Little girls embareesing problem

**samanthatallon** · 06-11-2010 03:45 PM

My 4 year old daughter is healthy and fin loving and starting primary school in sept.

But she has an embaressing problem, she has bad bouts of diahrea, quite sporadic, fine for three to four weeks and then bam! She gets it for four or five days, suffers tummy aches and occasional vomiting.

The doctors have done bloods, stool samples and so on and simple put it down to sensitive tummy.
But i dont know what its sensitive to! The allergy tests are fine, she cannot eat fried eggs, i always knew that, boiled, scrambled fine, but fried and she breaks out, and has bad breath for days.

But otherwise, no celiac disease, no ibs, no wheat or lactose intolerance.
She eats pretty much the same foods, all in that healthy pyramid, and very rarely eats junk.

I am scratching my head, and my docs seem annoyed i am being so persistant. I know its effecting her at montesori where she has to change, and she cries with the pain, calpol and other painkillers dont work, a day in bed usually. Am i being over reactive? I just want to know what causes it, how i can ease it, and make school in september not as scary. As its a big change which is hard enough to deal with.

She is generally a happy child, and doesnt stress over much. So i dont think its that.

Any ideas?

thanks a lot in advance x

**sourpuss** · 06-11-2010 04:44 PM

My boyfriend is allergic to low-grade cooking oil. Like the fatty kind they use in frying stuff, etc. Has she been tested for that? He has the same problems, super sensitive stomach, bouts of diahrea, etc.

**samanthatallon** · 06-12-2010 08:24 AM

oh wow, thats quite random though, i have neverheard of cooking oil allergy before! poor thing. Yeah its frustrating, but i will try that too. We mainly use olive oil for cooking and well i dont generally deep fry stuff, i grill. Sounds so snobby doesnt it lol. But honestly i am at the end of my teather, as she is such a sweetheart and the pain must be infuriating.

**WildChild** · 06-12-2010 09:52 AM

You cannot do a lab test for most food sensitvities. All you can do is test by eliminating it from your diet for at least two to three weeks and then reintroduce it and see what happens. This can be a lengthy process. Children should never be given egg prior to age two as they will be more likely to develop and reaction. If she's been eating them that long that may well be the problem. There are a number of books to giude you through this. I suggest starting with, If You Love Me Don't Feed Me Junk by Sandy Gooch and The Allergy Self-help Cook Book by Marjorie Hurt Jones.

Depending on your ancestory, dairy is a big possiblity. Most conventionally trained doctors are not very aware of this but it can go way beyond lactose intollence. If she has any asian or african ancestory there is a 50% to 95% liklihood of dairy sensitivity.

Sensitivities can come and go and sometimes it can be more than one thing, or two things together. Often one thing will trigger a response and then the sufferer starts reacting to other things.

Start with a detailed food diary - note everything that goes into her mouth and all her negative responses. You may start to see a pattern. Start by eliminating one common food (often it's something we crave or really love) I would start with cow dairy. Take it completely out of her diet (this is where the cook book somes in handy) no milk, no cheese, no ice cream, read lables, it's hidden in everything. Tell her what you are doing and why, make it positive, enlist her cooperation. Make finding new ways to eat an adventure. You can do this, I have a child who had no dairy for years. Almond cheese is great, Soydelcious ice cream, there are substitutes but don't go overboard with new foods as that can take some digestive adjustment. (BTW you don't need dairy, there are many other sources of calcium that are far healthier, high dairy consumption countries have the worst calcium deficiencies)

No "tested" food for at minimum 2 to 3 weeks, then One day let her eat a good quantity of it and see what happens over the next couple days. Beware of false response - I have some food sensitivities but can handle them occasionally, in small amounts. I can have a small bowl of ice cream maybe once every week or two and be fine but eating two days in a row, I'm in trouble. This is a balancing act. Once you find the culprit(s) you can fine tune it.

Food dyes can also be a problem for some.

**samanthatallon** · 06-12-2010 10:10 AM

Thank you very much for the detailed list of things to try! I have taken note of those books and will hunt them down on amazon. Its given me a few new things to try. I agree with the dairy aspect, she is not allowed yoghurt as i think it gives her reactions. And she is on of those kids that simply loves her cheese, milk amongst other things. We have rice milk, which she has taken time getting used to. But i am limited to what i can do here unfortunatley. As food varieties in Ireland can sometimes be rather slim, the aisle for special health foods in our largest supermarket is like half a row, and there are actual food shops, but everything is ridiculously overpriced here. A new car can easily set you back 35 grand. lol. The average price of a loaf of bread is near around the two euro mark. So on limited money, i have started trying different things. And i hope it works. thanks once again x

**WildChild** · 06-12-2010 11:36 AM

Check out the almond based products, if only she uses them, they should last a bit. Go for fruits and veggies, you can learn to make a cheeseless pizza for example. Eggs are another possible problem food even though she seems to handle them prepared certain ways. This could be a real detective adventure for a while but can make a Huge difference. I had a kiddo who was functionally deaf due to a food sensitivity and now has better than normal hearing.

**sourpuss** · 06-12-2010 03:00 PM

A lot of times a reaction can come from a few foods in combination with one another. It's frustrating because it won't show up on an allergy test and eliminating one food at a time doesn't do the trick.
Do you keep a detailed food diary for her and log when she has reactions?