Chronic Ear Infections and the Food Elimination Diet

Updated on July 06, 2011
M.B. asks from Austin, TX
5 answers

Hi there! Any moms out there have a kid with chronic ear infections that were food related? I am in the process of removing any products, whether healthy or not, made of wheat, dairy, oats, citrus, soy, etc.. from my son's diet. The quick snacks etc... are all made of either oats, wheat, soy or dairy. Have any of you found an awesome cook book or website for easy recipes for healthy snacks for kids with allergies? I have The Allergy Self Help book but I am looking for advice on others. We did everything we good to not put him on antibiotics and we finally did and after two doses he had a reaction. Woke up this morning with poka dots on several areas of his body and his hands were a little swollen not to mention the horrible diaper rash. Any advice is greatly appreciated. He is 15 months old now.
Thank you!

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C.P.

answers from Austin on

I found out about the Feingold diet in 1995 when my mom put me on it, and it helped A LOT, but I had a hard time staying faithful, so I quit. In 2004 I suddenly had a terrible rash that turned out to be psoriasis. My skin has been getting worse and worse, so last year my mom made me promise to give Feingold another try. When I'm strict, my psoriasis COMPLETELY disappears. No kidding. When I am not strict, I am constantly itching, which I guess I had been too consistent to notice before I went on Feingold -- I really thought EVERYONE went around itching all the time.

I have to wonder if I was misdiagnosed with ADHD as a kid, as I find it considerably easier to concentrate now.

It's not easy to stay faithful to the diet (I have trouble eating at Restaurants, and I miss pizza and wine), but it has changed my life, and every time I break a rule I itch for a week, I remember what a great idea it is to be strict!

L.!.

answers from Austin on

Yes. My daughter started having ear infections and sinus infections at 9 months. Did ear tubes at 15 months--which stopped the ear infections but then she started having sinus infections every 6-8 weeks. Then she started having allergic reactions to the antibiotics... it culminated in a trip to the ER for being swollen and covered in rash; her pediatrician worried her kidneys were shutting down.

She started getting sinus rinses every other day around 18 months. It got to the point I realized all her illnesses were giving me depression and I was desperate to determine what was the cause. My perspective was to throw everything modern medicine could at it: She had her heart tested (normal); she had an allergy blood test (inconclusive; showed elevated white blood cell count); she had so many sinus x-rays (ugh!) ; doctor wanted her tested for cystic fibrosis... I opted for the allergy skin prick test over the CF sweat test.

Turns out she was allergic to cows milk protein. It was creating excess congestion which was causing her sinus issues. I had to completely remove all forms of cow dairy products from her diet... Initially I thought if I just cut out direct forms of dairy that would be ok, but she still got sick. So I had to read food ingredient labels (no milk, butter, whey, casien) and home cook everything. It was a pain but looking back on it, it forced us to avoid fast food and eat healthy. (Probably helped keep the weight on me too!)

She completely stopped getting sick once cows milk protein was removed from her foods. She had no reaction to goat milk dairy. We didn't cut out any other type of food from her diet.

I didn't want her eating a lot of soy (because of the estrogen link). Instead her diet relied on goat milk dairy (goat milk, butter, yogurt, cheese; some sheep yogurt and cheese). I bought a bread machine and made goat milk bread. She completely outgrew the allergy by age 5.

Message me if you have specific questions.

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J.T.

answers from College Station on

Check out the Feingold Diet. It is an elimination diet and it will walk you through the process of what to take out and when to reintroduce certain foods. We use it with our boys. They also eliminate anything artificial from the diet as well.
Members can get access to recipes and the like on the website. ou do have topay for membership, but we have found it very worth it.

ADHDdiet.com or feingold.org

Good Luck

D.B.

answers from Boston on

You actually don't have to go through all of this. It's a nightmare, and you can't take him out to eat when he gets older because you cannot tell what's in the foods at restaurants or other people's houses.

Your son is unable to PROCESS these ingredients - he's not truly allergic to them. He needs supplementation in a balanced form. I have helped many people with this - a friend's children had severe allergies, asthma and multiple ear infections. Another's child had constant pneumonia-like symptoms. Another woman I know has a child who was diagnosed with SIXTY food allergies, including the ones you mention but also things like cantaloupe and sandwich meat and many others. He is allergy free now.

Let me know if you want to learn more.

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P.S.

answers from Houston on

Garlic is a natural antibiotic. Any chance you can integrate it into his diet?

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