Friends,
I have been reading with great interest all the fascinating debate on
infants and allergy...I decided to stay up late to take the time to
respond with some of my own thoughts and experiences, even though I know
I'll regret this at 6AM (or BEFORE) when my happy-in-the-morning,
early-rising two year old, the subject of all my interest in this topic,
comes popping into bed to sing us his good morning songs!!

I have respiratory allergies; my husband has severe intestinal symptoms
with an allergy to scallops and oysters, no other seafoods, just those.
I determined to breastfeed my children for the first year at least, to
help them develop strong immune systems.  No health provider,
conventional, homeopathic, chiropractic, etc., ever told me to refrain
from potential allergens while pregnant or nursing.

My two year old began having digestive troubles just about from birth,
and i tried eliminating all the things they tell you to when this
happens...dairy, chocolate, nuts, gassy foods, etc.  Nothing helped.
Fianlly, our homeopathic provider told me to try eliminating milk again,
but this time for at least two weeks before I evaluated how effective
the elilmination was.  Sure enough, the gas, cramps, diarrhea, etc
calmed down, so we continued on like this and I spent my first summer
ice-cream free.  I did not know that it can take two weeks to move the
last of the proteins through your system.  For the severely sensitive,
the one-week or even ten-day elimination can possibly not do it!

He thrived, and grew like a MOOSE!!  Still some gas, and very poor
sleep, but mostly he was fine.

When it came time to add foods, he loved everything!  Great appetite.
From six to seven months, he lost over 2 pounds, and this started our
trip down a very bad medical road.  Doctors blaming me for his weight
loss, saying I wasn't feeding him.  Oh, the stories I could tell.  At
one point, he was vomiting up completely undigested food that he had
eaten DAYS before!!  "A virus", the doctor pronounced.  "Give him Coke,
jello"...UGH!  I cried at night, holding him while he vomited hour after
hour.

Of course, I never gave him obvious milk, but like so many of you, I had
a lot to learn about food additives, and hidden dairy proteins.  He was
finally diagnosed with the allergy at 18 months; he (and my husband and
I) had suffered for almost a year before we finally got some answers.
ANd since we lived in a remote place at the time, our medical options
were limited because we did not know what we were dealing with.  The
local docs were SO clueless.

If I weren't such a busy Mom, with so many better things to do with my
time and my heart, I could still be really angry at how badly we were
treated by over a half dozen doctors, SO ignorant of allergic symptoms,
SO quick to judge us and treat us as if we were stupid or trying to
cause our child harm.

Okay, I've rambled enough, but I did want to add that the formulas like
nutramigen are misleading, and a truly severely allergic child should
never have them unless you KNOW that the child is not allergic to
casein.

I was interested in the question discussed briefly here, of exposure to
the allergen in utero...anyone know more about this?  I ask, as Aaron
was symptomatic SO  young.

I also wanted to mention that anyone using homeopathic remedies, be
aware that milk allergic people need to order special remedies that are
not formulated in a lactose base.  E-mail me directly if you would like
to know more about sources for safe homeopathic remedies.

I have more questions, and also some great product recommendations; I'll
save these for another time.

Thanks to all of you for such great dialogue and support...this list is
a life-saver for our family.  I don't understand how/why it works, but I
love it!

Dale-Robin, Ima (Mom) to Seth and Aaron

"It's a pretty good cure for your troubles to know that you still can be
kind"