Elimination Diet

[MsScarlett]

Anyone know of an elimination diet that is easy to follow with clear instructions that is suitable for vegetarians and breastfeeding? I am EBF with dd with reflux and would like to try and indentify potential triggers in my diet...

Don't know if this will help but right now I would do ANYTHING for a happier dd and a decent night's sleep...

Dairy was the trigger for DS2. Probably also for DS1 but I didn't know that was possible then. You need to remove the obvious from your diet - milk, cheese, yoghurt, but also read packets v carefully as most processed foods have milk powder or milk protein in. You could try rice milk - an acquired taste but I love it on cereal, porridge and in tea. Booja Booja chocolate is amazing, truly excellent!!

Some people need to drop wheat, too, but we didn't.

You need to remove EVERY DROP of milk from your diet for about 2 weeks. Don't forget to stock up on calcium rich foods to replace it. Sardines are great but no good for a veggie but I'm mentioning it for other readers of this thread. Dark green leafy veg is also good.

Eliminate all likely triggers from your diet for 2-4 weeks, then add them back in one by one at 2-4 week intervals. Keep a diary of symptoms and if symptoms noticeably drop then come back with one food, cut it out again before continuing.

That's the basics.

One issue is that beans, inc. soya, are a possible trigger, so it's probably best to not use soy milk at first - there is rice milk tho.

Yes good point - dairy intolerant kids are often soya intolerant, too.

Hi, I'm doing this at the moment.

My ds is 9 months and had bad eczema. I have cut out all dairy and wheat from his diet, and all dairy from mine. I am still eating wheat and soya as i too am a vegetarian and didn't want to make things too hard for myself! I thought if it didn't work then i'd get tougher and cut out wheat and soya too for me. so not a proper elimination diet (like japhrimel explains) but what i thought i could manage.

i have found local health food shop good source of info (run by a vegan) and sainsbury's free from range good and ocado ok. I have switched to rice and soya milk, and soya yoghurts. main problem is the hidden dairy - in bloody everything! so had to buy special biscuit and cakes etc.

I'm surprised at how manageable it is actually. i think i'll stick to soya/rice milk porridge for good. Things like pesto/garlic bread i am missing. i'm eating lots of rice, curry, veg chilli and these biscuits!

Humous is a good source of calcium, and broccoli spinach, almonds, sesame and dried apricots. you might need to also think about vitamin B12, more info here

my ds's eczema is better after a week, but no improvement in sleep or weight loss for me yet!