Re: new to SCD, 14 mth old

[Guest guest]

,

Just wanted to let you know that I am breastfeeding and doing SCD, my daughter

has eosinophilic colitis, and my experience has been that you must eat only

what your child can tolerate. I have been doing this since my daughter was 2

months old.. not SCD, but other food eliminations. we are about a month SCD...

It can be very difficult, but very rewarding.. my daughter " should " have been

on a medical formula, which would have led to a g-tube,etc. I would be glad

to be of help/ support.

Ellen

[Guest guest]

Our case is like Ellen's, except my son is now 3.8 and I only weaned

him at age 3.6. He had severe allergies beginning at 4 weeks and I

began eliminating allergic foods from my diet. All proteins in your

diet are likely to be transmitted via your breastmilk, so you need

to be on the same diet as your son, and you need to be strict about

it. Since allergy tests at this age are fraught with false

negatives, the best way to determine his sensitivies is with an

elimination diet.

Eliminating allergens immediately stopped my son's allergy symptoms,

but our diets became continually more restricted over the years as

he developed more allergies because we didn't heal his gut - he

continued to get grains and starches and his leaky gut worsened. By

age 3 he only tolerated a few veggies, meats, oils, and a few exotic

grains like quinoa. We finally implemented SCD out of desperation as

his inflammation worsened. But it was quite scary to remove his main

sources of calories and feed him only meat, veggies and oils, as he

tolerates no multivitamins.

My son also was diagnosed with a feeding disorder at 14 mos. - he

was only eating purees and had begun refusing all foods except

breastmilk. As a result, I was starting to get pressure from the

pediatrician to wean him to " force " him to accept solids. Nothing

could have been more unhealthy, by the way! We got him into an

excellent ABA feeding program and he was eating solids within a few

months and now we're able to get him to eat anything. He was

diagnosed with autism at 22 mos. He has been on SCD for 6 months and

his latest stool test shows yeast and inflammation are gone. His

alergies will linger longer and he'll probably always be a hyper-

allergic person. His diet still consists of a few veggies and meats

and oils, but I believe the healing is underway and within 6 months

we should be able to start expanding his diet substantially.

I have gone 3 years now eating a very restricted diet and my health

has not suffered - indeed, I have felt much healthier being GFCF and

sugar-free. I have no digestion problems or allergies myself except

for a hereditary lactose intolerance, but feel much better without

casein, grains, and sugars in my diet. I did this during a time that

my job required me to travel extensively, and I always carried all

my food with me.

I'm telling you this to encourage you that it's possible. It wasn't

at all easy, and it isn't for everyone, but because your child is

likely to become allergic or develop yeast with formulas, your

hypoallergenic breastmilk will be the best nutrition, especially

with a feeding disorder.

During this time I got a lot of support from a great online group

for food-allergic infants. This is a good source of allergy

information and help with elimination diets, though they don't know

anything about SCD or autism. I also have a small Yahoo group of

parents of very food-allergic kids who have autism. Several of these

parents have tube-fed kids, kids on formulas, SCD, and/or extensive

experience nursing while on very restricted diets.

I'll be happy to send you any of these links if you're interested.

Suzanne

Tom, 3.8, ASD, SCD 6 mos.

>

> ,

> Just wanted to let you know that I am breastfeeding and doing

SCD, my daughter has eosinophilic colitis, and my experience has

been that you must eat only what your child can tolerate. I have

been doing this since my daughter was 2 months old.. not SCD, but

other food eliminations. we are about a month SCD... It can be very

difficult, but very rewarding.. my daughter " should " have been on

a medical formula, which would have led to a g-tube,etc. I would

be glad to be of help/ support.

> Ellen

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your reply Suzanne, this is great information. Yes please

send me the links about the online groups you mentioned, that sounds

like just what I need.

From my experience with casein and gluten removal, I was pretty sure

that the proteins from the foods I eat will go through my breastmilk.

But I'd always heard at La Leche League meetings and other

breastfeeding support resources online that the sugar content of your

diet does not affect the sugar content of your breastmilk. You

mentioned being sugar-free as well, so I'm confused now. How would

the sugar I eat go through my breastmilk? I'm willing to remove sugar

if it will help my son of course... I just wish there were some way to

know for sure whether it goes through. I'm one of those " lucky "

people with a fast metabolism. I'm hungry a lot, and I eat about 4000

calories a day. Not that hard when you eat carbs and processed foods,

but with this diet.... it is going to be very interesting for me! I

guess I will be doing a lot of cooking!

Thanks,

, 14 mths, ASD, just starting SCD

>

> Our case is like Ellen's, except my son is now 3.8 and I only weaned

> him at age 3.6. He had severe allergies beginning at 4 weeks and I

> began eliminating allergic foods from my diet. All proteins in your

> diet are likely to be transmitted via your breastmilk, so you need

> to be on the same diet as your son, and you need to be strict about

> it. Since allergy tests at this age are fraught with false

> negatives, the best way to determine his sensitivies is with an

> elimination diet.

>

> Eliminating allergens immediately stopped my son's allergy symptoms,

> but our diets became continually more restricted over the years as

> he developed more allergies because we didn't heal his gut - he

> continued to get grains and starches and his leaky gut worsened. By

> age 3 he only tolerated a few veggies, meats, oils, and a few exotic

> grains like quinoa. We finally implemented SCD out of desperation as

> his inflammation worsened. But it was quite scary to remove his main

> sources of calories and feed him only meat, veggies and oils, as he

> tolerates no multivitamins.

>

> My son also was diagnosed with a feeding disorder at 14 mos. - he

> was only eating purees and had begun refusing all foods except

> breastmilk. As a result, I was starting to get pressure from the

> pediatrician to wean him to " force " him to accept solids. Nothing

> could have been more unhealthy, by the way! We got him into an

> excellent ABA feeding program and he was eating solids within a few

> months and now we're able to get him to eat anything. He was

> diagnosed with autism at 22 mos. He has been on SCD for 6 months and

> his latest stool test shows yeast and inflammation are gone. His

> alergies will linger longer and he'll probably always be a hyper-

> allergic person. His diet still consists of a few veggies and meats

> and oils, but I believe the healing is underway and within 6 months

> we should be able to start expanding his diet substantially.

>

> I have gone 3 years now eating a very restricted diet and my health

> has not suffered - indeed, I have felt much healthier being GFCF and

> sugar-free. I have no digestion problems or allergies myself except

> for a hereditary lactose intolerance, but feel much better without

> casein, grains, and sugars in my diet. I did this during a time that

> my job required me to travel extensively, and I always carried all

> my food with me.

>

> I'm telling you this to encourage you that it's possible. It wasn't

> at all easy, and it isn't for everyone, but because your child is

> likely to become allergic or develop yeast with formulas, your

> hypoallergenic breastmilk will be the best nutrition, especially

> with a feeding disorder.

>

> During this time I got a lot of support from a great online group

> for food-allergic infants. This is a good source of allergy

> information and help with elimination diets, though they don't know

> anything about SCD or autism. I also have a small Yahoo group of

> parents of very food-allergic kids who have autism. Several of these

> parents have tube-fed kids, kids on formulas, SCD, and/or extensive

> experience nursing while on very restricted diets.

>

> I'll be happy to send you any of these links if you're interested.

>

> Suzanne

> Tom, 3.8, ASD, SCD 6 mos.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi , I'll send you the links offline.

When thinking about how your diet affects your baby's nutrition when

you're nursing, it's important to distinguish between food proteins

and sugars.

Proteins from all foods that mom eats do potentially pass through her

milk to the baby; the extent to which this happens depends a lot on

how complete mom's digestion is, and the effect on the baby depends

on his sensitivity and his digestive maturity. There is always some

amount of proteins that do go through no matter how good your

digestion, so don't think that if your baby is having allergies that

it means your digestion is poor. But if you've got a baby who's shown

allergic reactions to foods you're eating, then you MUST eliminate

those foods from your diet completely - including all derivatives

(casein, whey, lactose, etc. for milk, and so on for all the other

foods baby is sensitive to). Babies often naturally outgrow allergies

as their gut lining matures over time, but in order for them to have

the best chance at doing this, you need to strictly eliminate the

food in all its forms. Disregard people who say that you can have " a

little " cheese or egg yolks, or whatever. In scientific terms, the

more exposure you have to the allergic foods, the more you stimulate

the body's recognition of the antigen and continue to produce

antibodies to it, even if this is at such a low level that you don't

see any obvious allergic reactions. In order for the body to stop

reacting allergenically, the body needs a period of time to " forget "

the allergy and stop producing allergens. This may take anywhere from

6 months to several years .. or it may never happen. But your best

chance is with total avoidance.

Sugars are a different matter. The La Leche people are correct about

sugars. The lactose content of human milk is influenced by many

things, but the sugar content of the mother's diet is only a minor

factor in the quantity of lactose in her milk. It has more to do with

the baby's maturity (the fat and sugar makeup of your milk is

influenced by the age of the baby), and to a lesser extent your own

physiology, and only very slightly by the foods you eat. With what I

know about how mammalian milk is produced, I don't think that the

lactose in mother's milk is influenced by the type or quantity of

sugars in her diet. I believe that you could eat polysaccharides and

disaccharides and not pass these on to your baby - meaning that you

would not have to eat only SCD-legal foods for your baby's benefit if

you felt your baby needed an SCD diet. But I don't really know if

this is true, so to be safe I'd recommend eating an SCD diet that is

also free of baby's allergens. For me, that meant eating only veggies

and meats, and it was pretty darn difficult (and understand that I'd

already been on an extremely restricted diet for 2+ years, so

eliminations were old hat to me by that point. The difference was

that when I eliminated the carbs, my body did not function well at

all). I eventually added orange juice and potatoes because I was not

functioning very well on such a low-carb diet. My son wasn't allergic

to these and they didn't seem to affect him, though he was only

getting about an ounce of milk a day from me at that point.

I guess my main points are:

- Differentiate between proteins and sugars in your diet. With

allergies, you need to strictly avoid all foods that baby is allergic

to as long as you're nursing. WIth sugars, in my opinion, you don't

need to be so strict.

- Maintain your own health and ability to function so you can care

for your baby. You may need to make some dietary accomodations to do

this. I found I was capable of the most strict elimination diet of

anyone I've ever known, yet I was physically unable to remain on the

strict diet that my son was on. I learned that my eventual compromise

with the SCD diet made no difference in his healing.

As far as elimination diets go, I have a lot of tips and don't want

to clog the list, but I have found that it's very helpful to eat

rather constantly at the early part of the diet. Cook large amounts

of food (think whole roast chicken) and have it always available. I

also increased the fat content of my diet and grazed on a lot of

whatever fruits I could have. Legal finger-foods like olives helped

too. Just make sure there's always lots of safe, legal food at hand

so you're not tempted. And I was always a pantry nazi -- up to the

last year, I threw out whatever was illegal in the pantry whenever I

removed it from my diet. If dear hubby wanted pop-tarts or grapes or

bananas, he had to eat them out of the house (I eventually found a

large box of contraband including some disgusting Little Debbie cakes

in the garage, but these disappeared when he finally admitted I was

on to something and went gluten-free himself).

I also allowed myself a tiny bar of soy-free chocolate once a week.

My son may have a life-long chocolate allergy as a result, but I

swear it saved me.

Suzanne

> >

> > Our case is like Ellen's, except my son is now 3.8 and I only

weaned

> > him at age 3.6. He had severe allergies beginning at 4 weeks and

I

> > began eliminating allergic foods from my diet. All proteins in

your

> > diet are likely to be transmitted via your breastmilk, so you

need

> > to be on the same diet as your son, and you need to be strict

about

> > it. Since allergy tests at this age are fraught with false

> > negatives, the best way to determine his sensitivies is with an

> > elimination diet.

> >

> > Eliminating allergens immediately stopped my son's allergy

symptoms,

> > but our diets became continually more restricted over the years

as

> > he developed more allergies because we didn't heal his gut - he

> > continued to get grains and starches and his leaky gut worsened.

By

> > age 3 he only tolerated a few veggies, meats, oils, and a few

exotic

> > grains like quinoa. We finally implemented SCD out of desperation

as

> > his inflammation worsened. But it was quite scary to remove his

main

> > sources of calories and feed him only meat, veggies and oils, as

he

> > tolerates no multivitamins.

> >

> > My son also was diagnosed with a feeding disorder at 14 mos. - he

> > was only eating purees and had begun refusing all foods except

> > breastmilk. As a result, I was starting to get pressure from the

> > pediatrician to wean him to " force " him to accept solids. Nothing

> > could have been more unhealthy, by the way! We got him into an

> > excellent ABA feeding program and he was eating solids within a

few

> > months and now we're able to get him to eat anything. He was

> > diagnosed with autism at 22 mos. He has been on SCD for 6 months

and

> > his latest stool test shows yeast and inflammation are gone. His

> > alergies will linger longer and he'll probably always be a hyper-

> > allergic person. His diet still consists of a few veggies and

meats

> > and oils, but I believe the healing is underway and within 6

months

> > we should be able to start expanding his diet substantially.

> >

> > I have gone 3 years now eating a very restricted diet and my

health

> > has not suffered - indeed, I have felt much healthier being GFCF

and

> > sugar-free. I have no digestion problems or allergies myself

except

> > for a hereditary lactose intolerance, but feel much better

without

> > casein, grains, and sugars in my diet. I did this during a time

that

> > my job required me to travel extensively, and I always carried

all

> > my food with me.

> >

> > I'm telling you this to encourage you that it's possible. It

wasn't

> > at all easy, and it isn't for everyone, but because your child

is

> > likely to become allergic or develop yeast with formulas, your

> > hypoallergenic breastmilk will be the best nutrition, especially

> > with a feeding disorder.

> >

> > During this time I got a lot of support from a great online group

> > for food-allergic infants. This is a good source of allergy

> > information and help with elimination diets, though they don't

know

> > anything about SCD or autism. I also have a small Yahoo group of

> > parents of very food-allergic kids who have autism. Several of

these

> > parents have tube-fed kids, kids on formulas, SCD, and/or

extensive

> > experience nursing while on very restricted diets.

> >

> > I'll be happy to send you any of these links if you're interested.

> >

> > Suzanne

> > Tom, 3.8, ASD, SCD 6 mos.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Wow thank you Suzanne, fantastic info, I've learned a lot! My son is

getting the majority of his calories from breastmilk so I know I need

to be super vigilant. As of yesterday my diet is SCD plus a few added

sugars, so I guess now I'm going to try making the chicken soup from

the intro menu (since that's really the only thing on there that he

can and might eat) and see if he likes it and we'll go from there.

>

> Hi , I'll send you the links offline.

>

> When thinking about how your diet affects your baby's nutrition when

> you're nursing, it's important to distinguish between food proteins

> and sugars.

>

> Proteins from all foods that mom eats do potentially pass through her

> milk to the baby; the extent to which this happens depends a lot on

> how complete mom's digestion is, and the effect on the baby depends

> on his sensitivity and his digestive maturity. There is always some

> amount of proteins that do go through no matter how good your

> digestion, so don't think that if your baby is having allergies that

> it means your digestion is poor. But if you've got a baby who's shown

> allergic reactions to foods you're eating, then you MUST eliminate

> those foods from your diet completely - including all derivatives

> (casein, whey, lactose, etc. for milk, and so on for all the other

> foods baby is sensitive to). Babies often naturally outgrow allergies

> as their gut lining matures over time, but in order for them to have

> the best chance at doing this, you need to strictly eliminate the

> food in all its forms. Disregard people who say that you can have " a

> little " cheese or egg yolks, or whatever. In scientific terms, the

> more exposure you have to the allergic foods, the more you stimulate

> the body's recognition of the antigen and continue to produce

> antibodies to it, even if this is at such a low level that you don't

> see any obvious allergic reactions. In order for the body to stop

> reacting allergenically, the body needs a period of time to " forget "

> the allergy and stop producing allergens. This may take anywhere from

> 6 months to several years .. or it may never happen. But your best

> chance is with total avoidance.

>

> Sugars are a different matter. The La Leche people are correct about

> sugars. The lactose content of human milk is influenced by many

> things, but the sugar content of the mother's diet is only a minor

> factor in the quantity of lactose in her milk. It has more to do with

> the baby's maturity (the fat and sugar makeup of your milk is

> influenced by the age of the baby), and to a lesser extent your own

> physiology, and only very slightly by the foods you eat. With what I

> know about how mammalian milk is produced, I don't think that the

> lactose in mother's milk is influenced by the type or quantity of

> sugars in her diet. I believe that you could eat polysaccharides and

> disaccharides and not pass these on to your baby - meaning that you

> would not have to eat only SCD-legal foods for your baby's benefit if

> you felt your baby needed an SCD diet. But I don't really know if

> this is true, so to be safe I'd recommend eating an SCD diet that is

> also free of baby's allergens. For me, that meant eating only veggies

> and meats, and it was pretty darn difficult (and understand that I'd

> already been on an extremely restricted diet for 2+ years, so

> eliminations were old hat to me by that point. The difference was

> that when I eliminated the carbs, my body did not function well at

> all). I eventually added orange juice and potatoes because I was not

> functioning very well on such a low-carb diet. My son wasn't allergic

> to these and they didn't seem to affect him, though he was only

> getting about an ounce of milk a day from me at that point.

>

> I guess my main points are:

>

> - Differentiate between proteins and sugars in your diet. With

> allergies, you need to strictly avoid all foods that baby is allergic

> to as long as you're nursing. WIth sugars, in my opinion, you don't

> need to be so strict.

>

> - Maintain your own health and ability to function so you can care

> for your baby. You may need to make some dietary accomodations to do

> this. I found I was capable of the most strict elimination diet of

> anyone I've ever known, yet I was physically unable to remain on the

> strict diet that my son was on. I learned that my eventual compromise

> with the SCD diet made no difference in his healing.

>

> As far as elimination diets go, I have a lot of tips and don't want

> to clog the list, but I have found that it's very helpful to eat

> rather constantly at the early part of the diet. Cook large amounts

> of food (think whole roast chicken) and have it always available. I

> also increased the fat content of my diet and grazed on a lot of

> whatever fruits I could have. Legal finger-foods like olives helped

> too. Just make sure there's always lots of safe, legal food at hand

> so you're not tempted. And I was always a pantry nazi -- up to the

> last year, I threw out whatever was illegal in the pantry whenever I

> removed it from my diet. If dear hubby wanted pop-tarts or grapes or

> bananas, he had to eat them out of the house (I eventually found a

> large box of contraband including some disgusting Little Debbie cakes

> in the garage, but these disappeared when he finally admitted I was

> on to something and went gluten-free himself).

>

> I also allowed myself a tiny bar of soy-free chocolate once a week.

> My son may have a life-long chocolate allergy as a result, but I

> swear it saved me.

>

> Suzanne

[Guest guest]

> Wow thank you Suzanne, fantastic info, I've learned a lot! My son is

> getting the majority of his calories from breastmilk so I know I need

> to be super vigilant. As of yesterday my diet is SCD plus a few added

> sugars, so I guess now I'm going to try making the chicken soup from

> the intro menu (since that's really the only thing on there that he

> can and might eat) and see if he likes it and we'll go from there.

>

>

Ditch the sugars as fast as you can . They do major damage.

>

>

Carol F.

Celiac, MCS, Latex Allergy, EMS

SCD 6 years

[Guest guest]

I'm definitely not letting my kiddo have sugar anymore, but if I eat a

little sugar and it doesn't make my breastmilk more sugary, then it

shouldn't be harming him through my breastmilk. The only way he gets

sugar now is from the breastmilk itself, which is naturally high in

lactose no matter what I eat. Now perhaps SCD won't work for us as

long as I'm dumping tons of lactose in him each day through my

breastmilk, I don't know. Noone has really been able to tell me one

way or the other, although I have heard from a few moms who've seen

great improvements in their breastfed kids on SCD, so I think there's

hope.

Or did you mean that the sugars will do major damage to *me*? I know

sugar isn't exactly healthy, but I have no GI problems or food

allergies myself, I'm doing SCD for my autistic toddler.

> Ditch the sugars as fast as you can . They do major damage.

> >

> >

> Carol F.

> Celiac, MCS, Latex Allergy, EMS

> SCD 6 years

>

[Guest guest]

Dear :

Some portion of ALL what you eat goes directly to the milk, just like

your own metals and toxins if you have disbiosis, amalgams, or some

other toxic load. So it makes a big difference, whether immediately

apparent or not, with what you eat. For my daughter, I had to do SCD

for the breastmilk, but also I had to limit all my foods to whatever

she could eat. Basically, I only eat what she can eat. This has been a

must for her progress for us, and it has been great for my own health.

Also, many people think they don't have any obvious issues. It would

be interesting to see if you do an elimination diet and notice any

changes. If you can, send for IgG testing for yourself as well and see.

Best regards,

maria

mom to fiol 19mo, SCD 1/06

> > Ditch the sugars as fast as you can . They do major damage.

> > >

> > >

> > Carol F.

> > Celiac, MCS, Latex Allergy, EMS

> > SCD 6 years

> >

>