Our children have food intollerances. In our family we avoid ALL FORMS of DAIRY, SOY, GLUTEN and WHEAT.
I found this quick intro to help you to understand why we avoid these foods and the effect they have on our little one's bodies.
"A food allergy occurs when the immune system mistakenly sees certain food proteins as something the body should fight off. This starts a reaction, which can cause an infant to be fussy and irritable, and cause an upset stomach and other symptoms. Most kids who are allergic to cow's milk also react to goat's milk and sheep's milk, and some of them are also allergic to the protein in soy milk.
Infants who are breastfed have a lower risk of developing a milk allergy than those who are formula fed. But researchers don't fully understand why some develop a milk allergy and others don't, though it's believed that in many cases, the allergy is genetic.
Some kids never outgrow it.
A milk allergy is not the same thing as lactose intolerance, the inability to digest the sugar lactose, which is rare in infants and more common among older kids and adults.
Symptoms of cow's milk protein allergy will generally appear within the first few months of life. An infant can experience symptoms either very quickly after feeding (rapid onset) or not until 7 to 10 days after consuming the cow's milk protein (slower onset).
The slower-onset reaction is more common. Symptoms may include loose stools (possibly containing blood), vomiting, gagging, refusing food, irritability or colic, and skin rashes. This type of reaction is more difficult to diagnose because the same symptoms may occur with other health conditions."
-Kidshealth.org
I don't like to call it an "allergy" since a true allergy is rare. A blood test would not likely show if your child had a problem digesting food proteins. An "intollerance" seems to be a better fit. Yet intollerance, allergy, sensitivity all are used interchangeably to get people to understand the bottom line- "My kid can't eat that."
It has been a VERY long road trying to figure out what is causing our kids health problems. Sleepless nights, chronic fevers, pallor, bowel issues, sinus infections, ear infections, driving to see an ENT with all the kids in tow, ear tubes, babies with dark under eye circles (and mommy too!), rashes, eczema, bloody & mucousy diapers, chronic swollen lymph nodes, blood work, xrays, weight issues, sleep problems, stomach aches, speech delay, chronic fluid build up in the middle ear, colitis, food mal-absorption, thrush, fever, horrible reflux, SWINE FLU (no kidding... Lincoln's immune system was so drained that he seems to get everything he is exposed to), lab visits, a horrible Lymhoma (cancer) scare with my toddler, two surgeries, we have gone through 4 pediatricians (none of which were any help), multiply calls to our insurance for help, phone calls, internet research, books, talking to parents, nurses, friends and family. I have literally gotten in touch with every resource that is available to me that I am aware of.
All those pediatritians, an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat Dr) and the top Dr's staff at Loma Linda University could not find anything "wrong" with my kids. So, I started doing my own research. Slowly I started to piece together how food and chemicals effect the human body. We now FINALLY have an awesome Dr who understands our children's special dietary needs. He happens to practice holistic medicine and we were referred from a health food store in our area. The timing couldn't have been better because I was desperate to heal my kids and was already venturing into the holistic lifestyle. We took milk out of Lincoln's diet and he started sleeping through the night for the first time since he was born (No more screaming in pain for an hour every 2 hours through the night). We have done an accidental "trial" and he reacted badly to dairy by screaming "owwwie" for almost an hour. He woke up covered in diarrhea and seemed to be in a lot of pain. He wouldn't even let us console him. I did a trial with soy and he woke up crying many times through the night again seeming to be in pain.
Through my diet I have eliminated dairy, soy, wheat, gluten and caffiene. I did this to make sure that my breastmilk is as allergy free as possible for him. If I so much as have anything with dairy or an ingredient derived from dairy... Dylan's gut bleeds and shows up in his diaper. The doctor has told us that our household needs to be DAIRY AND SOY FREE. I cut wheat on my own and felt so much better I chose not to re-introduce it into our diets. I also noticed that with the elimination of wheat my oldest is less restless and the dry, white patches on his face clear up within days! I feel rested and if a fog has been lifted. I have more energy. I was able to finally kick my massive caffeine habit. The stomach aches, allergies and sinus infections I always dealt with are gone. I have lost almost 70 pounds from cutting out processed foods. We eat as healthy as we can and make smarter choices in everything we consume... from food to household products. I do what we can to keep unnecessary chemicals out of our home. It's not always easy but nothing in the world is more important to me than my children's health... emotionally, physically and mentally. My kids are amazing. Watching them go through the challenges and hurts that they have endured has made me aware of so much. It has taught me to be more aware of every thing in my families environment... everything that I eat, touch, smell and expose myself to. I have been sucked into an eye opening lifestyle. One where you have to keep an open mind and unlearn a lot of things that you were taught to be true. A lifestyle where you take responsibilty for your own health and wellness and in turn everyone around you benefits. FINALLY... my babies are thriving. They are growing and like normal children. They now go to the Dr for well child checkups instead of 1-2 times a week for fevers, colds, sickness and infection. We no longer have papers laying around of what time the last dose of antibiotics was given and instead we have lists of fun things to do or errands that need to be run. We for the first time since Lincoln was born in 2009 have been able to make plans and not worry about having to cancel so I can stay home and hold him until his fever breaks. I would have never believed it if I hadn't lived it. Each problem opened a door to new information and it seems to be never ending. There is always something to learn about. I spend almost every day learning how to live natural. "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." -- Hippocrates, father of medicine, 431 B.C.
You would think that would come easy... but not so much when everything around is so far removed from how nature intended them to be.
With all of these new changes the kids are FINALLY WELL (after 2 years of tests, drs office visits, medicine and hell-nothing is worse than feeling like your baby is dying and you don't know how to stop it) and it has forced us to lay of the McDonald's and start eating healthy, unprocessed and when we can, organic.
If you are interested in more information on all of this... check it out by googling-
Milk Protein Allergy
Milk Protein intollerance
Milk Protein Sensitivity
MSPI
Gluten Free
Wheat Free
Organic
Whole food
