Food allergies in infants come as a huge shock to parents. Parents may go through some very heavy realizations. Although it may seem like a huge mountain, dealing with food allergies can be managed in a reasonable manner. Most babies develop symptoms of food allergies as soon as 2-3 months. It usually starts with bad cradle cap, and migrates down to the face. Infants with food allergies often develop red, oozing sores on their faces. Other areas of the body are most often covered with eczema. You will find yourself as a parent trying all the different lotions and cremes on the market to find something to alleviate your child's distress. At first nothing seems to help. From experience, there were a few products that may have helped a little tiny bit, but the thing that helped the most was getting allergy tested and changing the diet. For our son, we ended up bathing him in plain water or Cetaphil Cleanser and slathering him with pure Emu oil, as Emu is the closest to human oil.
The first step is to find a good allergist and have your child tested for food allergies. Also, if you suspect severe, life threatening food allergies, pick up a pair of Epi-pen Jr.'s right away. For our infant son, we found the RAST blood test was the most accurate and could test for tons of allergies on only one blood draw. There is also the scratch test and the prick test, but the for infants it may be very uncomfortable for them. Although your pediatrician means well, h or she doesn't know much about food allergies, thank them for suggestions, but go see an Allergist ASAP. Also, skip the dermatologists. They will put your child on heavy steroids which will not help. In fact it will hide the symptoms, allowing the allergy to get worse with exposure. Steroids also thin the skin over time which makes eczema worse in the long run and doesn't not allow the body to heal itself. With our son, we went through four doctors until we found a good one that could actually get to the root of the problem. The doctor who we found is actually called a "DAN" doctor. They work with children in the autism spectrum. Allergies, ADHD, Autism and Asthma are all on the same spectrum and because they have the same symptoms, a lot of times have the same treatments. Although I won't go into details about that at this time, a good book I recommend is "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders" by Kenneth Bock M.D. Our son is not Autistic, but benefits from some of the same treatments for his allergies. The "DAN" Dr. we found is a N.D. and an M.D. To find a DAN Dr. in your area, visit the "Defeat Autism Now" website.
After you find a good Allergist or even better, a "DAN" Dr., it's time to make a diet change. If your baby is nursing, the mother must change her diet. The biggest food culprits are milk, eggs, nuts, seafood, soy, and wheat. When I was nursing I started by cutting out dairy, eggs and wheat first. Once your child is allergy tested, you will have a better idea of what foods to avoid. If your child is on baby formula, you may want to switch to a soy formula, but if your child has a strong milk allergy, he or she may also be allergic to soy. The next formula to try would be an hypoallergenic or elemental formula like Alimentum or Elecare.
For my son, we started making our own homemade formula, approved by our doctor. I made sure it was nutritionally complete by entering the ingredients on a nutritional website. Below is the recipe that our son has lived on since he was 7 months old. Please make sure your child is not allergic to any of these ingredients if you plan on trying it.
Zacky's Formula
1 Cooked Large Sweet Potato
1 avocado (remove skin and pit)
1 cup of Poi (a Hawaiian starch)
3 Ounces of cooked ground Elk meat
1 cup of blueberries
1/2 apple
3 large raw Kale leaves
a bunch of organic baby spinach leaves
a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
Dash of Olive oil -we used Walnut oil, but if your child is allergic to nuts, or suspected allergic, use olive instead.
Blend all these ingredients together in a high speed blender such as a Vitamix or Blendtec. Makes 7-8, 8oz. bottles. We pour the mix into Playtex drop-in bottles and store in the fridge. Our son went through about all of them each day, so we made a fresh batch daily.
Our DAN Dr. also put our son on some supplements. The one that has helped him the most was the Probiotic. Make sure if you use probiotics, to choose a high quality one that is hypoallergenic. We used the brand Kirkman Super Pro-Bio. He also takes magnesium, zinc, vitamin D and a calcium powder supplement. When Zacky was old enough, we started him on a childrens supplement called Yummi Bears, a hypoallergenic gummy vitamin.
Because Allergic children have weakened immune systems, many times there is bad bacteria in the intestines. The Probiotic will help rid the gut of the bad bugs and replace them with good ones.
Our Son Zacky was born as one of the most allergic babies with extremely sensitive skin, but since we started the homemade formula at 7 months old, his body started to heal. His entire infancy was enveloped by constant scratching and irritability. We had to use hand restraints when he slept or he would tear his skin up and wake up a bloody mess.
At the age of 1 year, we didn't have to put his handcuffs on to sleep anymore. The scratching subsided, and his skin started to heal. Today, he only has a small patch of eczema on his fingers and feet, but if we don't mention it, people don't notice. He's outgrown several of his allergies, including, corn, beef, chicken, and soy. He's still allergic to the big ones, like milk, eggs, nuts, seafood, wheat but we are hopeful he'll outgrow some of those in time.
As a family, we still try and enjoy life as much as possible. We do normal family things, but when it comes to eating, we have a few simple procedures in place. At restaurants, we bring antibacterial wipes and thoroughly wipe down any surface Zacky might touch. We bring his own food, as any food in a restaurant could have potential cross contamination. At home, he only uses his own utensils and we always clean our pans and cooking wear very well before we cook any food for him. His main diet consists of his special "formula", but we try to add in little foods that he can have during family meals to get him used to eating "normally". His favorite is broccoli, and cooked spinach.
With a few precautions, food allergies won't take over your life. Your child can be happy and healthy if you as a parent are determined to give him or her an allergy-free life.
Amy Hisaoka is a volunteer with Lane County Search and Rescue. She has a German Shepherd in training and enjoys making her own gear for her and her dog. She is a mom of 2 great kids. http://www.mountaindoggear.com
Links mentioned in the article:
Defeat Autism Now: http://www.defeatautismnow.com
Nutrition data: http://www.nutritiondata.com
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