Baby Brother Stroller is (was, I hope) an unhappy baby. He was colicky. He had three tongue tie surgeries. He cried. All. Day. Long. And was up all night. He only wanted to be in an upright position. He spit up a lot. Then he spit up even more. He wanted to nurse all the time. Reflux meds didn’t help at all. He is just so difficult.

He had nearly a dozen ineffective adjustments by a chiropractor before having a few osteopathic manipulations just after he turned two months old. Those seemed to help him be comfortable reclining in my arms to nurse – likely pinched nerves, birth trauma, or some discomfort from being such a big baby in a small belly. But he remained a “colicky,” unhappy baby.

Baby brother also had a rattling in the back of his throat nearly from birth. It sounded like he had a cold and needed to clear this throat. A pediatric feeding specialist who we saw for therapy after the third frenectomy (tongue tie surgery) said it was because he didn’t use his tongue properly and the milk gathered in the back of his throat. But he cleared it out, so she said it wasn’t a big concern.

Then at 3.5 months Baby Brother got RSV. We were on vacation and because I was so concerned how congestion from being sick would work with his tongue issues, I decided to take him to a pediatric ER. Twice. In total I saw seven pediatric ER doctors and not a single one had heard of the theory that his constant congestion stemmed from the inefficient use of his tongue. They did all, however, say that feeding was not their specialty and that it was possible.

So at around 4 months old I consulted Kellymom.com and my hospital’s huge breastfeeding support group listserv. That’s when I discovered this tidbit:

“Most infant fussiness is normal for a young baby, and is not related to foods in mom’s diet. If your baby is sensitive to something you are eating, you will most likely notice other symptoms in addition to fussiness, such as excessive spitting up or vomiting, colic, rash or persistent congestion. Fussiness that is not accompanied by other symptoms and calms with more frequent nursing is probably not food-related.” kellymom.com

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That was my light bulb moment. I called Baby Brother’s pediatrician and cut dairy and soy out of my diet. Soy protein is processed similarly to dairy by the body and many pediatricians suggest to cut them out together. The congestion was clear within 48 hours. Milk protein, which is different from lactose intolerance – babies are rarely lactose intolerant – can take a long time to exit a mother’s system and then even longer to exit the baby’s. But for us it was a dramatic change.

Cutting out all obvious and hidden sources of dairy and soy was challenging since cheese and yogurt are staples in my diet. But I bought some almond milk for my coffee and cereal and swapped my daily cheese sandwiches for peanut butter and thought things would continue to improve. But Baby Brother had the most outrageous diarrhea every single time I drank the almond milk or ate peanut butter. It was outrageous! So I cut out nuts and peanuts and he went back to pooping once a day and the color and consistency was good.

I found some flax milk with protein for my coffee and thought everything would be OK. The congestion was gone and poop color was good, but Baby Brother was still really fussy and not sleeping well. He was up several times at night, was barely napping, seemed really unhappy and was crying for hours every day. Plus he was spitting up excessive amounts of curdled milk a long time after nursing in addition to the geysers of spit-up while nursing despite frequent burping. Additionally, he had mucous-y poops in every diaper (which isn’t necessarily an indication of a problem in the absence of other symptoms).

His pediatrician indicated that he really should have been out of the colicky stage by this time. He was over 4 months old and his symptoms went beyond those typical of the 4-month sleep regression. She suggested I cut out eggs for two weeks to see if things improved and if they didn’t, she wanted me to put eggs back and take out wheat for two weeks. I took out eggs, but things didn’t improve. After about five days I was looking back at my food journal and noticing a lot of excessive spit-up and crying after having a lot of bread. One Sunday morning I had two pieces (OK maybe three) of artisan bread while Mr. Stroller and Little Stroller had eggs. The reaction was so obvious that I decided to take out wheat immediately.

I put eggs back and took out wheat. The spitting stopped for a few days, but he was miserable for about 36-48 hours after I had two eggs for breakfast one morning. He was in obvious pain. It was awful. I took eggs back out and the extreme fussiness subsided.

A few days later I went shopping for some gluten-free foods and started using a vegan protein powder to add to my smoothies at breakfast. Baby Brother got really fussy again and started spitting a lot and started to have outrageously mucousy, globs of green mucous, poops. With blood. I looked back at my food journal and at food labels and discovered that all the foods I’d added after taking out eggs and wheat were full of rice/sprouted rice/rice flour, including the protein powder I was eating every morning. I don’t eat much rice normally, so it was a notable change. I took out rice and within a few days he was napping better, the spitting subsided, and seemed much happier.

I replaced my beloved Tostitos multigrain tortillas, one of my only favorite snack foods left, with regular blue corn tortillas since the multigrain Tostitos have brown rice as an ingredient. I bought Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran for a snack – no wheat, no rice, just corn! I had corn on the cob for dinner. And Baby Brother had blood in his diaper within a day or two.

It was so obvious again that the one item I’d increased in my diet as a substitute for what I’d removed was the culprit – this time it was corn. I cried, and took out corn. Each time he had a reaction to something new I wondered how he could possibly be sensitive to yet another food. Every single time I thought there was no possible way I could cut out one more thing. I looked at my pantry, hungry, and cried. Every. Single. Time. Then I soldiered on.

Baby Brother’s  pediatrician had indicated that going to a G.I. specialist or an allergist before one year was probably unnecessary. Allergy testing before a year can be inaccurate and she said that in absence of a rash or hives, food reactions are often sensitivities that can be outgrown as the baby’s gut matures. But I panicked when I saw the blood again and made an appointment to see a pediatric GI who is known to be breastfeeding friendly and supportive of elimination diets for mom, ASAP. A few days later I was standing in the grocery store at the deli waiting to place my order for a big ole’ bag of turkey when the GI’s office called to reschedule. For a month later.

I intended to go to a holistic specialist after seeing the GI doctor, but because one month seems like forever when you’re hungry and your baby is unhappy, I decided to make an appointment to see a person specializing in NAET – Nambudriad’s Allergy Elimination Technique. My intention was not to go through “treatments” for Baby Brother since they can be pricey and are not covered by my insurance; rather I wanted to know if all these things I’d eliminated from my diet were really affecting him. I thought that perhaps eggs and wheat weren’t really the problem and that maybe it was just corn and rice – the last two to go – all along.

Many of the moms in my breastfeeding support group sang the praises of NAET testing, while admitting it was really quite “out there.” We went ahead and the woman who all the moms recommended took pity on me and agreed to see us on Friday, the next day, tacking an appointment on to the end of her day after her normal business hours.

The  NAET testing was totally non-invasive and totally wild. The practitioner used kinesiology to detect which foods Baby Brother was reacting to. According to the NAET website, “kinesiology is used in NAET to compare the strength and weakness of any muscle (also known as neuromuscular sensitivity testing (NST) of the body in the presence and absence of any substance. A measured weakness in the presence of a substance is due to the effect of an allergy to the item the person is touching.”

The entire process took a couple of hours. We tested for everything I eat regularly and everything I wish I could eat regularly. I did not share Baby Brother’s suspected sensitivities with her beforehand and she didn’t tell me what she was testing until she had a result. I kept insisting that she test again, that my muscles must be getting tired and that’s why weaknesses kept appearing (the testing is done on mom while touching the baby.) Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct and Baby Brother was reacting to everything I had already eliminated, plus a few more.

As of today I am off:
Dairy
Soy
Eggs
Nuts & Peanuts
Wheat
Corn
Rice
Chickpeas
Strawberries

I’ve been off of all of these things long enough to see that my elimination diet is making a significant difference in his overall happiness. He’s sleeping better most days (knock on wood), he spits up much less, his diapers look much better, and he’s happier. Much, much happier. He still goes from 0-60 in the blink of an eye, but at least he’s not crying all day long.

I think if I were to do it all over again I would still cut out one thing at a time rather than cutting everything at once and adding back in. If I had cut out the most common allergens, dairy, soy, wheat, corn, eggs and peanuts, I still would have missed rice, which was one of the foods that caused blood in his stool.

The elimination diet is hard. You can’t cheat and have an ice cream cone since many of the proteins stick around in your body for a while. But it’s really not that bad. Yes, I said it, it’s not that bad. I’ve figured out what I can eat, I’ve found a substitute for brownies and cookie dough, and as I watch Baby Brother become a happier baby I have a daily reminder that it’s worth it.

IMG_3899Bananas are ok for both of us!