allergic to almost everything

Well, we’re starting our third day since finding out that Barrett is “allergic” to 26 foods including wheat, eggs, dairy, soy and all nuts, plus more—These items are pretty much in everything. Despite the difficulty in finding foods he can eat, I feel very good and optimistic because I know we are on a path to healthiness and happiness for him. I am so glad we are catching this now before he fell behind too far in his language development, and I am hopeful we can turn around his behavior issues, too. I have already charted a marked improvement there when I eliminated just the dairy!

To catch up on why I decided to have Barrett tested for IGG food Allergies, read below:

15 months old: He was asked not to come back to a preschool program after the first day. I have done everything I know/read/heard to do short of biting him back, and nothing has helped. (he’s been biting since he was 10 months old—since he’s had teeth!)
20 months old: he was drinking 4-6 8 oz. cups of dairy milk a day, had a vobulary of about 10 words and I was struggling to get him to say those! Additionally, we began to have weekly meetings with speech therapists, and a behavior therapist soon after.
22 months: a pediatrician speaking to my mom’s group, mentioned that due to the fat content and mucous-forming properties, that we shouldn’t feed our kids more than 16 oz. of dairy (Whole) milk, so I reduced his to 1-2 8 oz cups per day. At this point, it was like pulling teeth to get him to say just 2 new words a day (a personal goal I set for Barrett and myself).
5-7 days after the milk reduction: Although I made no connection with the milk at the time, my husband came downstairs after reading bedtime stories saying Barrett said at least 10 *new* words out of his book! His language continued to improve steadily from this point.
24 months: saw the Oprah show with Jenny McCarthy talking about her son with Autism. I felt strangely drawn to watch this show b/c I read her book, Belly Laughs cover to cover in the book store while I was pregnant with Barrett and laughed the whole way through. I guess I felt we had a connection because of this. While watching her on the Oprah show, I felt like she was talking directly to me even though I knew Barrett did not have Autism. It all came together after that. She gave me 2 new words—Gluten and Casein—that I had never heard before from my doctor or anyone. I looked back at the milk reduction and I also began to make some comparisons to my other son, Kyle.
Comparing Kyle (who is 14 mos younger): Kyle has been on soy formula from very early on because he could not keep the dairy formula down and as hard as I tried my body did not produce enough breast milk (for either child). Kyle has no biting/ behavior problems and his language development is very good. Also, Kyle’s poop (sorry, it’s about to get graphic) was much firmer even though he was younger. I kept waiting for Barrett’s “baby” poop to become little boy poop but it never did. I know now that this is because his bowels were being destroyed by the foods he was eating.
Barrett at 28 months : After much research, I couldn’t stand the thought of giving Barrett dairy knowing that it was hurting him so I removed it completely from his diet. He had his first firm stool of his life! About ½ to 2/3 were firm after this point--(had been very loose before with some undigested parts), so I knew there was still a problem, figured it was gluten. I charted improvement with biting, and he could sit still on the sofa by himself, and he began to feel pain—something I didn’t mention before, we always use to talk about how “tough” Barrett was—he didn’t seem to feel pain. I recall a time I was cooking, I heard Barrett trip and then get back up and continue playing, so I figured he was ok. I looked at him a few minutes later and his face was covered in blood and he never even whimpered.
29 months: Switched pediatricians, got the allergy test, been to Sprouts, Whole Foods, Walmart, and Brookshires here in Farmersville--surprisingly it has some good stuff—I was shocked, but happy; I’ll be thanking the manager!

**Update: Barrett was on a allergy rotation diet that eliminated the 26 foods he was allergic to for a year. We had him retested at that point and there were only a few foods we had to eliminate. His biting stopped, his bathroom issued resolved, and his speech is on track for his age. He is in Kindergarten now and learning to read and write. Kyle had some food allergies too and he did the same. They both can now eat anything except seafood. Kyle is above average for speech and reading now, although he never was delayed. For more info, do a search on this blog for "allergy"--you'll find recipes and other info. Also, I am happy to share my allergy rotation/ food plan/recipes/etc...just email me.