***delurking***

This is my personal experience... My son began with GI reactions
(bloody, mucousy, green diarrhea) at 4 weeks. After dairy, then soy
elimination he was better, but not within normal parameters. I also did
the Dr. Sears elimination diet. Once again, better, but his stools were
still mucousy & watery. We (me, the ped & GI doctors) didn't know if it
was something in my diet he was still reacting to or if it was just
irritation & needing some help healing. The GI doctor wanted me to give
him Neocate short term for healing & the ped. wanted me to continue BF
& accept the situation as it was. My personal feeling was that formula
of any kind was not an option for us because my son was/is thriving &
we were not at "last resort" time yet. After lots of consideration,
research & trying things that didn't work for us (pancreatic enzymes,
probiotics, chiropractic...), I chose to try an alternative medicine -
slippery elm bark powder - when he was 4 months old. He improved
immediately. The change was so fast (normal poop within 3 days) that I
thought it must have been a coincidence & I took him off the slippery
elm. Within a week we were back to green, mucousy stool with flecks of
blood. I started him back on the slippery elm & he is doing great. His
skin is clear & he poops every 3 to 5 days & it is seedy & has
substance. He is now 5 months old & I have been able to add foods back
in to the point that I'm only eliminating milk, soy, peanuts, tree
nuts, fish, shellfish & eggs.

Through LLL & POFAK (at kidswithfoodallergies.org) I have learned that
many different things work for different moms & babies, so I don't want
to give the impression that I've found "the cure." But, I do think it's
worth consideration in this situation as it's a very safe alternative.

Brandy


FlowerGirl wrote:
I'm looking for anyone with real information on this (as in personal
experience, journal references etc)

Firstly, there is a gastroenterologist, a paed. and a LC with particular
experience in food allergy all giving different advice. I've done what
synopsis I can, but I probably have not got this 100% right ..

A friend of mine has a 7.5 mo DD who has had an ulcerated colon since either
a) 3 weeks pp when my friend had 3 lots of different ABs due to what was
thought to be an infected c-section wound (which turned out to be an
irritation to a stitch) ... and this is what the gastroenterologist thinks
happened ,.... or b) from birth - her family have a history of gut problems
with the older DD and the grandmother both having some degree of irritable
gut throughout life (but these "problems" have never been checked to see if
they're allergies etc ... the grandmother has only been checked for colon
cancer).

At any rate, the baby has been exclusively bf thus far, and my friend has
kept a food diary and removed pretty much everything from her diet that
could possibly cause a problem irritating the gut lining the foods she is
eating a lamb, chicken, rockmelon, watermelon, occasional apple, sugar,
salt, pumpkin, zucchini ... and I think that's about it. No dairy. No
grains at all (even rice was causing an issue).

So at 7.5 mo, the gastroenterologist has suggested that neocate formula may
be the way forward as it seems that the elimination diet has not really
helped the problem and there aren't a whole lot extra foods my friend can
cut out.

I've been backing bf, and my friend has talked to the LC plus consultants
from the ABA, but is at a point where she just doesn't know what to do. She
wants to bf, but the gastroenterologist suspects that this is part the
problem (don't ask me why I'm just repeating what she told my friend).

At this point in time, I think she wants to at least try to see if the
neocate will make a difference and is planning to do trial of this whilst
using a pump to maintain her supply so she can switch back if there's no
improvement.
Personally I'm always going to be pro-bf, but I also think you gotta know
when a situation is so medically different from the norm that other
solutions may need consideration.

That's why I'm asking here in case anybody else has some specific insights
into what might be a way forward.

Amanda