Kids and Food Intolerance- 13 years on.

Surving school camp

How do kids with special dietary needs feel on school camp? How can you support them to feel like they are included and not 'the odd one out?'

Sending your kids away to camp is always stressful for parents with kids who have special dietary needs.  Read our story for hints and tips. 

Could food cause acid reflux in your baby?

Could food intolerance or allergy be causing gastric reflux in your baby?

Is there something up with your baby that you just can’t seem to work out, but you know something is not right? Does your baby have trouble feeding, staying asleep for longer than one sleep cycle or wake when put down flat?  Do they arch their back, curl up their knees, or just cry a lot more than you’d expect?

Your baby might have reflux. No all babies have all these symptoms and some worse than others. And not all babies with reflux vomit or spit up when they have reflux. Some babies have silent reflux. Reflux or Gastro oesophageal reflux disease (GORD or GERD) is when the acid from the stomach escapes the wrong way up the food pipe and causes a burning sensation as it does so.  In silent reflux, the acid might not make it all the way out.  So your baby is in pain and generally unhappy, but you can’t be sure why!

This is the experience we had with both our children. Our eldest suffered the longest as we did not know what was wrong for a long time and then when we did know we did not know how to manage it. Eventually we discovered food intolerances were the primary cause.

Without giving you the long drawn out version of events, I wanted to share with you a little of our story as it might just help someone.

Our Story

As I mentioned, both our children had severe problems feeding and sleeping as a little baby. This story is about our eldest. My mum always said a healthy baby did not refuse to breastfeed, but my babies did. For a long, long time my eldest would not sleep unless he was fed and he would not feed unless he was practically asleep. We now understand that the reflux he was experiencing was made worse by feeding as the stomach is being filled with milk. Over time, the baby learns that feeding is painful and therefore does not want to feed, but it knows it needs the food, so eventually it feeds and then the problem is exacerbated once again.

Nurses initially told us it must be a breastfeeding issue.. too much milk, too often… but none of the strategies to manage such an issue or any other common breast feeding issues worked and despite the fact that I was a first time mum, my gut told me that these were not the cause of the issue.  My son would start feeding but pull off after around 20 secs and then I had to burp him and then wait an excessive amount of time, before I could get him to have more. Making him wait 4 hours between feeds did not work as he would not have any more by doing this and was just as uncomfortable as before. He would arch his back and pull away. Despite this though he barely cried. Over time, I figured out that I had to feed him every, one to one and a half hours or I just could not get him to sleep at all. Since he was not losing weight and he did not cry much, I found it really difficult to get help for him.

It was not until he was 6 months old when a Dr noticed his weight starting to drop off that people finally started to consider there was a problem.

We had to carry him in the sling or hold him to sleep for every single sleep and ‘nap’ of the day and night. We tried so hard to get him to sleep in his bed, but he just could not stay laying down. We spent half the night trying to make sure we did not teach him the wrong behaviour by not self-settling, as this was what we were told was the right thing to do, but nothing we did worked. He just was not a happy little boy.   Eventually we gave up on this because were exhausted and needed to survive.

How did I find out it was food related?

At 3 months of age, our paed suggested food issues causing gastric reflux and we tried him on Neocate, an elemental formula only available on prescription that has all the proteins broken down already. He happily took it and improved substantially for about 24 hours. However, since the effect did not last, we were told to give up on that and try sleep school. We also failed sleep school. The only way they could get him to sleep was on his tummy and they advised against doing this for SIDS reasons.

We found out much later that the reason for the Neocate not working properly was because of withdrawal effects as well as the fact he had a urinary tract infection at the time.

At around 7 months of age, a Maternal and Child Health Nurse suggested that the problems could be related to an allergy or intolerance. So, I decided put myself on a strict elimination diet and after a few weeks, we finally we started to have some improvement. Unfortunately though, I could not even have the smallest amount of carrot or pumpkin or anything that allowed me to challenge foods for him and so after a stint in hospital for dehydration, we managed to get him back on to the elemental formula Neocate.

It was after he finally started to settle on the formula, that he started to smile regularly. He never screamed, but he was never actually ‘happy’ until he started to feel better. We knew then we were definitely on the right track.

It was still a long journey after this point to find out what foods affected him and it was not until he was around three years old that we finally got to the bottom of what he could and could not eat. At this time we realised that it was not just specific foods, but additives in foods as well as in creams and lotions, that affected him. Every time we made a major discovery with his diet, we had substantial changes in bowel habits, feeding patterns and behaviour.

Where can you get help?

If you suspect reflux in your baby, there are a number of things you can try. The first step would be to:

• Seek medical assistance first as well as visit your Maternal and Child Health Nurse – to ensure no significant growth or development issues or illnesses. Seek a referral to an allergist if allergies are strongly suspected.

• Once you determine there is no major medical issue – consider how to investigate food as an issue.

• Keep a food and symptom diary. Write down everything you eat and any symptoms you notice and time of day you notice them. This is hard with no sleep and an unwell baby, but it is crucial and will speed up the process in helping you determine the cause of the problem.

• Research the elimination diet to determine which type of restricted diet you could undertake to investigate the possibility of intolerances. One of the most effective is the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital strict elimination diet or otherwise known as the FAILSAFE diet.  Our search filter allows you to search for products that are safe on this diet. We also have filters that allow you to avoid most other allergens and common foods that cause problems for people including Low Fodmap

• Talk to a health professional who specialises in food intolerance. These can be tricky to find but think about a Maternal and Child Health Nurse, a dietitian or nutritionist or a medical professional that might have expertise. Ask around for recommendations for a supportive Health Professional.  

  • Sue Dengate’s Fedup group have a list of dietitians who understand the elimination diet and also has lots of information and forums to support the diet. www.fedup.com.au

  • The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in Sydney also specialise in food intolerance.

There are also a number of books that might be useful:

Joy Anderson’s – Food Sensitive Babies  

Sue Dengate’s Fed Up  - https://allergytrain.com.au/products/sue-dengate-s-fedup-book

Friendly Food by RPAH 

Joan Breakey’s – Fussy Babies

https://allergytrain.com.au/products/joan-breakey-s-fussy-babies-book

There are a number of support groups online through Facebook and other websites including the

Reflux Infant Support Association - https://www.reflux.org.au

Please feel free to contact us if you need extra help getting information or support.

Fighting the Summer Flu

Modern life often feels like a constant race against the clock. Between family, friends and work, there are so many things important things keeping us busy that it’s hard to find the time to properly relax and recover. There are a lot of reasons why getting enough rest might not be possible and the build-up of stress over time can lead to emotional and physical burnout. When we are exhausted, our immune systems are weakened and can have trouble fighting off viruses and illness.

I had a short break over the holiday period. Unfortunately, my body finally caught up with me after months of working around the clock to open the new store while still managing the day-to-day stresses of life. My time off was spent surviving a very severe case of gastroenteritis that sent me to bed for three days straight.

Gastro is often called “The Summer Flu” because it has a tendency to strike during the warmer months. The combination of summer, lots of social events around food and end-of-year exhaustion means that a lot of Australians find their holidays interrupted by violent stomach pain and symptoms.

Being quarantined at home wasn’t the most exciting way to spend my holidays, but as you know, issues with health can mean our bodies don’t always play along with our plans. And even after the acute phase of an illness has passed, there is still a long way to go before we regain strength and start feeling like ourselves again.

Now, I am working hard to rebuild my gut health with lots of good bacteria. Did you know that Allergy Train now stocks bone broth, kombucha and sauerkraut, which all have their own special species of good bacteria to repopulate your gut? Bone broth is full of good stuff for healing including collagen, amino acids, and essential minerals, and it also helps the growth of good bacteria. Personally, I love the Meadow and Marrow bone broth—lemon and herb is my favourite flavour, but they are all great!

To aid my recovery, I’ve been consuming all these things as well as taking a high-strength probiotic and, last but not at all least, my go to for all things gut related ... Saccharomyces Boulardii. Also known as SB, this microscopic critter is a yeast that acts as probiotic. I personally think it is a miracle natural remedy for any diarrhoeal or IBS issues. It is not yet well known in the medical community, but there are already some good scientific papers to back up its use, particularly for the treatment of diarrhoea.

In my personal experience, SB is wonderfully effective. If you also happen to find yourself struck down by the dreaded Summer Flu, I encourage you to try this out for yourself. Saccharomyces Boulardii can be found at health stores that specialise in vitamins and dietary supplements.  

Always consult your doctor if symptoms persist or are particularly severe. It is especially important with gastroenteritis to let your doctor know as they need to notify the authorities in case there is an outbreak and to trace the source or notify the public.