Hello there from Brussels, Belgium,

Although it is the first I am posting anything to the list I have been a regular
visitor for about 8 months. My reason for visiting the list was my younger
daughter Naomi's ear and GI problems which we _think_ are allergy related
(probably dairy, soy and egg). Naomi is now 27 months old and has been more
than OK for 6 months. However, things have not always been that good... Let me
just go through the background. Sorry if I am a bit long but it is nice to be
able to share the experience with people who know what I'm talking about. At
the end I will also have some questions relative to our vacation in Florida
next week, which I hope some of you might help me with. So if you don't want
to read our story, jump to the end immediately ...

Naomi has never had an anaphylactic reaction, not even a rash or hives, nothing
readily and immediately identifiable as an allergic reaction but when she was
5 1/2 mo I got the impression that her hearing was not ok. I could not really
pinpoint why but I decided it was worth telling the paediatrician about. He
sent me to see an ENT specialist who confirmed there was a 40% hearing loss due
to liquid behind the eardrum. Naomi was tested for allergies at approx. 7
months but all (blood) tests were negative. She had been exclusively breastfed
until 6 months. We only started her on "solids" after that and first with
vegetables, which I had been told were less allergenic than fruit ... But my
own diet had never excluded anything in particular, silly me... Then a month
later the nightmare began. Just after we started her on fruit as well, she
began having diarrhea and vomiting, first the fruit meal then also the
vegetables and this everyday for about 3 weeks! The only thing she kept inside
was the breast milk. As it turned out there was a GI virus going round in the
day care centre she was at. So we attributed the problem to that.

But her health was declining fast. Her growth and weight gain slowed down
drastically. She was getting ear infections more and more often (less than
2 weeks respite between two episodes) and as a result more and more antibiotics
treatments and even aerosols with corticoids in the middle of summer! All the
time the allergy tests were negative ... By then it was decided she needed an
operation to have her tonsils and adenoids removed and possible grommets
inserted. We finally went through with it last September. The ENT specialist
said Naomi was a very serious glue ear case. Indeed, her hearing drastically
improved after the operation and although it had some unexpected side effects -
it made her irritable, I assume, because of the noise around her which she was
noticing for the first time - there was a definite improvement. But she
continued having ear infections ... less frequently but with discharge as the
grommets allowed the liquid to run out!

For the first time also we got a slightly positive result for soy on an allergy
test.  So, obviously, we cut soy out of her diet, however litlle she was
getting anyway. Then the paediatrician said to also eliminate all dairy as lots
of children with soy allergy are allergic to dairy. Then we had some other tests
done and it seemed Naomi reacted to various proteins and we cut out eggs. This
whole gradual process took us to December last year. The result was that Naomi
only had two more ear infection episodes, one just after Xmas and one in
mid-February this year, but I had been warned that it could take as long as a
year to get rid of allergy-triggered symptoms after elimination.

I have kept Naomi on a dairy, soy and egg free diet ever since, although it
seems she can have butter and she is now growing faster than average at that
age, catching up I suppose. We still have no real objective and scientific
evidence of her allergy(ies), though!

Now for my questions:

We are going on vacation to Florida (Miami, Keys, Everglades and Tampa/Orlando
area) next week and although my knowlegde of British English is OK (I'm French
native speaker), I am almost totally unfamiliar with American (food) vocabulary
and what to expect or where to shop. I would appreciate any help you may have
on shops, family restaurants, cookies brands, ... just anything which might
help us have a great time on our vacation.

In particular:

* Naomi drinks Nutramigen - where do I buy this formula - drugstore, pharmacy?
Do I need a prescription? What price may I expect to pay?
* What is sherbet I see referred to often?  - I only use the words 'ice cream'
for anything containing dairy, and 'sorbet' for water based ice (for example
lemon, raspberry flavoured as these fruit are acidic and milk based ice cream
would curdle). What are the American equivalents?
* Very often soy is substitued for dairy. This obviously is not an option for
us. Also soy meal is widely used in cookies, etc. Any recommendations?

I know one of the obvious answers would be to eat as much fruit and vegetables
but do you know many 2-year-olds who love these... Mine is a meat eater! Also
we won't be staying just in one place with our own kitchen, so I'd appreciate
any recommendation on allergy conscious family friendly restaurants, or safe
snacks which we could have 'en route'.

Thanks for any help you can provide and sorry for the lengthy story.

Martine (Naomi, 27 mo and Tanya, 7yo)