Driving myself crazy

[Anonymous]

We’ve had a couple birthday & anniversary dinners that we were obligated to & I thought I would be ok to eat something there. In both cases I told our server that I was allergic to milk & soy (they take me more seriously if I say that I have the allergy) and they were very accomodating (well, seemed accomodating.)..both very nice restaurants w/ chefs, made to order, etc. Well, there have been issues…

A week ago (last Friday) we went out & there was soy sauce on my meat. I didn’t realize the taste of it (not a ton) until I was halfway finished. I don’t think there was any butter/milk on/in anything (ie: my veggies I ordered).

This past Monday we went out & I’m almost positive the dressing on my salad had milk in it. It was a bit too creamy to be just a vinagrette. And I think my veggies were cooked w/ butter.

Evan has been miserable (sleep-wise) since Tuesday but it started getting worse over the weekend. I had him out of our bed & he was sleeping 4-6 hr stretches in his crib. This week it’s been 1-2 hrs max before he’s waking in pain… & then he’s not consoled unless he nurses. By 2-3 am I’ve been so exhausted that I just bring him in bed. He does ok, but is still gassy, squirmy, restless (like before TED).

His diapers started regulating a bit yesterday & today. They’ve been sweet smelling, yellow & minimal mucous (they were all mucous over the the weekend & through Wednesday). BUT he’s still continuing to have stinky gas… & what seems to be intestinal/tummy pain.

So my question :

Could the stinky gas still be from the soy &/or milk the past week?

eventhough his diapers seem to be getting toward “normal” again?

I know it can take up to 2 wks (or longer in our case to start out) for milk/soy to leave systems but I had always assumed (maybe incorrectly) that the stinky gas would be gone 1st, then diapers would regulate. I guess I assumed this b/c that’s how it happened before (2mths ago).

I’m just driving myself crazy right now b/c eventhough I’m being SO diligent w/ diet (I was adding some condiments & spices but stopped any of that too) I’m always feeling like: maybe there’s something I ate?!

Should I just wait out the 2wks & reassess? or cut out beef again?

Agh!

Edited to add: all I’ve been eating is: potatoes, pears, squash/zucch, olive oil, sea salt, pepper & beef

erinntx2008-09-12 12:34:43

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t worry too much about the smelly gas b/c Eli has it but so does my friend’s baby (around same age) Her baby has no allergy issues so no foods cut out of moms diet. Eli has started only pooping every 4 days and around the 3rd and 4th day he is very smelly. Regarding the discomfort you may want to wait to cut out beef to see if it was just the milk/soy at the restaraunt so that way you are not unecessarily cutting out foods. I know with TED your food is pretty limited. Some mylicon may help while waiting for offending food to pass.

[Anonymous]

Oh Erin, I am no pro at the TED but goodness I wish you could just get a break. I wouldn’t cut the beef out (that is really your only “true” protein source if I remember right) as I am almost 100% positive that what you had at the resturants is the culprit. I hate trying to eat out with Cooper’s egg allergy so I know how frustrating it is. In the future I might try to find menu’s online or even talk with the chef/cook personally to tell them what is going on. I do allot of internet menu surfing if we are planning on going out as almost everything that is breaded has egg in it. Good Luck. I would try the mylicon or even go for cherry mylanta as it has mylicon in it as well.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with Beth on this one…don’t take out beef. YOu have been eating that for a while with no problems! I would bet money on it being something from the restaurant. Even if the food you ate didn’t have true dairy/soy, it is SO easy for cross contamination with restaurant food. I doubt that it will take two weeks for this stuff to clear your system as you milk is SO clean. Now if you are still having problems in two weeks then maybe take a look at beef, but I highly doubt it. YOu need to be able to have food. You have to take care of yourself in order to be able to take care of your LO’s. Hugs and prayers your way!!!

[Anonymous]

Hey Erin,

I’m coming in late on this but just wanted to follow up and see how Evan is doing since you last posted on this thread? Still having stinky gas? How’s he sleeping?

I don’t really have any advice; just wanted to lend my support. It was SO stressful adding foods back into my diet while on TED with Nathan. It just seemed impossible to hold everything else constant and only adjust one variable at a time — there was ALWAYS something thrown in (like an illness, a tooth, etc) to make me question everything. Only in hindsight am I really clear on what was bothering him. Eventually I just got to the point where I was happy enough to not add anything else into my diet — I even started giving Nathan foods firsthand (as he got older) before I tried them myself, and if he seemed ok with them, then I would eat them. I just didn’t want my milk to be responsible anymore, ya know? Not saying you should be this way, though!

Oh, and about dining out….I was cynical about that too, and I just gave up. I remember trying a few times early on, and I always had my doubts about whether there really was no sour cream mixed into the guacamole (etc, etc), and Nathan always seemed to react. So I would just eat at home before we went, and then entertain/feed the boys while my (sympathetic, sweet) husband ate. Again, not saying you should do this, just saying I understand how you feel. You WILL be able to add more foods back in soon, surely.

One last thing — when I did add foods back in, it almost always seemed to cause a reaction (our tell-tale sign was a “bad” feeding — arching, crying while nursing) for a day or two, and then it would often settle out for some reason. Sometimes it didn’t, but a lot of times it would. But I don’t know if that would apply to your situation with the mucousy diapers or not.

Good luck!!! I hope things improve soon.

[Anonymous]

Hey Paula-thanks for checking in on us.

Things eventually got better… BUT they got much worse first. The stinky gas went away after about 10 days & the diapers regulated around the same time.

The sleep got better around the same time as well. He’s now back to a 4-5 hr stretch then up every 2-4 hrs after that.

It’s funny that you mention adding foods to his diet 1st, then my diet 2nd. I was just thinking about this the other day & how much less of a guessing game it would be. We are not intro’ing solids until 6mths per PED GI but just may continue w/ the foods I know work until then.

I usually do eat @ home first (for just casual dinners out w/ the kids) but since we’ve had so many nice dinners out I’ve been trying to eat w/ everyone else. It worked out over this past wkend but I was a bit more careful.

I wonder about causing a reaction, then settling down… it might be similar to us for stinky gas (which is usually my 1st telltale sign) but perhaps not for the mucous.

Who knows… I’m trying to just stick w/ the basics for now b/c I’m trying to transition to crib for naps (from the swing). Like you said: there’s ALWAYS something else going on.

[Anonymous]

wow, your son sounds like my dtr! if i had a dollar for every time i said, ‘it’s always something…’ or ‘ could it be something i ate?’ i’m not on the ted, but i wonder if i should be. we’ve been dairy (all), soy, wheat, gluten, corn, beef, chocolate and tomato free for quite some time. i hadn’t really been eating much rice, but decided to try it for something new (had been eating tons of quinoa and chicken, veggies and fruits) and i was so excited to have a new texture and ‘meal’! unfortunately, i think madelyn reacts to rice b/c our sleep has gone to the dogs and talk about stinky gas and mucousy diapers….yuck. poor thing. if only these little people had allergy alerts on them, lol! i’ll be thinking about you. many prayers.

[Anonymous]

Hi Gina!!! Congrats on Madelyn!!! Good to “see” you!

[Anonymous]

thanks ann marie! she’s an absolute DOLL, very calm and easy-going. the opposite of riles! one thing she does share with her big bro is the sleep issues can’t have it all, lol! sorry to hijack…

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