Dairy-free diet
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Topic: Dairy-free diet
Posted By: nikkitheknitter
Subject: Dairy-free diet
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 1:21pm
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OK, after just reading Emma's post under the soy formula thing about parents unnecessarily excluding things from their child's diet I'm not feeling entirely convinced that I am doing the right thing... but anyway... it can be temporary.
Han's eczema is really bad. I do absolutely everything humanly possible to keep it at bay but nothing seems to be doing anything, so I suspect it may be diet related. My doctor completely dismissed my concerns about the severity of Hannah's eczema  and after talking to some ladies on the EBB about allergies and find out that allergy testing doesn't always pick up intolerances (I hope that is right?!), I have decided to trial dairy-free for a few weeks to see if it makes any difference at all.
Anyway, switched her to rice milk (which she won't drink as yet) and have stocked up on rice crackers and soy yoghurt... how do I replace the things like calcium that she would be getting in her diet? She loves brocolli so I'm going to make sure she eats plenty of that. Anything else? Next week I might make an appointment with the doc (a different one this time) and see if I can get a referral to the eczema nurse or someone who knows what they are talking about. |
Replies:
Posted By: yummymummy
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 2:59pm
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An allergy is quite different than an intolerance - when you have an allergy, the body's immune systems attacks a (food) substance in the body the way it would a virus etc. In intollerances, the immune system is not involved but it causes unpleesant reaction when the food is consumed. The other main diff is that with an allergy even the smallest amount of the item will cause a recation, while a small dose of the offending food is tolerated in an intollerance situation. Most blood tests only pick up allergies, not intollerances, as they pick up on the body's immune reaction to a substance.
As you may have guessed, I have a number of intolerances (some food related and some not). I went to the Akl allergy clinic to have those identified, after my ususal doc incorrectly thought I had wheat intollerance. I have the basic exclusion diet which I followed - it starts with a very limited number of foods that are knowns to be pretty safe and then add on others and note any reactions. The thing is I don't know how safe it would be for a child to follow this without med supervision. If you can afford it, I'd recommend going to the Akl allergy clinic - they really know what they are doing. Feel free to PM me if you want to know more etc. (amongst my other intollerances, one is diary). Also note that soy is a dangerous substitute, together with milk it's in the top most common 8 allergens: - milk - eggs - peanuts - other nuts - fish - shellfish - soy - wheat Good luck - I know it can be quite frustrating ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: jax
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 4:06pm
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Yup, what yummymummy said - even a tiny amount of the allergen will produce anaphylactic shock in the person who is allergic, whereas if they are intolerant it will just make them a bit sick (not that I am saying this is a good thing!). I would definitely be getting a second opinion. ------------- Jacquie - Mama to Erin, 13.07.06 - Chief Cat Chaser & Marmite Sammie Eater 
Love many, trust few, harm none. ~Anon~ |
Posted By: james
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 5:48pm
hi nikki i was wondering if it was the same for james re with diary and i have found alot of docs dont relly take exama sersiours soooo i,m thinking of taking james of dairy but am alittle worried about what to replace it with ------------- <a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="http://b4.lilypie.com/nLJ5p13.png" alt="Lilypie 4th Birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a> |
Posted By: nikkitheknitter
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 8:19pm
I'ma go to the eczema nurse. She'll tell me 
And thanks for the info ladies!! |
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 9:12pm
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We supplemented Maya's calcium with Lifestream Calcium powder (added 1/2 a teaspoon to her first rice milk of the day) and bought the Rice Dream calci-enriched rice milk rather than the standard stuff. I am supposed to be taking the calcium powder now but it's icky and I won't drink rice milk so I haven't figured out what I can mix it with to make it easier to take.
Yummymummy is right that a true exclusion diet is quite tricky and you have to be so vigilant. Dairy is hidden in so many things, even shaved ham has lactose in the preserving process 
I hope you get some answers from the exczema nurse. The problem with allergies is not that doctors don't want to be helpful, it's that there are so many variables that there are no clear cut answers and solutions. Plus in NZ there are a major shortage of paediatric allergists, here in Auckland we only have 3 in private practise and the waiting list to see the two that Maya sees (Jan Sinclair and Allen Liang) is up to 3 months, even longer for the public immunology outpatients clinic at Starship. Good luck with Hannah's exczema Nikki. Maya's is bad atm, I'm not convinced it's not chocolate causing it... -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
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