See the poor baby in the painting?
He looks kind of sad to me. And look at those bright red cheeks.
And how worn-out mother looks. All those signs tell me, here's an
uncomfortable, allergic baby with a tired mom who's not sure what to do
for her baby next. She's tried walking the floor with him, the "colic
carry", lullabies, etc, to no avail. But her baby is still miserable,
with frequent tummy aches, gas, runny nose, itchy excema behind his ears
and elsewhere, and those chapped-looking red cheeks - all classic signs
of allergy in the infant. Will baby just have to suffer through this
till he either outgrows it (we hope), or manifests new and worse symptoms,
such as asthma?
Mom can do something about this.
She can read up on this and become her baby's detective. It may take
a few weeks to determine what baby's reacting to, but once the problem
food(s) are removed from baby's and/or mother's diet, baby will begin to
feel so much better. The rash will fade, the stuffy nose and tummy
aches will clear up, and baby will likely become less fussy and sleep better,
too.
This mother might even come to realize, as I did through trial and
error and lots of misery in two of our four babies, that when it
comes to food allergies, no food is 100%
hypoallergenic! Not even rice or bananas! This
means that with an allergic baby or child, it's best not to give too
much of any one food for too long, lest they become sensitized to that
food. And there's something else I've learned the hard
way: a mother can have unsuspected food allergies and can, through her eating habits, unknowingly sensitize her unborn or breastfed baby to those same foods!
To read about our family's experiences with food allergy, start with Part I: Prenatal and Newborn Period. Or skip to Part II: Becoming My Daughter's "Allergy Detective" or Part III: An Allergy to Rice. These pages
contain many helpful links as well as information on avoiding,
detecting, and easing or eliminating infant food allergies; special attention is
paid to peanut and rice allergy, but others are discussed as well.
~~~
If you have a family history of food allergy;
or if you yourself have food allergies or suffer chronic allergic symptoms
such as stuffy nose, postnasal drip or throat mucus, excema, asthma, or
hives; and you are either pregnant or have already given birth to
your baby, I strongly encourage you to read the book Is This Your Child?
by Doris Rapp, M.D., cited below. This book gives valuable
advice on how to track down and eliminate any allergens in your or your
child's diet and environment. It also has many fascinating
"before and after" case studies from Dr. Rapp's own patient files.
And if you are looking for a good cookbook, try the Allergy Cookbook
listed below. It has great recipes that are non- or less-allergenic,
and tasty.
