Information Needed on What to Feed My 17-Month Old with Allergies

I feel that if we all were tested we find out we are allergic to things we never knew about. I would listen to my allergist and then experiment with the other foods. Try cutting out one at a time and see if there is any different in your daughter's health.Remmenber It takes at least 10 days to get the food out of your system so I would try it for at least 14 days. I know with my daughter she couldn't have any milk, but she could have a small amount of corn, Which was good since corn is in everything.

You may want to read the book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. She has lots of recipes and ideas for feeding. She also addressed allergies. Also, have you ever taken your baby to the chiropractor or a natural doctor? They may have different ideas/suggestions. Have you tried natural or organic products for bath time/laundry? Melaleuca has great products for that.

I would say this is a difficult decision. The doctor's have probably said not to remove the foods because she is tolerating them -- although the milk is probably the cause of the ear infections. I do think the general rule among doctors is if there is no allergic reaction (ie: excema (sp?), hives, etc.)they recommend the child continue to eat the food. Sometimes, when you remove an allergenic food from a child's diet completely, they become more allergic to that food. If it were me, I would not cut out the peas or wheat, and would only cut down on the milk -- maybe give her rice milk to drink but still give her cow's milk yogurt and cheese. There is a good book that you should probably read by Scott Sicherer called "Understanding Your Child's Food Allergies." Hope this helps. good luck~

Good luck. Eliminating isn't that hard once you make a list of what you have to avoid, and what is do-able. Simply substitute a do-able item in place of the avoided food.

Second the suggestions on reading a book specifically on allergies and kids. Also, vegan recipes can give you a start, and gluten free recipes too to give you ideas on how to make food substitutions. Your child is still pretty young so can pretty much eat just foods in their natural stages without alot of cooking--focus on raw whole foods from the food list she can eat.

You will be amazed at how much food there is to eat. My 3 year old still eats pretty whole and raw. so its do-able.

Peanuts I am finding are pretty rank foods. They naturally develop high levels of mold in their maturation stages. Even peanut butter is pretty rancid.

Good luck there are alot of foods available in health food stores now that are made for gluten free diets, egg free diets, nut free, you name it!

oh i'd just take it out of her diet. we have the egg, dairy, soy, peanuts and tree nuts thing going on. It's not that bad really, figuring it out takes some time. I'd take it out for 5 mo and see if she gets any more infections. Allergies can give cold like symptoms, and if their nose runs i'd assume it can go in their ears or whatever but i'm not a dr. then after 5 mo you see ear infections you know there's no connection! The dr/allergist we see was AMAZED and suprised at the dif in my child when we completely cut out his allergy related foods COMPLETELY (not even a tiny bit added in products). They seemed almost shocked. They don't know every thing. I'd follow your gut : )