Did you/Would you take a 5 year old off wheat and dairy without medical guidance?

[suiledonne]

My dd1 has asthma, eczema and allergies.

We see a GP and paediatirican.

Both have told me at various times not to remove wheat or dairy from her diet.

However so many people have suggested it that I somtimes wonder if I should consider it.

We are waiting on a referral to an allergy specialist and I think I should wait til then but DH thinks we should try it.

She is having a major skin reaction at the moment - is covered all over in a dry itchy rash and her eczema has flared up.

DH went to get her medications and asked the pharmacist and she has told him to take her off all wheat and dairy. I don't think so.
She has a small appetite and is fussy as it is. I don't know what I would feed her.

I took mine off of dairy at the advice of Paedetrician and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be once I got my head around it and found the Free From section in Sainsbury.

Poor child, how horrible for her. How old is she?

If the doctors are advising against it, I'd be very cautious BUT you know your own child. Can you get some wheat-free bread and see how she gets on? And dairy-free spread etc - it's all available in the supermarkets now.

Does she LIKE milk/other dairy foods/wheat etc? What does she like to eat? Often, allergic children don't really like the foods to which they are allergic (although sometimes, conversely, they absolutely love them, which makes it much harder). I'm just wondering if she's fussy because her body is telling her that certain foods are bad for her.

Just try it for a couple of days and make sure she still gets enough fibre, calcium etc - there will be loads of advice on here shortly, I'm sure.

No

Wow that's a long and well though out answer DarrellRivers!

It's a question
I've answered it
There is a lot of thought behind it, but some days it is so difficult to write it all out

Anyway, am not being arsey
Am weary so will leave as not helping OP much

She is 5.

She likes cereal with milk for breakfast. She goes through stages of loving yoghurt and eating loads and then going off it. She doesn't eat any cheese.

She is allergic to egg so that is one nutrtious food already ruled out.

She likes most veg and some fruit but her appetite is very small.

She eats most meat and like white fish but again in tiny quatities.

Between the asthma and the eczema I feel like she is never really well for any length of time
If a doctor advised changing the diet (and we got some support from I dietician) I would do it in a heartbeat but otherwise I'm not sure.

I just feel as people think I am failing her because I haven't done the diet change but the paed clearly told me not to.

It is so exhausting!

The GP reckons it will be the end of the summer before we see the specialist. We are in Ireland and allergy resources are very limited.

If we are doing dairy and wheat free I presume it means avoiding everything with any trace of either in it.

The pharmacist recommended goats milk and cheese to DH when he was asking about dd but I'm not sure these would be suitable if going dairy free.

Personally I wouldn't cut out both at once - only one may be the culprit & you could then end up excluding an important food group without any need at all ...though from my own experience I would certainly recommend being proactive in finding the cause, even if the GP sad no - in our case, the specialist we eventually saw agreed with everything I had already worked out for ourselves - even though our GP didn't

Do you have a gut instinct, or have noticed improvement/worsening with either of these 2 food groups?? - if so maybe try cutting that food out first & see what happens - if no change then cut out the other - & if there is improvement - then add the first back into her diet - if she flares up again, then it could be intolerance to both Dairy & Wheat & if not you know which food group you really need to cut out - if any :) - if it does seem to be diary, then try her with lactofree milk & mature cheeses etc - as it may only be the lactose that she has a problem with, not the actual dairy (this is my own DD as regards stomach trouble) - in which case its very easy diet wise :)

I'm presuming you've already looked at food colourants, preservatives etc?? as these can often cause skin problems - they do badly so & within 20 min with my own DD - this turned out to be her problem as regards her skin flare -ups.

its all a bit daunting at first, but going dairy, or wheat free isn't as traumatic as it looks, DD is sensitive to wheat IF in a flare up, at other times she is fine with eating it - we cut it out for a while & use other flours, theres a lot of choice in none wheat flour, all good for various recipes - so theres a substitute for anything & likely DD won't notice after a while

for example own DD loves coconut milk (health shop version) with cocoa & a little natural sweetener such as agave or maple syrup - this is packed with calcium etc, - almond milk is another good source of calcium & good diary sub too

good luck & for all your sakes I hope you get to the bottom of it soon :)

& yes, goats/sheep/camel etc milk, butter & cheeses are all none diary & are usually fine

Hi

We are in a really similar situation. My 2 year old has boon poorly for well over a year and a GP suggested he may have food allergies. We have been waiting months to see a specialist. At first our GP told us not to experiment with his diet, but later changed his mind and suggest taking one thing out of his diet for a week then reintroducing it and noting the reaction. So far we have seen strong allergic reactions to shellfish, eggs, tomatoes, wheat and cow dairy (tho yogurt ok weirdly).

It is really tough making sure he has a balanced diet and I have been begging to see a dietician, but on the really positive side, his health has improved dramatically. Also he has changed from a very moody insular child to a much sunnier energetic child.

My understanding is the tests are not 100% accurate and your own detective work is as important.

Good luck!!!

I took my DD off dairy when she was around 3 or 4 (can't actually remember now, which is terrible, but it was before she started school at 4.7)

Luckily we had some health food stores locally to us that stocked non dairy cheese, yoghurts, chocolates etc and we made our own pizza and sauces up. She had either soya or rice milk in cereal and it actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Good luck with whatever you decide

If you are waiting to be reffered to an allergy specialist, then don't remove them from her diet. They then can't test for reactions and you would have to wait another 6 weeks for it to build up enough to be tested

I would try one first.
My ds also had very bad eczema/asthma allergies
he stopped drinking milk at age 2 when I switched him to a cup
he doesn't eat anything that looks like dairy iyswim , like youghurts/cream etc but will have pizza with cheese
his eczema improved very quickly and even now it only reappears when he's had a lot of pizza
we saw a paediatric dietitian at the allergy clinic who said if he was eating enough green leafy veg /fish and drinking tap water then his calcium intake would be fine
she wasn't concerned at all about the lack of dairy products

What SlimJim said

There are plenty of gluten-free stuff in supermarkets now, problem is when out and about. Places are getting better though.

I would say wait if the drs are saying wait!

you can still have allergy skin prick tests to something even though you haven't eaten it recently or ever in fact

Agree ggirl - you can - the only allergy that won't show up in a test, without "loading up" on it, is Gluten & this is a regular blood test, not the skin prick test - myself & DD have both had all of these tests done, so speaking from experience:)

Am checking out with my GP now on impact on test results if food has been removed from diet. We having prick tests and blood tests. Will be awful having to give him things we know are making him ill.

Thanks nottired for yogurt info! Be great if he does outgrow dairy allergy.
x

my ds has been having skin prick tests for yrs for various nuts etc and he's never eaten them...cos he's allergic

I wouldn't. But next time I did see someone I would tell them YOU ARE going to take them off wheat and/or dairy, so what advice do they have for you to ensure she still gets a balanced diet? Perhaps trial them one at a time so that you're not cutting out two major food groups in one foul swoop. I personally ahve very noticeable problems with milk, but can manage cheese fine, and dd is also lactose intolerant. However I have never had any problem with wheat, only that wheat bran ironically makes me constipated .

With my breast fed dd it was very obvious to me, me HVs and everyone else that dd was LI, she could only just tolerate my bm when it had been treated with colief. The gp wouldn't prsecribe it, so in the end I had to say I am giving up breastfeeding and feeding her soya formula as she CANNOT tolerate my BM or normal formula. In the end they prescribed LF formula and colief and I was able to continue with mixed feeding and eventually EBF again. They also agreed that she was in fact lactose intolerant as the improvement was so obvious and immediate.

Sometimes you just have to TELL them you're going to do something and ask them what they are going to do about it. The results will then speak for themselves hopefully.

Yes, I would. Which is not to say you should.

But here's why I would:

1. Elimination is the most effective way of determining intolerances.
2. Wheat and dairy are not necessary in a healthy diet. It's not like you're removing all protein, or all green veg. Worst case scenario... well, there isn;t one really, as long as your child still has plenty of calcium in her diet.
3. My son barely shows as allergic or intolerant to dairy in medical tests - very mild reaction, however the difference to his eczema on removing it from his diet was utterly life changing for him.