we have not seen any blood. We are only getting much much stinkier poop. DS seems to be happy as well.
Not sure if I helped, but that is my still ongoing story. Good luck to you with whatever you decide to do.
I'm sure that must be really tough on you. Hopefully the blood stays away. Like you, I'm not happy with the "he'll outgrow it" option... even if my LO is happy, I just don't think it can be healthy to be pooping blood and mucus four or five times a day. I just feel horrible that we can't get to the bottom of this. Good luck, I hope things work out for you!