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Dairy And Soy Protein Intolerance While Breastfeeding
In past Motherhood Monday posts, I’ve mentioned that I am on a strict diet due to my little one’s dairy and soy protein intolerance while breastfeeding.
A handful of people have sent me questions so I thought I’d share more about how I knew Blake had food sensitivities and what I’ve done to help the situation.
After giving birth I was SO excited to eat foods that had been off-limits during pregnancy. Namely, soft cheese. So naturally, I started eating cheese like it was my job. What’s more, we were blessed to have food on hand from family and friends to help us throughout the first few weeks with a newborn. Our fridge was stocked with casseroles, enchiladas, mac & cheese, lasagna…all delicious, CHEESE-filled dishes.
All was well for the first few weeks but around 6 weeks of age, Blake’s diapers turned from the normal yellow color to a bright green. Green with mucous to be exact (if you’re not a mom, this probably grosses you out. Feel free to skip this post!).
We took her to the pediatrician where they tested her stools for blood just to be safe. Sure enough, there were microscopic amounts of blood in her stool which is a sign that her digestive system was inflamed and not processing something well.
My sister-in-law had a similar situation with her son so I knew what this meant – I was going to have to go dairy-free.
I spoke with the pediatrician and we determined that I should eliminate all dairy and soy from my diet.
Dairy protein intolerances are becoming more and more common in babies and approximately 50% of babies with a dairy protein intolerance also have a soy protein intolerance. Our pediatrician went through this with both of her kids so thankfully she could related to the journey we were about to embark on.
I eliminated all dairy and soy products from my diet, including soy lecithin and soybean oil (which is incredibly hard to do..).
Within a few weeks we saw a bit of improvement but not 100%. In fact, some symptoms were starting to get worse. She was spitting up more than normal and even started throwing up every few days. Since she was so little. It was really scary to see her projectile vomit on a daily basis.
There was so much milk coming out of her little body. Needless to say it was hard to leave the room for fear that she might choke.
At this point our pediatrician didn’t have much advice other than continuing to cut out common allergens to see if that helped.
So I was on my own to figure this thing out.
All this time Blake was totally happy! Not fussy, not colicky, sleeping great, gaining weight…so the doctors weren’t too concerned. She was thriving. They classified her as a “happy spitter”. Even in the midst of this I considered her to be an easy baby…which actually made it all the more confusing.
So I continued to cut out additional foods…eggs, caffeine, tree nuts.
I saw a big improvement in her spit up after cutting out tree nuts but diapers were still the same.
Next came gluten. Saw a tiny bit of improvement. Her diapers became intermittently green with yellow at times too.
She also stopped rubbing her face at every feeding which I hadn’t recognized as a sign of an intolerance or allergy until she stopped doing it.
(Note: face rubbing after feedings is not ALWAYS a symptom of intolerance – but in our case I believe it was)
At this point I was at my wits end. I was hardly eating anything and as any breastfeeding mother knows – a girl needs food!
So the next 3 things to go were seeds, tomatoes (due to their acidity) and out of curiosity, I cut out my prenatal vitamins.
I had been taking The Honest Company’s prenatal vitamins because they are free of soy and contain probiotics.
And FINALLY with all of these foods eliminated, her symptoms disappeared 100%. Diapers went back to normal, throw up stopped completely and she hardly spits up anymore.
This took place over the course of 3 months.
She was 7 months old when we got our first “clear” (aka: blood-free) stool test.
I scoured the web for answers and hardly found anything so my hope is that writing and sharing my experience will help my fellow desperate mothers who are googling MSPI, dairy intolerance, green diapers, etc. etc.
Blake is now 6 months old and I have discovered that 3 things still cause her symptoms to return: dairy, soy, egg and The Honest Company Prenatal Vitamins (weird, right? For the record I still LOVE the company).
I am slowly adding foods back in, but it’s so hard to have a “clean experiment” with a baby since there are always so many factors to consider.
My advice to mothers who are just starting out on this journey:
- If you are going to cut out foods do it ONE food at a time and wait to see the results (have your diapers tested after 2-3 weeks of cutting out each food). I made the mistake of cutting out multiple foods at once so it has been hard to know which foods truly cause the reaction.
- OR bite the bullet and do a true elimination diet. If your baby truly does have intolerances it will be SO worth it in the end. Trust me, I wish I would have done this from the very beginning rather than spending so many months randomly eliminating foods.
- You can still dine out! But it’s not easy. Some restaurants are more accommodating than others. Don’t hesitate to call ahead and inform them of your dietary restrictions. More often than not they will be willing to work with you. But you have to be proactive and ask pointed questions to the servers/cooks. I don’t go into detail about it being an issue with my baby. I just tell them that I have food allergies myself.
- Have your baby’s diapers tested for blood. It only takes a few minutes and then you will know if your baby is having a true internal reaction or not.
- Meal planning is EVERYTHING. I’ve been sleep deprived, hungry and out of food and it makes this whole journey a thousand times more challenging. Do your best to plan ahead and keep the kitchen stocked with foods you can eat and your life (and mood) will be lighter. I know it’s hard when you have a newborn to tend to but it will help so much.
- I have a Pinterest board where I regularly post allergy-friendly recipes. You can follow it HERE.
- Ask your pediatrician about probiotics. I give Blake Bio Gaia Baby Probiotics with Vitamin D.
My favorite dairy/soy/gluten/nut/seed-free foods:
Rudi’s Bread (cinnamon raisin is my favorite – but beware it does have egg)
Fruit
Vegetables
Meat (watch out for fillers and marinades, always read the ingredient list, never assume)
Enjoy Life products (they even have cookies!)
Kettle Chips (not all flavors are safe)
Brianna’s Honey Mustard Dressing
Organic, nitrate-free sausage (Applegate Farms is a good brand)
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Quick-Cooking Oats
Mission Tortilla Chips & Salsa/Guacamole
Kind Granola (certain varietals are okay)
Coconut Aminos (assuming you can have coconut)
Tips for dining out:
- Don’t be afraid to call ahead and inform them of your allergies. Generally speaking the nicer/fresher the restaurant the easier it is to make adjustments to the cooking method/ingredients.
- Ask for allergy menus or search them online.
- Always ask what oil they cook with. More often than not it’s soybean oil. If they mention vegetable oil there is a good chance it’s actually soy.
- Always ask what meat is seasoned with and if it’s marinated. Soy is sneaky and butter is lurking in many restaurant recipes.
- Bring your own salad dressing. I always have mine in my purse! So if all else fails I can eat a green salad and just enjoy being out, even if the meal is sub-par.
And it should be noted that this road block has not curbed my Starbucks addiction. I’ve learned to drink my coffee without milk (although I do miss my lattes).
These days my drink of choice is a decaf americano with 2 raw sugars.
Thanks for hanging in there with me in this long post. My hope is that others in a similar situation will stumble upon this post and it will be a resource for mother’s looking for help.
**3/8/14 update: I’m happy to report that I have been able to add nuts and gluten back into my diet with no problems. I added nuts for 2 weeks then had Blake’s diapers tested. We did the same for gluten. Now that Blake is 9 months old there is a good chance she has outgrown everything at this point (most babies outgrow this by 9 months – so hang in there, mama). I’ll be adding egg back in next and then from there, our pediatrician has instructed us to give Blake a bit of soy yogurt rather than me having it myself. The reason being that it takes 2-3 weeks for soy/dairy to leave my system and it will pass through Blake’s much more quickly. Dairy will be next. Fingers crossed that she has outgrown it all!**
**5/27/14 update: We eventually determined that our 3 big culprits were dairy, egg and soy. However, at 9 months we gave my daughter a little big of soy yogurt every day for 2 weeks and then brought her diapers in for testing. They were free and clear! We’re now giving her a little bit of dairy yogurt every day and will have her diapers tested in another 2 weeks. So far we haven’t noticed any symptoms or side-effects. Since we had some big events and traveling during her 10th/11th month we didn’t rush the process of reintroducing foods. Eggs will be next once we get the clear test from dairy.**
**7/30/14 update: All food intolerance are outgrown! We are now giving Blake dairy on a daily basis. I choose to give her grassfed, organic cheese and organic whole milk yogurt. She has no intolerances at this point and is a happy, healthy baby! Don’t be discouraged if you are just starting out on this journey. Keep in mind these protein intolerances while breastfeeding are NOT the same as true food allergies. So there is a good chance your baby will outgrow them too. Hang in there mamas!
**6/20/16 update: Since writing this post I’ve had another baby! And wouldn’t you know it, he has the exact same thing. You can read more about his birth story here. You can also read my postpartum updates here, here and here. I followed the exact same protocol with him that I did with Blake. However, he was MUCH more sensitive and I had to eliminate corn, and coconut for a period of time as well. He is now 9 months old and we just received our first “clear diaper test! Hooray! I have added nuts back into my diet because they are the most nourishing for me, and then we’ll see how he does. I’m trusting that he will outgrow this as well!
We also did NAET treatments with him and I don’t know if it helped or not, but he’s getting better so I count it as a win!
xo,
PS – Are you looking to modify your diet for your little one’s Milk and/or soy protein intolerance? While I’ve included a lot of resources here in this post, this E-Book by Brenda Kosciuk is full of tips, information, and recipes to help you on your journey. She is a wealth of knowledge and has created a great resource for mamas like us! CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.
Robin Long
Robin Long, founder and CEO of Lindywell, certified Pilates instructor, Nutrition Therapy Practitioner, and author of 'Well to the Core,' blends 15 years of expertise with a lifelong commitment to holistic health.
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267 thoughts on “Dairy And Soy Protein Intolerance While Breastfeeding”
Hey Robin. Thanks for this- Leeds has been super colicky and I’ve been messing with my diet but it hasn’t helped much. In the last two days we randomly had two green diapers (never before) and I’m wondering if my prenatals are to blame. I had stopped taking them right when Leeds was born and just started taking them within the last week or so because I am nutrient deficient. Wondering if maybe that caused the green diapers. Anyway, after almost two weeks of being dairy free I haven’t seen any improvement in the gas/colic, so I’m going to try to introduce it back in slowly.
Hi Kelly! It can be so confusing. That’s interesting that all of a sudden he had two green diapers. From what I’ve read & been told, green diapers *can* be normal, but green with mucous is not. Also, dairy can take a handful of weeks to fully leave your system so keep that in mind. It took my friend close to 2 months I think. It would be interesting if it was related to your prenatals! Also check the labels because my original brand I was taking contained soy. That’s why I switched to The Honest Company but for some reason those caused a reaction too. Keep me posted! Sending hugs.
So pretty sure ours was a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. I normally exclusively pump (that’s a whole long story in itself), but when we were traveling for thanksgiving I nursed some and pumped some (because it was easier). Anyway, I noticed that after the times I nursed was when Leeds would have green diapers, but after bottles of pumped milk he was fine. Anyway, I’m back to almost exclusively pumping and his diapers are back to normal! 🙂 But we are still sticking with no dairy because I think it slightly lowers his amount of gas.
Wow thanks for the post. I know it’s years old but the information is just what I needed. My newborn has been fussy since day one. We have been trying to ease his discomfort and went into full search when his diapers had blood in them. No need to have them tested. It’s very visible. I’m not quite ready for the full elimination diet but if another week off soy and dairy doesn’t do it. I’m ready.
Robin, this post is INCREDIBLE and I appreciate you sharing your journey. I’m currently 37 weeks pregnant (found out yesterday I’m 2-3cm dilated!!!) and I’ve had a severe allergy to dairy (cow’s milk) for 10 years. I am both thankful and nervous about this with Baby Kamden since I plan to breastfeed. I realize the “benefits” to baby when the breastfeeding mother is not consuming dairy, but my prayers are that other issues/intolerance/allergies don’t appear either. You are absolutely correct in your observations at restaurants, grocery store aisles, and ingredient labels … there are hidden allergens EVERYWHERE. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Baby K will have a stomach and immune system like his Daddy — the man’s made of steel, never sick, and a happy camper with a full belly and lots of sleep. HA!!!!!!
Hi Nicole,
Glad this was helpful. I hope our little guy is born with a strong tummy too! But also keep in mind that sometimes they just need time to develop their digestive system so if he does have trouble in the beginning it may not be permanent 🙂 I give Blake probiotics daily and would consider asking your dr. about that when he arrives! Can’t wait to hear updates!
Thank you for this! My little one is 9 months and this sounds much like our journey. He still has terrible reflux problems, but all allergy testing has thus far been negative despite still having the nasty mucus poops. It’s nice to hear we aren’t alone!
Hi Amanda, I agree, it’s nice to hear from other moms! What foods are you currently off of? And how has your little guy done with solid foods?
Hi Robin, Anna had the same exact intolerance when she was an infant. Going dairy & soy free is a lifestyle change but so worth it to be able to continue breastfeeding. Every child is different but I was able to add dairy & soy to my diet when Anna was 7 months old. She continued to be sensitive to dairy (mainly with eczema) and grew out of that when she was 5 or 6.
Hi Jeanelle!
Thanks for sharing. It’s always good to hear from moms who have been through it and are now on the other end. I’m hoping Blake outgrows hers as well!
Hi!
I need help! I just found this blog wish i would sooner!!
My baby is now 6 months and has ezcema and im now doing dairy free etc but my prenatal has soy
Itd been really hard i don’t know where to begin
Im intolerant to cow milk his poo isn’t green as much but he spits up milk and im on a vitamin D supplement that has cornstarch
I started deleting dairy i tried Almond milk but im nauseous
Now I have heartburn from glutten free bread
I never had heartburn since i was a teen now it’s back
Plesse help!!
I had a very similar experience with my son. When he was first born he was 5 pounds11 oz. not a premie just a little guy. Soon after he was born, he would get horrible cramping and you could hear his stomach churning after I breasted him. I didn’t know what to do. He is my second and my first child had no problems what so ever. An advice nurse said I should cut out dairy, acidic foods, and caffeine. I did so but still he had issues. It did help me lose all of my baby weight, eating chicken and plain salads all day everyday. I never thought to cut out soy or gluten but happy to report he’s a thriving happy two year old that is a garbage disposal. He can now tolerate dairy but will not eat acidic things at all, especially any acidic fruits. Hope she grows out of her allergies or at least can tolerate some foods. Good luck and enjoy her!
Hi ALissa, I’m so glad you took the time to post a comment. It’s so helpful and encouraging to hear from moms who have been through similar situations and now have healthy, happy little ones! I’m so glad your daughter is thriving. In the past few weeks things have really improved for us and I’m so thankful. I’m still on a super-restricted diet but hopefully that will be changing soon! Thanks for sharing and stopping by! Robin
Hi Robin, we have a very similar story with our third child! We have figured out it is a dairy soy gluten allergy:(. However she is now 6 months old and very interested in food. When do you recommend introducing solids to the baby? Also did you request the stool testing?
Thank you!
Christina
Hi Christina, Hang in there! You can do it. It’s hard but it’s do-able. We introduced solids at 6 months. And my pediatrician initiated the stool testing to see if there was blood, but I’m sure you could request it if your doctor hasn’t offered. xo, Robin
So you never figured out your baby’s triggers?
Your post is awesome! Hang in there! My daughter was a breastfed “happy spitter” who at 4 months started having green mucous diapers and black spots of blood. We started by eliminating dairy with no change, then soy with minimal improvement. At that point she was 5 months old and referred to a GI doctor who recommended complete elimination of the top 8 allergens. Within 2 weeks her diapers had no blood at all. I maintained total elimination until GI gave the ok to trial each allergen at 10 months. Everything went great and all restrictions were lifted by 12 months. I had her weened by 14 months and she is now a happy healthy 16 month the old with absolutely no dietary restrictions! I ate a ton of quinoa, fruit & veggies. My treat was a few squares of 70% or higher dark chocolate, at that % it’s usually dairy free, look for the brand “Sweet Riot”.
Hi Mandy! It’s SO good to hear all of that! My little one is now 8 months old and we’re already seeing improvements 🙂 I’ve added nuts back in (woo hoo!) and gluten will be next. So far she hasn’t had any issues with solid food (other than being rather apathetic about solids in general) so we are thankful. Thank you SO much for taking the time to post. It means a lot and is helpful to hear from a mama on the “other side” of it all. xo
What are the top 8 allergens? I’m im a similar situation with little improvement after cutting dairy and soy…
Here’s helpful post: http://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/food-sensitivity/
Hope you find some improvement soon! xoxo
Hey Robin,
Thanks for sharing!
With my first, I cut out dairy most of the time, and she was mostly fine after 6 months. She was a spitter, but gained weight well. She is now 2.5 and can tolerate dairy in severe moderation (yogurt doesn’t bug her or me). We’ve chosen to eat vegan as much as possible anyway, so it hasn’t been too hard on her.
With my second, I have to be sooo careful with dairy – he can’t even handle handle if I have regular cheese on my pizza once a week! So, I’ve found yogurt cheese at a local grocery store which apparently is lactose free and doesn’t bug him. He doesn’t seem to mind when I have yogurt, which is nice because I throw chocolate chips in it as a treat! For him, egg dishes (quiche, etc.) have given him the worst trouble. The other thing that’s been making him fuss through nursing and after is onions. I notice an immediate reaction either way with this – if I eat onions in dinner, the next day is a battle to nurse him. If I don’t eat onions, he is a happy milk drinker.
Thankfully, babies and kids are resilient. Sometimes their little tummies take time to adjust to people food – even if through breastmilk. Take it one day at a time, and give thanks you are able to nurse and that we know so much about how our diet affects our precious little ones.
Hi there! Egg turned out to be one of the worst for us as well. Thanks for your encouragement! xo
Hi Robin.
My daughter Hannah has been having similar issues since she was about 6 weeks old. She is our first, so it took me a few weeks and lots of online research (plus a pediatrician visit) to begin eliminating things from my diet. We started with dairy and, while the painful, gassy episodes got better, Hannah’s poop was still green mucousy diarrhea (5-7 times a day). At 3 months we eliminated soy as well. This really helped, although I have made many errors along the way (soy is in virtually everything!). Once off dairy AND soy, Hannah’s poop thickened and she went from 5 or more a day to 1. We had her poop checked for blood a second time at her 4 month visit and it came back clear (no blood). She is gaining weight and generally a happy baby so the doctor doesn’t seem terribly concerned. I am frustrated though because she is 5 months-old this week and her diapers smell terrible and her poop is very green. I have started eliminating other things to try to figure it out. I’ve been off if eggs for just over a week… So far, no difference. I figure I need to eliminate for at least 2 weeks for each food, right? Next, I was planning to eliminate nuts, then gluten. I am vegetarian so this has been extremely restrictive and challenging. Your experience gives me hope that I will be able to figure it out eventually, so thank you!
Hi Alison!
I can so relate to your journey. It’s so challenging! But you’re doing a great job. It sounds like she may have the Dairy/Soy Protein Intolerance. And maybe egg too? Egg was a big one for me that we were not being strict enough on. Once we eliminated all egg (even egg white in baked foods) she cleared up completely. So at the end of the day I think dairy, soy and egg were the big ones. And yes – soy is very challenging. You have to do your own research and ask very, very specific questions at restaurants. For example many will say oh we cook in vegetable oil so it’s fine…but vegetable oil is most often soybean oil. Who knew? But you can do it! We are at the 10 month mark and just started giving B soy yogurt since most babies grow out of this at 9 months. She did fine! Clear diapers. We will now go on to dairy yogurt and see how she does. She no longer has any problem with nuts or gluten – woo hoo! So stay patient, it will get easier. Just be really strict and then take the time to see how she does. My Dr. told me that it takes at least 3 weeks to clear completely from my system. So we were really patient and then that finally paid off. If you have specific questions please ask! I’ve been through it all over the past 10 months so I’m more than happy to help in any way I can! xo
Hi Robin, Thanks for the post, it’s very helpful and nice to know others have been on a similar journey. Great resources as well! My 5mo old son Jansen had blood in his poop a few weeks ago, along with green pooh, so I had to go on a total elimination diet as well (and same as Blake, Jansen wasn’t fussy, sleeping great, etc). My pediatrician had me cut dairy, soy, wheat, corn, eggs, citrus, nuts, and tomatoes for two weeks, and then slowly add them back in to see if he reacts. I just started adding some nuts back in, and luckily they haven’t seemed to bother him (hallelujah! I missed almond milk a lot). That’s really interesting to know that your daughter was sensitive to sunflower seeds. I made some pesto w/ basil, EVOO, garlic, nutritional yeast, avocado, and sunflower seeds, and he seemed to be a little bit fussy feeding after that. I thought it was all the garlic but now I’m wondering if it was the sunflower seeds.
Question for you – do you know much about the acceptability of soy lecithins during a total elimination diet? I read in an article that they might be ok since the soy proteins that people are usually allergic to are (mostly) eliminated in soy lecithins. It sounds like they are still present in small amounts though, but I can’t find anything on if that would still matter for breastfeeding. No worries if you haven’t heard anything about it, just wanted to see if you may have.
On the bright side, cutting all these things of my diet certainly has made it easier to lose the last bit of pregnancy weight! I just did the Post-Natal videos you have posted this weekend, and signed up for your Pilates Summer Series too; excited to get back in shape! I’ve enjoyed your videos so far, thank you!
Hi Abigail! Great to hear from you. 🙂 I’m glad your doctor took a proactive approach and had you do a full elimination diet from the beginning. Although it’s tough, it makes it easier in the long run.
I need to go back and update this post now that we’re 11 months into the journey! The good news is she is fine with nuts, seeds, gluten and soy now! We are adding dairy this week and eggs will be next.
I don’t know about the soy lecithins. I cut them out completely. Which was really hard! But do-able with a lot of research and thorough questioning at restaurants. 🙂 I was at the end of my rope so I didn’t want to risk it. But you’re right, it’s the proteins that causes the problem so if they are free of proteins it might be fine? I suppose you could try adding in JUST the soy lecithin once you start adding things back in and watch for a change.
Interesting thing I’ve discovered – Blake’s diapers turn weird again when I take my prenatal vitamins! I’ve tried 3 different brands (all dairy/soy/gluten free) and they still cause a change in her poop? Green/mucous. Isn’t that weird? So I’m off vitamins and just trying to eat as healthy as I can. Lots of smoothies for nutrients.
As you go through this journey PLEASE don’t hesitate to ask questions! I am more than happy to offer tips from my experience because it can be hard to go through alone. You can email me too: robin(at)thebalancedlifeonline(dot)com.
xo,
Robin
Hi robin,
When you started your kids on solids at 6 months, did they have any allergies?? I think I made the mistake of introducing edemame/soybeans to my son at 7 months. He had it for 3 days before I realized it was causing a allergy breakout. He also was allergic to peanut butter at 10 months. My son is 14 months now and I’m still pumping. He gets random allergy breakouts….I’m starting to think it’s my breastmilk. It’s interesting how your kids were unable to tolerate all those foods in your breastmilk but they were okay eating them after 6 months of age. My son did a blood test for RAST at 11 months and tested positive to peanut (4/6) and soy and tree nite (0.3/6)
I hope he grows out of the allergies….
I’m waiting for his rash to clear up so we can try Ripple pea milk
Hi Robin
So my baby is 6 mo now and has always had bad gas at night. We finally went to a nutritional consultant this week and found that he is gluten/dairy intolerant. So I have started to cut that out of my diet. Today we went to our family doctor for his check up and I mentioned that I had seen her. Of course he was very skeptical and says its normal that a baby is gassy and I shouldn’t change my diet because my food does not get passed to him. He also says this is over diagnosed. Im reluctant to believe him. of course he’s been taught this by the medical system that would rather hand out pills than fix problems through. Anyways just wanted to vent and feel some support.
Melissa
Venting is definitely allowed here! It’s frustrating to feel as though your intuition is not respected. Keep doing what you’re doing. I know full well that what I ate affected my daughter and it took a lot of trial and error but we figured it out! Do what you think is best for you and your baby. xo
Thank you for your post, sounds just like my daughter. She started having the green mucus poo at 8 weeks then blood. Scary when you change your baby don’t expect to see streaks of blood. She saw a gastro doctor and had a scope done. Results showed that her colon was inflamed. I cut out dairy and soy first and saw a huge improvement but she really improved when i cut eggs out of my diet. She almost one now and i tried eating soy again, bloody streaks again. Now I’m trying cheese to see if she has a reaction to it. I haven’t had dairy in almost 8 months so a little scared. We’ll see. Thanks for sharing your story.
Hi Brittany! Eggs were a big one for us too. I’m glad you’re trying to add stuff back in. Remember that it takes at least 3 weeks to get out of your system so keep that in mind as your adding things back in. My doctor had us give my daughter a bit of soy yogurt instead of me eating it because it passes through their system so much quicker than it does ours. Just a thought and maybe something to ask your doctor about. 🙂 Hope it gets better soon!
I am so glad I found this. My baby is currently 8 weeks old. Ever since she was 2 weeks old, she has had green mucous stools. Doctors told us not to worry about it, but she was in obvious pain. Eventually took her to the doctor once again and they tested her stool…positive for blood. I was put on dairy and soy free diet. Right when I hit the 2 week mark, I realized my vitamins had soy in them so I started all over. Then I was given butter by accident so had to start all over. I am not sure exactly what is causing it at this point due to the fact that it hasn’t been enough time. However, the morning after I was given butter, she had visible blood in her stool. We had skin allergy tests done which all came back negative. Did you have allergy tests done for your little one? I have read that infants might not react to skin allergy tests so now I am not convinced. I have since cut nuts and eggs out of my diet. It is too early to tell at this point. We have exhausted everything else…possible oversupply/foremilk imbalance, feeding from one side per feeding only, stopping both our vitamins, probiotic drops, etc. The big issue is that she is not a happy baby. She cries out and is extremely gassy. Then she will push and push until she has explosive stools. We have not seen a normal diaper since she was 2 weeks old. Now, she has an extreme sucking need so when she was 2-3 weeks old, I kept giving her my breast non stop which increased my supply. I have that all figured out now, but I had to set her on a 2 hour feeding schedule to keep her from eating constantly through the day. That means I am feeding her 9x through day and she is probably getting between 3.5 and 4 oz of food each time. My last thing I am planning to try is having her go longer between feeds. There is no way she needs that much milk I would think. Maybe I am overfeeding her. I had her wait 2.5 hours yesterday and she still slept through the night with normal diapers.
It is so frustrating. The only thing I haven’t stopped is wheat. I have cut dairy,soy,eggs,nuts.
Thanks again for the post.
Hi Charlotte! I’m so glad you found this post. I know how hard it is to go through what you’re going through. Hang in there, it will get better!
My first encouragement would be to remember that it takes at least 3 weeks to get foods out of your system so be patient. Don’t rush things just to find an answer, I did that and then it made everything more unclear. I’m sorry she is so unhappy and gassy. 🙁 That must be so hard! I will say that I do think I was over-feeding my daughter as well. She is my first so I didn’t have anything to compare to! I had an oversupply and forceful let down, so I did block feeding (as you have done) for a few weeks which seemed to help. I think she was getting more food than she was able to process for awhile there. We did not do any allergy testing because it was my understanding that skin testing doesn’t work for this particular issue. My doctor explained to me that her dairy/soy protein intolerance is NOT a food allergy. It’s simply an inability to process the proteins due to immature digestive system. The response in the body is not the same as a food allergy. Which is good news because this does not mean that our babies will have food allergies! 🙂 Just to give you an update and encouragement. My daughter just turned one. We have given her soy yogurt and she did great! We are now giving her dairy yogurt and so far so good. She seems to have grown out of everything. We’ll test the egg next. 🙂 Hang in there and let me know if you have any other questions! I’m happy to share my experience.
xo
Charlotte,
Hang in there. Your experience sounds very similar to mine. It rooks several weeks for my baby’s gut to settle down after I cut out soy and dairy, and what I found was that soy is ubiquitous! Soy lecithin is in everything from cooking sprays to chocolate to crackers. My baby was super-gassy and painful until I cut all of that out, but eventually it settled down although I think she may have also been sensitive to eggs… Once she started solid foods after 4 months things started getting better, so we never definitively figured out what else she was sensitive too. Stick with it. It is not an easy regimen to follow, but it is so worth it when your baby gets relief.
Thanks for sharing Alison. I had to cut out ALL soy as well- soybean oil and soy lecithin. It is in everything. You have to be very determined and meticulous to avoid it. But it is worth it in the end.
When did you try soy?? We tried soybeans at 7 months…later around 10-11 months, found out he’s allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and soy. I wonder if he became desensitized because he ate the soybeans too early on.
Hi there,
Thanks for the post. I have been avoiding dairy for almost 5 months, as my son started reacting to dairy soon after he was born as well. I’m not sure if there are other culprits, and have avoided everything from cauliflower to cabbage, at times, and have wondered about soy. Can you please elaborate on how your daughter would rub her face? Also, you mentioned reintroducing eggs once all clear on the dairy, but eggs aren’t a dairy product, unless I’m missing something?
Thanks again!
Hi Chrystal,
Sorry to hear your little boy is having trouble too. The intolerance that my daughter had was to the proteins in dairy and soy. The two often go together so it’s probably worth researching for your situation too. 🙂 I noticed that my daughter would rub her face pretty dramatically with her hands after nursing. As if her face was itching. I don’t know if this was a big deal or not but I paid attention to it. She either grew out of that phase or it disappeared when I got my diet clear. It’s always hard to tell! And as for the egg – we know for sure that she was reacting to egg. We are simply re-introducing one thing at a time and I chose to do egg last because it’s the easiest for me to avoid and the least troublesome to keep out of my diet. Soy we did soy. Now we are doing dairy. And next will be egg. Does that make sense? 🙂
Ahhh, yes! Thanks for the extra info! I wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing something on the egg front! Good luck to you!
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What’s super sad is the exact same thing happened to me are 4 weeks old with my little boy and I can’t tell you how many times I searched on the internet green slimy baby poop!!! Not once did anything pop up about food allergies. It’s is so hard to deal with!
I think I searched every day for green poop diapers and couldn’t find anything! That’s why I decided to write this post. Thinking I should add a photo of her diaper for others to compare.:)
How are things going for you Bonnie? Any improvements?
Hi there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and
tell you I really enjoy reading your posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects?
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this. I am so completely surprised there is hardly any information out there. When I’ve suggested a cows milk intolerance to doctors/child healthy nurses they just don’t have a clue. So frustrating! Have been referred to a pediatrician so hopefully we can get answers before starting solids in a month!
I know it can be so frustrating! I’m so glad that my doctor was informed and supportive because her son had the same issue. I hope your pediatrician is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions along the way! xo
Hi Robin!
Finding your site has been so inspirational and life saving! My daughter is 5 months old and she was put on 3 rounds of antibiotics at 2 months of age for a cyst (they didn’t know it was a cyst at the time). Needless to say it really messed up her sensitive little digestive system. She ended up being on probiotics for 2 weeks (which wasn’t helping) because her stool test came back positive for having c diff. So then our Dr. prescribed her another antibiotic to get rid of the c diff. Now after another stool test the c diff is gone and she is still having diarrhea with mucous and blood in her stool. She is a very happy content baby but I know this is not normal. Reflecting back, if I could change anything I would have spoke up and said putting my baby on so many antibiotics is ridiculous. Being a first time mom, I guess I had faith in my dr. So his options for me were to pump 8-10 times a day to keep my supply up and give her nutramigen formula to see if she has a food allergy or take her to a specialist at the children’s hospital. I decided I did NOT want to quit breastfeeding and so I began researching and that is when I came across your blog. So I am now on day 8 of the elimination diet and she went from pooping 6-8 times a day to now 2-3 times. Her stools are becoming tan instead of green and looking more thick instead of watery. I am so thankful for you sharing your experience. I have a question about re-introducing foods…should I reintroduce them into my diet and look for a reaction or should I introduce them into my daughters? She is getting to the point where she wants to eat baby food, I am just trying to figure out how to go about this. I know some foods can only be introduced through my diet, I was just wondering about foods that can be introduced to her. Thanks again for all the helpful information! 🙂
I’m so sorry that you have been through so much already! It’s so hard to know what to do as a first time mom. You are doing a great job. I am SO glad to hear that her digestive system is returning to normal! Way to go. I re-introduced gluten and nuts on my own once I felt like she was 100% in the clear (no blood in her stools). I started with nuts and waited 2-3 weeks to see how she did. Then gluten, etc. My doctor had me wait until 9 months (the point when most babies outgrow this) to try dairy, soy and egg. At that point she had me give my daughter a little bit of soy yogurt and wait 2-3 weeks to see how she did. I brought her diapers into be tested and they were clear. So we moved onto to dairy yogurt and did the same process. She had me give them to Blake at that point because if she did still have a problem with it, it would pass through her system in a few days whereas it takes 2-3 weeks to clear from our systems. But of course, be sure to check with your doctor too. Keep me posted! xo
Hi Robin,
Thanks for the great post. I found your blog while googling MSPI and this has been very helpful. We live in highlands ranch so very close to your neck of the woods. Anyways, I have a couple questions if you have a chance to respond. Our second baby boy is 3 months and we’re dealing with slimy green stools that are testing positive for blood. I eliminated milk and soy shortly after his birth and the diapers got better for a few weeks but then recently started testing positive for blood again. My first child had allergies to dairy, soy and gluten and outgrew all of them by 11 months. Baby boy #2 seems to be bothered a bit more although he’s super happy which just makes it more confusing. I’m wondering if you have any tips on maintaining your supply while cutting so much out. Also, did you eliminate all foods with sunflower oil as well as sunflower seeds? I’m finding that sunflower oil is in a lot these days including my dha prenatal! My pediatrician recommended cutting out eggs, tree nuts and berries next. So we’ll see how it goes… Happy your little one has outgrown her allergies. Thanks again for an informative post!
Oh what a small world! Sorry to hear you’re going through this again though. Our 3 big triggers turned out to be dairy, soy (all soy, including soy lecithin and soybean oil) and egg. So I kept those out of my diet as long as possible.
As for keeping my supply up I was intentional about eating as much as I could. Seriously, no limits. 🙂 I ate a lot of oatmeal (great for supply), a lot of avocado for healthy fat, meat with veggies, olive oil, and the occasional bun-less burger with fries just to keep my calories up.
I lost weight but never had trouble with supply. The key is to breastfeed regularly as well. Don’t skip feedings and drink lots of water. I also drank Mother’s Milk tea every few nights. Keep me posted on how things go! xo
All three of my kids had a dairy intolerance while nursing, and after too. At first I thought it was a fluke….nope they got it from me. I thought I had dandruff since my freshman year in highschool….nope it was MY dairy intolerance. So Mommas out there who have sensitive babies, you may be sensitive too and just not know it. I also learned that our dairy sensitivity was not lactose but casein (milk protein). Many people with this sensitivity find that they can fully tolerate butter in their diet (yea healthy natural fat!) because it has almost no casein. Funny enough my kids reacted when I tried to do margarine because I figured it would be safe…they use milk whey (high in casein) to flavor it. After mosltly avoiding milk for over ten years now (we did a stint with a pet cow for raw dairy), I found the GAPS diet because I wanted to fix the cause of our sensitivity, and heal our guts. It is tough, I am still not sure if it will work for us, but my body feels so much better. Stick with it, nursing your baby is SO very worth it.
So interesting! I’m glad you figured things out eventually. I’m glad you’re doing the GAPS diet as well. We use a lot of Ghee in our house now for the same reasons. Thanks for your post and keep up the great work mama!
Hi Robin!
In one last desperate attempt, I stumbled across your article. It’s been so hard to find anyone else going through this!! We went to the GI doctor today and he recommended starting my son on neocate (allergy free formula). I’m very sad about it and my baby boy HATES it. Refuses to take it. I have cut out dairy, soy protein (not soybean oil or soy lecithin) , peanuts, tree nuts, egg, sunflower seeds, corn and beans. I’m wondering if I need to cut out tomatoes and soybean oil and soy lecithin….. I really appreciate you sharing your experience!! It’s nice to have someone to compare to!
Hannah,
In my own experience, I found that my daughter reacted to ALL soy including the oil and lecithin. Before you give up, I would try eliminating all soy from your diet. I know how hard it is, so hang in there!
Hi Hannah, I’ve had a similar experience, and am slowly re-introducing items now. So far he’s reacted to tomatoes and strawberries that I know of, so you might try those as well. I cut out soy, including soybean oil, but the GI Dr I went to said soy lecithin is fine usually. I also cut fish/shellfish, but I don’t know if he reacted to it since I haven’t tried adding it back in yet. It’s so hard, I know – you can do it!
Hi Abigail! Thank you for sharing!! I will watch for strawberries. I noticed tomatoes and pineapple both seemed to bother him pretty bad. Have any of you cut out any meats? I haven’t… Right now I’m eating rice, all meats and some fruits and vegetables (no tomatoes, pineapple, cucumber – not positive about cucumber – or beans or corn).
blog has been the biggest help to me…. I haven’t found any other information online that’s been this helpful! Thank you for writing this Robin!
Hi Hannah, I also found that I had to include soy lecithin and soybean oil. It’s not easy but it’s worth it! I know that formula can be icky and SO expensive. It’s a tough position to be in. I also cut out coconut for awhile….keep me posted on how things go!
How soon did you see improvements after eliminating certain foods? It’s very hard to know when it can linger in our systems… :/
I saw some improvement in my baby’s gassiness within a week, but her poop didn’t start looking better for a few weeks (3-4).
It was pretty quick for me; just over a week for things to get better (no more blood, not upset after eating).
It also took me about 3-4 weeks. My doctor told me that’s how long it would take to get it out of my system and that’s without ANY mistakes. You have to be vigilant and know your stuff. Servers at restaurants are often misinformed so be very specific and tell them about your allergies. Hang in there!
Hi robin,
Thanks for tips. My doc believes our 7 week old has a dairy soy intolerance. Can you tell me how Long it takes for
The green diapers to go back to yellow ( if dairy and soy are the culprits)? Also how soon after we eat something and feed does it go through their stool? It is so hard and frustrating trying to figure this out! And any idea why the intolerance all of A sudden developed? I was eating a ton more dairy products when he was first born… I think it’s soy and dairy but baby has mucasie green diapers on and off. Also how hard is it to avoid soy! They put that stuff in everything!! Thank you!!!
Hi Andrea!
Of course, I’m not a doctor but I can share my experience. 🙂 It took 3-4 weeks for my daughter’s diapers to return to normal after we figured out our big 3 culprits (dairy, soy, egg). My doctor told me that what I eat will pass through to my daughter within 24 hours. But that being said it takes about 4 weeks for the dairy/soy/etc. to leave our systems after eating it. So there is no “cheating” in this diet. It doesn’t work that way unfortunately.
I’m not sure why this has become so prevalent but I do find it very interesting! Certainly makes me think about our food system and what we put into our bodies on a daily basis. And yes – soy is in everything!! I had no idea before starting this journey. I still avoid it now that I know. xo
Hey Robin thank you for all the info ! Can you tell me when a baby’s green mucousy diapers will go back to yellow if Dairy and soy are eliminated and are the culprits? Will the baby continue to have green mucus diapers even after dairy and soy Are eliminated or is it possible I’m eating amounts and don’t realize ? why does this intolerance developed all of a sudden at seven weeks ? I feel like I ate a lot more dairy in the beginning… It seems like my baby continues to have green mucus diapers and being pain from gas. I’m starting to wonder if I need to eliminate another possible intolerance though it has only been a few days.. Your advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you
Thanks robin! Your blog is great and I look forward to following your journey into motherhood for tips and tricks! Great advice! It’s been 1 week and still have the mucus filled diapers so hoping it is just the dairy and soy . Guess I’ll know in 4 weeks! Thanks again! Hugs!A
Hi Robin. Thank you for the important information. I had this problem with my daughter and unfortunately she was given antibiotics when only 2 months old before we figured out it was food intolerance. It required trials and a careful observation to find out the exact cause. My daughter reacted to dairy, beef and fish through my breastmilk, so I had eliminated those and she has been fine. Now, I have similar problem with my son. I am trying to figure out what causes green, mucous stools with spots of blood. I plan to go through a true elimination diet.
I’m so glad you found the solution for your daughter! I hope your son’s process is easier since you have been through this before. Dairy & soy is a good place to start but I also think a true elimination diet can save time in the end. 🙂
Hello Robin,
My son is 7 weeks and has had green diarrhea with mucous in it for the last 2 weeks (Started right when he turned 6 weeks just like your baby). No other symptoms…no fever, not fussy, generally a happy baby who is eating and sleeping well. We were so scared for our little one and brought him into the pediatrician a few days after the onset of diarrhea. She said it was a virus and sent us home and told us to just give him pedialyte. After a few more days of sometimes very liquidy diarrhea I went back to the doctor. She said she then thought it was a UTI. We took urine and stool samples and a few days later the urine sample (which was done with a bag and not very reliable) came back as UTI. She sent us up to a children’s hospital where she wanted to have us admitted to get him on IV antibiotics. Thank goodness a resident urologist came into the room before we had him admitted for 7 days and said he wanted to do a catheterization to check again for UTI (the more reliable way). Came back negative thank goodness and we were sent home. I am telling you all of this to just say how frustrated I have been with most doctors because it seems like nobody can tell me what has been going on. From virus to UTI – he has already been misdiagnosed a bunch of times. One doctor at the ER told us to go home and just forget about what his poop looks like. What??? I think that is crazy because as his mom, I know something is not right.
Dumped our old pediatrician and went to a new one who thinks it might be an intolerance to dairy (I had been reading up on that too and thought to cut dairy out of my diet). Just starting today to cut dairy out and hopefully this resolves soon. I also might cut nuts out because I remember that when this began, I had just bought some cashews and I have been eating them throughout this two week period. Do you think it could also be that? I am so concerned and it seems like we are better at diagnosing our children than some of these doctors!
Wow, what a journey you have been on! I am so glad you are following your mother’s intuition and seeking out a better doctor! Dairy and soy protein intolerance is slightly different than having foods that just make the baby fussy. So be sure to ask your doctor about that. With dairy and soy it’s an inability to break down the proteins in dairy and soy – which causes inflammation in the digestive tract, leading to blood.
Be sure to ask your new doctor. But I was told to start with dairy and soy (you have to be VERY strict, read every label, don’t eat anything that you don’t know the ingredients of, if you have even a little bit, symptoms will return). And then egg came next. I went on to cut out a bunch of other things but realized that I had been eating egg white (in gluten free bread) and that was a big culprit. So take it one step at a time and keep listening to your gut mama. You’re doing a great job! xoxo
Robin,
I am so glad I ran across your post while researching. I have am almost 8 week old and for the first 5 weeks or so his diapers were nice and yellow and seedy. Even with normal diapers, we noticed he was a bit fussy. He then began getting frothy green diapers resembling seaweed and this switched to yellow occasionally, but now green and mucous like. I first thought it was a fore milk/hind milk imbalance and tries block feeding, but he has always been a great nurser and eats normally 30-45 minutes. I
I thought I was being smart and decided to cut out dairy and soy, but wow! Everything has soy and dairy it seems! I ate a black bean burger thinking how great I was doing yesterday and he was so fussy last night to the point I couldn’t calm him and low and behold, soy and dairy in them!!
I just wanted to thank you for this awesome post! It’s really helped me so I don’t feel so confused and deprived. I love dairy!!! I love my child more though and am willing to do what it takes! I’ll try and cut out dairy and soy for now and see how it goes. Gluten will be next!
Hi Danielle – yes it’s crazy how soy is in EVERYTHING! You have to be really vigilant about reading every label. The best place to shop is health food stores because they often use things that are free of soy (now that people are becoming aware that gmo soybeans aren’t great for our health).
I hope your journey continues to be easier. You can do it! You’re doing a great thing for your little guy.
My doctor recommended egg as the next step after dairy and soy. But check with your doctor to see what they recommend. 🙂
xoxo
Hi robin,
Did you ever have any slip ups?if so, did it take long to get rid of green mucasie diapers? Things were going great after I eliminated dairy , soy and eggs for a couple of weeks. Then I don’t know what it was but the frothy green diapers and eventually mucasie with specks of blood returned a few days ago. It’s possible I ate soybean oil but didn’t think that would be a problem. I also had chia seed which after research they day not to eat while pregnant or breastfeeding. Weird.I’m starting to wonder if it’s something else I am ingesting on a daily basis that is causing my little guy so much discomfort. Our dr says not to give anything else up yet . So hard. Did you ever do a meal plan of things you ate? Recipes – if so are you able to share? I’m ready to eat the same 3 safe meals everyday until he is off of breast milk. It is so discouraging!
Thank you
Andrea
Hi Andre,
I was really, really vigilant about reading labels and asking detailed questions at restaurants so I rarely had slip ups. I accidentally ate lactose starter culture (in salami of all things) and her symptoms returned. It took another few weeks to get things all cleared up after that.
I personally eliminated all soybean oil which was hard but it is do-able.
As I mentioned in my post I ate from the meal plan that goes along with my online program quite a bit. I also have a Pinterest board (link in the post) with a bunch of recipes that may be helpful. I know it’s so hard at first! but you can get in a groove and it will be okay. I promise! Once you find your staples you will be okay.
Keep me posted. You’re doing a great job!
Hi robin! You give me hope and I am so glad I found you! You are doing such a wondeful things for moms! Is there anything we can do to help you? I don’t do Pilates – I’m hoping to exercise again one day (not just walks) . Do you sell a nutritional program? You are such a generous and inspirational person! Thank you for sharing your story and helping all of us !
Xoxo
Andrea
You’re so kind Andrea! I really just want to help. 🙂
The nutrition program that I sell is a part of The Pilates Body Program. (link at the top of the page under “the pilates body”. I’ve had people join the program JUST for the meal plans and then they just keep the Pilates workouts for a time when they will be ready to use them. I’d love to have you!
xoxo,
Robin
Thanks robin! I’m thinking of joining ! I have never done Pilates but I have 15 more lbs to go before I’m back at prepreg weight.
I can’t seem to view the video where you discuss program – can you provide link?
Also will the recipes be dairy soy egg free?
Thanks again for everything!
Andrea
The meal plan is not 100% dairy, egg and soy free, but it does provide a good foundation for learning to eat and cook that way. It is almost 100% soy free, about 90% dairy free and the eggs can just be left out because there are many other breakfast options to choose from. I’d love to have you!
xo,
Robin
Hey robin, question, I have quit dairy and soy and there seems to be a little improvement but my son still have muscus in his diaper. It’s not green anymore but always muscus. Is that normal or do you think I should try cutting something else?
Hey robin,
I would have to say that my now 8 week old son Parker had been exhibiting “colicky” behavior within his first week of life. It is not abnormal for him to go 3 days to a week without a BM but it was always filled with mucus when he did. I noticed immediately he was intolerant to dairy. Then it took a couple weeks and he was still very fussy. Soy was another culprit we found and soy is in EVERYTHING. When they say soy lecithin or soybean oil is tolerated in people who are intolerant…it is a lie. I am exclusively breastfeeding and I have been on a very limiting diet and your journey has given me hope that I can do this. The thing that is confusing that most people talk about how their child has diarrhea from the intolerances. Parker does not. Some also claim that taking a probiotic or giving their child a probiotic helped tremendously (from reading a lot of blogs I laugh bc the probiotic brands they claim they are taking contain dairy and soy, yet they say their child is MSPI but these probiotics help?–my guess is their child wasn’t MSPI). I did research a probiotic called ProBiota Infant that is completely allergen free. Was wondering if you took probiotics during that time period and if they helped. Thanks, Britney
Hi Britney! I agree with you on the soy lecithin/oil. I had to avoid it and it was so hard. But you can do it! It is worth it and it gets easier I promise. As for probiotics. I got my own through the occasional kombucha and eating fermented sauerkraut (in the refrigerated section at natural grocers. I like Bubbies and FarmHouse Kraut). I also gave (and still give) my daughter her own probiotics as I mentioned in the post above. The brand I use is now owned by Gerber and sold as Gerber Soothe Colic Drops (but they are really just probiotics and the unique strain that is found in breastmilk). I truly believe the probiotics have helped a lot! xoxo
Hi robin! I missed this Pilates session but hope to sign up for your next one- we have to figure of what I can and can’t eat still(in addition to no dairy and no soy) so the meal plan may not be helpful. Also I don’t know when I would have time. I’m home alone with him all Day and still haven found a way for him to nap on his own. Hopefully someday. Your story does give me hope and you have been so generous with your knowledge . Thank you!
I went through this with baby #1 and was hyper-vigilant with baby #2. Just got a soy pumpkin spice steamer from Starbucks this morn to break the. ‘No soy’ rule…had no idea the pumpkin spice syrup has dairy! That ruined my experiment since I was dairy free! Boo. Baby #1 turned out to be highly allergic (and still is) to egg. Just motivates me to cook at home more. It is a TOUGH road!!!! Especially with a first baby. We host kids sometimes and had some ‘normal’ babies and made me feel sane that something really was wrong with our little guy. He writhed and screamed in pain for 4 hours once when he was 4 months old. It was miserable. He was so miserable he didn’t even sleep or eat, or stop crying for all 4 hours…that is not okay.
I’m in the same boat right now. My baby girl is happy, gaining weight, sleeping great , but she has blood in her poop every day. I’ve been dairy free 6 woks, soy free 4 weeks and on the elimination diet for a week and a half. Still green poop with blood. I’ love nursing and I’ve introduced hypoallergenic formula, but she hates it. I feel so defeated, and I’m not getting much help from the gi doctor. I don’t know what to do?!
Sorry Jenna. That’s so tough. 🙁 Are you on a full elimination diet? What are you eating right now?
Hey Jenna, I was kind of similar; weeks later my baby still had blood in his poop at random times. Not sure what you’ve cut so far, but for me it ended up being dairy, strawberries, tomatoes, and I think pineapples and mangos. Not sure if that helps, but I had only randomly cut strawberries because a friend told me that bothered her child…
Thank you for commenting. The one day my baby’s diaper was really bad, very orange with blood, I had eaten eggs with ketchup, pineapple and orange juice that morning. We took her to see her pediatrician that day and I asked him specifically if it could be from too much acid from those foods and he told me no! Didn’t even give the possibility of them being a problem. Glad to find out they could be a possibility and will eliminate if she still has issues not having dairy, soy, fish, or nuts. Thank you again!
PS he’s not her regular Dr, thank God. Will make sure to not see him again. Going to ask her reg Dr about these foods!
Hi Jenna,
My little girl also has had blood in her stool. I’ve been strict on eliminating dairy and soy for at least a week now would’ve been longer, but I didn’t realize my prenatal vitamins had soy in them until last week. I don’t want to stop nursing either. They had her on nutramigen for about 5 days and since there was still blood, her GI Dr switched her to elecare. All while i was pumping and dumping. The elecare got rid of the blood, so i was able to start BFing again, waiting to see if symptoms return. Wondering if one of these are the formula you used and do you have an update?
Hi thanks for responding. I’ve cut out dairy, soy, gluten, eggs, nuts and
corn. I eat oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, plain chicken rice and green beans for lunch, and ground beef and mashed potatoes for dinner.
I snack on fruit and veggies and eat kettle potato chips!
Hi! Glad I found this! After I eliminated all MAJOR dairy my daughter’s mucus poops went away, she stopped screaming at the breast, and she’s rarely irritable. It’s only been 4 weeks though. She’s 4.5 months old and is 9#12oz and has actually LOST 2oz since her ND had me cut out dairy. Does this make any sense? She’s sending us to a GI doc now.
I am so relieved I’m not the only one. My daughter is 2 months old today and since she was 2 days old (when my milk came in) we have been dealing with her throwing up. She spits up pretty often but at least 3 times a week or more we have a large projectile throw up. She screams when it happens as if it hurts and no matter what we do we can’t soothe her. In the almost 9 week’s she’s been alive I lost count of how many times we’ve been to the pediatrician, we’ve been to the ER 3 times, urgent care 2 times, an E.N.T specialist, a gastroenterologist, and had an upper GI done. we just got home from a 3 day hospital stay because she threw up blood. They tested her stool for blood but it came back negative. They’re still recommending that I cut out all dairy and soy…I’M STARVING! The dairy I think would be easier, but it seems like soy is in everything! I’m finding this whole thing rather challenging and feeling kind of defeated but I am so not ready to stop breastfeeding.
Wow! I can’t believe how much your little one has been through. Has eliminating food helped her? My little girl only has one symptom and that’s gross blood in her stool. They’ve had me put her on two different types of formula, while I pumped and dumped. Just started back to breast feeding not sure if she’ll be OK. Did they suggest a formula for her at least to calm her symptoms?
Hi everyone,
I hope nobody will savage me for this. I believe in a theory that is not accepted by academic medicine; Every food that you (or even your mother, who can have passed it down to you) received as an infant before you were able to break it down properly (so, roughly 6 months of age) cannot be recognised by your body as “foreign”, because your intestines have not yet learned to identify “foreign” food as “foreign” and the respective food, be it soy or whatever else, will simply pass as breastmilk and be treated as such. And it will so even later, once you are are theoretically able to break down “foreign” food and digest it properly. So, it can be any ingredient of formulas or baby food, even added vitamins, that theoretically may set off the immune system. Egg may also be the cause since egg protein is so similar to milk protein. They can all cause different types of allergies, because allergens may attach to the amino acids of the proteins of the respective food your body has been misguided to believe is breastmilk. To me it makes the most sense.
I eliminated dairy and soy (and eggs) and saw a huge difference. Today I accidentally ate both. I’m so mad at myself. Any idea if it will take three weeks again? I am hoping it doesn’t affect him too much.
Hi Maria,
I’m glad you were noticing a difference! I am unable to say for sure how long it will take to get out of your system but I hope it is sooner than 3 weeks. I would imagine it would be if you haven’t been eating them regularly. But again, I’m not a doctor so I don’t know for sure. Hope it passes quickly and your little one does okay! xo
Very glad to come across this blog. Thank you! My daughter, Morgan, is almost 11 weeks old and was having blood in her stools. Her ped. recommended I eliminate dairy and soy from my diet which I had done,but she was still having the blood. So they had me put her on nutramigen which she was on for about 5 days before she saw a GI ped. Since there was still blood,he switched her to Elecare, I was in tears because they said she would have to be on the formula for at least a year. I really really want to continue breast feeding. He told me to wait at least 5 days as long as her stools didn’t have blood in them before breast feeding again and to eliminate the soy and dairy still and add eggs,all fish and nuts to the list. Didn’t notice until a week ago that my prenatals have soy in them. Have been off of those and just started breast feeding again yesterday, since the elecare cleared up the blood. I’m to bring her stool in in a week for testing. Wondering if any of Blake’s Dr’s jumped to switching her to formula like they did for Morgan. After reading your story and others it seems like they haven’t been giving me enough time to have these allergens out of my system. Our GI ped kind of freaked us out by saying she’s losing blood and could become anemic, which makes sense, but leaves me confused as well. Fingers crossed that she doesn’t have blood again. If she does, in your opinion do you think I should give it more time? Thank you
Hi Shawn! SO sorry you’ve been through so much stress. I hope your daughter’s diapers are clear next week! My pediatrician never expressed too much concern but that may be because my daughter’s diapers had microscopic amounts of blood. We could rarely see it. It was usually just the green mucous that was the sign. They never referred us to a GI doctor. I was passionate about changing my diet and I was religious about it. You really have to be otherwise it won’t work. But it can be done! I hope it works out for you. Please keep me posted and hang in there. It gets better and easier. Once you figure it out you can make a plan and then many babies outgrow it. My daughter is 17 months and can eat everything now. Hopefully that gives you some hope. 🙂 xo
PS – I am not a doctor, but my doctor always told me to give it 3 weeks.
Thanks. I can usually see the blood in her stools so maybe that’s the difference. I know that my diet is clean. I’ve been a maniac at checking labels and any ingredient that I suspect,I Google it to be sure it’s not in some way related to dairy or soy. I think it’s going to be my prenatal vitamins that cause a problem since I just stopped taking them a week ago. It is a relief to know that others have had success! I’ve been stressing quite a bit over this.
I wanted to ask how you tested out foods. Would you feed her a little bit or a full serving one day then wait the 2-3 weeks or would you feed it a couple times one week then wait?
Thank you so much for this. My 3 month old son was just diagnosed with a milk allergy and we are in the process of cutting out eggs and soy. It is so frustrating because eggs an soy are in everything! We live on a little island in the pacific north west and there aren’t a while bunch or food options. It’s so nice to not feel alone in this and thank your for your Pinterest board and this post!
AMAZING to have found this Blog.
Thank you thank you thank you.
My 15 week old has been upset in the stomach since about 8 weeks. Sleeps 4 hours and doesn’t cry a lot, but I can tell the painful ones. Stops feeding at times in pain. He does the face rubbing too and I have just been told by everyone that’s a tired sign. But I disagree. ‘Mother knows best’ very mucus stool (no obvious blood) explosive.
I’m on a milk/soy/egg free diet (almost a week now) but feel he is worse today than the rest of week. I feel like I’ve been strict with the elimination. Today had worse spit up it was almost green (like ‘snot’) I still haven’t seen my paed waiting for them to call back with an appointment the ciropractor is the one instigating the elimination.
It is just so awful thinking I’m causing all this pain.
I want to fix it!!
I know this is an old post but thank you for posting this! My son is 4 months old and has been having green watery stools for a while now. Ped said as long as he is gaining weight no biggie. I haven’t eaten gluten for 2 years, 2 months ago cut out dairy, nuts, seeds and all grains. I couldnt figure it out. I also take honest company prenatal and I just saw on the bottle a few days ago (duh) that it contains lots of grains as the whole food filler. I am going to try and eliminate them and see what happens. Then i will try eggs. But if I take out eggs I have nothing to eat for breakfast. Like you said that doesn’t leave much for a breastfeeding mom to eat, but it’s well worth it to know foods aren’t irritating my baby. Thank you so much!
Ho w are things going Mandy? xo
Thank you Robin! My story is EXACTLY like yours. My 4 month old has a dairy, soy and egg intolerance (found out through the testing of the diapers). Once I cut all of that out of my diet, he was a different child. It’s amazing. I am a full time working mommy and I am really struggling with my milk supply. He’s up to 5 oz bottles every 2.5 hrs. I send 4 bottles (20 oz total) to daycare, but I’m only able to pump about 15 oz a day. I had a freezer stash, but I had to throw out a ton of bags because they were pumped before I eliminated the dairy, soy or eggs and I used my last good freezer bag yesterday. Today I had to mix 2 ounces of formula (nutragimin) with the breast milk to send enough. I’m really depressed about it. I didn’t want him to have any formula. Any tips or ideas for keeping up the milk supply on such a limited diet? I made some lactation cookies, and I eat oatmeal daily, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up wiht his demand.
Hi Desirae! I’m so glad you found an answer! I know it’s quite a process. I made sure to eat a lot of food throughout the day. I ate a lot of healthy fats (tons of avocado, coconut oil in my smoothies, almond butter, peanut butter, nuts), oatmeal and drank Mother’s Milk tea. Also be sure to drink plenty of water. You’re doing a great job! Don’t get down on yourself. You’re doing a wonderful job for your little one. xoxo
Update:
I commented on here a few weeks ago about my daughter having blood in her stool due to food intolerance. I have been off of dairy, soy, nuts, eggs and fish gong on 3 weeks. This week was the second hemocult (quick test they do in house to detect microscopic amounts of blood in the stool) to come up negative since switching back to breast feeding! Best feeling ever! To be able to accomplish this feat and know I’m able to nurture my baby the best way possible. I was very afraid that I wouldn’t get to this point, but having this blog to refer back to has been amazing. Thank you again for writing it.
Shawn this is great news!! I’m so happy for you!! I hope things to continue to get easier from here. Great job mama. xo
So grateful to have found this – this is exactly what I am walking through! I am in the process of finding out exactly what my 3 month old is intolerant of so right now I am only eating chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes,(coconut and olive oil), and most fruits and veggies. I’ve seen huge improvement! I am really anxious to add back in peanut butter for protein – what brand did you eat that did not contain soybean oil?
Like I said, I’m grateful for your blog – I’ve read this post like 3 times just thinking “wow – I am not alone.” Also – I just did your free Pilates workout…so great and I can do it at home with baby. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for posting! My daughter is still having the occasional green mucus and blood stained diaper. Gillian also has days of constant spitting up or more like projectile spitting, forgive the description but there is really no way to describe it. I’ve not been out to eat or touched any soy or dairy products since she was about 1 month old and she’s now 6 months.
By 2 weeks, my sweet girl was showing all of the signs but as a new, sleep deprived mom I had no idea of what was wrong. Red itchy eyes, dry skin, green mucus poop, what seemed like colic type pain, constantly spitting up, bloody diapers, nothing normal. We were first told that it was a flu and while I questioned the doctor about the colicky symptoms, the doctor insisted that girls rarely were even colic babies. Our next appointment, 3 days later, I was told that it seemed like she has acid reflux. We began using the Gerber soothe drops. More sleepless nights for my sweet baby girl of crying and literally jumping in pain in her now elevated bed, feeding for comfort followed by “happy spitting up” and I called to say that we were seeing more blood and little relief. Before this appointment I decided to dig myself and find some cause or clue as to what was going on. I actually came across a dairy intolerance article that sounded exactly like what we were experiencing. So thank goodness for research and mom’s, like you, putting your story out here!
While we’ve not gotten things completely under control, having stories of hope and understanding from a similar viewpoint makes it less difficult. Just knowing that you are not alone is hope in itself!
I think what is hardest is watching your sweet, smiling and generally happy baby continue to have discomfort yet keep that smile and laugh through it all! Meanwhile I feel horrible that I’ve missed a key word on a label and caused another upset for the next 2-3 weeks! Praying soon that her smiles will be without what pain I know that she is in.
Thank you again for posting! Your updates give us encouragement!
Hi Christy! I’m so glad you found this post. That is exactly why I wrote it…because I was out there scouring the internet for clues as to what was going on with my baby and I couldn’t find much! I hope that you continue to make progress. Hang in there. I know it’s so hard. Have you tried removing egg? I think that’s what finally made the big difference for my daughter. Hang in there and be encouraged. My daughter is now 18 months and healthy, happy and able to eat everything! xoxo
Hey Christy,
My daughter is having intolerance issues as well she just turned 3 months, we’ve been dealing with this for about a month now. I finally got to a place where we were good, then her Dr wanted me to start giving her vitamin D again which I did and 12 hours after one dose she had blood in her stool, again. I had checked the ingredients against the list they had given me and caramel flavoring was on the list, caramel color is in her vitamin. I just figured it was a food coloring. I looked it up and sure enough it specifically stated not to eat it if you have a known dairy allergy. Of all the things! It’s been a week since she had that and finally it seems like her system is back to normal. I thought I was being so careful. There is an app called “what’s in this stuff” it’s pretty good, not every ingredient has info, though. So I just Google the ones that don’t and Wikipedia usually has info for everything. I’ve pretty much just resorted to cooking all of my own food. Except for tostitos, those are safe and gluten free. Enjoy life products are made without any of the 8 most common food allergens and are tasty. Hope this helps.
Sorry, also my prenatals had soy in them so stopped those a while back. I did find a vitamin d replacement on Amazon, haven’t started it yet but it literally only has the vitamin in it no added crap like caramel color.
Oh my gosh, caramel color! That makes sense I guess but I NEVER thought of that! Wow, it sure is eye opening to see what’s in our food system isn’t it? Keep up the great work mama!
Robin-
I enjoyed reading the information you shared as I am pretty sure my daughter has MPIES, although I would like to mention, when she was in the hospital during a reaction to formula (milk-based) she did not have any blood in her stool. My DD is 3 months old and is exclusively on breastmilk through an NG tube. We are hoping to go back to breast Friday if possible. (Praying!!) I have been on a dairy elimination diet for a month now. She shows no evident signs of reactions to anything – no green diapers, irritability, or colic. She is on reflux meds, but it is supposed to be silent, so we have no evident sign that she really has it, just assumed. Our biggest issue is her very slow weight gain. I have contemplated going on the TED recently. She is not even on the curve with her weight and though my pediatrician is on board with me to keep breastfeeding, I think ENT thinks differently. Do you suggest just eliminating soy or TED? Confused and anxious to help her with her weight gain…
Hi Robin,
I’m a fellow Pilates instructor, out in Utah, and I love your site! I had a similar long, hard journey with my son, who developed eczema soon after he was born. It was such a stress on our family trying to figure out why he wasn’t sleeping well, why he got itchy after eating certain foods, etc. I just wanted to make it all go away and it broke my heart that I didn’t know how. We had him blood tested and I did a couple of elimination diets, but I still felt like I didn’t know what he definitely was and wasn’t allergic to. I especially had a hard time finding a local doctor who was open to alternative medicine. I haven’t heard of testing stool — none of the doctors ever suggested it to us. Is that a common procedure? Also, did you ever find a prenatal vitamin that was good for you and baby?
Hi Kimberly! Sorry you had to go through that. 🙁 My doctor tested the diapers because her first and only symptom was a change in her stools. They changed in color and consistency and there were flecks of blood. She wasn’t having a true allergic response – it was an inability to digest the proteins so her intestines were inflamed. So I’m not sure how they would have gone about it if she was having a true allergic reaction to food. Does that make sense? She has since outgrown the intolerance so I am back on my prenatals without a problem. I stayed off of them while she was working through the protein intolerance. Hope this helps a bit! xo
Thank you. You literally described my daughter’s symptoms exactly. I’m in the no dairy and spit up is increasing phase. Been dairy free for 2 weeks. Going to try to cut soy soon to see if that helps. Giving the dairy elimination another week to see if there is any improvement before I cut soy too. So frustrating this entire experience is :/
Hi,
Thank you for sharing your story, or should I say success story! My son is now almost 9 months. Since his birth last May, he had eczema, spit up frequently, and had loose stool. All I was told by pediatrician was just part of being a baby. Then, in October, he got his first ” random ” hive outbreak on his face. It lasted about an hour. This continued to happen through November maybe once a week. I brought him to an allergist who said it was just sensitive skin. However, in December he had his first taste of yogurt and it sent us to the ER in an ambulance. His face blew up and hives all over. He never stopped breathing thank God. Then, allergist and pediatriciAn said based on a skin test that he was allergic to dairy, wheat, egg, tree nuts and peanuts but not soy and fish. However, at day care he randomly got hives after eating a jar of organic food that he had eaten many times before. Then, allergist orders blood work and it shows that he is allergic to oat and barley. So on December 15 I started a semi strict elimination diet ( I could eat some wheat like out to dinner and cooked cheese was okay.) however, on December 24 I started strict elimination diet of oat, barley, wheat, dairy, eggs, tree nuts and peanuts. Then, he had a random outbreak in car on way to day care. So after more blood work, he is diagnosed with dermographism and food allergies of oat, barley, wheat, dairy, eggs, tree, peanuts , sesame oil and SOY! I’ve eliminated all of these since. However, he won’t be retested until July now. I am searching all over for advice, experiences, and talking to dietitians and lactation consultants to try to figure out if and what and how I can add items back into my diet in my son’s best interest of outgrowing all or most of these allergies. Does exposure through my breastmilk help with some allergens? Do certain allergens or items not pass directly through breastmilk after being processed? Or do I need to do a strict elimination diet of all allergens until he is retested since he was tested through blood? Could blood work show intolerances as well as allergies? Sorry this was a long post! I’m trying to gather as much info as possible. Thanks!
Hi Jen!
So sorry to hear about all the stress and trouble you have been through. I can only imagine how frustrating and scary that has been at times. I’m glad you’re finally starting to get answers. Unfortunately I don’t have many answers in regards to your situation. My daughter never actually had any food allergies. She only had the inability to digest the proteins in milk soy & egg through my breastmilk. So that is the extent of my experience and knowledge. But hopefully another reader will have some insight to share from their journey! Keep up the great work mama. xo
Hi, Jen – our 5 month old daughter had a bad case of hives after being fed some formula (she’d had it prior, several times, but not in months – then boom, hives). It was officially determined through testing that it was milk protein allergy.
Regarding your questions about allergens and breastfeeding, you should consult your allergist and/or pediatrician. Allergens can and do pass through your milk, so they can trigger issues. I don’t think they will help with allergens in any ways.
Our allergist did say that hopefully with some allergies, if you eliminate them, the body has a good chance of “forgetting” that it should react to them.
So, elimination diet is probably your best bet.
Good luck with your little one. It is stressful, but keep doing all you can for them and things will work out.
Hi jen! My baby girl has been eating great, gaining weight and is rarely fussy. She has always spit up more than I’d like though. Her poops were the yellow seed like ones until about a week ago. Now they’re green! Like spinach green. I don’t think they’re mucusy, maybe a little streak…i don’t think it’s diarrhea. She does poop a lot though. There is no blood that I can see. It’s not frothy and I’ve been trying really hard to make sure she gets hind milk, so I don’t think it’s that. It looks exactly the same as it did when it was yellow, just green.
So I guess I’ll try cutting out dairy, which seems SO hard. But is manageable. I wouldn’t even know how to start cutting out soy or eggs.
Would you suggest I start with dairy and work my way through different foods? How long should I cut it our for to find out if dairy is the cause?
This was EXACTLY the encouragement I needed today! I thought I cut out dairy but then realized the coffee creamer has a milk derivative. That was Sunday night. So since Monday I have been truly 100% dairy free, and yet after 3 full days of no dairy, the blood returned. My little guy is 4 months old. First noticed the problem about 2 weeks ago. It’s so frustrating. But the part about it taking longer to leave my system than his… that’s good to know and helps me chill a little for this “wait and see” time. I just want to fix him TODAY! And I’m craving cheese SO BADLY and it’s just helpful to know somebody else loves cheese as much as I do. 🙂 I am so so sooooooo hungry and had a migraine today and I just cannot tell you how validated I feel by reading your words. Thanks for taking the time to write all this – I’ve been wondering what I will eat if I have to cut out soy and now I have a handy list! THANK YOU!!!
Hi Keri! I know it’s so hard! You can do it! I promise the cheese cravings go away. They really do! Even for crazy cheese lovers like us. 🙂 And yes, it takes awhile to leave your system so be patient and diligent. Hopefully dairy will do the trick! When I was craving cheese avocado helped satisfy the fat craving and is great healthy calories while breastfeeding. Avocado toast (if you can have toast), Avocado on rice cakes, avocado on a spoon, etc. etc.! 🙂
Hi Robin –
First, I just wanted to say that I’m so thankful I found your website. I’ve been searching for answers and this is exactly what I needed to read! About 2-3 weeks ago, my now 12 week old little boy started having specks of blood in his diapers. At first I panicked and didn’t know what was going on. I contacted the doctor. They checked him out, but didn’t seem very concerned and didn’t give me much information. I did my own research and this is how I stumbled upon your blog.
I’ve been dairy free for about a week and a half and am wondering if I should go soy free as well. His diapers haven’t improved much – still some specks of blood. However, I have noticed that since going doary free he doesn’t spit up nearly as much and doesn’t have as many poopy diapers. He used to have several a day. My little guy is gaining weight and he appears to be happy. 🙂 I’m still concerned about him though because I notice (after reading your article) that he does rub his eyes at times when he eats and still has the blood in his stool. I know I’ve only been going dairy free for about a week and a half, but hate to think of my little guy as continuing to get something in his body that he’s intolerant of right now. I know you’re not a doctor, but would you recommend trying to go soy free as well? Or should I wait another week or so to see if things get better after the dairy free trial? I want to do everything in my power to continue breast feeding.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Kelsey!
So glad you found this post helpful.
I really hesitate to offer advice because again, I am not a doctor and I do think it’s most important to follow your doctor’s recommendations.
That being said, if I were in your same spot my personal choice would be to give it about 3 weeks 100% dairy free, being VERY careful to read every label and making sure that all the dairy has a chance to leave my system. If there were still blood specks after 3 weeks, I would move on to soy. That’s what I would do if I was faced with the same situation again. But again, you are the mama and you know best. 🙂
And keep in mind that rubbing eyes alone does not necessarily mean that there is an allergy or an intolerance. I noticed that in my daughter because she was having other symptoms as well.
I hope it’s just dairy for you and if it’s soy then I hope your little one is able to clear up soon! You are doing a great job and don’t worry breastfeeding is still an option! I made it to 20 months. 🙂
xoxo
Thanks, Robin! I will stick to dairy free for another 2 weeks or so and see what happens. I appreciate your feedback. I know each baby is different, but it helps to have other moms to talk to about this! No one I know has had to do this kind of thing. You mentioned a probiotic helped your daughter. I’m thinking about having my son take one too. The doctor mentioned that this may help him. Did you notice a big difference after using one? Also – are they usually over the counter or prescription?
Hi Kelsey!
I am so glad we used a probiotic. I’m not sure how much it affected her physical symptoms but I felt good knowing that I was helping her to heal her digestive system. I used over the counter – the brand I used is mentioned in the post. 🙂
Hey Robin!
I have been going through this with my 3 month old. She has always been a happy baby that sleeps well. We are unclear of what is causing the allergy but I have cut out dairy, soy, egg, nuts, strawberries and shellfish. She all of a sudden had visible blood and mucous in her diapers. Thinking back the week before it happened the amount of dairy I ate that week had increased. The doctors put us on Nutramigen for the time being. We tried to reintroduce breastfeeding after 2.5 weeks and the blood returned. We are currently back on formula and going to see a GI doctor next month. I am allergy free for now except for gluten and hope to reintroduce breastfeeding after 5-6 weeks. It has been a challenge to say the least but your post is encouraging! Thank you for sharing!!
Hi Robin! I left a comment back in November but it looks like it’s been deleted. I wanted to post an update and ask you a couple of questions about your experience. First of all, I am very thankful that I found this blog. I was not getting any support from my doctors so this was very helpful, informative and it encouraged me to do an elimination diet. I cut all dairy, soy and gluten in the beginning of October. Even though we saw great improvement, in December my baby still had bloody diapers. Doctors insisted it could only be milk and soy. I was so puzzled. I did not know what else to do as I had already cut those a while back. I was not convinced that what they were telling me was completely accurate as far as my baby goes but they were the experts. I tried cutting different foods here and there, but it was very hard to diagnose that way as there were always too many variables. So I started the elimination diet (chicken, rice, quinoa, fruits and vegetables, excluding tomatoes, berries, and citrus) and after 6 weeks his diapers were tested negative for blood. Such a relief. I was so, so happy! I could not believe it! It took us about 5 months to finally get a normal diaper. So thank you, thank you, thank you!! Now my question. I’m still on a very restrictive diet. Tomas is almost 8 months and has been trying different fruits and vegetables and has been doing great! I want to start reintroducing foods and test them but I understand that he can’t eat several of them yet. So how did you go about reintroducing foods? It took so long to clean our systems. I think it took him 5 weeks to have a normal diaper since I started the elimination diet. Did you eat the foods that you had eliminated? How many times before you could know for sure the baby did not react to it? If the baby did react, how long did it take to clean your systems again and get a normal diaper? This phase scares me! And we are doing so well. Even though I can’t wait to have some fish for a change, I don’t want to upset his system in any way. Also, I saw that a lot of people mentioned the probiotics and vitamins. I also gave Tomas the gerber probiotics and believe it helped him a lot. My pediatrician insists that he should get vitamin D (since birth) and multi vitamin with iron (since 6 months). I had always been pretty good about the vitamin D. But I started the vitamin with iron in the midst of my elimination diet and noticed he had a really bad reaction to it. The mucous was improving and the day I gave him the polyvisol with iron it turned nasty again. So I refused to give him that for a while. And still wonder if the vitamin D was also bad for him all those months. Now that he tested negative for blood, I tried it again and bad reaction again. I called the maker and the only allergen that there is on their vitamins is corn, even though they claim that it’s formulated in a manner that should not cause allergic reactions. Actually 5 to 7 of the ingredients are derived from corn (i.e.: caramel color, flavorings etc). I don’t know if that’s what irritates his system or the iron. I read that a lot of kids and, surprisingly, adults do not tolerate iron supplements well. So I cut it out completely and will test the Honest company baby & toddler powder. Have you seen it? It’s a multi vitamin with probiotics. Also, thank you for making me aware of the honest company. I was already going crazy trying to find alternatives until I found their baby vitamin. It’s completely whole food based. It looks like a great product. I really hope his system takes it well. We’ll start it in the next couple of days. Fingers crossed! Wanted to comment on that in case it can help other moms who read your blog. It took me a while to find it as an alternative to nasty polyvisol. 😉
Thank you for writing this article. I’m in this situation at the moment and I have just started a full elimination diet. I have been laughed at by a Doctor who thought I was making it up and then rolled her eyes at me and told me to switch formulas. I told her I was breastfeeding and she just laughed again and said she would give me a prescription for hypoallergenic formula. I look forward to following you on Pinterest for the yummy recipes.
I cried when I read the part that your baby no longer has intolerances. I’m dealing with this with my 4 1/2 month old and it’s very discouraging. Did you work with your baby’s doctor on this or did you see a GI specialist? Thank you for this post! It’s so encouraging to see that maybe someday my baby will be intolerance free!
I know it’s so hard Tahnee! I worked with our pediatrician. But I definitely had to be my own advocate and do my own research/make my own changes. Thankfully my pediatrician was pretty familiar with this. She said it is becoming more and more common. Hang in there – it will get better! xo
Robin, thank you for your post. My son is thriving, so most people and our pediatrician do not take my concerns seriously. Do you know if blood in the stool is always present with a food allergy or sensitivity? My 11 week old presents with watery stools with mucous, gassy, struggles at times with feedings and strains to poop. He also hasn’t been sleeping well, rubs his face alot but the biggest area of concern is how nasally he is. He constantly sounds like he is snorting. It’s been really frustrating bc everyone around me says he’s a normal healthy baby. I’m grateful, but I know he could be feeling better and it’s my goal to make that happen, if I can. My lactation consultant recommended that I eliminate dairy. I’m really nervous about it bc dairy is a huge part of my diet. Your post and menu planning have helped me feel more confident, thank you.
Hi Sam!
I don’t know about allergy or sensitivity. What my daughter has was an intolerance – meaning she was unable to break down the proteins in dairy, soy & egg. It’s different from having an allergic response. So that’s something to double check with your doctor. In that regard, I can’t speak to whether or not blood is present when babies are just sensitive or allergic to certain foods. I will say that newborns (some more than others) are really grunty and snorty! 🙂 But I know you may have other concerns as well. My doctor said mucous in the stools was something to look into. Wishing you the best! xo
This have been so helpful to me. After weeks of green diarrhea, mucusy blody stools I have gotten very little help/encouragement from my pediatrician, until I read your article & finally got in contact with a GI specialist. She confirmed my comsernes & enguriahed me to continue breastfeeding for atleast a few more weeks while eliminating eggs & soy besides of diary. My naby who has been thriving now gets fussy periods which she never had before & the visible blood in her stools frighten me even though the GI said its ok for now. My question to all of you is if you ever caved in and gave your little one formula for a few days in order to let the system settle? I want to bf her (shes 8w now) but all this preasure from my regular pedestrian have made me think it might be a good idea? Any advice and/or ideas on this would be very welcome.
Hi there!
I know a lot of people have gone to formula. But keep in mind that if your baby truly is having an intolerance to dairy and soy she would need to have a special formula (I believe Elecare and Nutramigin are two common options). Be sure to check with your ped/GI doctor on that. Regular formula would still have the dairy protein that she amy be unable to break down. Just a thought. But I will let others chime in too! Hang in there mama! You’re doing a great job and it DOES get easier! xo
My son only has green mucous poops on and off through out the day sometimes it’s a yellow green or a green yellow he has no other symptoms and I use to struggle with hind milk imbalance can that still be the issue or can it be a dairy intolerance??
Hi there, It could be either. It’s hard for me to say! Sorry I can’t be of more help…
My first son who is now 21 months old had all of these issues, too. I ended up cutting out dairy, soy, wheat, and eggs. Looking back, I probably should have looked into other things to cut out, but he made such a huge improvement with these things. He grew out of everything by 7 months.
Well it seems I’m on round two with my second son who is 7 weeks old. Slowly his stools transitioned from the beautiful orange breastfed (perfect) baby poop to the awful mucusy bright green! He was spitting up a all the time and having bouts of uncomfortable gas, especially in the evening. Two weeks ago tomorrow he had awful explosive poop that smelled terrible, and in the morning I found obvious blood in 3 of his diapers. Took him to the pediatrician, although I knew what she was going to say, and I was told to eliminate dairy and soy. Since I was so familiar with everything I decided to cut out dairy, soy, wheat, and eggs again. I have noticed over the last two days his poop was orange again, not really mucusy just a little runnier than the curdled breastfed poop. I was hopeful!! He was spitting up hardly ever. Last night I ate questionable salad dressing that probably had hidden soy in it, and today he is fussy, spitting up A LOT, and the good ole’ green mucus poop is back. 🙁 I could cry!! I feel like I’m starting all over again, and I’m causing him to feel terrible. I feel so guilty!! Do you think it will clear out fairly quickly or am I going be waiting two weeks again?
Now my main concern is that he has this eczema looking rash all over his scalp and most of his face. I know eczema is also a symptom of these food intolerances. Although he has gotten better as far as digestion, the rash has never gone away. Do you think I need to consider eliminating other things? Have you had any experience with the rash? I’m starting to feel hopeless!
Hi Magan,
Sorry to hear you’re going through this again! At least this time you have some experience to draw from right? I wish I could provide answers but every little babe is different. I don’t know how long it will take the soy to get out of your system. My doctor always told me to allow 3 weeks. So hang in there. I always brought my homemade salad dress in my purse so it was always on hand. 🙂 Soy is so sneaky! I also don’t have any experiences with eczema so am not much help there either. I’m sorry! But perhaps one of the other mamas reading this post will be able to chime in. Hang in there, you’re doing great job! xo
oh my goodness I am so happy to have stumbled upon this post! My sweet little boy has been having some symptoms of milk intolerance. My Dr has ran a number of test on some dirty diapers and can’t find any answers, he is taking a “guess” at the fact it’s a milk allergy he says (which he described exactly the same as intolerance not being able to digest the proteins in milk) he wants me to quit breastfeeding and put him on nutramigen formula. I cried so hard thinking there was no other option and I’m so so happy I have been doing my research bc if all I have to do is change my diet I am more than willing to for the sake of being able to keep breastfeeding. I’m so upset my Dr. did not tell me about this option rather than just pushing the formula as an experiment to see if it works that way we can know for sure its a milk intolerance and if not then we’ll try some other things. And so if it isn’t milk intolerance I’ll have let my breast milk dry up on a maybe!!! This I am not okay with.
My little one just hit 2 months yesterday, I am planning to call his Dr and ask if they can do a simple allergy test to test him for milk, soy and egg. And I plan to quit all dairy asap and then move on to other things if I have to one at a time. I can’t tell you how much this post has helped me to be extra determined to do what’s right for my little boy! Thank you so much!
Hi Emmie!
I’m so glad this helped! Keep in mind that I don’t think you are able to do allergy testing on babies that young. And this intolerance is actually not necessarily an “allergy”, or in other words it may not be causing an allergic response within the body. We were able to determine what was bothering her based on her symptom and whether or not there was blood in her stools. I brought her diapers in for regular testing until she was one year old and I knew she had outgrown it. I wish you the best!! xoxo
Hi Robin,
Your blog has provided tremendous support during the past few months as we went through a similar ordeal. Thank you!
My son is now few days shy of 8 months and I plan to test out some of the eliminated food.
I had taken out dairy, soy, egg, nuts, wheat, and some citrous fruits.
Can you tell me exactly what you did in terms of reintroduction of sensitive foods to yours? I would like to know at what age and what food and how much for how long before testing 🙂 Thank you again!
I am feeling really nervous and anxious about testing but also excited to find out if he has finally outgrown them.
Hugs, Jae
Hi Jae!
I’m glad this has been helpful. I know how hard it is! I shared how we introduced foods back into her diet in the update at the bottom of the post. I was able to introduce gluten/nuts/etc fairly easily once we determined egg was her biggest culprit (I had been eating egg whites in baked products which was causing a problem). Hope this helps! xo
Hi Robin,
I was happy to read your blog, not because I have a child with allergies. I am a sufferer of food allergies the big ones are soy and gluten. I stay away from milk too because of lactose intolerance. My husband is allergic to Milk and gluten.I found your blog a true education because personally I suffer the whole going out problem. I order the same thing from Qudobas, I had no idea though the chips had soy, no wonder that every time I ate them I got sick. I hope you continue this blog.
Oh I am SOOOO happy I stumbled across this post! My sweet almost 7 month old is miserable with rashes galore! I THOUGHT I had cut out dairy (his biggest culprit) egg, soy, wheat, and the rashes get better then worse off and on so much! I never thought to check the starbucks syrups for dairy!!! I have been adding carmel and coconut milk to my coffees regularly and no wonder he still has crazy rashes! OH I am so happy to know this! My poor sweet baby boy! Thank you for taking the time to write this all out! I truly appreciate it! Here’s hoping he grows out of it!!
Hi!
My son is just about nine weeks old.and since his birth all I’ve thought about is poo, poo, and more poo. After our discharge from thE hospital, his poos never returned back to that lovely mustard color i know we are all striving for. We Paid a visit to our former pediatrician, operative word being former, and he told us it was “just old poop and not to worry.” Well, our normally chill, smiling baby boy had turned into an unhappy, gassy, muscousy, green poop machine and my intuition kept telling me to see another pediatrician to get some real answers. I also got in touch with my lactation consultant who has helped me calm an oversupply and overactive letdown issue that we had thought was the root of our problem. Long story short, our new and wonderful pediatrician is on board to continue breastfeeding and our first chop off the block is dairy. It’s wonderful to have found this page and read all the comments of support! I’m eager to start to see improvements in our son, but need to realize that it’s going to take more than a few days, patience is not a real virtue of mine. Thank you so much for sharing your story and keeping up the willpower to continue breastfeeding!
Thanks for this interesting post. I just left the doctors office this morning for my 3month old. He has horrible congestion after he nurses and I had already eliminated milk and eggs from my diet per his doctor, but now I have to eliminate soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish. I feel overwhelmed but I will do anything to make my son’s congestion go away! He’s my heart and I hate seeing him struggle to breath through his little nose, it just breaks my heart. Anyways…. I just wanted to say I appreciate the time you spent to inform other breastfeeding moms like me, and im off to my new diet for about a year or so! Thanks!
Great post!! I have been dairy and soy free for almost four weeks. I cut them out when my son got eczema just to see if it would help. It did!! It’s completely gone and he’s MUCH less gassy 🙂 Thanks for sharing your story!!
Hi Robin,
Thanks for all this great info! My baby is 4 moths and has a dairy and soy allergy and acid reflux. I’ve noticed for the past two weeks he has been rubbing his eyes a lot. Did you ever figure out what exactly contributed to Blake rubbing her eyes?
Thanks!
Hi Kendall,
You know, I never really figured that part out. I did cut out gluten for awhile and that seemed to help but it may very well have been the egg or dairy…or a coincidence! I don’t think rubbing the face is necessarily bad, I was just looking at is as another symptom because she had so many other things going on. xo, Robin
Glad to see this blog entry is still getting activity. Robin, What a great read. I went through similar things with my 2nd child, Cooper. Also came to light at 7 months when I gave him yogurt for the first time and the second time – really was the sign). He is still dairy & soy protein intolerant. We also have issues with some vine veggies (Squash, Zucchini, and sometimes Pumpkin). We have had many tests many different doctors but feel that we have it down. Still wonder why the Squash & Zucchini. Any thoughts? Doctors are stumped. I too was nursing and continued until he was 14 months. After I was done nursing I tried dairy right away with a big bowl of mac & cheese. Something I missed the most and… I got very sick. I continue to have issues with dairy. Dairy in baked good like beads and desserts doesn’t seem to make affect me the same. I find it very interesting how foods we think are good for us can make us so sick. This has made me more aware of what goes into my families mouths but does make meal planning a challenge sometimes.
We have our 3rd child on the way in Oct. I’m tempted to start with 100% dairy & soy free just to make life easier for the new baby.
One more question: Honest Company Prenatal – what do you think that’s in there caused problems? I’m giving Cooper the Toddler multi-power vitamin from Honest Company now and he has no issues. While I can’t take the Honest Company prenatal vitamins.
Hi Kat!
I know what you mean – I still have issues with large amounts of dairy as well! My daughter doesn’t, but I do – it’s definitely changed the way I think about food that’s for sure. And I don’t have ANY idea why the Honest prenatal caused a problem. I can’t figure it out. It says it’s free of all the allergens I was avoiding but for some reason the symptoms came back! I give my daughter the Honest Toddler Vitamin as well – I’m currently trying to determine if it’s causing diaper rash or not…something is and I’m testing to see if it’s vitamin related. I stopped my prenatal altogether for awhile (for better or worse). I’m pregnant again and this time I’m back on the New Chapter Organics Perfect Prenatal which I love – but it does have fermented soy. I wish you the best as you go through your pregnancy and bring another little one into the world! xoxo
How do you have the diaper tested for blood?
They can do it in your pediatrician’s office. 🙂
Hi Robin,
Thank you very much for sharing all your experience. My baby is 14 weeks now. We saw blood in his poop starting from the 10th week. I cut out diary the next day, without any improvement in 2 weeks, then I cut out eggs, nuts, wheet, seafood and soy ( which I thought I cut until last Friday when I realized there’s soy in the prenatal I was taking on a daily basis). 3 days after prenatal free, we saw big improvement, less bowl movement, no visiul blood…but unfortunaly this morning the blood appreared again. We went to the GI with the latest diaper. She thought the soy amount in the prenatal couldn’t result in such amount of blood ( more than a dozen of blood spots). I felt that I’m totally lost. I’m trying to think of would it be caused by something I ate yesterday, strawberry chips, or maple syrup chicken sausage, which I’ve checked the labels, and it should be safe. ..I’m also wondering could it be oliver oil that we use to cook everyday? Do you have any suggestion? Thanks!
Sorry Nina! My first suggestion is to give it 3 full weeks without any mistakes to clear it all out of your system. Then re-asses at that point. 🙂
Thanks for your quick reply, Robin. We’ve been given hypoallergenic formula today. Since I’m going back to work in a month, we have to add formula in the following weeks… Do you know anyone ever tried this kind of formula? Is there any negative result? I heard it smells and taste horrible. I feel bad for my little one:(
Robin,
Your post has been the bright spot in my day!!! I am currently working with my 6 week old little girl dealing food sensitivities and feel all alone. (Finding my way with what seems to be little help from her pediatrician)
You will never know just how much the blog post was meant for me! Right here, right now, today.
Thank you so much for sharing your journey. It has truly been a blessing in my life. I now feel like I have a place to start. By reading through your experience I now have lots of new things to think about, educate myself on, and put into motion. I can only pray that we find relief soon.
I can now honestly say… I am hopeful!
Many Many Thank you’s Robin,
Sincerely,
Misty
Thank you for writing this post!
I am currently nursing my 8 week old son and I am trying to figure out his food sensitivities. 2 of my 3 daughters were sensitive to diary but responded well when I cut out the obvious dairy in my diet. My oldest daughter has some digestive issues and had many of the same signs as her younger sisters, so I truly believe she had the same issues with dairy. My other 2 daughters can now have dairy without a problem, so I feel that eliminating it helped them outgrow their sensitivity/allergy.
Now I am feeling a lot of stress about figuring out what is causing my son’s mucousy diapers and spit up. I have been doing a lot of searching online to help me come up with a better plan of action and your blog post has been the most helpful so far. I am on day 5 of cutting out all dairy and soy, with the exception of lecithin and soy oil. So far he hasn’t improved and I’m feeling frustrated. The thought of a total elimination diet makes me want to cry. All of the other possible culprits make up a bulk of my diet and I already have a hard time finding foods to eat (and time to prepare food with a newborn!)
It’s just good to see that I’m not alone and helpful to read the comments of others going through the same thing.
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. We just had my 7 mo tested for allergies. She is allergic to dairy and eggs but not soy. We tested her because of eczema on her face and head. The allergist said that she needs to be tested again in a year. I thought that was a long time to wait to see if she’s outgrown her allergies. I don’t want to stress about it any longer than we have to. Your post shows that babies can out grow these allergies rather quickly. Thanks! I think I will ask for retesting in 6 months.
Hi Robin,
Thanks for the post, I agree with everyone that I too was feeling alone while trying to sort out what was upsetting my 12 week old daughter. I was suspecting some sort of intolerance since she was 2 weeks old, and completely cut out the gluten and eggs (they were making my stomach ache) and it got better. But now, she has started to act colicky again, rub her eyes excessively, continuing to have ezcema, and have slightly mucous-y poos (not color change or blood). My pediatrician hasn’t been very helpful, he said he didn’t think it was an allergy since she was gaining weight fabulously.
I never thought about soy, so at this point I am going to cut out all soy and dairy in addition to the gluten and eggs. I just wish I had know all this with my first daughter. She had symptoms like this when she was a baby as well, and now she has a rash on her legs and arms. So she will be joining me on the diet.
Do you have any advice for how to handle cooking for other family members (who don’t have and intolerance or allergies) and want to eat those foods?
Thanks!
I am not alone!! Both of my sons have had an intolerance to gluten, dairy, and soy. No one seems to believe me when I tell them about their sensitivity. It makes some people irritated, like I’m trying to make their lives more difficult because I can not eat these things. To know I am not alone makes me feel better. Thank you!!
I loved reading this! So validating. It is difficult and lonely and I’ve felt so encouraged by your blog. How long did it take all of her intolerances to clear up?
Hi Caitlin!
Most babies clear up by 9 months (according to my doctor) but I waited until 12 months to reintroduce foods to my daughter. At that point she did great and has been doing great ever since! 🙂
Hi Robin,
My baby had an adverse reaction to formula introduced at 8 weeks with multiple bouts of vomiting. She was rushed to ER however a diagnosis was not made.
We reintroduced formula at 4 months and again she had the same reaction. I did my own research and the symptoms seem to indicate cow milk protein intolerance. However she’s never had any reaction to breastmilk even though I continue consuming diary products.
Recently at 7months she had a similar reaction to beans and again at 9months to beans.
Did your baby ever have a similar reaction to direct introduction of diary? I would like to introduce diary in her diet now that she’s almost 10 months old. I am a working mom with no facility to pump at work, so don’t have any other option but to wean now.
Hi Rashmj, I’m sorry you’ve been dealing with scary and stressful food situations. I know it’s a lot to handle when you just want to feed your little one the best yo can! My daughter never had formula so I can’t speak to that situation. And she did not react poorly to dairy when I gave it to her at 12 months. I waited until at least 12 months and started with a little yogurt. We started with soy yogurt and watched her for a few weeks to make sure there were not adverse reactions. And then from there we did dairy yogurt. She tolerated them fine at 12 months. I hope your little one does too! But if you have to wait on dairy for awhile there are a variety of other foods you can give her. Hang in there! xoxo
Hi Robin.
First of all, you’re amazing for taking all this time to talk to moms going through similar situations. It’s a blessing for sure.
My son is 5 months and has mucus stools every time he poops. I have been dairy free for 4 months, soy free for 1 month, and nut for 1 week and have seen zero improvement. They also took him off of prevacid, due to compound medication. Our GI even put me on a hypoallergenic formula to make sure I’m getting proper nutrition. It’s nice to know I’m not alone. I guess eggs will be next. We go back next week for reevaluation. He has been so happy which is great but every diaper change is a little heartbreaking when I’m working so hard on this diet and seeing no improvement.
Thanks for all you do to support us. Love following you on pintrest too. ?
Hi Jen! Sorry for all you’re going through. Egg turned out to be the kicker for us. Once I removed egg (ALL EGG, even baked, whites, etc) she finally started improving and I was able to add back in the nuts & gluten. Hang in there! You’re a good mom!
xo
Hi Robin.
I went back to the GI yesterday and his stool is blood free but still very full of mucus. I told him about egg and he told me to only take out raw eggs. Which I have never eaten anyways. He told me to continue to avoid dairy and soy and if it’s still bad in a week, they would do a scope. Doesn’t that seem weird? Because he is gaining weight and their is no blood the Dr is not too worried. As if mucus isn’t a big deal. So I’m reaching out to you because I just don’t know if I should eliminate eggs on my own or stick to what he says. Thanks, I think it’s nice to vent and talk to someone who knows what I’m going through.
Hi! My 4mo baby start having very bad diarrhea when he turn 3mo resulting in very bad nappy rash. My paediatrician recommend him to be on soy formula for 1 month and indeed the diarrhea stop. But I am still determined to get my baby back to breastfeeding. Whenever I breastfeed him the whole day his diarrhea came back. Am at a lost of what to do as I have already cut down diary products from my diet. He is currently on soy formula while I still pumping hoping to maintain my supply.
Wow, I’m so glad I found this! My son is 5 months old and is having MASSIVE problems with his diapers. But he is so happy all the time and growing like crazy. How did you know rubbing the mouth after feeding was a sign of allergy? My son does this every time, I figured he didn’t like the feeling of milk on his face. I’ve cut out dairy for three weeks with no improvement and some worsening. I’ve cut out nuts for 4 days now and the mucus is a little better but it’s still super bloody. SO TIRED OF THIS. I’m so frustrated that I’m the one hurting him and I can’t figure out how to make it better. I know you say to do one food at a time to check, but at this point I want to eliminate everything so it can get better as fast as possible. Did you find beef caused any problem with your girl?
Hi Jessica, so sorry you’re going through this! Of course, I’d seek your doctor’s recommendations over mine. But if I were going to eliminate foods one by one I would do it in this order: dairy, soy (ALL soy, even soy lecithin), egg, nuts. It’s important to remember that intolerances are different than just causing an upset tummy. My daughter was unable to digest dairy, soy and egg which inflamed the lining of her intestine, which led to blood-specked, mucous, green stools. This is different than an allergy and different than just a sensitivity. Hope this helps and hope you find some relief soon! xoxo
We are going through food allergy or food reaction problems right now. My little one will be 4 months old in three days, and she has horrible rashes everywhere but her face. It started with a solid red rash just in the creases of her elbows and knees, then it spread to her entire torso. I had been putting eczema cream on her for a couple of weeks before I realized that it might be a food allergy. Looking back, I realized that she does rub her face after she eats, she has had problems with gas, I hear her tummy rumbling when she eats sometimes, she has a little congestion and ‘goo’ in her eyes in the mornings – all that can be signs of allergies.
I decided to go extreme – I cut out dairy, soy, wheat, corn, oats, gluten, chicken, beef, pork, citrus, sugar, caffeine, legumes, and nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant, and potato). It sounds like a lot, but I am finding I have a rather satisfying diet of most fruit, most veggies, rice, fish, venison, turkey, and unsweetened coconut milk. I do plan to add in everything one at a time, saving meat/dairy/soy/egg/gluten for last. I did switch brands of prenatal to one that didn’t have soy in it, but now I’m thinking about stopping it too after reading your post. I have been on this diet for five days now, but I did cheat two days ago and I had a few mouthfuls of homemade ice cream (egg and dairy). Her skin had started to heal, but last night her skin was completely flared up again and her rashes were red and raging just like they were a week ago. Are a few bites of an allergen really enough to do that, or is it possible that it is something else I am eating? It breaks my heart to see her covered in a rash and it is even worse knowing that it is physically coming from me. I see from the comments that you say it takes three weeks for it to get out of your system. Is it three weeks until the baby shows any improvement at all, or does it get better a little each day? I did see a doctor about a week ago and she said it was probably a food allergy, but didn’t give me any guidance on what to eliminate. I want to alleviate her symptoms ASAP, which is why I am eliminating so much. The good news is that she is a relatively happy baby and I wouldn’t describe her as having colic, but her rashes look so horrible.
I’m so sorry, I bet you’re feeling so frustrated! I am not a doctor or a professional in this arena but from my experience I can say that YES, even a few bites is enough to cause a reaction. I had to be 100% perfect – no little bites here and there, not cheating at ALL to get my daughter fully cleared up. And when I finally cut out eggs it took the entire 3 weeks for her to see improvement. So based on my experience I do think those few bites could matter – especially given that you noticed a difference in her rashes. Just my two cents. I hope you are able to see some improvement soon. Keep up the great work mama! xoxo
I am SO glad I found this post because I have felt like there are no resources about this! I have a 7 week old and around 5 weeks I noticed her poop turning green. I figured it was normal and didn’t worry, until I found a mucousy streak of blood in one of her diapers at 6 weeks. The doctor told me to eliminate dairy… my question is– did you eliminate all foods containing even a speck of dairy/milk protein or just the common dairy products (milk, cheese, etc.)? I feel like EVERYTHING has dairy/soy in it, like granola bars, pancake mix, etc… I feel like a paleo diet is the only way I can eat if I’m supposed to avoid dairy/soy completely. What did you do??
Hi Taryn! So glad you found this post. Sorry you’ve been struggling to figure out what’s going on – I know it’s hard! I did eliminate ALL dairy and soy 100%. In my experience if your baby has a true dairy & soy protein intolerance then that is the only way to go. The proteins show up no matter what form you eat it in. It is definitely a challenge but it can be done with a lot of label reading and not trusting anything from restaurants without asking a LOT of questions. All of the paleo recipes out there were a huge help to me. I know it’s daunting but you will likely find that your diet gets much healthier and you will learn so much about food and the ingredients we eat each day – ultimately it had a positive effect on our family and health in the end! Sending love. xo,
Robin
Just wanted to say thank you for this post. I am going through my own food intolerance journey with my son, who is 12 weeks as of today. I have cried more over this one issue that anything else since giving birth.
Milk and soy did not do anything for us (the worst of his symptoms was recurring blood in his stool – like every day! Very tough to experience as a breastfeeding first time mom). So then I tried cutting gluten and egg and we’ve seen almost no blood HOWEVER I have noticed that his stools do seem green-tinged and he has had some bad spit-up episodes. Wondering if nuts are the culprit. I feel like I really need the healthy fat and protein that nuts provide but if things get bad enough I will reconsider…. Luckily our little guy is super tough and generally super happy! He is healthy otherwise and gaining like crazy so my doctor has not been concerned. I am, though. And it stinks to feel “Alone” with this experience – so thanks again for your blog post and I’m thankful to know there’s hope! I am also really glad to know I can eat Chipotle haha – we are traveling out of town for 2 weddings this weekend and I’m terrified I will be starving. Stocking up at Whole Foods first.
Oh! And just wanted to add – for all the other moms out there – we also had been giving my little one antibiotics (Amoxicillan) from day 1 for possible kidney relfux (preventative to protect from UTIs). We found out he did not have reflux and stopped the antibiotic only 2 weeks ago (at 10 weeks). I feel strongly that this may be a contributing factor in our case.
Also, along the way I have cut out berries and my prenatal/fish oil. My plan is that once his diapers look good I will try adding back in foods one at a time, waiting 2 weeks between each.
Very interesting Alina! Thanks for sharing that so others can consider that as well. Keep up the great work mama – you’re doing so well!
Thank you so much for sharing! It’s really helpful to hear that your baby overcame her condition and to hear from other moms who have stayed the course. I HATE that this is commonly known as MSPI since in so many cases, there are tons of other foods that can also be culprits. We’ve cut out dairy, soy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, and coconut at this point (he had green poops on coconut milk that I was hoping I could drink for the calcium. My case is also complicated by the fact that I’m a vegetarian. Bummer.
As for @alina’s comment above, I had 8 rounds of antibiotics during labor due to being Group B strep positive and having a 41-hour labor. I’m also convinced that the antibiotics could’ve contributed to our baby’s colitis.
I’m hoping that we can test adding back in some foods in the following months as like you, I didn’t do a true elimination diet. And of course, it’s so frustrating trying to eat our or at a friend’s house and then realize that your baby is having blood again. The only good news is that with allergic colitis in our experience, our baby doesn’t seem to be unhappy!
PS: All these companies seem to imply that soybean oil makes no difference, but I’ve found that from a Panera plain bagel with a minute amount of soybean oil, to Sunbutter processed on equipment that roasts soy, to pasta processed on equipment that processes egg, I’ve had multiple hiccups from assuming “processed in a plant that also processes [soy, eggs, dairy].” Did you find your little one was this sensitive too?
Hi Cat! I agree that soybean oil sneaks into everything! I didn’t have to avoid products that had shared facilities thank goodness. I didn’t ever notice adverse reactions from that. xoxo
I realized recently that duh, a lot of the things that we were having issues with were wheat. I’ve cut out gluten and seen even more improvement. The jury is still out on Sunbutter though. I’ve read about a few moms now with some seed sensitivities.
Hi Robin,
Thank you for writting this!! I have a toddler and now a 4-mo old and have been stuggling for awhile. In early weeks like you, all was good. Around 4-5 weeks she became really fussy an appeared to be uncomfortable and in pain. Stools were green/mucosy but it wasn’t until blood showed up I knew I had to cut dairy and soy. I’m now up to cutting all alergens: dairy, soy, peanuts, wheat, corn and nuts (except coconut). It’s been close to a month with little improvement and I’m at my wits end!!! It was comforting to hear that it takes awhile but beig vegetarian also I’m pretty limited in choices right now. Thanks for posting, please let me know about how long it was between elimanating foods you saw improvement, as I just cut out the additional foods aside from dairy and soy Thank you!!
Hi Courtney! So glad you found this helpful. My pediatrician says to allow 4 weeks. 2 weeks to get fully out of mom’s system and 2 weeks for baby’s digestive system to calm down. Slow and steady wins the race. My daughter ended up being dairy, soy and egg. Something to consider…:)
I’m going through this again with my little boy right now! We are 2.5 weeks in to my dairy & soy elimination and I am just now starting to see improvements. Along with giving him a baby probiotic and me taking a probiotic supplement myself.
Wishing you the best! xoxo
Thank you so much for your reply! A huge help finding your page while “googling” information. Will continue reading your blogs, good luck with your little one 🙂
Dear Robin,thank you for sharing your experience….my little baby is 4 months and she has been having blood since 1 1/2 months ago + mucus…I felt so worried and still do when I see blood….she is generally a happy baby…dr asked me to stop dairy and soy products and I stopped eggs as well since 2 weeks ago. Blood would appear every few days. However, I am seeing blood ( somtimes dots and sometimes strips) every day now. There is no mucus any more….I dont know why blood still continues!!!!
and how long wi it take to stop??
Thank you again.
Regards,
Natasha
My pediatrician has told me to give it a FULL 4 weeks (with no slip ups) for each food group. 2 weeks for the food to fully eliminate from your body and 2 weeks for baby’s digestive system to calm down. I hope you see results soon. Hang in there mama and try not to give up or throw in the towel. It takes a lot of patience! xox
Robin! Thanks so much for this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for a good first hand account. I’m a first time mom with a 5 weeks old. She’s been having mucous in her stool and over this past weekend had blood. She’s been super fussy and straining ALL the time, bad dry skin, and a little congestion. We’re heading in to the doctor today, but I had done a little research in advance to prepare myself. Planning to start dairy free today and I’m terrified because I LOVE milk, yogurt, and cheese! I’m so scared about hidden dairy and how realistic this will be for me and my hubs. Your post was so encouraging and I’m planning to look through your Pinterest board for recipe ideas. THANK YOU for writing this!
I’m so glad you found this! I feel for you. I know it’s so hard to see our little ones uncomfortable! I’m glad you did research before your appointment. Some pediatricians are very up to date on this and others don’t have much guidance at all. You will be able to manage dairy free – if I can do it you can do it! You’ll find alternative that work for you and you’ll get really good at reading food labels which is a good skill for the long run anyway. 🙂 hang in there and keep me posted! xoxo
Thank you Robin, now I have peace 🙂
I did not get any clear answers from two doctors I have seen. I hope I can give you the good news soon.
Thanks again xx
Sorry Robin, just forgot to ask when we are talking about seeing improvements, what are the steps and how do we know if the healing has started if the blood still continues( I mean if still we see blood)??
Thank you again,
Bless you xx
Hi Natasha!
So sorry for all you’re going through. I’m going through the same thing again with baby #2. I went off of dairy and soy for a full 4 weeks and saw some improvement but there is still blood in his stools. So next I additionally cut out gluten and eggs and will do that for a full 4 weeks as well. At the 4 week mark I will have his diapers tested again. If they still aren’t clear then I will also eliminate all fish and nuts. Be sure to give everything enough time to work it’s way out of your system and his system. It takes time and you must be really careful. I know it’s hard! Both times our pediatrician has encouraged me to keep breastfeeding. She has always said that if my baby is happy, healthy and thriving then it’s not a crisis. We will get it figured out and he will grow out of it soon. If your baby is thriving don’t stress yourself out too much. I also am with Donna in that getting a second opinion may be helpful. It will be up to you if you are willing to eliminate so many foods (as I am doing) or if you think it’s better for your sanity to switch to formula. If you are passionate about continuing breastfeeding then there are still things you can do! But again, I’m not a doctor, just sharing from my experience. xoxo
Robin I am so glad I found you! You have been giving me hope whenI feel I am at my wits end. I am going through the bloody stools for a little over 3 weeks now. I have given up dairy, eggs, treenuts, peanuts, & now soy. When I think we are out of the woods because My son has a full day of blood-less diapers that look as if they are almost maybe trying to turn back to orange/yellow from green, then he will have blood again in the next diaper! I went off my pre-natal vitamins the last 2 days and thought I saw improvement but was worried about the baby not getting DHA so I bought a different brand that I had the pharmacist double check for me was dairy & soy free. But just a few hours after taking it today blood returned to my son’s poop.you mentoined in one of the comments that you eliminated your pre-natal altogether? Is that correct? Im considering doing so also but was DHA a concern for you? Also, how did you rule our foremilk/hindmilk imbalance? (I apologize of you answered this previously but I am at the point where I think my eyeballs are going to bleed from reading labels and all the info i can find on the internet!) Thank you for sharing your experience & your time with us!
Dear Donna, I have the same problem with my baby….so stressed and sad….don’t know what to do…God help us
I am so relieved to have found this article! I have been obsessing over my son’s green poops for days. I exclusively pump and have a freezer full of milk and am heart broken that I might have to throw it all away. Any suggestions as to what I can do with it? I know it’s good in the freezer for 3-6 months. My son is 11 weeks old, is it possible once he hits the 9 month mark (usually when intolerances diminish) we could start using it again?
The extra milk part is such a bummer! I had to throw away so much milk with my daughter and am doing the same thing right now. I may start donating to our local milk bank, so that may be something to look into where you live too. Or as you mentioned, if he outgrows his intolerance and the milk is still good then you can use it then!
Natasha-thank you! At the very least we are not going through this very scary time alone.
Day 27 of blood in stool. Off dairy the full 27 days. My pediatrician told me not to worry about tree nuts when I mentioned them but I eliminated them & eggs this whole time as well. Recently I learned coconut is a tree nut (duh! I switched all my dairy subs to coconut products!-coconut & avocados are kinda what im surviving on these days!) I have been reading up & getting mixed reviews-some say eliminating it helps and others say it doesn’t.
I am only off of soy for one week today. As I mentioned, my pediatrician only told me to eliminate dairy. Nothing else. I learned of the soy/dairy connection on this & other websites researcing this on my own looking for answers. It kinda upset me that when I called the pediatrician and asked about eliminating soy he said “good idea” & that 50% of infants with dairy intolerance also have soy intolerance. I wish he would have told me that from the start so I could have eliminated them at the same time! The quiona bread that I was enjoying daily had soy in it! In the beginning of all of this I was very happy with this doctor because the first thing he said when I told him of the blood in the diaper was “Breast is still best”. He did not try to make me stop nursing & give my son some special allery formula, as I know a lot of you have been told to do ( breastfeeding is very important to me and I do NOT want to stop)
At this point though, would any of you suggest I seek a second opinion? The doctor keeps re-assuring me this is not dangerous to my baby & he will outgrow it and I have to wait it out but Im at the point where I am afraid wverytime I open his diaper (especially since last Thursday he actually had an increased amount of blood). Sorry for the long rant-like post; im just looking for support & advice from women who are or have been in this situation. Thank you!
I think you’re doing the right thing Donna! Hang in there. And get that soy out of there. That just might be the trick. Be sure to give it a FULL 4 weeks. My pediatrician says the same thing yours does – that baby will be fine, breastfeeding is best. xoxo
Hi Donna,
Same here …. more blood after 1 month diet….I am so scared and stressed….what is next? What do we need to do?
Keep in mind that it took a whole 6 months for my daughter to clear up. And my son is now 2 months and he is not cleared up yet either. My daughter is 2 and healthy, happy and allergy-free! Don’t let the stress overcome you – and don’t be scared. Your baby will be okay. xoxo
Natasha how is your baby now? I hope you have seen improvement. If not, are you sure that you did not eat dairy or soy accidentally? Soy seems to be in everything! Now that I have eliminated the soy for two weeks, my baby has had no visible blood in his diaper for the past 4 days. We go to his pediatrician Thursday where he will test for occult blood. I still wish he would have told me about the soy at the same time as the dairy- it would have saved me two weeks of grief & stress. I have added my prenatal vitamin back as of yesterday because I was feeling run down (and I am very embarrassed by my first post questioning the how the baby would get DHA if I didn’t take the supplement. I found out that breastmilk naturally contains DHA!), but if I notice a change in the stool again I will eliminate it again. I hope & pray that your issue resolves soon as well, Natasha.
Dear Donna, thanks for asking. My little one is same same. I have been on dairy,soy and egg free diet since 5th of October….no mucus any more but still blood continues….strips or dots….sometimes she does 4 times….I am very stressed and upset….talked to peiatrician and he suggested to see a gatro specialist…I will see her on Monday…Pediatrician is talking about possible colonoscopy….you cant imagine how sad I am…
Hi ladies,
I saw a gastro specialist today…she suggested to swith to non protein formula…I am a bit emotional….it means no more sweet time with my baby….however, it is for her sake. Can you help me with any ideas?do you have any advice how to make it ? I heard the taste is bad.
Thank you xx
Natasha-I am so sorry that you are going through this! Did the doctor give you any other options besides switching to formula?
Unfortunately no other options….I have been trying to give her bottle with a bit of my milk to start then switch to formula but she is not taking it at all. …I want to take her to see an allergy specialist…do you have any recommendations?
Thank you very much…
Natasha, i am not a medical professional and I do not want to give you bad advice and tell you not to follow your doctor’s orders. I can only share with you my opinion and experience. It would have broken my heart to have been told to stop breastfeeding my son. That is why is stuck by my pediatrician even though it was very trying & frustrating to believe him when he told me to wait it out & the blood would stop two weeks from the time of my last consumption of a dairy or soy product. It took a full month-from October 1st to October 31st but it finally did stop. I know that you say the blood began for you on October 5th so you have been dealing with this for over one month now and I feel for you because the month I spent dealing with this problem was the worst month of my life. If i were in your shoes at this point maybe I would get a second opinion. Seeing the allergist may also be a good idea. Perhaps they will put you on the total elimination diet. If you really don’t want to give up breastfeeding-and it seems like your baby does not want to stop-then maybe get more answers and give it more time? I know Robin said it took 3 months for her daughter’s problem to completely resolve itself. I wish you good luck & patience & strength!
So glad you got it cleared up Donna!! And I am with you on this too. I’m so grateful my pediatrician encourages me to continue breastfeeding, in fact at our last appointment she said she won’t let me stop! But she knows I want to so she is supporting me in that way. Way to hang in there mama!
And yes, it took my daughter 6 months to clear up (with all of the eliminations that I mention in the post) and my son is currently at 2 months and we’re still working on it. But he’s happy, healthy and ganging weight like a champ!
Dear Donna,
Thank you very much for your advice….yes, my heart is broken…..
I will let you know when I see specialist on Wednesday.
Thank you for understanding me!
All the best…
Thank you, Robin-for your support & for sharing your experience here so that we can know that others have go e through and are going through the same thing & can support each other as well. Who knew this was so common?!
THANK YOU! Thank you so much for your post. I stumbled upon it and it had never occurred to me that there was soy in my prenatal vitamins!!! Your story is so eerily familiar. Thank you for writing this post.
Just found you all and it has been an interesting read and so reassuring. My little girl is 11weeks and has had really dry skin and green poo since she was 6 weeks. I was not too concerned as she was feeding well until she started sleeping longer at night. Every mothers dream a 8 week old who sleeps through. I was concerned about this effecting my milk supply so went to get her weighed just to be sure. Her weight had platoed so hv sent to see gp. Not a great experience but encouraged her to feed more. 2 weeks later weight is static and skin had worsened. Hv asked more questions and has suggested dairy free diet which i started yesterday but trying to avoid soya as well. I feel terrible as a mother and it wasn’t until you put all the symptoms and behaviours together (face rubbing which this site confirmed could be related ) that I can now see a link. She is a happy baby in herself and really hope my new diet will produce some weight gain in a few weeks. Her feeding pattern has changed in last 2 days and now she feeds for longer so hoping she’s getting some nice fatty milk. Still sleeps a lot at night but try to encourage good feeding and I won’t let her sleep longer than 6 hours. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experences it has been really helpful and I have been reassured that we are on the right path for our little one.
My 3 month old has MSPI and I’m just wondering what happened if you continue to eat the foods that bother them? Obviously I’m not going to, but I’m just curious in case there’s other foods bothering her and I’m still eating them. And by continuing to eat the foods does that give them less of a chance of outgrowing the allergen?? I just feel like I won’t be able to eat ANYTHING if I do a total elimination diet…like what can I eat for dinner?
First off, that you so much for posting this and keep up with the comments. Your story is truly inspirational for us who are going through the same thing. I know this post is pretty old but wondering if you could answer two questions for me. I have cut out almost everything out of my diet since the beginning of December. We still are seeing some flecks of blood. Grr. I want to try the probiotics and was wondering if when you gave them to your baby if they were made with sunflower oil. I am just apprehensive bc I am trying to elimate seeds aswell and didn’t know if this could be an issue. I know you are not a doctor but wondering if you had Any thoughts. Also, I saw that you eliminated caffine. Did you notice any improvement with doing that? I love my coffee but like I said, I’m desperate at this point.
Thank you for this. I could have written the first few paragraphs about my daughter. She is 8 weeks and a couple weeks ago, started with green mucus diapers. Then came a bit of blood. She is otherwise thriving and healthy. Pediatrician said cut out obvious dairy (don’t worry about baked goods, etc). A week later, we are still having giant green mucus diapers. I’m not sure whether to go full elimination, partial, or just carry on, given she’s happy and sleeping okay.
So to update my LO is now 20 weeks and we have had gradual weight gain for past 5 week (yeah!!! ). I am on a dairy free diet and no beef products which has helped with weight once all the proteins were out of our systems (this took 6 weeks). She is hitting all developmental milestones she just a small bundle. Her stools are still on the greeny/yellow side so was wondering if maybe she is still sensitive to something I am eating but not sure where to start?
My LO was feeding and sleeping brilliantly it was just the nappies and weight loss that identified an issue.
I thought you had to cutout all dairy including baked goods. There are some lovely dairy free products in the shops (avoid the alternative cheese that was foul) that would be my starting point if nappies are still explosive. My LO has done every
My baby had green diapers with mucous when he was 1 week old. I thought it was dairy so I cut it out for a week, but no change in the diapers were made. His stool actually became a darker green. I went to his 2 week appt and his pediatrician said I wasn’t eating enough to fatty foods. At this time I had been ill and not eating enough. She said I should eat dairy because it’s a good source of fat. I tried it and the next day his diapers were back to normal.
My baby was still very fussy when it came time to pass gas and poop. I tried gripe water and gas drops but nothing worked. I ended up cutting out dairy to see if it would help, and it did. He’s like a new baby. I tried some dairy last week and he ended up having blood in his stool.
Thank you so much for this post! My son is 11 weeks old and was diagnosed with CMPA, soy and egg allergy at 8 weeks. Thankfully we found out early as my pediatrician’s child had the exact same symptoms and diagnosis. Unlike your daughter, my son is inconsolable and it absolutely breaks my heart! He won’t let me put him down and is constantly crying and wanting to nurse for hours for comfort, it has been a rough road. A week after his diagnosis, he was doing so much better, yellow poops- yay! And his overall mood was like a different baby (this was all while we were in FL on vacation with him) then we came home and he instantly was fussy again and back to runny green diapers; heartbreaking. I suspect something I had last week must have had dairy but I didn’t think to check my prenatals. Any suggestions on where I should start? Keep eating what I have at home or throw everything out and buy new in case it is something that was contaminated at a factory? Or total elimination? If total elimination, does anyone have a good food list of what I can eat?
I feel so lost and my mother unexpectedly passed away a couple days before my son was born so to say I’m overwhelmed is a bit of an understatement. We all need a Momma when we first have our babies 🙁 Luckily, I have an amazing husband and mother-in-law. It’s hard but I am truly blessed!
I have had to supplement 2oz of formula at night to help him sleep (per pediatrician) because my supply is low. She actually recommended pumped breast milk if I have any but now that his diapers are green again I don’t want to give him any of the tiny supply of pumped milk worried it will make him worse.
Anyone a working mom who had to toss their freezer supply? I go back to work in less than two weeks and don’t have any good/clean saved milk for him. Thankfully his daycare is about a mile from my work and they allow me to come and nurse him.. I just have to somehow explain to my male boss why I have to leave every three hours for an hour at a time.. Not sure how that will go. Prayers please!!
Thanks again for your post and support!!
God Bless,
Liz
Hi,
My first baby had dairy/ soy sensitivity so our Pediatrician said it is pretty likely in our next baby. So just to be safe I am going to go diary and soy free before I deliver. I am wondering how much time is enough for it to get out of my system. 2-3 weeks it seems? Anyone know? Also an UPDATE Red Robin french fries have milk product in their fry batter….FYI.
Hi Robin,
Thank you so much for this helpful blog!!! At first I thought I was a crazy first time mom (and maybe I still am) but the doctors finally tested my LO’s diapers and found a but if an intolerance. Unlike your experience, since 3 weeks old my baby has screamed for hours after feedings thrown up and had green diapers–not a “happy spitter” by any means! He has steadily gained weight, so that’s wonderful!
I’m wondering…how long did it take after you were on the elimination diet to see 100% normal diapers and no vomitting??
At 2 months old, I started a complete elimination diet: only fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and meat with no fillers (like chicken broth), and dried seasonings, and olive oil or coconut oil. I don’t take any vitamins or supplements and don’t eat out.
It has been 1 month since starting this diet, and I have see significant improvement in his fussiness, although he still has green diapers and throws up–aLOT. He will fuss and squirm after meals but only until he gets the pain out of his tummy through the north or south end ?
Just wondering if my diet is really helping and if it takes longer than 4 weeks on it to see all the symptoms go away?? Obviously every baby is different, but I just wanted to hear what your experience was.
Thank you!!!
Brandi
Hi Brandi! I’m sorry you’re having to go through all of this but I promise it does get better! My second baby is now 9 months old (he had the intolerances too) and we just got our first clear diaper and he’s doing so well. So hang in there! My daughter grew out of her throwing up around 3 months. I also found that I had A LOT of milk and that was causing her to throw up as well – over-filling her tummy! Hang in there – it does get easier and it does get better, I know how stressful the throw-ups can be! xoxo
Hello! So glad to have found this! My son is 6 weeks old and I have cut out dairy, soy, eggs, gluten and nuts- he is doing better but I accidentally had eggs in a dairy free donut! Do you think it’s good to cut corn as well? Also.. When you said you cut seeds does that include sunflower seed oils? I keep finding those in the enjoy life products! I also read that coconut was a seed.. Did you cut that?
Hi there!
My recommendation is to make sure you wait long enough for things to clear your system. It usually takes about 6 weeks so be patient – even though it’s so hard! I only cut out corn because my son was not getting better – so I was eliminating everything I could to get his symptoms to improve.
I actually don’t recall if I cut out seed oil with my daughter. But I’m guessing I did. Soybean oil is very hard to fully eliminate because it is not always listed as an allergen. be sure to ask what oil they cook with wherever you go. 🙂 Hang in there mama!
So glad I found your post we have been battling food allergies for months. My daughter is 5.5 months old and has been having completely red bloody diapers and its been awful (and terrifying)! She hasn’t been an easy baby, she came 3 weeks early, and was born with a hemangioma, which we had to get put on medication for and go through tons of tests, then we had an umbilical hernia that required surgery. At first we thought this is what was causing the bloody diapers because they stopped for a bit but now they are back! Now her hemoglobin is down and she has anemia so we are FINALLY going to see a GI specialist, I’ve cut out dairy and am in the process of cutting out soy, fingers crossed we don’t have to cut out any other foods. She seems so uncomfortable all the time I just want her to feel better! She article is so helpful and makes me think we can get through this!!!
Hi Robin,
I just started taking the Honest Company prenatal vitamins because they do not have soy. Do you have a recommendation for another prenatal that would work better? Did you stop taking prenatals all together? How did you get all of the vitamins you needed?
I’m also wondering if you worked outside of your home through these challenges (I’m currently in between jobs but have an interview tomorrow and wondering if I should even bother) with your infants and also was wondering if you felt you were able to lead a “normal” life (doing activities with your infant outside of the home)? My son was diagnosed with silent reflux and a milk protein/soy intolerance at 12 weeks old…it’s been 3.5 weeks since my elimination diet began and we are only seeing symptoms getting worse. He is not interested in breast feeding and also is now rejecting the bottle (with my breast milk). Any suggestions/advice is appreciated!
Thank you!
Meghan
Hi Meghan,
I’m so sorry to hear about all that you’re going through! I feel your pain – I know how hard it is.
To answer your questions:
– I personally stopped taking a prenatal vitamin for awhile (I would ask your doctor about this first) and then added it back in when my daughter and son cleared. I was really diligent about eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, leans proteins and healthy fats. Lots of smoothies. Lots of salads. I’m now taking Rainbow Light organic prenatal vitamin.
– I work from home so didn’t have to leave for more than 3 hours at a time. But my kids issues never kept me from doing anything outside of the home! We did anything and everything. The main difference was that I had to bring my own food everywhere. Eating at restaurants is a huge challenge.
My main suggestions would be to be very, very diligent about your elimination diet. Research where soy can be hiding (for example “natural flavors”, vegetable oil – both may be soy). My pediatrician said it takes 6 weeks to see much improvement. And then you can follow what I did in terms of eliminating additional foods (see my post). Some moms end up going on formula because they can’t do all that is required in the elimination diet.
Also know that it gets better! Reflux usually piqued at the 2-4 month mark with my kiddos and then got significantly better. Hang in there! Sending love to you! xoxo
I had a similar experience with my daughter. Took dairy, soy and wheat out. Then it turned out to be just the extra iron in the prenatal. An LC suggested stopping the prenatal and her green stools instantly stopped. She was fine with dairy soy and wheat! Now with my son (4mo) I’m not taking any vitamin and he has green stools and now painful gas. So, I’m back taking out dairy and soy to see if he improves. The things we do for these precious babies! Good luck with your new little one.
Hi!
I just came across your site, sorry I know this is an old post.
But when you eliminated corn, did you eliminate all the corn derivative products as well.
Corn is in EVERYTHING! Including baby wipes/diapers/lotion.
I have been struggling to get a normal stool for my almost 5 month old, been dairy free for almost two months, soy free for a month and half and have been only eating turkey, potatoes, spinach and quinoa – pears for dessert, for approx a week and half with little symptom relief.
Thanks for any input!
Hi Claire! So sorry for what you’re going through. I eliminated all corn with my son – but didn’t go so far as to eliminate topical products such as wipes, diapers, etc. I focus more on what was aggravating his digestive system. Hang in there! It WILL get better!!
I have a 2 1/2 month old baby girl, what a relief knowing that we have a light in the end of the tunnel! Right now we are milk, soy and wheat free… I never realized that pre natal vitamin have soy 🙁
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for your insight. Our itself so. Who is now two had a dairy protein allergy, and I continued to breastfeed him until he turned a year old by eliminating dairy from my diet. Now our 5 week old newborn has a more severe reaction than our older son. I’ve been dairy-free since he was born, and the pediatrician is convinced he has a soy allergy. I was overwhelmed with where to start identifying soy in foods. I love to eat and cook, so I really appreciate your list of foods and recipes on Pinterest. What a blessing! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for your insight. Our son who is now two had a dairy protein allergy, and I continued to breastfeed him until he turned a year old by eliminating dairy from my diet. Now our 5 week old newborn has a more severe reaction than our older son. I’ve been dairy-free since he was born, and the pediatrician is convinced he has a soy allergy. I was overwhelmed with where to start identifying soy in foods. I love to eat and cook, so I really appreciate your list of foods and recipes on Pinterest. What a blessing! Thank you so much!
I’m debating on switching my son to allimentum or continuing to breastfeed. I feel like everything out there has soy or milk in it! I’m so confused as to what to eat now. Every time I turn around I’ve eaten something that upsets him. It’s very stressful, but I just don’t know what to do. I don’t live close to stores with health foods, so it’s even more hard for me than most. What would you do?
Thank you so much for your post! I stumbled upon it and it is exactly what I’m going through! (((Big hugs))) I needed to read this and now I know it’s going to get better. I’ve been going crazy and depressed, because I can’t figure out what’s wrong. Baby Lucy is five months old today. Something is still bothering her, though. I’m going to eliminate tomatoes next.
Hang in there mama! It DOES get better! Both of my kiddos are totally fine now! xoxo
When did your son grow out of his intolerances? Mine is 11 months old and I started a TED with 6 foods at 12 weeks because cutting dairy and soy didn’t help. I can now have most foods except for spinach, peas, dairy, soy, peanuts (he just tested + for a peanut allergy), and a few other random things. He still reacts to the things I avoid plus egg, apple, and avocado. We obviously have not tried a lot of foods yet. Did you do a dairy ladder? We have tried ghee with him because it have very few milk proteins and he got hives and eczema with delayed green sour poops but we have not tried a dairy ladder or any soy because that has been his worst reaction through me and I think I have PTSD from it.
So glad to hear both or yours outgrew their intolerances! Do either have any allergies? I know this post is 3 years old but I still appreciate it!
Hi Breanna! Great questions. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I know how hard it is as a mama! My daugther outgrew her allergies by 15 months and my son just turned 17 months. We added everything back in and just added gluten. He seems to be doing fine. He still has a small amount of exema behind his knees and I’m not sure what that is from. But it isn’t severe. When I started reintroducing foods (after 12 months of age) I did it one at a time and did start with things like ghee and yogurt before cheese and milk. We never did any allergy testing with my babies because our pediatrician told us that before 2 years of age there is are often false positives which cause concern and when not necessary. If they were still having issues at this point then I would start testing. Have you looked in to NAET? Google it and see what you think. I did it with my son when he was about 8 months old and loved it!
I know this post is five years old, but I have an 8 week old who has an allergy to cow’s milk protein and who knows what else. Everyone tells me to stop breastfeeding and just keep her on the Neocate Syneo. Neither the baby or I want to do that. Three weeks ago, I cut out all dairy, soy/soy bean oil, egg, and nuts. My baby barely drinks an ounce of formula, and when I get home from work is anxious to breastfeed. Her diapers are still mucousy and she has very loose stools, I don’t see blood in there anymore but she used to have blood in her stool. I’m greatful for the links you provided since I have no idea what I can eat now. I’m currently on a diet of oatmeal (quaker maple and brown sugar with water), fruits, and vegetables with meat once per day. I just ordered the rainbow 35+ baby and mom pre/post natal vitamins since I just noticed nature made pre-mátala have soy bean oil in the vitamins. It’s very difficult, and if anyone has any other ideas of food that I can safely eat, or what you have experienced I would appreciate it. I have one friend who had the same issue but she never breastfed her baby. I’m at my wits end, because I don’t want to quit breast feeding especially since my baby barely drinks an ounce of the formula every two hours during the day. I fear she will dehydrate. Any advice ? This was the first post that chronicled basically what I have gone through since she was 5 weeks. Thank you for writing this piece.
I’m so glad this post is helpful to you! Unfortunately, Robin doesn’t have anything beyond this post to share, so hopefully this post + the ebook here can continue to be helpful to you! 🙂
Hello Robin, I am currently breastfeeding my second child with food allergies. With my first one I cut out dairy and soy but he never got 100% better. My daughter is now 7 weeks and developed symptoms about 3 weeks ago. I started cutting out dairy and soy, and now I am cutting out gluten and nuts also (which I will try to reintroduce after her tummy has healed). I was wondering if you ever had any problems with drinking juice of sodas? There are a lot of information about allergens online, some people say to stay away from natural and artificial flavors, plus nothing from concentrate, that pretty much eliminates all juices and drinks other than water. (We live in an area where shopping sucks. The next Trader Joes is 2 hours away. The only close stores we have are Walmart and the commissary (an Army store that does not carry much organic or allergy safe foods)).
Hi, just curious about the pattern of improvement in diapers. My 6 week old had traces of blood and green poop starting 8 days ago. I stopped dairy, soy, gluten, egg, nuts a week ago. I know that isn’t enough time to clear from our systems, but her diapers had gotten steadily more yellow and less mucous-y – but then this evening it went back to green with a bit of blood! In your experience is it normal for things to go up and down initially or do they show a more steady decreasing pattern? Wondering if I should eliminate more things or just give it time. Thank you!!
Hi! Thank you so much for sharing! I have the identical story over here with my 3.5 month old! I am doing a full elimination now since eliminating dairy and soy wasn’t enough (bright green poops still). But I found it interesting about the honest company prenatals. She seemed to be improving slowly with no dairy or soy BUT I introduced the Honest Company prenatals since they didn’t have soy. Now that I think about it, her poops have bright green since taking them. You think that could be it? What prenatal did you take instead? Thank you for you help and making other moms like me feel less alone in this allergy battle!
Oh my goodness I am so thankful I came across your post!!! There is so little information out there about MSPI! I have eliminated dairy completely and her symptoms have improved, however I do not feel we are in the clear yet. Soy seems to be an issue also. This was so helpful and insightful to read. Thank you so much sharing! Definitely saving this post!
I’m SOOOOO happy I found this! I am going through the same exact thing with my now 5 month old. I haven’t been able to find any real people going through this! I am currently dairy, soy and gluten free. He is so much better but still having some issues so I’m still trying things. This gives me hope that it won’t last forever! Thanks for sharing, it really helped me!
We are so glad you found this blog post, Britney! Best of luck with your little guy!
Thank you so much for your article! My little one is 5 1/2 weeks old. Up to this point has been Nursing regularly with pooping after every nurse, normal color. A couple days ago he started to get fussy while nursing which was very unusual. Sure enough when we took diaper in he tested positive for small traces of blood. I had eaten Asian food and ice cream all in one sitting and saw it the worst right after. Again no change in poop color. When I have had cheese or milk before this point no reaction or even gas for him before 5 1/2 weeks. He did projectile vomit after eating a bottle I had pumped that morning before I found out about diaper. Hoping vomiting doesn’t last long as I get milk and soy out of my system. He had been gaining weight wonderfully up to this point and I don’t want him to regress. He hasn’t had colic or reflex so far do you know if it’s normal to hit later? It was also hot in our house and bottle was warmer than I usually do. I am eliminated both dairy and soy from my diet. How long did I total vomitting last for your little one?
What did you replace your prenatal vitamin with something that worked for you? Needing calcium for both me, baby and milk supply. Thank you so much.
Hi! My 10 month old is also dairy intolerant, he was soy as well, but we thankfully grew out of that! Curious what you transitioned him to after one as we are quickly approaching that! Thanks for the great read.
Hi Megan!
Thank you for your note! It’s great to hear your little one grew out of his soy intolerance! Robin used the same protocol with her son as she did her daughter! At 9 months they gave her a bit of soy yogurt every day for 2 weeks and then brought her diapers in for testing. They then gave her dairy yogurt and had those diapers tested as well! Later, they tested eggs. Robin chose to give her daughter grassfed, organic cheese and organic whole milk yogurt. We wish you all the best as you work with your little guy!
So glad I am not alone! I am experiencing this with my second baby (who is 3mos old) and I feel so desperate and hungry! We went through the exact same thing with the green, mucusy diapers, and although she’s been a happy baby, it has affected her sleep. So far I’ve cut out dairy, soy, and eggs but the green poop keeps occurring. But, I just realized my vegan butter has soybean oil in it…and I realized I wasn’t reading the ingredients in things as closely as I should have. So I have some work to do! Your post made me realize I don’t have to give up breastfeeding, and to hang in there. Thank you!
I need some advice.. I’m at my wits end trying to figure this out. my son is 4 months and was spitting up and having issues with fussiness and gas. I cut dairy out first and his fussiness got better. We were still having issues with him spitting up So I tried an elimination diet. He improved greatly after 2 days. I have learned that both soy and wheat cause reactions. I could sustain myself on the diet so I tried to eat no eggs, soy, nuts, dairy or wheat. He is such a happy baby now but is spitting up so much! I feel like the spitting up is getting worse and not better. My doctor offers advice but I feel like nothing is working. It’s only been a few days but I felt like when I did the elimination diet I saw a change right away. I just don’t know what to do next. He is gaining a little weight but not as much as he should.
Hi Jenna! We are so sorry to hear your little guy is spitting up so much! We hope the solutions your doctor has to offer will help and you will start to see improvements! We are thinking of you!
Thank you so much for sharing in detail your experience! My husband recently found out that he has an intolerance to dairy and egg, and it was actually putting him in the hospital a few times a year. Doctors continued to increase his Prilosec and prescribe a handful of other medications, to no avail. We finally went to a Naturopath as a last desperate attempt to stop the hospitalizations, and a simple blood test confirmed that his allergies – while they didn’t require an epipen – were still causing all of the inflammation, nausea, and ultimately writhing stomach pain, vomiting, and inability to keep so much as water down for 3-4 days. He’s cleaned his diet, found a great probiotic, and is better than I’ve ever seen him. When our 4th boy was born, he experienced the SAME exact symptoms you’re detailed out in this article. From what all we learned from dad, I took dairy and egg out of my diet and he was better for a few weeks. But the green mucus poop came back and I was so confused! But after reading this, I am going to try eliminating soy as well (which is freaking hard, considering dairy replacements are soy). Here’s to not starving to death and taking care of this sweet little boy!
Thank you so much for writing this post and sharing your story. You give some excellent advice here! I agree that there needs to be more information and support out there, especially considering dairy and other food intolerances are becoming more and more common in babies.
Thank you for taking the time to make this post! I’m currently dealing with the same situation. I switched doctors because first pediatrician kept telling me the baby was fine because he is happy and gaining Wright. She claimed the blood wasn’t coming from his insides.. Not possible to me when he’s had blood for months in his diapers along with that bright green, mucousy poop. Saw an allergist.. No allergies. I thought we were in the clear until I read up on FPIAP and FPIES. Seeing a GI doctor in a couple weeks and currently eliminating dairy and soy. Glad to see your babies outgrew the allergy! I hope mine will too. Xoxo
Hello, my little 7 week old is constantly screaming from reflux while throwing up 50 plus times a day BUT all the while gaining weight. They found blood in his stool so I’m eliminating dairy and after a week of him actually getting worse, I’m now eliminating soy too. When did you start to see a difference? If after a week he’s still bad, should I start eliminating other things? Just wondering how long it took after those foods for your babe to stop throwing up!!’ Thank you!
Hi Robin,
My first son had MSPI and now my second has it as well. He is FAR more sensitive (blood in his stool/itchy eczema) and I am feeling so discouraged and don’t know if I should keep breastfeeding or not. He is almost 8 months and I am off the top 8 allergens. I have been in tears the last few days feeling like I can’t win and am trying to remain hopeful that he will outgrow it like his brother. It sounds like you went through something similar? Did both of your children outgrow them? Did you continue breastfeeding through the tummy challenges? I know it’s a long shot but I’m just feeling pretty alone in this journey.
Thanks Robin,
Caitlyn Shaffer
Hi Caitlyn! We’re so sorry to hear about this. That can be so frustrating. While most babies outgrow this by 9 months (like both of Robin’s kids did), we recommend you chat with your son’s pediatrician to determine what to do next. I wish we could give you more help, but your doctor will be able to address your specific situation much better than we can. Know that you are not alone! Hang in there, Mama. You can do this!! 🙂
This has been super helpful. I had no idea that food sensitivities could develop later. My daughter suddenly had horrific green poops with diarrhea and mucus around 6.5 weeks. All the doctors have said it’s not related to what I eat, but I’ve read so many accounts (like yours) that are exactly what’s happening to us. At least now I have some direction, something I can do to hopefully help her.
Thank you for sharing!
When you were cutting out dairy & soy did you also not eat meat? Every farmer I’ve talked to feeds there animals soy. & I’m at a loss for what I can eat.
Hi Danielle! Robin did not cut out meat during this time. There are some soy-free fed options at high quality grocers, but they can be hard to find. Maybe try making your own beans/lentils for protein if you are cutting out dairy. Good luck!
I don’t have time to write about what I’m going through but wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for taking the time to share your experience in detail and get an the testing ect. It helped me immensely and there is so much conflicting info online.
Hi Summer – we are grateful to hear that this has helped you so much. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out at [email protected] – our team is always here to help and support you in your journey. ❤️
Hi Robin,
Thank you so much for this super helpful post!
I know it’s a little old, but I am just experiencing some problems with my BF baby for the first time. She has started to become very (smelly!) gassy, fussing at the breast, and taking much less frequent bowel movements. The last one she did was thick and pasty, akin to a formula fed baby. I am just trying to work out the culprit. Around the same time I started taking a multivitamin that contained traces of soy, and switched from unpasturised to pasteurised milk.
From your own experiences, do you think it could likely be the multivitamin? Prior to the milk switch I was eating tons of (pasteurised) dairy, with no obvious signs of a sensitivity.
Your thoughts would be SO much appreciated – I am driving myself a little crazy with it!
Kindest,
Lorna
Hi Lorna, thank you for taking the time to reach out. We understand that navigating this journey can be challenging and can often feel frustrating when searching for answers. Know that we are thinking of you and sending you love and encouragement. ❤️ While the multivitamin might have an effect, it’s difficult to say exactly what could be contributing to the symptoms you’re describing. Our recommendation would be to reach out to some lactation consultants or your pediatrician for extra support in your unique situation. In the meantime, remember to take care of yourself as you’re caring for your little one – you got this!
Hi Lorna can I ask how old ur little one was when you noticed these symptoms?