Christy, thanks for your suggestion about the flax oil. I'll give it a try. Any other ideas on how to help their gut heal? I'm breastfeeding directly but will try pumping.

Sorry, Bluebonnet's milk-free acidophilus powder is what she gets for probiotics. The enzymedica thing is some digestive enzymes that are out there.

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On Oct 29, 2009, at 12:28 PM, QT - KRichmonds <qtopic-23-aSxbbAkUULVMX@quicktopic.com > wrote:

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Kash: I agree with you. No solids at least until you see stool that is mucus/blood free. most pediatricians are highly uneducated about how to treat these kids. Most of us have delayed solids for several months due to all of the reactions. Delaying starting solids cause a slight developmental delay (fine motor skill coordination) but nothing to worry about. they catch back up very quickly. It's nothing to worry about. it's not like your kiddo is going to be malnourished if he misses out on a few weeks of what amounts to a tablespoon of solid food per day. The good calories and nutrition are coming from the breast milk. When you do start solids, don't start with cereal. Most of these kids can't handle grains. Cereal is really nutrient deficiant and it is only used to teach them how to eat. Just start with a really bland vegetable. i started with yellow squash but some kids don't tolerate it so well. I made the baby food from scratch because I was scared of the additives in the store bought. It's really easy, just buy fresh fruits and veggies, steam them, blend them, and freeze them in ice cube trays.

but I would agree with you to delay solids at least for a few more weeks, focus on healing the gut, and then slowly add solids. Usaully trial a new food for at least 2 weeks before you decide to add another and keep a food log so you can determine reactions.

KBRichmonds: For me I found help with supply issues by making sure I got enough sleep (even if it meant taking a nap) and drinking plenty of water. I know that sounds really basic, but sometimes when were dealing with elimination diets & food sensitivities our lives become so crazy that we neglect the basic. Hang in there.

Karen: We started out doing NAET, and then switched to BioSET. The information we got from both protocols was phenomenal and exceeded everything I had learned from 9 months of elimination diets, food diaries, pediatric allergist & pediatric gastroenterologists. We found the treatments to be very helpful, but aside from that just the information provided was absolutely PRICELESS!

Jessica: Yes probiotics & digestive enzymes can be very beneficial. If you are breastfeeding it is likely that if you take them your body will utilize them & not much will get passed on to your son. Now this can benefit you, because if your body is reacting to any foods or if your body is not properly breaking foods down then this can help ensure that properly broken down proteins are getting into your breastmilk. It would be beneficial to give these things to your son directly. For probiotics we've had good success with a couple of brands, one has already been mentioned - Bluebonnet. But we recently switched my son to MegaFood MegaFlora, it is guaranteed to be free of dairy, gluten & soy. It contains 20 billion organisms per capsule (which you could open up the capsule for a younger child), and has 14 different strains. We have seen some really positive improvements in my son with this probiotic. For digestive enzymes we use the BioSET chewable enzyme. When my son was very young, he used to take 1/3 capsule and we would crush it between two spoons and he would suck it off the spoon. This made a very big impact for my son. Best wishes!

Gwen -

My daughter eats the Bell and Evans brand of chicken nuggets. They are also gluten free. She does not like the Ian's brand. Igredients are: chicken breast meat, water, sea salt, breaded with rice flour, water, yellow corn flour, xantham gum, evaporated cane juice, seat salt, soybean oil, yeast, ascorbic acid, whole egg, spice.
So, they are not okay if you are avoiding the soybean oils or eggs, but both of those are okay for my daughter.


Melanie, mom to:

Natalie, 26 months, intolerant to dairy and wheat, allergic to peanuts, Prevacid for Reflux
treating with avoidance, probiotics, chiro, and CST

Aidan, 3.5 years, no known allergies





Ticker id: IvP3&#C2;&#A0;&#C2;&#A0; Ticker id: yZZP&#C2;&#A0;&#C2;&#A0;&#C2;&#A0;&#C2;&#A0; Ticker id: lFno


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Christy - No... he doesn't still have his tube in. He ripped it out 3 days after we got home. We have a GI appointment on Tuesday. I am really nervous bc he didn't want me to breastfeed anymore and we are doing it 1/2 and half now. That's a good idea with mixing the Zantac with breastmilk... I hadn't even thought of that. We were diluting it with water.... which maybe wasn't the best idea. He isn't throwing up anymore though... so should he even be on it? I am wondering bc I was reading about digestive enzymes a little bit and it mentioned that stomach acid was essential in proper digestion.

We actually live in Arlington. Flower Mound isn't far at all. We are driving to Rockwall for our NAET treatments... so it's closer than that. :o)

Here is my question for the experts on digestive enzymes and probiotics. My son is 11 months old right now. Is is too early to start him on them? Also he is Neutropenic at the moment. It means one of his white blood cells that fights infections is really really low. Pretty much gone. Apparently he has Neutrophil antibodies. This all started at the hospital. I think that he got something through the plasma infusion ... but they swear up and down that it's not. Anyways... if he can't fight infections... do you think that it would affect giving him the probiotic and the digestive enzymes? I know that you all aren't doctors or anything... but I just wanted to see if you guys knew anything.

Thank you Melanie for explaining the enzymes to me. I went to your site and I really liked it! How many treatments of BioSet does it usually take? Is it like NAET that way? I know that we are going to be going there for months and months... since we are having a treatment only once a week.

KRichmonds - I am almost at the 4 week mark with my TED and my supply isn't nearly as good as it was. I was actually starting to dry up and then decided to go for it once I had more information about it. I still only have 1/2 of what he needs. I am not sleeping well though and often forget to drink so much. I am more focused on what I am going to eat. :) I just wanted to let you know that someone was going through the same thing you were. Hopefully we can increase our supply more and more as time goes on. :)

Thanks for all your responses. Jessica, I hope you're able to increase your milk supply and maybe get some decent sleep soon.

By the way, am I hurting my LO in the long run by insisting on breast feeding in spite of his continued symptoms. His stool has been mucousy for the last 5 months in spite of my diet and I can't help but wonder if I'm doing more damage to him than good.

Thanks again for all the advice, encouragement and support.

KRichmonds: I struggled over that question too. I remember that so well! I can't give you an answer, but these are some points to consider:

1) General health...Is he happy? Does he look well? Color good? Energy level good? Developing well? On target with milestones?

2) Is he losing weight? Not just slow to gain, but actually losing weight?

3) Here is a question from my GI that really helped me:..."If you were blind, and couldn't see her diapers, would you still be worried?"

4) There is no evidence that continued mucous/blood in the thriving breastfed baby does the baby any longterm harm, but there is evidence that breastfeeding does longterm good...it continues to supply the baby with living, superior milk especially suited for that baby.

5) There is no guarantee that your baby will not start to react to the formula after a short "honeymoon" period. (This one was a biggie for me.)

6) What is your mommy instinct telling you?

For me, I just never could accept that my milk, designed just for her, could be harming her. Would her mucous have cleared up with formula right away? Probably, but no guarantee. Would that one change (no mucous) outweigh the other benefits of breastfeeding? That is where the questions above helped me to decide. Abigail was thriving, in spite of the diarrhea, mucous, and blood. I loved question #3 above. I was so glad he asked me that.

I am sure other moms who chose to discontinue breastfeeding have some other words of wisdom here. Maybe they will chime in.

KRichmonds: I completely agree with Jill. and I am more inclined to think that the mucus/blood is probably because of prior damage done and continued inflammation, not necessarily what your LO is ingesting at the moment. Focus on healing his gut. Healthy oils for you and for him. If you can't get some flax oil in him (ie:mixed with breastmilk and syringe orbottle fed), then do it.

Jessica: I think digestive enzymes and probiotics are just what your little ones needs.As far as yourmilk supply goes.....it's always a battle when you're on a special diet or your pumping only or whatever is going on. Hang in there. I know it's exhausting right now what you are going through, but you HAVE to take care of yourself too or you wont be able to make enough milk. You must get sleep, fluids, and lots of calories. Producing breast milk burns 1000 calories per day from your body. YOu need to be taking in way more than that....lots of healthy fats too, drink coconut milk, if your LO can take it. If he is going to the breast, put him there every 2-3 hrs. If he is not going to the breast, the try to get him there or at the very least snuggle him, skin to skin against your breast, several timesper day. That skin to skin stimulation helps stimulate your milk supply as well. Just hang in there. You're doing great.

This may be off topic, but I am throwing it out there anyway. Abigail is 16 months old tomorrow. She does not say words yet. She will occasionally imitate a word, like night-night, but then she will not say it again. Same with bird, hi, and 'nana' for banana. I'm talking one-time use. She does not babble, but she does point, gesture, understand everything we say, she can point to her body parts, etc. She will imitate the other kids with simple duh-duh-duh-duh, but other than than that, she doesn't make many consonant sounds. Mostly, little "mmm-uh" sounds when pointing. My husband thinks I'm nutso for worrying about it as she is so physically well developed and understands everything we say. Any thoughts?

Jill, 12 month Fiala talks fine, but she doesn't walk, and my husband thinks I'm crazy for worrying about that, too! It's just that three of my other kids walked well before now (my other daughter walked @ 9 months!), and the only one who was delayed in walking is a son who has other developmental delays (he's high-functioning autistic)... So, I'm worried, and wondering if it has anything to do with Fiala's digestion/intolerance/allergy issues, why she isn't walking.

Sorry, I'm of no help, but wanted to let you know that there is at least one other mother obsessing over similar issues!!!!
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Jill: this is what, your 4th child? I doubt you're prone to excessive worrying in general, right? Bad hubby. (Kidding) Does she walk
already? I believe that they either walk or talk first, not both. Their brains really can only work on one of those at a time. My friend's son was a late talker and at almost 4 now, he's totally caught up. That being said, he was an MSPI baby and did go to speech therapy sessions for a few months. I think he didn't really start talking 'til he was 2 or later. My neighbor's son was also a late talker at 2 or later. No MSPI issues and no therapy. He's 3 now and a pretty good talker.

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On Nov 2, 2009, at 7:12 PM, QT - Karen Reill <qtopic-23-aSxbbAkUULVMX@quicktopic.com > wrote:

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She's my fifth. She started walking at 10 months and can climb really well. She is all over jungle gyms!

I try not to be a worrier but it seems like Abigail has had one small thing to worry about after another. First, she was born with a small scalp defect called Cutis Aplasia Congenita...basically her skin and under layers didn't close up around the scalp whorl until after she was born. Then the whole GI thing. At her 12 month appt, my ped heard a new heart murmur in her pulmonary region, so we had to get an EKG and X-ray, which were normal, but still have to follow up on that as it's location is not normal. I didn't think much about the not talking until I realized that my 4th child was saying sentences by now (granted...she was a phenomenal talker...very early, abundant speech). Anyway...thank you for your thoughts. I have been reading that you can see an early childhood intervention specialist if your child does not have at least 20 (!) words by 15 months.

Jill and Dee Dee: these kiddos do tend to be somewhat delayed simply because most of them were sick for so long before getting diagnosed and because most of us parents have usually delayed the intro of solid foods. My LO was a preemie as well so she was very delayed. If you have any concerns at all, talk to your pediatrician and ask for a referral to the local ECI (early childhood intervention) program. Most states have one and it is usually covered by insurance or medicaid. They will come to your home and do evaluation of development, speech, occupational, and sometimes nutrition. I loved my ECI nutritionist. she was more helpful than any nutritionist we saw through the childrens hospital. Most programs you can also self refer. So if pediatrician is hesitant or doesn't know about it, then do a google search for your area and/or call the local school system. The program is set up to catch delays early in life so that they are corrected prior to the child starting school. Good luck.

Hi KRichmonds-Your situation sounds so similar to my 2nd childs situation. Jill has some great points to think about. Even with the continued mucus and blood I also felt it was important for us to continue to bf and both the Ped and GI were so supportive. I bf untill he was 22months old. He is now 2.4 and can eat everything under the sun!!!!Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, michellep - the news about your son is really encouraging to me!! Mine is 12 months and breastfed on a TED, and we've had so many more FAILED trials than successful ones, and I'm it gets discouraging...

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