Elimination Diet?

[Mahjong]

Hi Everyone,

DH spoke to our Pead today (he does their maintenance on their servers and PC's and so happened to crash today of all days lol) regarding DS2's reactions this week to certain foods (another thread in this section from yesterday)

He's advised DH and I to stick DS2 on and elimination diet to work out what foods are setting his hives off.
Then we can go ahead with further invasive tests, he doesnt want to put DS2 through it just yet as he's only 27months.

I have one information sheet currently, but me, being me... I want MORE information and as much as possible so I go into this with a clear and knowledgable head!

Currently our concerns are:

Chocolate
Rockmelon and anything citrus like tomatoes, oranges and strawberries etc
Banana
Possibly cow's milk intolerance, was on lactose free milk until he was 2 then switched to normal cow's milk, but we've actually had a thought and realised that these hives have been coming and going since changing milks, so he's back on the lactose free milk as of tonight.

Any information is GREATLY appreciated or looking to speak to other parents who have gone through this with their kids or themselves.

:sunshine:

[kiwichuck]

The RPAH Allergy Unit in Sydney sell a couple of excellent books about allergies, intolerances and elimination diets (called Friendly Food and Elimination Diet Handbook).
This link (http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/default.htm)takes you to their website...

[presley]

Absoluely - I second kiwichuck's post - get the RPA handbook and recipe book. They put my DS3 on the elimination diet just this week. He's only 10m so he's on strict diet (i'm including wheat but not cows milk or soy.) He eats pear, rice cereal, whizzed up potato/swede/chicken and rice milk 'custard' made w constarch/sugar/vanilla. And nuttelex toast/sandwiches.

I've got the handbook in front of me -

[presley]

(sorry accidentally posted)

Chocolate: high in amines (usually contains dairy too)
rockmelon:high in Salicylate
citrus: very high in S and A
tomato: high S, A and Glutamate
strawberries: very high S and A
Banana: high A if very ripe (moderate if only just ripe)

I also suspect CMPI and maybe Soy intolerance in my DS so I'm going with strict elim diet for about 4 - 6 weeks, watching to see if symptoms clear up by then, (if they don't we'll take out wheat), then if he is clear we'll be able to challenge to see if we can identify more accurately.

So my DS3 is eating only from the 'Low chemical' list of foods for the next 4- 6 weeks. If your DSs symptoms don't improve you may need to tighten things up to establish a base line. But it is important that his nutritional needs are covered (we've got DS3 on elecare - he spewed up neocate, which keeps him covered nutritionally) and i'm lucky that him being 10m he'll happily eat a bowl of mushed swede which your DS might not be so happy about - that's where you'll probably need the 'friendly food' recipe book.

My best advice would be to make sure you keep a food diary - stick it up on the fridge, write down everything he eats and ANY symptoms, eczema flareups, colds, whatever - it really does help as you won't remember what happened a month ago. Good luck - let us know how he's going.