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Fields & Fire BlogA Baby with a Happy Belly
Before I get into the nitty gritty, I want to say that this post is not so much about specific food allergies, as it is about trusting your Mama instincts, following your gut, and trusting our ability to heal ourselves. And, of course, what has worked for our family might not work for yours. But this is (part of) our story, of foods that heal (or harm).
For the past two months, the baby and I (since he’s still breastfeeding) have been on a pretty strict elimination diet. Currently, while his body heals, we are not eating: dairy (cow or otherwise, including butter and ghee), eggs, legumes (beans, soy, etc), all grains, and peanuts.
What the heck do we eat, you wonder? We eat a wide variety of delicious vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish, with an emphasis on making sure I get plenty of good fats (like bacon, mmmm).
Why the strict diet? Since he was born, my baby has had tummy troubles. Right from the start, he only had a bowel movement on average once a week (yes, that means that sometimes he went as long as a week and a half!) At first, I must admit, this seemed sort of lucky – so little poop to clean up! But the reality was that he was in pain. He went through a colicky phase, like so many babies, and would scream for a few hours each night (in addition to the infrequent pooping). I suspected that he might have a dairy allergy, and I talked with both my midwife and our pediatrician. Our midwife said, Well there are two schools of thought – one is that a breastfeeding mother should eat what she wants because she’s already working hard with a newborn baby and doesn’t need the extra craziness of worrying about special diets. The other school of thought is that it’s worth it to cut out foods because it might hugely improve your baby’s health and happiness. Our pediatrician said, Some babies are just like this – they really get everything out of your milk, and as long as he doesn’t have hard stools, it’s fine.
So I did try cutting out dairy, but there were two problems. First problem is that I am a dairy addict. A fiend. You may recall my plans to get a family cow so that I could have fresh milk and make my own cheese. Right. So cutting out dairy required tremendous willpower, but I did try to do it. The other (big) problem was that I didn’t know that you have to wait a full two weeks for any food to exit your system and your baby’s system. And I underestimated how sensitive he could be, and was still eating butter. When it didn’t seem to be helping after a week (a whole long week!), I caved and attacked a pint of organic ice cream.
The months went on. My baby was gorgeous, pretty mellow, seemingly perfect and healthy in every way . . . except that he never pooped. When it was getting closer, he (and I) would toss and turn all night and he would wake up screaming. When he finally had a bowel movement, it was very painful for him, and heart-wrenching for me. I took him to our family acupuncturist, but their opinion was close to the pediatrician’s – some babies are just like this.
Meanwhile, I was learning a lot about food allergies for products we were creating at the bakery. I was thinking about food sensitivities a lot, and found some great resources like Paleo Parents and Nom Nom Paleo, that made me feel like giving up these foods for a period of time to try and help my baby’s health wasn’t really that big a deal. It would, in fact, be delicious, and probably a good break for my body, as well, from years of over-indulging in foods like dairy.
One day, the baby had a very painful bowel movement, and there was a little bit of blood in his stool. And that was it – I committed fully, I was going to solve this, even if I had to eat only kale and salmon for the next few years. Also, I looked it up a bit more and found that while most people say constipation in breast-fed babies is no big deal, some people, like Dr. Sears warn of the dangers, like the stretching of the intestines, and tearing of the lining. Most people eliminate all possible allergens at once, and then after their systems have cleared, start to reintroduce them one at a time to see if they have a reaction. Being a bit wimpy, I took them out one by one. (In all fairness, it is extra hard to avoid grains and butter when you run a deliciously awesome bakery!) I took out grains and beans first, then dairy, then eggs. I wrote it on the calender, so I would know when the two weeks had passed, and wouldn’t be expecting improvements before then.
Guess what? By two weeks without everything, the baby was having bowel movements every day or every other day. Without screaming. Occasionally I don’t even know he’s pooped! This is, you might imagine, sort of like a miracle to me, and also very affirming. Then Thanksgiving came, and I held strong through all the temptations! But then, our whole family got the flu, and in my sick delirium, a loaf of bread on the counter spoke to me. A loaf of bread with spelt and egg in it. And I ate, um, quite a few slices. A few days later, on Christmas morning, some handmade gorgeous chocolate turtles (containing butter) were under the tree. I have very little willpower when there’s chocolate involved – so I ate a few of those too, thinking, “There can’t be enough butter in here to possibly affect him . . . “ Well, just as my baby stopped crying because of the flu, he started crying because once again, his tummy ached and he wasn’t pooping. Darn.
So we are back in the cleansing and healing stage. The eat lots of amazing vegetables, fruits, meats, seafood, and don’t forget your lacto-fermented foods (he loves saurkraut!) phase. And I plan to keep us here a good long while, and then slowly, carefully test out some foods to see how his body reacts. My hope, of course, is that he will heal and eventually be able to enjoy all of these foods in moderation. And yes, I still believe truly that foods like whole grains, raw dairy, and pasture-raised eggs can be part of a healthy diet, and I look forward to enjoying them again (hopefully with more moderation). But for now, we’re in our own special food world, and frankly, it’s not that hard.
I look forward to hearing your stories, too, and your questions, if I can be of any help. Thanks for sharing the journey, as always.
Wow! I’m so glad to hear that the elimination diet helped!!! I did that for a while with C and it is really hard, esp when you live in a house where you have lots of dairy and grain, which we did. Hugs!
Your story is so real and in a way, assuring. Food truly is the essence of life here on earth and we are all made uniquely and have different needs. (Now if I could just convince my adult and teenage sons of this….)
So glad that you were able to work it through – you a are a blessing to your son.
Dear Adrie, oh my heavens- I am so sorry you’ve all had to go through this- poor Gabriel! How heart breaking to watch him struggle with pain like that- bowel problems are so painful. You are such a strong and dedicated mama! I know a baby who was born with probably the same/similar allergies toj your little fella- his mama weaned him off the breast and onto a special formula.
I am so glad you’ve found the right balance for you all- and what a healthy happy baby he is!
Would love to catch up through email soon- Love, Mel
My little guy has had nearly the exact same symptoms, and I got nearly the same advice as you! I decided to try cutting out dairy, and after a couple of weeks saw some real improvements. But like you, even what seems to be a small amount of dairy (butter baked into something) results in a good three days of discomfort, fussiness, restless nights, and constipation. I’m only about a month into this experiment and am not completely sure that dairy is the culprit, but your story encourages me to keep trying! Blessings on your tummies!
This gives me inspiration to try an elimination diet with my little one (4.5 months). She sometimes goes 3 days without a bowel movement and she is often very “grunty” and it seems to disturb her sleep. I am going to look more into this. Thanks!
hello
ive never commented but really enjoy your blog.. I thought i would comment today because ive been on such a food allergy journey myself. My daughter spit up huge amounts of my milk every nursing and had green frothy poop- the doctor said- oh some babies are like that… at 8 months we let her lick some egg yolk from a spoon and she was sick for hours.. days really! so i stopped eating eggs (which was really really hard for this daily egg eater) and she seemed better. Then my little guy came along and he was fussy too. this time not eggs though. he had hard poops and would go several days and then would have aweful painful poops (I totally feel for you there!) It made my heart hurt to see him so tired and in pain.
Anyway, we have tried a few things and done lots of research and now we are on the path to implement the GAPS program this winter. (we need a deep cleaning of all the bad foods from the house, stock the freezer etc). Ive had our family mostly on it (no grain, dairy, soy etc) for about a year and have had some improvement. The little guy who will be 2 in april now poops easily most of the time but our diet is so restricted that i cant imagine us having the strength to stick to it long term. After researching GAPS sounded like something that fit our family and our health difficulties (many many food allergies) and so Im hopeful that committing to the full gaps intro diet will provide some intense healing (I am really really craving cheese!!!) and we will be able to add a few things back in.
I would love to hear more about your journey with this, its such a challenging thing to struggle with and its so helpful to see what others have done to help their families!
thank you!
kelsey
This is an amazing story. I’m impressed by your persistence and so glad it is working for Gabriel. I want to add one thought. I spent years constipated (from childhood, really, but seriously so in some adult years with rectal tears pretty regularly). Also a lover of milk products, I’ve learned that the solution for me is that my body needs way more magnesium than most people’s when I eat dairy. So when you eventually add foods back in, you might want to look the calcium/magnesium ratios of your overall diet. Also, for me at least, chocolate is constipating – so maybe it was that rather than the butter in the turtles. In any case, I wish you success in helping him outgrow his food sensitivities.
When Elijah was a baby (strictly breastfed) he had TERRIBLE diaper rash. I tried every salve and ointment around, to no avail. It wasn’t until we went to Arizona when E. was 5 mos. old and we visited with Max’s pediatrician from childhood (a family friend) that we figured it out. He took one look at E’s bum and said: Stop eating dairy. I did and the diaper rash went away. I later re-introduced dairy, until when E was about 2 and coughed all the time. I cut dairy out again and the coughing went away. He remains almost completely dairy-free, but I eat dairy again. It was something I had tried to cut out many times in my life for my own health (Dr. Weil highly recommends eliminating dairy if you have allergies or asthma, which I do), but I could never just do it for my own self. Doing it for my baby was much more motivating for me.
Good luck with the journey!
Thanks Bethany! I know you went through this with C, too. So great to see you on Sunday.
Blessings,
Adrie
Tonya,
Thank you! I’m sure your boys (and men!) will find their way
Blessings,
Adrie
Melanie,
Thanks so much for your kind words! Definitely email me, would love to hear how you and your family are doing.
With love,
Adrie
Annie,
Thank you! Good luck with your own journey – it can be tricky to figure out what works. Sounds like it might be dairy, plus something else.
Blessings on your tummies, too!
Adrie
Sarah,
Good luck! Sounds like your little one may be having some similar troubles – nothing more heartbreaking than a sad baby. Let me know if I can help!
Blessings,
Adrie
Kelsey,
Thank you so much for sharing! Sounds like you have done a lot for your family already. I have a good friend who has experienced a ton of healing for herself and her family (her son is on the autism spectrum) with the GAPS diet. You might check out Whole 30 also, as a good resource, especially during the cleansing stage: http://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/
Blessings to you and yours, and let me know how you’re doing!
Adrie
Sue,
Thanks so much for your kind words, and for sharing your own story! Very interesting about the magnesium – how do you supplement for yourself?
Blessings,
Adrie
Jo,
Hello dear one! And thank you for the sweet new years card. Thank you for sharing your story – it’s unfortunately so common. I totally agree, too – I had taken a break from dairy a few years ago, but it’s much easier to stick with it when there’s a sad baby in the picture! Hope you and your sweet family are well, and that I get to see you someday soon!
Blessings,
Adrie
Oh, this is so familiar to me, and I send you lots of hugs and warm thoughts as you work to get your sweet babe’s tummy healed. We’ve been on a journey to help my oldest heal from many sensitivities which he has had since he was a wee babe as well. We’ve been on the GAPS diet (very similar to what you are doing I think-) for nearly a year and a half now and he is able to eat so many of the foods that used to make him sick and he is vibrantly healthy and well. Healing really is possible, especially in those small resilient little bodies, and the whole family feels really good from focusing on clean, healing foods. I wish you and your family well on this tricky but rewarding path!
Thanks so much for the encouragement Taisa!
Blessings,
Adrie