Food allergies/intolerances and feeding your toddler!

So my son cannot have dairy, soy, gluten, egg … what on earth do I feed him!? This is a question faced by many parents who have infant and toddler ‘refluxers’, as food can often be the culprit for a reflux flare and cutting out gluten, dairy, soy, and/or egg from their diet can sometimes help (AND there may be other foods that need to be avoided too!). Food allergies show on allergy tests but there are no skin or blood tests for food intolerance and both can cause symptoms of reflux in susceptible children

Cows Milk Protein Vs Lactose Intolerance

There is often a lot of confusion between Lactose Intolerance and Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance (CMPI); many people often think they are the same thing. To confuse things even more an allergy or intolerance to a food protein can cause a secondary lactose intolerance and they may be present together!

Trudi, Samuel, Millie, Patrick and Jorja’s story

Samuel projectiled his first ‘milk’ breastfeed onto the wall. I didn’t know what was happening but soon got used to the constant vomiting. He had several apnoeas in the first week, and began screaming. As a first time mother, I had no idea what had hit me. Sam thankfully slept most nights from sheer exhaustion but I struggled with the idea of routine; going out was difficult and I had extra cleaning as well.

We tried positioning/rocking, diet (off dairy but not soy), chiropractors, GPs, paediatricians and medications. I also joined a reflux support group. Sam improved dramatically at around twelve months; however, he still vomits and gags easily, gets car sick and dislikes milk products and raw vegetables/salads (tickling feeling in throat).