Everett's Allergies Cont...

Here is an update on Everett's food allergy situation. I received an email from a friend who's son has major food allergies. I found it so informative I thought I would just cut and paste (for those of you who are interested).

1. Most doctors (I would say at least 90%) are clueless about food allergies. They seem to get pet or pollen allergies but are not educated on the various symptons of food allergies. There is a website, I think it is for the Allergy and Anaphalaxis Network. Something like that. Try to see what you can find on there about possible symptoms for food allergies.
2. I recommend feeding your child nothing but rice (rice pasta is good, Trader Joes sells a brown rice bread, rice crackers, brown rice, rice milk, rice cereals both a hot kind like Bob's Red Mill and other cold like a gluten and corn free Rice Chex), chicken (seasoned with just salt and pepper), potatoes, and apples (best if lightly steamed or sauced). After a week or two of this kind of diet then slowly (maybe one thing every 3 or so days) add in one thing at a time. Corn allergies are quite common so I would definitely avoid corn as well as soy. This means nothing from corn: meal, syrup. starch, and the like. Other highly allergenic foods to avoid for a little while are nuts of all kinds, other legumes (the soybean is a legume) including pinto beans, eggs, wheat, and oats as they are closely related to wheat. It sounds like you have also removed milk. That is probably smart. If you are concerned about calcium there are some good liquid supplements out there.
3. Follow your instincts. The doctors told me (even one of the most well-known dermatologists at PCH) that Josh's problems were not food allergies. I knew they were wrong and the years have proved me right.
4. Read every label.
5. Try to not get discouraged. If taking away all the foods is not working then he might not have allergies. Still, sometimes it takes even 2 or more weeks after you have removed the offending food for the symptoms to alleviate. Your baby doesn't need dairy to survive like a lot of people say.
6. We have no history of food allergies on either side of our family. A and C seem to not be affected. We don't know why J has had all these problems but are glad that we know. So, if the doctors ask about family history and there isn't any that doesn't mean it isn't possible.
7. Throwing up...J used to throw up everytime he ate bananas, hot dogs, soy and other things. Recently Ch fixed us "dino nuggets" from Costco. There seems to be a soy ingredient (soy protein isolate) in those that caused him to vomit. But, he can have things with soy lecithin. We finally figured out that Hebrew National hot dogs have mustard seed so he can't tolerate those. And he has outgrown his banana allergy. J still gets hives from eggs. He is highly allergic to mustard seed, lentils, peanuts, tree nuts, pine nuts and eggs. I can cook with eggs now but he definitely can't eat them if they are not mixed into a recipe. Let me know what you think will work or what foods you are trying to avoid. I can give you some ideas about what to cook. FYI...eating to accomodate food allergies usually makes the grocery bill increase. Whole Foods (we call it Whole Paycheck) has many options for people with food allergies. Good rice in bulk can be purchased at Lee Lee on Dobson and Warner. I feel really blessed for all the times we have adjusted our meals for J. We eat better now because of it. J was allergic to my breast milk so I learned to eat a diet free of eggs, milk, nuts, wheat, and soy. It is possible.

So we have had Everett on the rice, potatoes, apple, chicken diet (I also had him on whole milk and yogurt, b/c I know he is not allergic to those) now for 12 days and he went throwup free for 10 days straight, which is a record since he was about 9 mo.'s old. (on day 10 he threw up randomly and I think he might have eaten something off the floor. Who knows). Anyway, I just started yesterday adding beans to his diet and so far so good. In a few days we will add another food and see how he does and we will continue with this until we hopefully figure out all of his allergies. Thanks for everyone's concern and we hope to get this problem solved!