At 09:18 AM 4/25/97 EDT, you wrote:
>>My pediatrician said he suspects a SOY allergy.  So - we are back to
>> Nutramagin.  I meant to ask him a few questions ... but forgot.  Can someone
>>develop an allergy over time ....do well with something and eventually develop
>>an allergy to it??
>
>  My son is 15 months old. He's allergic to milk products so I switched him to
> soy without much of a problem. Being the picky eater that he is, I tried
> to add some protein to his diet (doesn't like eggs or meat)by putting some
> tofu in his oatmeal cereal. He had diarrhea all morning, so I took him off all
> soy. His stools are normal now, and now that I think about it, his stools were
> always kind of loose when he was drinking soy milk.  He now drinks Dari-free,
> which is soy and milk free, but also protein free, so I still need to
> add protein to his diet. Any ideas? He likes chicken nuggets, fish sticks,
> green beans, peas, and crackers, plus beech-nut cereal. Not alot to work with.
>

Hi, thought I'd throw my two cents in. My son was very allergic to standard
formula when he was born, also to soy formula, and we used Nutramigen as a
supplement until my milk supply stabilized (after two months!). He is now
seven years old. I have now (in the last 3 months) taken the family largely
off dairy products because I myself came down with what appears to be
fibromyalgia, which went away when I stopped dairy.

Although my son does not have any apparent symptoms of milk or soy allergy
right now, I know from my own experience that over time my symptoms after
ingesting dairy worsened, until I couldn't have so much as half a cheese
sandwich or one slice of pizza without paying for it the next day.

The connection between dairy and Type I diabetes also really bothered me, as
both my brothers have the disease and I would do just about anything to save
my children from the same fate.

I guess I believe that despite apparent outward health, it's possible that
these substances could be having a catastrophic effect on biological
processes (like insulin production) that only become apparent when it's too
late to do anything about it.  I was also severely formula-allergic as a
child. I too looked like I "grew out of" milk allergy -- until I came down
with fibromyalgia. Knowing what I know now, I'd recommend you consider the
infant symptoms an early warning and make the changes for life.

As far as protein goes, we rely heavily on peanut butter around here (no one
is allergic to peanuts). You might ask your pediatrician about recommended
protein levels for that age child. Even for full-grown adults the daily
allowance is now considered to be three ounces of protein or less, so I
imagine a child could do fine on a tablespoon, especially a young child
whose total intake might be a cup of solid food a day (at least my
one-year-olds got by on that!)

Good luck in your struggles. It's hard, I know, and sometimes when your
child looks perfectly fine it's hard to ignore the comments of relatives who
think your diet strategies are crazy. You just have to keep on keeping on...

Leslie Beachwood