Avram is almost definitely reactive to soy (vomiting to the point of dehydration, drooling, puffy eyes, colic) and dairy (same as above, add eczema and mini hives around the eyes). So that's it! I'm done experimenting - this baby got so SICK it was tragic. It took a few days for the soy to really get to him, but then it really DID, and the dairy was almost immediate - within 6 hours.

I know we've done this before, but it was with my eyes closed (ds1 was sensitized to nuts/peanuts as an infant, but I didn't know what the deal was back then) so this time, hoping to benefit from 20/20 hindsight, I'm ironically second-guessing myself so I get it right. Because I know that my Dr. will probably be no help. Do you think I should go see her?

A diet with no dairy or soy is going to be ROUGH, but I'll survive.:wah: For at least the next two years while I breastfeed. Because what milk subsitute/formula could he possibly have without either of those in it?

Since I haven't had wheat without soy in it either (the only bread I eat is Soy and Linseed), when he's fully recovered I'll have some plain, dairy free, soy free, wheat bread and see what happens.

So to make this fun, who has the longest list (of foods they're avoiding)?
I'm avoiding 1) dairy, 2) soy, 3) eggs, 4) gluten in all its forms, 5) shellfish, 6) nuts. I know SOMEONE has to have it worse! :lol:

I'm not worse, but this is new for me, I havent had issues before with the other kiddos- looks like I am avoiding Dairy, eggs, corn and caffeine...

I am not sure about the corn, but have a strong suspicion...

In the height of our avoidance, Anders was allergic to or reactive to (some things he didn't test positive to or we never tested): 1)egg 2)gluten 3)soy 4)dairy 5)peanut 6)peas 7)corn and 8)chicken, and we also avoided all 9)nuts 10)fish and 11)shellfish, and avoided all 12)legumes because he was allergic to 4 of them (soy, peas, peanut, and clover--he would try to eat the clover out of our grass in the yard. LOL!). I *think* that's it. But I also did a total elimination diet, where I ate just corn, beef, pork, rice, and blueberries. The intense part lasted just for 2 weeks or so, but it was about 3 months before we got back to somewhat normal.

*I* think breastfeeding is your best bet, if you can maintain a good elimination diet. But there *is* Neocate, and the majority of babies with soy and dairy protein intolerances will tolerate Alimentum or Nutramigin. Not all, mind you, and his reactions seem pretty severe. But Neocate is an option for almost every baby. I did elimination diets for 2 years (I still am, but I avoid gluten now because of me, too, and egg is pretty easy to avoid, all things considered, so I don't really consider it an elimination diet), and it was well worth the effort to me. Just wanted to put that out there. It may put you in the poor house (Neocate is crazy-expensive), but it does exist.

As far as the doctor goes--I didn't go to my ped specifically to ask about allergies, but I did tell her about them. My first visit with her was when Anders was 4 months old (we switched places), and I told her what he reacted to, how he reacted to it, and what I'd done. She said "great!" and told me to continue. But she was very much an advocate for us. She referred us to an allergist at 13 months (oh, and also had him get blood tests at 6 months), as well as a gastroenterologist. I'm glad she knew, but I certainly didn't go to her (or the allergist!) for help figuring it all out. The allergist in particular was worthless, except to get the testing.

What kept me strong through all of it was that he was SO MUCH BETTER on the elimination diet. If I craved ice cream, all that I had to do was think about the screaming in pain he would endure, and the rash, and the blow outs, and the vomiting etc etc. And I'd realize that while it was hard to avoid it all, it was harder to take care of Anders when I wasn't avoiding it. It was so worth it!

Well, I am avoiding dairy, eggs, gluten, caffeine and a host of things like sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc right now. Soy isn't on my list officially but because I don't like it I am not consuming it. I do eat nuts, but not peanuts.

I just made my menu for next week:

Breakfasts:
Banana/cashew/coconut smoothie
Very Berry Smoothie
hot brown rice with berries and nuts, fruit
Lunches:
kippers with salad
leek/potato/corn soup
chicken, escarole, cannelloni bean soup
Dinners:
Baked chicken and mushrooms, brown rice pilaf, corn/bean/tomato salad
Shredded chicken tacos on corn tortillas, vegetarian refried beans
BBQ baked chicken with mashed potatoes, corn and green beans
Baked fish w/ olives, brown rice pilaf, spinach with pinenuts & sundried tomatoes
Stirfried veggies and shrimp, brown rice
Baked root veggie casserole (potato, sweet potato, parsnip, red onion, leek) and salad
Baked potatoes topped with chili
Snacks:
Tortillas and hummus, Vegetables, Fruit, Nuts

I have to say that avoiding all those foods are not only difficult but it must be very expensive. I'm very sorry you are going through this. I don't know if your dr might be any help at all. Sometimes my doctor just looks at me like I've lost my mind.(and sometimes she's right :lol: )

Have you lost any weight on this restrictive diet??? How do you keep from going hungry and broke at the same time???? Please I would love to know what you eat.

Your son is beautiful.

Look someone who types faster than me just left a menu. Other Mamas please share your menus too.

Thanks guys! I feel like I'm going crazy these past few days - like ocd checking and rechecking the labels on food and having an urge to spit out whatever's in my mouth, even water! I know it's just a transition phase thing, I'll get comfy here soon.

Yes Heather, looks like a pre-anaphylaxis reaction to me - if i ignored it, he'd be in big trouble by the time he was 1. I have no plans to quit breastfeeding, AT ALL, but dh and I discussed yesterday that if I somehow died (I was going to the store alone), he'd have to get a script for a specialty formula ASAP! Morbid, but practical thinking :lol:

Soledad - I'm finding foods I can eat, slowly. Today so far I've had GF raisin bread I like with olive oil spread, I had leftover homemade chicken wings for lunch. Calcium enriched OJ with a splash of spirulina smoothie thrown in. A banana and an apple. I'm hungry now - I have to go put the baby down and find something.

Yes, it costs big $, but I bought a whole bunch of things to try from the store yesterday. So it'll settle down once I know what I can eat and what he can handle. I'm thinking of going to the Dr. to get a child disability form filled out - so I can get a government-issued financial supplement to help cover the costs of eating this way for him. So I think I need to see her after all. She's really nice, if nothing else she'll hear me out. And she knows our history, so she'll probably take my instincts seriously.

Thanks guys, (((HUGS))) for all of us!

hehehe, here's my list.. we all avoid fish and shellfish..
Lindsey - dairy, tomato, strawberry, treenuts, citrus, banana and high fructose corn syrup.
Joshua - wheat, gluten, treenuts, peanuts, melon, high fructose corn syrup
Leila - wheat, gluten, dairy, banana, treenuts, egg, turkey, ham
me - treenuts, wheat, gluten, strawberries, dairy, egg thats not in a baked good. Egg and dairy are because of Leila and I'm starting to reintroduce small amounts into my diet. I've been 1000% bad about wheat/gluten since breaking my hand and Leila's excema is flaring :(

Oh, Mama, I'm so sorry. At least you know, right?! At our height of avoidance, we did not eat: eggs, gluten, dairy, chicken, walnuts, or soy. I cannot eat peanuts, so I added that to the list for me. Ds#2 is allergic to mushrooms, and both boys tested sensitive to lentils and a lot of fish, but we didn't really eat much of either of those anyway, so it wasn't really an issue.

But, then, we never were dealing with anaphylactic reactions at all, so it wasn't so critical....

I would say, definitely, breastfeeding would be the best thing. I'm rooting for you!!!!

My list isn't as bad, but I am finding it difficult, especially the dairy.
We are avoiding
dairy
soy
garlic
onions
all peppers

My two youngest dd's were allergic to all foods as of Nov 2004, and were put by the immunologist onto EO28, a product by the Neocate company. So when I was pg with this little guy, I started avoiding . . . my sig pic is him at 4 months because that is the last pic we have before he got sick.

I was unable to avoid fast enough. We tested and tested, but there is no accurate allergy test for a baby that young, and he was so messed up it looked like he was heading the way of his sisters.

So two months ago I stopped nursing :wah: and put him on Neocate, which is specifically made for multiple food allergy children. I hate it. I breastfed the seven children before him for 3 years each and I hate hate hate this. I would feel much better about it if he were improving, but he's still one messed up baby. Saw the immunologist last week and she says, "well, yes, but think of how it took your girls 2 years to heal. He had 6 months of damage to his gut, it will take some time to heal". Harumph.

I would give anything to be able to avoid food and nurse him. Yes I missed dairy, soy, wheat, etc, but :wah: . We still have to have 24 hour watch over him, since his face is completely ripped up and he wants to scratch it. Dh holds him from 1 am to 4 am, then I get up at 4 am and hold him until 9 am, then our 3 oldest take turns holding him until 11:30 while dh and I sleep. So he is never free to scratch. But we are tired.

OK I'll stop whining . . . he's otherwise a delightful sweet boy and I *do* feel blessed that he is here, otherwise healthy, etc.

Oh, Kim. :hug: I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were struggling with your little one. I hope his little system heals very soon.

Oh, Kim. :hug: I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were struggling with your little one. I hope his little system heals very soon.

what she said.

I'm so very sorry.

Oh, Kim. :hug: I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were struggling with your little one. I hope his little system heals very soon.
I am adding my {{{hugs}}} too KIm. I've often wondered how your new babe and your 2 girls were doing.

Belinda...
At the height of our avoidance we only ate...
rice
lamb
chicken
cabbage
leeks
rice cereal and rice milk(only vitasoy rice milk was safe I believe)
sugar(which I did not think was good for us, but we needed some variety)
swede
peeled white potatoes
brussel sprouts
wax beans
garbanzo beans
black beans
rice oil
we could bake with rice flour, tapioca flour, COT and Baking soda, salt rice milk egg subb(the COT /baking soda and oil) and sugar.

no yellow veggies...gosh I can't remember anymore. IT was the strict failsafe diet, though. But Neocate made my baby sick too. This diet was for me, Aidra and Leah. No fruit either. We could not tolerate it at all. We did it this strict for a year. Then I could not take it anymore, I had to do SOMETHING. Because I weighed 100 pounds and any slip in our diet made us all so sick.

Then we did NAET. now we eat everything.
Did you notice the EFT board here? Take a look. I am starting to learn EFT . It looks very promising. I truly believe in Energy medicine as It really helped us. EFT is something you can do at home yourself and there are two mater practitioners who can help you on tough stuff.
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/eft-mama/

Love to you...

I want to give kudos to you mamas for figuring out what's wrong so early. I wish I had known that Eli had issues long before we figured it out. He may have avoided the difficulties he has had!

:big hug: I know it's hard.

When Alex was a baby we all avoided wheat, dairy, citrus, and onion due to sensitivities. Now only a few avoid foods since we seemed to have eliminated the sensitivity.

dh still avoids citric acid and onion
dd2 avoids citric acid and we limit dairy (no milk or ice cream)
ds avoids citric acid and limited dairy (no milk or ice cream)