Can you go back to 10 days of exclusive breastfeeding at 11mths for an elimination diet?

[beartime]

Ds has this awful rash which has just got worse over the last month or so. The doctor told me to look at foods he's eating, the HV told me try cutting out wheat, then dairy, and other stuff. But I've done everything - cut out all the top allergens, change back to old washing powder, take off my watch in case the nickel's causing it etc. etc. But he still has it. So rather than go on starving him (not that I am really, but its jolly hard to cook for him) I was thinking about doing an elimination diet bu just breastfeeding him for 10 days. They say 10 days is all it should need for the rash to go away if its a food intolerance, and it might rule it out then (unless its in the breastmilk too aargh). I really just want to get rid of this rash so I can start to tryand work out what is causing it, so I can start feeding him properly again.

Will this work? And is it going to be OK for him?

I would say it is possible, but you would probably have to increase bf for a few days to get your supply up to produce enough milk for exclusive feeding of a hungry 11 mth old.

But personally I wouldn't do it! I think babies that age need other food too, and you might have subsequent problems where he doesn't want to eat properly after.

I hadn't thought of increasing it first, that makes sense. Also that's one thing I was wondering about - having probs eating after - tho' if it was only 10 days would it really make that much difference? I guess with stuff like that maybe you need to try it b4 you know!

Don't know if it's possible from his health point of view - hopefully someone will be able to advise, but I was going to suggest expressing LOTS for a couple of weeks beforehand to build your supply back up, and also make sure that you have eliminated dairy from your diet for at least 10 days previously, as this does pass through into breastmilk.

Tomatoes seem to be a common cause of rashes - presume you've tried removing them from his diet already?

I would have thought that by now the constituency of your breastmilk would be more like a drink rather than a food and would certainly not provide enough nutrition/calories for an 11 month old.

I would be extremely wary of cutting out any of the major food groups let alone a step as drastic as this.

My dd had excema (is that what your child has?)on the inside of her elbows/back of her knees for a couple of years as a toddler but grew out of it as her skin grew more layers.

I just used E45 moisturiser and didn't mess around with her nutrition at all, apart from the obvious things like not giving too many eggs, not giving peanut stuff.