DD2 has been referred to a dietitian - what to expect and does this sound familiar?

[CharCharGabor]

I've been mostly lurking on MN recently but DD2 has brought me back to posting! :) DD2 was 1 yesterday. At 8 weeks she was diagnosed with reflux following a five day screaming fit, we were given gaviscon which we used for a few weeks. After that her symptoms eased so we stopped the gaviscon and assumed something else caused the screaming.

She was EBF until 6 months when we started BLW. She barely ate anything until 9 months but is now offered the same foods as we eat, nothing too outlandish. She tucks into every meal with great enthusiasm but eats barely a thing. She still bfs regularly through the day and takes a few sips of water from a cup. She sleeps with me in the night and is unable to settle in a cot,I can feed her tosleep on the bed and sneak away some of the time though.

Since that first episode of screaming she has had them, at least once a month. In the last two months they have intensified to at least once a week, sometimes more. During these it is not possible to soothe her, she refuses the breast, you can't sit down, rock or sling her. It is a very loud, extreme scream with lots of back arching and leg straightening which can go on for hours. Even on 'good' nights she is very restless and whingy.

She has a permanent rash on her chin which gets v dry and goes bright red sometimes when she's eating. People say it's a dribble rash but she doesn't really dribble. Often her poo is loose and mucousy although sometimes fine. It often gives her an instant blistery nappy rash though which is horrible. In the last few days she has been refluxing very loudly and gulping, her breath smells v acidic sometimes. She is clingy and exhausted :(

So I took her back to the doctors where she was given more gaviscon and a referral to a dietitian. The gaviscon hasn't really helped so I went back but theyjust said to give it more often and wait for the dietitian. Which is easy to say when you're not the one crying all the time and good for nothing, unable to tell if you have PND or are just going mad with exhaustion :(

Wow, essay! I wanted to put as much detail in as I could. In all other respects she's a lovely baby, very smiley, her weight is good and developmentally she's ok. So does it sound familiar to anyone or is this just normal? My other DD was a baddish sleeper and would feed all night but this feels so much worse. And what can I expect from a dietitian?

Thanks for getting this far :)

Bump

Blimey, CharChar, I can't believe your DD is one already.

We had to see the dietician with DS after an anaphylactic episode which they thought was due to egg so slightly different to you. If they go the route that they went with us, when the appointment letter came we had to keep a food diary for a week or so and monitor any changes to skin, movement etc.

A friend had to go a stage further than this with her DD and had keep a food diary for herself as she was breastfeeding and had yet to wean.

The rash and nasty nappy combo certainly sounds as if an allergy is possible.

Have you considered keeping a food diary for you as well as DD?

Am in no way an expert, btw!

Your poor DD
When my DD was referred to a dietician, we were told to keep a food diary. My DD was allergic to egg and sometimes the effects of the egg wouldn't manifest itself until a few days after consumption.
The pattern was very clear once we had done the diary for several weeks.

Oh, and when the cause has been identified, the dietician will advise how best to maintain a balanced diet whilst omitting this food.

Have to run now as supposed to be reading bedtime stories but this sounds very like my DS2 who was diagnosed with a dairy allergy. He now followis a completely diary free diet and has calcium supplements from the dietitian and all the symptoms you mentioned above have eased. I'll try to come back later!

Thanks all for replying, and thanks MacDog for the bump! Yes I can't believe it either Knotty, this year has gone so quickly :)

I have been keeping a food diary for the last week or so for her, will start to make one for me too. I would say a majority of her calories still come from breastmilk so my diet may well be having an effect. I have noticed that after a particularly dairy heavy day her symptoms were worse which takes a few days to subside. She has some pasta and a birthday cupcake withher tea tonight and ten minutes later I heard her reflux and swallowing over and over, poor thing :(

How would a dietitian establish what was causing the problems? Would it be the food diary or are there other things they can do? The thought of having to cut things out of her diet scares me a little, I'm sure it's less complicated than it seems though. I have realised that our diet has quite a bit of dairy in, DD1 loves cheese, milk, yoghurt etc. I'm sure it'll all come right in the end. She is momentarily asleep on my mattress upstairs so I am having some rare childfree time, I am sure tonight will not be so quiet. God, I'm so tired!

Thanks again all :)

You could try cutting out obvious likely allergens e.g. egg, dairy, nuts and see if her symptoms go.
Then gradually re-introduce one by one and see whether they return to work out what is causing it.

I would start with cutting out dairy completely for several days from both of your diets. Generally, if dairy is the problem, then symptoms subside within days. I had to cut out dairy for mine else they screamed all night long. I remember the exhaustion well. I hope you get to the bottom of it soon!

So I should start cutting them out on my own? I worry about her missing out on certain nutrients but I suppose it's not so much of an issue while she's still mostly dependent on breast milk. I would like to see such a quick result! She hasnt been so bad today but she didn't eat any dairy, maybe it's that as she seems to react fairly soon after eating it. Last night she was rather unsettled though so am rather tired. Do dietitian referrals normally take a while to come through? thanks all for the advice and help, it's such a worry and great to hear others experiences :)