Any new tips/advice/treatment?

How's everyone doing? I hope better than last time we checked in!

I am now on to a holistic-type of doctor since my traditional pediatrician says that since I've taken out dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, beef, pork, corn, tomatoes, and citrus that the next step is to go to a prescription formula since we are still getting bloody diapers.

Well...of course that's not what I want...come on now, if I wanted to go to formula, do you think I would follow above said diet now for almost 5 months? Um...no!

So we go to this new doctor (referred by my DH's co-worker who went through something similar) and he is WONDERFUL! He asked me if I brought in a diaper for him to look at (not even the GI specialist wanted to see a diaper!) and asked me to start writing everything down that I'm eating (which I've been doing and brought along my notebook for him to look at) - and NO doctor has even shown interest in looking through my journal or suggesting that I even keep one! So he wins points right off the bat with me! He looked through my journal and saw 2 things that I should take out....caffeine (I was drinking decaf coffee) and chicken! He wanted me to add back fish (salmon, trout, etc). So that was last Thursday...I stopped caffeine and chicken/meat (I already was pork/beef-free) and added salmon. NO BLOODY DIAPERS! (XXX fingers that now I don't get one!) and he wants to see me this Thursday! I was getting bloody diapers at least every other day...sometimes every day! Oh, and he didn't push me out of his office.....he was very calm and not in a hurry at all. I love him! The first doctor that really seems to care what I'm going through as a parent (worry/guilt/etc)

He said that some babies can not tolerate the protein in meat well...so he thinks that might be the culprit. He also said his top things that he sees are dairy, gluten, citrus, caffeine, alcohol, meat. He said he's not even really too concerned about soy.

So we'll see what he says this Thursday. Hopefully he'll have me add more things back into my diet. I'm dying for some cashews!

So...if anyone is having as many problems as I've had...maybe my little story helps!?! I am hopeful that this doctor will help us be more successful than the previous advice I was getting!

How's everyone doing?

Ugh....good day for a check-in. I'll post this on the Bump tonight and again Monday since it's so late tonight. (8pm CST)

So....we had a horrible green and bloody diaper today. I'm at my flippin' wits end I tell ya. I'm going to call the pedi on Monday and ask him to do a RAST test. This is ridiculous to say the least. I've been eating shrimp/veggies/rice for dinner the last 2 nights...so I'm not sure if it's seafood/shellfish now. Ugh, I am so frustrated!

A seems fine as far as his behavior (not fussy or anything). He's gaining great - I weighed him on our scale twice and both times it was 15 lbs (my weight w/him - my weight alone). But seeing those diapers is beyond heartbreaking. I always end up crying because I really don't know what else I can do. So for now...it's back to rice, plain chicken breasts, veggies (no broccoli though). I just want him to have normal diapers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sure hope you ladies are having better luck than me. I can't (or Alexander can't) seem to catch a break with this.

It's been a while!

(now that song is going to be in my head!)

Missed ya ladies....how is everyone doing?

Alexander is growing like a weed....no more noodle arms/legs, he's all pudgy now! He just got over a bad week of bloody/mucousy green diaps. I think it might be caramel coloring (tried the Tri-vi-Sol for 1st time) or eggs. I am doing an elimination diet until he has good diaps again for a full week. Last time I thought it was hamburger, but I haven't had any beef for about 2.5 weeks.

But he's doing better now, still the happy little guy he normally is! Can't wait to hear how everyone is doing!

Post an update! Is everyone getting better?

Alexander is allergic to wheat...gaaaaahhhh! He had an almost all mucous and orange/brown diap and a green bloody one :( I forgot how bad those diaps can smell! So it looks like I won't be saving any money on pasta or bread! LOL

Tim thinks I should still try dairy next week or the week after (we pretty much know he's allergic to soy already so we're not even going to test that). I want to give his insides a while to heal first though since it seems like the wheat really did a number on him. Poor guy!

I'm not 100% convinced Alexander doesn't have an allergy to dairy...but Tim isn't so sure he is since the entire time I went dairy free I was still getting soy or wheat in my diet (the original time I cut it out....you know, like 2.5 months ago LOL). We'll see. I'm not really keen on the idea of causing another stomach ache for my little guy. Everytime I see he doesn't take something well, I end up really depressed and feeling horrible that I caused it. We'll see.

Should this be a weekly check-in instead?

It seems like less and less people are commenting. Should I change it to be a weekly check-in instead? Maybe every Monday? I'm open for suggestions to make this work the best for all of us! :)

How do you handle going out with friends/family?

I am going out to a mexican restaurant on Thursday with a bunch of friends to celebrate my belated birthday and my friends birthday. I am excited to see my friends...but dreading watching everyone eat such yummy food (I LOVE mexican food!). I don't even think I'll be able to eat the rice and beans...as I'm sure they use vegetable oil for the rice and who knows what they put in the beans. Maybe I'll get the ceviche? I'll have to look that up on the internet and see if they list out the ingredients and then make sure there's no hidden soy in there.

I also have a dinner date coming up at a steak joint. I think I can get away with eating steak and a plain baked potato a lot easier than mexican. I'm thinking of using this card to help the cooks realize how important it is to not use butter on my steak and to limit the cross-contamination.

I am hoping that I can at least get by with this card and maybe just end up eating salads at restaurants or something...it would suck if this MSPI things stops me from joining friends at dinner (well, I'll still go - but how much does that suck that I'm watching them eat all this glorious food while I sip on my glass of wine or water?)

Oh - went to the GI dr today....he doesn't believe me about the Sodium Nitrite..but I'm not surprised at that one bit. He's pushing the vitamins, of course, so I'm going to try the Tri-Vi-Sol w/Iron to see if Alexander handles that well....and if he doesn't, I'll just end up giving iron and vitamin D. He also said there's no need to see him again! Yay!!!!

How has your LO / you been this past week?

Hello everyone! Glad to be back!

Well...we figured out that Alexander is sensitive to Sodium Nitrite (a preservative widely used in salty things...ours was ham!). It caused bloody diapers again...go figure! But I stopped eating the ham and viola - no more blood. I swear, this kid is allergic to the air! LOL

But we're back to all yellow/seedy diapers again...so yay! We go see the stupid GI doctor tomorrow morning at 9am. I'm not even sure why I'm keeping the appt...what's he really going to tell me? He'll probably argue with me on the vitamin (the vitamin E succinate caused bad diapers) and the ham. But I'll just let that go in one ear and out the other because I'm the one that spends all day with him and have tested these items out and took them out of the diet...so if he tries to tell me that there's no way he can be allergic to those 2 things...I just might not go back to him at all anymore.

This week I am adding back wheat! I'm going to add some whole wheat pasta tonight and see how it goes. Honestly...I'm nervous about it. I don't know why, but I am. Maybe because it's a pretty common allergy? It would be nice if he's not allergic to it so that I don't have to spend $4-$5 on a package of brown rice noodles/pasta anymore! This diet is getting so expensive!

Oh - Alexander dropped a feeding too! (well..the last two nights anyways...we'll see if he picks it back up). He's also been sleeping longer because of it! So yay for us!

Hope to hear some good news from you ladies!